May 7 is the 127th day of the year (128th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 238 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
- 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt.
- 1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
- 1348 – Charles University in Prague (Universitas Carolina/Univerzita Karlova) is established as the first university in Central Europe.
- 1429 – Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning, wounded, to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.
- 1664 – Louis XIV of France inaugurates The Palace of Versailles.
- 1697 – Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed by fire. It is replaced by the current Royal Palace in the eighteenth century.
- 1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville.
- 1763 – Indian Wars: Pontiac's Rebellion begins – Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.
- 1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the deaf composer's supervision.
- 1832 – The independence of Greece is recognized by the Treaty of London. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.
- 1836 – The settlement of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico is elevated to the royal status of villa by the government of Spain.
- 1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.
- 1847 – The American Medical Association is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
- 1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector — a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.
- 1915 – World War I: German submarine SM U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many formerly pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.
- 1920 – Kiev Offensive (1920): Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kiev only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.
- 1920 – Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.
- 1927 – Angelos Sikelianos organizes the first Delphic Festival in Delphi to celebrate the ancient Greek Delphic ideal.
- 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.
- 1942 – During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Japanese Imperial Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
- 1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day.
- 1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees.
- 1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.
- 1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.
- 1954 – Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
- 1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960 – Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.
- 1964 – Pacific Air Lines Flight 773, a Fairchild F-27 airliner, crashes near San Ramon, California, killing all 44 aboard; the FBI later reports that a cockpit recorder tape indicates that the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.
- 1974 – West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns.
- 1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow became the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits.
- 1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
- 1992 – Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first fast-food murder in Canada.
- 1992 – Latvia conducted its first post-Soviet monetary reform and began issuing Latvian rublis, a temporary currency in use until the introduction of Latvian lats. The move reduced the pressure on Latvian economy caused by shortage of cash and hyperinflation of rouble, and led way to ultimately successful economic reforms.
- 1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40 billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
- 1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
- 1999 – A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode. Schmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure's family $25 million USD.
- 1999 – Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
- 1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
- 2002 – A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
- 2007 – The tomb of Herod the Great is discovered.
Births
- 1328 – Louis VI the Roman, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1365)
- 1530 – Louis I de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, French Huguenot general (d. 1569)
- 1643 – Stephanus Van Cortlandt, American politician (d. 1700)
- 1700 – Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-born physician (d. 1772)
- 1711 – David Hume, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1776)
- 1724 – Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, Austrian general (d. 1797)
- 1740 – Nikolai Arkharov, Russian general (d. 1814)
- 1748 – Olympe de Gouges, playwright and feminist revolutionary (d. 1793)
