May 5

Birthdays:

1988~ Adele (née Adele Laurie Blue Adkins), British singer-songwriter.

1973~ Tina Yothers (née Kristina Louise Yothers), American actress.  She is best known for her role as Jennifer Keaton on the television sit-com Family Ties.

1966~ Sergei Stanishev (né Sergei Dmitrievich Stanishev), President of the Party of European Socialists.  He assumed this position in November 2011.  He previously served as the Prime Minister of Bulgaria from August 2005 until July 2009.

1959~ Brian Williams (né Brian Douglas Williams), American news anchor. In 2015, he was suspended from the NBC news after it was revealed that he exaggerated and incorporated himself into his news reports.

1952~ Ed Lee (né Edwin Mah Lee; d. Dec. 12, 2017), American politician and Mayor of San Francisco.  He served as Mayor from January 2011 until his sudden death in December 2017.  He died of cardiac arrest at age 65.

1944~ Roger Rees (d. July 10, 2015), Welsh actor best known for his role as Robin Colcord on Cheers.  He died of brain cancer at age 71.

1943~ Sir Michael Palin (né Michael Edward Palin), British actor and member of Monty Python.

1942~ Tammy Wynette (née Virginia Wynette Pugh; d. Apr. 6, 1998), American country singer.  She is best remembered for her song Stand By Your Man.  She died a month before her 56^thbirthday.

1938~ Michael Murphy (né Michael George Murphy), American actor.

1928~ Agustín Román (d. Apr. 11, 2012), Cuban bishop who ministered to Cubans in exile.  He died less that a month before his 84^thbirthday.

1925~ Leo Ryan (né Leo Joseph Ryan, Jr.; d. Nov. 18, 1978), United States Congressman from California.  He was assassinated at age 53 while on a political tour in Guyana by members of the People’s Temple.

1922~ Irene Gut Opdyke (née Irene Gut; d. May 17, 2003), Polish nurse who aided in saving Jews from the Nazis during World War II. She was honored as the Righteous Among Nations by Yad Vashem.  She died 2 weeks after her 81^stbirthday.

1921~ Arthur Leonard Schawlow (d. Apr. 28, 1999), American physicist and recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on lasers.  He died 7 days before his 78^thbirthday.

1921~ Mavis Batey (née Mavis Lilian Lever; d. Nov. 12, 2013), British code-breaker who cracked Nazi communications.  She died at age 92.

1914~ Tyrone Power (né Tyrone Edmund Power, III; d. Nov. 15, 1958), American movie actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 44.

1914~ Charis Wilson (née Helen Charis Wilson; d. Nov. 20, 2009), American model who inspired photographer Edward Wilson.  She died at age 95.

1903~ James Beard (né James Andrew Beard; d. Jan. 21, 1985), American chef and cookbook author.  He died at age 81.

1900~ Helen Redfield (d. 1988), American geneticist.  She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.  She died at age 88.

1898~ Elsie Eaves (d. Mar. 27, 1983), American engineer.  She was the first woman to become a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.  She died at age 84.

1892~ Dorothy Garrod (née Dorothy Annie Elizabeth Garrod; d. Dec. 18, 1968), British archeologist.  She specialized in the Palaeolithic period.  She taught at the University of Cambridge and was the first woman to hold the Oxbridge chair.  She died of complications of a stroke at age 76.

1890~ Christopher Morley (d. Mar. 28, 1957), American journalist.  He died at age 66.

1882~ Sylvia Pankhurst (née Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst; d. Sept. 27, 1960), daughter of Emmeline, and sister of Christabel.  The entire family was devoted to fighting for equal rights for women. She died at age 78.

1873~ Leon Czolgosz (né Leon Frank Czolgosz; d. Oct. 29, 1901), American assassin of President William McKinley.  He shot the President in September 1901.  He was electrocuted at age 28, just 7 weeks after the assassination.

1864~ Nellie Bly (née Elizabeth Jane Cochrane; d. Jan. 27, 1922), American journalist.  She is best known for her record-breaking trip around the world and for her exposé into the treatment received by patients in mental institutions. She died of pneumonia at age 57.

1846~ Henryk Sienkeiwicz (d. Nov. 15, 1916), Polish author and recipient of the 1905 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 70.

1830~ John B. Stetson (né John Batterson Stetson; d. Feb. 18, 1906), American hat manufacturer and inventor of the cowboy hat known as the Stetson Hat.  He died at age 75.

1826~ Eugénie de Montijo (d. July 11, 1920), French wife of Napoleon III.  She died at age 94.

1818~ Karl Marx (d. Mar. 14, 1883), German philosopher and political theorist.  He is best known for his book Das Kapital.  He died at age 64.

1813~ Søren Kierkegaard (né Søren Aabye Kierkegaard; d. Nov. 11, 1855), Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author.  He died at age 42.

1747~ Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. Mar. 1, 1792).  He ruled from September 1790 until his death in 1792.  He died suddenly at age 44.

