May 7

2023 Calendar

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 Edit

Up to 1900 Edit

558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately orders the dome rebuilt.
973 - Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor takes sole charge of the Holy Roman Empire after the death of his father and co-Emperor Otto I.
1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
1429 - Joan of Arc leads a French attack on English bridgeheads on the south side of the Loire River.
1487 - Siege of Malaga during the Spanish Reconquista.
1664 – The Palace of Versailles is inaugurated by Louis XIV of France.
1697 – Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed in a huge fire (in the 18th century, it is replaced with the current Royal Palace).
1718 - 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 – Ludwig van Beethoven, completely deaf, conducts the debut of his Ninth Symphony in Vienna.
1832 – Greece was recognised independent by the Treaty of London. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.
1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi, killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.
1847 – In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.
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.
1864 - The world's oldest-surviving clipper ship, City of Adelaide, is launched by William Pile in Sunderland, Northeast England.
1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates an invention which became the prototype of radio. In the former Soviet Union this day was celebrated as Day of Radio.
1896 – H. H. Holmes is hanged in Philadelphia.

1901 – 2000 Edit

1915 – World War I: a German U-boat sinks the RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people.
1920 – Polish-Bolshevik War: Polish-Ukrainian troops captured Kyiv during the Kiev Offensive.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion arrive in Spain with Heinkel He 51 biplanes to assist Franco's forces.
1940 - The Norway Debate begins in the British House of Commons. It eventually results in Winston Churchill replacing Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day.
1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with about 20 employees.
1947 – Kraft Television Theater debuts, running for the next 11 years.
1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.
1952 – The concept for 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 – 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 44. The pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.
1974 – Willy Brandt resigns as Chancellor of Germany.
1986 - Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb to the top 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 rise.
1992 – Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its maiden voyage.
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.
1994 - The Scream by Edvard Munch is recovered after it was stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in Oslo, in February.
1995 – Jacques Chirac is elected President of France.
1998 – Apple Computer unveils the iMac.
1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope that had visited 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 US$25 million.
1999 – Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 wounded when a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) aircraft mistakenly bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
2000 – Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russia.

From 2001 Edit

2001 - Wanted train robber Ronnie Biggs returns to the UK after spending over 30 years on the run in Brazil.
2002 – A China Southern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea killing 112 people.
2007 – The tomb of King Herod the Great, who is mentioned in the Bible, is discovered.
2008 – Dmitry Medvedev becomes President of Russia, with Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister.
2010 – Scientists working on the Neanderthal Genome Project announce that modern humans and Neanderthals could have interbred.
2012 – Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russia for a second time, swapping places with Dmitry Medvedev, who becomes Prime Minister.
2012 - Victor Ponta is elected Prime Minister of Romania.
2013 - 27 people are killed and over 30 are injured when a tanker truck explodes outside Mexico City.
2014 - Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra is removed from office for abuse of power.
2015 - The United Kingdom general election, 2015 is held. The Conservative Party of incumbent Prime Minister David Cameron wins a surprise overall majority, with the Labour Party losing seats across England, Scotland and Wales. The Scottish National Party wins all but three seats in Scotland.
2016 - Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party becomes Mayor of London, after defeating Conservative Zac Goldsmith in the election. He is the first Muslim Mayor of a major Western city.
2017 - Emmanuel Macron is elected President of France, defeating Marine Le Pen in the run-off.

Births Edit

Up to 1800 Edit

1328 - Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1365)
1530 - Louis, Prince de Condé, French general (d. 1569)
1605 – Patriarch Nikon of the Russian Orthodox Church (d. 1681)
1643 - Stephanus Van Cortlandt, American politician (d. 1700)
1704 - Carl Heinrich Graun, German composer and tenor (d. 1759)
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, French playwright and feminist revolutionary (d. 1793)
1763 – Jozef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince (d. 1813)
1767 – Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia (d. 1820)
1787 - Jacques Viger, 1st Mayor of Chicago (d. 1858)

1801 – 1900 Edit

1812 – Robert Browning, English poet (d. 1889)
1819 – Otto Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer (d. 1905)
1826 – Varina Davis, First Lady of the Confederate States of America (d. 1906)
1833 – Johannes Brahms, German composer (d. 1897)
1836 - Joseph Gurney Cannon, American politician (d. 1926)
1837 - Karl Mauch, German geographer and explorer (d. 1875)
1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (d. 1893)
1841 - Gustave Le Bon, French psychologist (d. 1931)
1847 – Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, British Prime Minister (d. 1929)
1857 - William A. MacCorkle, 9th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1930)
1861 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian poet and writer of the Bengali language (d. 1941)
1867 – Wladyslaw Reymont, Polish writer (d. 1925)
1875 - William Hoyt, American athlete (d. 1954)
1882 - Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (d. 1960)
1891 - Harry McShane, Scottish engineer and activist (d. 1988)
1892 – Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (d. 1980)
1892 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet and politician (d. 1982)
1893 - Frank J. Selke, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 1985)