- 1763 – Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince (d. 1813)
- 1767 – Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, Duchess of York and Albany (d. 1820)
- 1774 – William Bainbridge, American Commodore (d. 1833)
- 1787 – Jacques Viger, French Canadian politician, first mayor of Montreal (d. 1858)
- 1812 – Robert Browning, English poet (d. 1889)
- 1833 – Johannes Brahms, German composer (d. 1897)
- 1836 – Joseph Gurney Cannon, American politician (d. 1926)
- 1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (d. 1893)
- 1847 – Archibald Primrose, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1929)
- 1857 – William A. MacCorkle, American politician (d. 1930)
- 1861 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1941)
- 1867 – Władysław Reymont, Polish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1925)
- 1882 – Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (d. 1960)
- 1885 – George 'Gabby' Hayes, American actor (d. 1969)
- 1891 – Harry McShane, Scottish socialist (d. 1988)
- 1892 – Archibald MacLeish, American Librarian of Congress (d. 1982)
- 1892 – Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (d. 1980)
- 1893 – Frank J. Selke, Canadian ice hockey manager (d. 1985)
- 1896 – Pavel Sergeevich Alexandrov, Russian mathematician (d. 1982)
- 1901 – Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961)
- 1909 – Edwin H. Land, American inventor (d. 1991)
- 1911 – Ishiro Honda, Japanese film director (d. 1993)
- 1912 – Pannalal Patel, Gujarati author (d. 1989)
- 1914 – Sir Arthur Snelling, British Ambassador (d. 1996)
- 1916 – Huw Wheldon, British broadcaster (d. 1986)
- 1917 – David Tomlinson, English film actor (d. 2000)
- 1919 – Eva Peron, Argentine first lady (d. 1952)
- 1922 – Lew Anderson, American actor and bandleader (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Darren McGavin, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Joe O'Donnell, American documentary photographer, photojournalist (d. 2007)
- 1923 – Anne Baxter, American actress (d. 1985)
- 1924 – Albert Band, American film director (d. 2002)
- 1926 – Val Bisoglio, Italian-American actor
- 1927 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German screenwriter
- 1927 – Jim Lowe, American singer
- 1929 – Babe Parilli, American football player
- 1929 – Dick Williams, American baseball player, manager and coach
- 1930 – Totie Fields, American comedienne (d. 1978)
- 1931 – Teresa Brewer, American pop and jazz singer (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Gene Wolfe, American science fiction author
- 1932 – Pete Domenici, Republican senator from New Mexico
- 1933 – Johnny Unitas, American football player (d. 2002)
- 1933 – Nexhmije Pagarusha, Albanian singer
- 1935 – Isobel Warren, Canadian author
- 1937 – Claude Raymond, Quebec baseball player
- 1939 – Sidney Altman, Canadian molecular biologist, Nobel laureate
- 1939 – Ruud Lubbers, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- 1939 – Johnny Maestro, American pop singer
- 1939 – Jimmy Ruffin, American singer
- 1939 – Ruggero Deodato, Italian film director, actor and screen writer
- 1940 – Angela Carter, English novelist and journalist (d. 1992)
- 1940 – Jim Connors, American Radio personality (d. 1987)
- 1941 – Catherine P. Saxton, British-born American public relations executive
- 1943 – Terry Allen, American country music singer
- 1943 – Harvey Andrews, English singer and songwriter
- 1943 – Peter Carey, Australian author
- 1944 – Eva Norvind, Mexican actress (d. 2006)
- 1944 – Richard O'Sullivan, British actor
- 1945 – Christy Moore, Irish folk artist
- 1945 – Robin Strasser, American TV soap opera actress
- 1946 – Thelma Houston, American singer
- 1946 – Bill Kreutzmann, American drummer (Grateful Dead)
- 1946 – Brian Turner, English celebrity chef
- 1949 – Andrew Clements, American author
- 1950 – Randall 'Tex' Cobb, American boxer and actor
- 1950 – Tim Russert, American television host (d. 2008)
- 1951 – Robert Hegyes, American actor
- 1953 – Pat McInally, American National Football League player
- 1953 – Ian McKay, British soldier (VC recipient) (d. 1982)
- 1954 – Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
- 1954 – Amy Heckerling, American director
- 1955 – Ben Poquette, American basketball player
- 1955 – Peter Reckell, American actor
- 1955 – Kevin Reed, American theologian
- 1956 – Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- 1956 – Anne Dudley, British composer
- 1956 – Jean Lapierre, Canadian politician and television host
- 1957 – Ray Fernandez, American wrestler (d. 2004)
- 1958 – Mark G. Kuzyk, American physicist
- 1959 – Barbara Yung Mei-ling, Hong Kong actress (d. 1985)
- 1959 – Michael E. Knight, American actor
- 1960 – Adam Bernstein, American music video/television director
- 1960 – Almudena Grandes, Spanish novelist
- 1961 – Phil Campbell, British musician (Motörhead)