1719~ Andrew Meikle (d. Nov. 27, 1811), Scottish engineer and designer of the threshing machine.  He died at age 91.

1210~ Afonso III, King of Portugal (d. Feb. 16, 1279).  He reigned Portugal from January 1248 until his death in February 1279.  He died at age 68.

Events that Changed the World:

1994~ American teenager Michael Fay (b. 1975) was caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism.

1977~ The first of the Nixon Interviews between journalist David Frost and former President Richard Nixon, were broadcast.

1973~ Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby.

1961~ Alan Shepard (1923 ~ 1998) became the first American to travel into outer space.

1945~ The Prague uprising began by the Czech resistance in an attempt to free the city from Nazi occupation.

1925~ John T. Scopes (1900 ~ 1970) was served with an arrest warrant for teaching evolution in Tennessee in violation of the Butler Act.  His subsequent trial became known as the Monkey Trial.

1920~ Nicola Sacco (Apr. 22, 1891 ~ Aug. 22, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (June 11, 1888 ~ Aug. 22, 1927) were arrested for the alleged robbery and murder of two men during an armed robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts.  They would ultimately be convicted and executed for these crimes.

1905~ Fingerprint evidence was used for the first time to convict the Stratton Brothers for murder in a trial in London. Alfred (1882 ~ 1905) and Albert (1884 ~ 1905) Stratton murdered a couple who managed in a paint shop in England.  The brothers were executed for their crime on May 23, 1905.

1904~ Cy Young (1867 ~ 1955) of the Boston Americans threw the first perfect baseball game while pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics.  The game was played at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, which was the baseball stadium before Fenway Park was built.

1891~ Carnegie Hall, initially known as the Music Hall, in New York City had its grand opening and first public appearance. Peter Tchaikovsky (1840 ~ 1893) was the guest conductor at this event.

1866~ Memorial Day was celebrated for the first time in the United States in Waterloo, New York.  It was originally called Decoration Day and was intended to commemorate the Union soldiers who were killed in the American Civil War.

1865~ The Confederate States of America government was formally declared dissolved.

1862~ Cinco de Mayo, a holiday celebrated in Mexico, which commemorates the victory of a Mexican army over a French army at the Battle of Puebla, was first observed.

1809~ The Swiss canton of Aargau allowed citizenship to Jews and given right pertaining to farming and trade, which had previously been denied to the Jews.

1809~ Mary Kies (1752 ~ 1837) became the first woman to be granted a United States Patent.  She had developed a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.  This invention helped to boost the manufacture of women’s hats.

1640~ King Charles I (1600 ~ 1649) of England dissolved the Short Parliament.

1494~ Christopher Columbus (1451 ~ 1506) is said to have landed in the island of Jamaica and claimed it for Spain.

1260~ Kublai Khan (1215 ~ 1294) became the ruler of the Mongol Empire.

Good-Byes:

2008~ Irv Robbins (né Irvine Robbins; b. Dec. 6, 1917), Canadian-American businessman and co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream company.  He was 90 years old.

2007~ Theodore Maiman (né Theodore Harold Maiman; b. July 11, 1927), American physicist credited with inventing the laser.  He died at age 79.

1993~ Irving Howe (né Irving Horenstein; b. June 11, 1920), American literary and social critic.  He died of cardiovascular disease at age 72.

1981~ Bobby Sands (néRobert Gerard Sands; b. Mar. 9, 1954), Irish activist.  He died in the Long Kesh prison following a 66-day hunger strike.  He was 27 years old.

1959~ Carlos Saavedra Lamas (b. Nov. 1, 1878), Argentine politician and recipient of the 1936 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died of a brain hemorrhage at age 80.

1957~ Leopold Löwenheim (b. June 26, 1878), German mathematician. He died at age 78.

1944~ Bertha Benz (née Bertha Ringer; b. May 3, 1849), German automotive pioneer.  She was married to Karl Benz (1844 ~ 1929), and together they formed the Benz automotive manufacturing company.  She is also known for being the first person to take a long distance road trip when she took her two sons from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany.  She died two days after her 95^thbirthday.

1921~ Alfred Hermann Fried (b. Nov. 11, 1864), Austrian writer and pacifist.  He was the recipient of the 1911 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died at age 56.

1902~ Bret Harte (néFrancis Bret Harte; b. Aug. 25, 1836), American author best know for his stories about the American west.  He died at age 65 in England of throat cancer.

1892~ August Wilhelm von Hofmann (b. Apr. 8, 1818), German organic chemist.  He died a month after his 74^thbirthday.

1859~ Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (b. Feb. 13, 1805), German mathematician.  He is best known for his contribution to number theory.  He died at age 54.

1821~ Napoleon I (né Napoleon Bonaparte, b. Aug. 15, 1769), French military leader and Emperor of France.  He died in exile on the island of St. Helena.  He was 51 years old.

1705~ Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. June 9, 1640).  He reigned from July 1658 until his death 57 years later.  He died about a month before his 65^thbirthday.