1901 – 1950 Edit

1901 – Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961)
1901 - Marcel Poot, Belgian composer (d. 1988)
1905 - Bumble Bee Slim, American musician (d. 1968)
1908 - Max Grundig, German businessman (d. 1989)
1909 – Edwin H. Land, American inventor (d. 1991)
1911 – Ishiro Honda, Japanese movie director (d. 1993)
1913 - Simon Ramo, American physicist (d. 2016)
1914 - Arthur Snelling, English diplomat (d. 1996)
1917 - Domenico Bartolucci, Italian cardinal (d. 2013)
1919 - Joe Mitty, British philanthropist (d. 2007)
1919 – Eva Perón, First Lady of Argentina (d. 1952)
1921 - Gaston Rebuffat, French mountaineer (d. 1985)
1923 - Anne Baxter, American writer and actress (d. 1985)
1923 - Bülend Ulusu, 18th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2015)
1924 - Albert Band, French-American director and producer (d. 2002)
1924 - Marjorie Boulton, British author and poet (d. 2017)
1925 - Lauri Vaska, Estonian-American chemist and academic (d. 2015)
1926 - Val Bisoglio, American actor
1927 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German screenwriter (d. 2013)
1928 - John Ingle, American actor (d. 2012)
1931 – Teresa Brewer, American singer (d. 2007)
1932 - Jordi Bonet, Canadian-Catalan painter, muralist and sculptor (d. 1979)
1932 - Pete Domenici, American politician (d. 2017)
1933 - Nexhmije Pagarusha, Kosovar singer and actress
1935 - Avraham Heffner, Israeli television and movie director, producer and writer (d. 2014)
1936 – Tony O'Reilly, Irish billionaire
1936 - Jimmy Ruffin, American singer (d. 2014)
1939 – Sidney Altman, Canadian molecular biologist
1939 – Ruud Lubbers, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2018)
1939 - Ruggero Deodato, Italian director, actor and screenwriter
1939 - Volker Braun, German writer
1940 - Angela Carter, English novelist and journalist (d. 1992)
1943 – Peter Carey, Australian writer
1944 - Richard O'Sullivan, English actor
1945 - Christy Moore, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 - Robin Strasser, American actress
1946 - Thelma Houston, American singer-songwriter and actress
1946 – Michael Rosen, English poet and writer
1946 – Bill Kreutzmann, American drummer (The Grateful Dead)
1947 – Gary Herbert, American politician
1947 - Antonio de la Cruz, Spanish footballer
1947 - Numa Sadoul, French writer
1948 – Susan Atkins, American murderer (d. 2009)
1950 – Tim Russert, American broadcast journalist (d. 2008)
1950 - Mark Warawa, Canadian politician (d. 2019)

1951 – 1975 Edit

1951 – Robert Hegyes, American actor (d. 2012)
1956 – Jan Peter Balkenende, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1956 - Nicholas Hytner, English director and producer
1958 – Christine Lieberknecht, German politician
1961 - Hans-Peter Bartels, German politician
1961 - Sue Black, Scottish forensic anthropologist
1962 - Tony Campbell, American basketball player and coach
1962 - Dominik Moll, German-French director and screenwriter
1965 – Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (died 1999)
1965 - Andrew Little, New Zealand politician
1965 – Norman Whiteside, Northern Irish footballer
1966 - Andrea Tafi, Italian cyclist
1967 – Martin Bryant, Australian criminal
1968
- Traci Lords, American actress & singer
- Lisa Raitt, Canadian politician
1969 – Rick Porras, American movie producer
1969 - Eagle-Eye Cherry, Swedish singer-songwriter
1969 - Katerina Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
1972 - Jennifer Yuh Nelson, South Korean-American animator
1973 - Paolo Savoldelli, Italian cyclist
1975 – Arni Gautur Arason, Icelandic footballer

From 1976 Edit

1976 - Calvin Booth, American basketball player
1977 – Lisa Kelly, Irish singer
1978 – Stian Arnesen, Norwegian musician and songwriter
1978 – Shawn Marion, American basketball player
1979 – Katie Douglas, American basketball player
1981 - Maria Radner, German opera singer (d. 2015)
1983 – Julio dos Santos, Paraguayan footballer
1983 – Garry O'Connor, Scottish footballer
1983 - Makano, Panamanian singer and composer
1986 – Matt Helders, English musician
1987 – Stefan Read, Canadian ski jumper
1988 - Nathan Burns, Australian footballer
1988 – Natalie Mejia, American dancer and singer
1988 - Takayuki Morimoto, Japanese footballer
1988 - Eino Puri, Estonian footballer
1988 - Sander Puri, Estonian footballer
1989 – Master Shortie, English singer-songwriter, rapper and producer
1989 - Raina, South Korean singer, dancer, model and rapper
1990 - Yoon Bit-Garam, South Korean footballer
1992 - Alexander Ludwig, Canadian actor
1992 - Tyler Johnson, American basketball player
1999 – Masaki Sato, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
2000 - Maxwell Perry Cotton, American actor