- 1963 – Johnny Lee Middleton, American musician (Savatage & Trans-Siberian Orchestra)
- 1964 – Doug Benson, American comedian
- 1965 – Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1999)
- 1965 – Norman Whiteside, Northern Irish footballer
- 1967 – Joe Rice, American politician
- 1968 – Traci Lords, American actress
- 1969 – Eagle-Eye Cherry, Swedish/American musician
- 1969 – Rick Porras, American film producer
- 1970 – Kim Su-ro, South Korean actor
- 1971 – Horgh, Norwegian drummer (Immortal, Hypocrisy)
- 1972 – Felix da Housecat, American DJ and record producer
- 1972 – Frank Trigg, American mixed martial artist
- 1973 – Kristian Lundin, Swedish songwriter
- 1973 – Paolo Savoldelli, Italian cyclist
- 1974 – Breckin Meyer, American actor
- 1974 – Ian Pearce, English footballer
- 1975 – Jason Tunks, Canadian track & field athlete
- 1975 – Zee, American hip hop artist
- 1977 – Lisa Kelly, Irish singer
- 1978 – Stian Arnesen, Norwegian musician
- 1978 – Brian Clevinger, American author
- 1978 – Shawn Marion, American basketball player
- 1979 – Katie Douglas, American basketball player
- 1980 – Johan Kenkhuis, Dutch swimmer
- 1980 – Kate Lawler, English reality television personality
- 1982 – Ákos Buzsáky, Hungarian footballer
- 1984 – James Loney, American baseball player
- 1984 – Alex Smith, American football player
- 1984 – Drew Stanton, American football player
- 1985 – Drew Neitzel, American basketball player
- 1985 – Dan Sweetman, Australian television host
- 1986 – Mark Furze, Australian actor
- 1986 – Matt Helders, English drummer (Arctic Monkeys)
- 1987 – Michael Maidens, English footballer (d. 2007)
- 1988 – Natalie Mejia, American dancer and singer (Girlicious)
- 1989 – Master Shortie, English Rapper
Deaths
- 973 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 912)
- 1092 – Remigius de Fécamp, first bishop of Lincoln (b. unknown)
- 1427 – Thomas la Warr, 5th Baron De La Warr, English churchman
- 1523 – Franz von Sickingen, German soldier (b. 1481)
- 1539 – Guru Nanak Dev, Founder of Sikhism (b. 1469)
- 1539 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (b. 1466)
- 1615 – Sanada Yukimura, Japanese samurai (b. 1567)
- 1617 – David Fabricius, German astronomer (b. 1564)
- 1667 – Johann Jakob Froberger, German composer (b. 1616)
- 1682 – Tsar Feodor III of Russia (b. 1661)
- 1718 – Mary of Modena, wife of James II of England (b. 1658)
- 1793 – Pietro Nardini, Italian composer (b. 1722)
- 1800 – Niccolo Piccinni, Italian composer (b. 1728)
- 1805 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1737)
- 1825 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer (b. 1750)
- 1840 – Caspar David Friedrich, German painter (b. 1774)
- 1868 – Henry Peter Brougham, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1778)
- 1876 – William Buell Sprague, American clergyman and author (b. 1795)
- 1887 – C. F. W. Walther, American Lutheran theologian (b. 1811)
- 1896 – H. H. Holmes (Herman Webster Mudgett) , American serial killer (b. 1860)
- 1922 – Max Wagenknecht, German composer (b. 1857)
- 1925 – William Hesketh Lever, First Viscount Leverhulme (b. 1851)
- 1940 – George Lansbury, Labour Party Leader (b. 1859)
- 1941 – Sir James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist (b. 1854)
- 1942 – Felix Weingartner, Yugoslavian conductor (b. 1863)
- 1951 – Warner Baxter, American actor (b. 1889)
- 1967 – Lorenzo Bandini, Italian Formula One driver (b. 1935)
- 1986 – Jeffrey Mylett, American actor (b. 1949)
- 1987 – Colin Blakely, British actor (b. 1930)
- 1989 – Guy Williams, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1995 – Ray McKinley, American jazz drummer, singer and bandleader (b. 1910)
- 1998 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South African physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1924)
- 1998 – Eddie Rabbitt, American musician (b. 1941)
- 2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (b. 1909)
- 2002 – Seattle Slew, American racehorse (b. 1974)
- 2002 – Kevyn Aucoin, Makeup Artist and Photographer (b. 1962)
- 2004 – Waldemar Milewicz, Polish reporter (b. 1956)
- 2005 – Tristan Egolf, American writer (b. 1971)
- 2005 – Peter W. Rodino, American politician (b. 1909)
- 2005 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer (b. 1980)
- 2006 – Richard Carleton, Australian news reporter (b. 1943)
- 2006 – Joan C. Edwards, American philanthropist (b. 1918)
- 2006 – Machiko Soga, Japanese actress (b. 1943)
- 2007 – Diego Corrales, American boxer (b. 1977)
- 2007 – Octavian Paler, Romanian writer and journalist (b. 1926)
- 2007 – Yahweh ben Yahweh, American cult leader (b. 1935)
- 2009 – David Mellor, English cutlery designer (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances
External links
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