Deaths Edit

Up to 1900 Edit

685 - Mawan I, Umayyah Caliph (b. 623)
973 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 912)
1266 – Farid-ud-din Ganj Shakar, Islamic saint in South Asia (b. 1179)
1539 – Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism (born 1469)
1539 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (born 1466)
1615 - Sanada Yukimura, Japanese samurai (born 1567)
1617 – David Fabricius, German astronomer (born 1564)
1682 – Tsar Feodor III of Russia (born 1661)
1718 - Mary of Modena, wife of James II of England (born 1658)
1793 - Pietro Nardini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1722)
1805 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1737)
1825 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer (born 1750)
1840 – Caspar David Friedrich, German painter (born 1774)
1868 - Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, English statesman (born 1778)
1872 - Alexander Loyd, 4th Mayor of Chicago (born 1805)
1873 - Salmon P. Chase, American politician (born 1808)

1901 – 2000 Edit

1902 - Agostino Roscelli, Italian priest (born 1818)
1922 – Max Wagenknecht, German composer (born 1857)
1924 - Alluri Sita Rama Raju, Indian activist (born 1897)
1940 - George Lansbury, English politician (born 1859)
1941 – James George Frazer, Scottish ethnologist and classical philologist (born 1854)
1942 – Felix Weingartner, Yugoslavian conductor (born 1863)
1943 - Fethi Okyar, Turkish diplomat and politician (born 1880)
1951 – Warner Baxter, American actor (born 1889)
1958 - Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian organist, composer and conductor (born 1880)
1985 - Dawn Addams, British actress (born 1930)
1986 - Jeffrey Mylett, American actor (born 1949)
1986 - Haldun Taner, Turkish playwright and short story writer (born 1915)
1987 – Colin Blakely, English actor (born 1930)
1989 – Guy Williams, American actor (born 1924)
1991 - István Zsolt, Hungarian football referee (born 1921)
1995 – Ray McKinley, American jazz musician (born 1910)
1998 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South African physicist (born 1924)
2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (born 1909)

From 2001 Edit

2001 - Jacques de Borbon Busset, French novelist, essayist and politician (born 1912)
2005 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorean footballer (born 1980)
2010 – Wally Hickel, American politician, 2nd Governor of Alaska (born 1919)
2011 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (born 1957)
2011 – Willard Boyle, Canadian physicist (born 1924)
2011 - Gunter Sachs, German businessman, art patron and playboy (born 1932)
2013 - Ray Harryhausen, American animator, director and producer (born 1920)
2013 - Aubrey Woods, English actor and singer (born 1928)
2013 - Ferruccio Mazzola, Italian footballer and manager (born 1948)
2014 - Colin Pillinger, British planetary scientist (born 1943)
2014 - Nazim Al-Haqqani, Turkish-Cypriot spiritual leader (born 1922)
2014 - Neville McNamara, Royal Australian Air Force commander (born 1923)
2014 - Manuel Jiménez de Parga, Spanish politician (born 1929)
2015 - John Dixon, Australian cartoonist (born 1929)
2015 - Maurice Flanagan, British businessman (born 1928)
2015 - Frank DiPascali, American financier and fraudster (born 1956)
2016 - Bernardo Ribeiro, Brazilian footballer (born 1989)
2016 - John Stabb, American punk music singer (born 1961)
2017 - Gran Apache, Mexican professional wrestler (born 1959)
2017 - Elon Lages Lima, Brazilian mathematician (born 1929)
2017 - Beppo Mauhart, Austrian football executive and journalist (born 1933)
2017 - Gholamreza Pahlavi, Iranian prince and writer (born 1923)
2017 - Lee Weissenborn, American politician (born 1929)
2017 - Wu Wenjun, Chinese mathematician (born 1919)
2018 - Maurane, Belgian singer and actress (born 1960)
2018 - Miki Muster, Slovenian artist (born 1925)
2018 - Jesús Kumate Rodríguez, Mexican physician and politician (born 1924)
2018 - Crosbie E. Saint, American military officer (born 1936)
2019 - Vicente Emano, Filipino politician (born 1943)
2019 - Georg Katzer, German composer (born 1935)
2019 - Te Wharehuia Milroy, New Zealand Maori language academic (born 1937)
2019 - Adam Svoboda, Czech ice hockey player (born 1978)
2019 - Jean Vanier, Canadian philosopher and theologian (born 1928)
2019 - Joel Virador, Filipino politician (born 1967)

Observances Edit

Radio Day (Russia, Bulgaria)
Defender of the Fatherland Day (Kazakhstan)
Dien Bien Phu Victory Day (Vietnam)