What happened on May 16? There are more than 255 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

Interesting Facts & Myths About May 16

May 16 In HistoryMay 16 is the 137th day of the year 2024. There are 229 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday. This day falls under the 20th week of the year 2024.

On this day in Schenectady, New York 12304 sunrise occured at 05:29 AM and sunset occured at 08:14 PM (local time).

The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Taurus. The modern birthstone for this month is Emerald while the mystical birthstone is Sapphire.

According to the Chinese calendar, there are 258 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).

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Historical Events For May 16

  • 218
    Julia Maesa, aunt of the assassinated Caracalla, is banished to her home in Syria by the self-proclaimed emperor Macrinus and declares her 14-year old grandson Elagabalus, emperor of Rome.
  • 1204
    Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
  • 1527
    The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic.
  • 1532
    Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
  • 1568
    Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England.
  • 1770
    14-year old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste who later becomes king of France.
  • 1771
    The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The “Regulators”, occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.
  • 1811
    Peninsular War: The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom, defeat the French at the Battle of Albuera.
  • 1822
    Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.
  • 1843
    The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.
  • 1866
    The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
  • 1868
    President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.
  • 1874
    A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.
  • 1877
    May 16, 1877 political crisis in France.
  • 1891
    The International Electro-Technical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, and will feature the world’s first long distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electrical current (the most common form today).
  • 1914
    The first ever Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final is played. Brooklyn Field Club defeats Brooklyn Celtic 2-1.
  • 1918
    The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense.
  • 1919
    A naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.
  • 1920
    In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.
  • 1929
    In Hollywood, California, the first Academy Awards are handed out.
  • 1943
    Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
  • 1948
    Chaim Weizmann is elected the first President of Israel.
  • 1951
    The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
  • 1953
    American journalist William N. Oatis is released after serving 22 months of a ten-year prison sentence for espionage in Czechslovakia.
  • 1960
    Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
  • 1961
    Park Chung-hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.
  • 1966
    The Communist Party of China issues the “May 16 Notice”, marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
  • 1969
    Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet spaceprobe, lands on Venus.
  • 1974
    Josip Broz Tito is re-elected president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This time he is elected for life.
  • 1975
    India annexes Sikkim after the mountain state holds a referendum in which the popular vote is in favor of merging with India.
  • 1975
    Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
  • 1983
    Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement rebels against the Sudanese government.
  • 1986
    The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.
  • 1988
    A report by United States’ Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
  • 1991
    Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
  • 2003
    In Casablanca, Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
  • 2005
    Kuwait permits women’s suffrage in a 35-23 National Assembly vote.

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Who Were Born On May 16?

  • 1578
    Everard Digby, English conspirator (d. 1606)
  • 1611
    Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689)
  • 1710
    William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician (d. 1782)
  • 1718
    Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician (d. 1799)
  • 1763
    Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, French pharmacist (d. 1829)
  • 1788
    Friedrich Rückert, German Poet, Translator and Orientalist (d. 1866)
  • 1801
    William H. Seward, American politician and diplomat (d. 1872)
  • 1821
    Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician (d. 1894)
  • 1824
    Levi P. Morton, 22nd United States Vice President (d. 1920)
  • 1827
    Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect (d. 1921)
  • 1831
    David E. Hughes, British inventor and musician (d. 1900)
  • 1845
    Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Russian microbiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1916)
  • 1861
    H. H. Holmes, American serial killer (d. 1896)
  • 1888
    Royal Raymond Rife, American inventor (d. 1971)
  • 1891
    Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (d. 1948)
  • 1897
    Zvi Sliternik, Israeli entomologist (d. 1994)
  • 1898
    Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese film director (d. 1956)
  • 1898
    Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (d. 1980)
  • 1905
    Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)
  • 1906
    Alfred Pellan, French Canadian painter (d. 1988)
  • 1906
    Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer (d. 2001)
  • 1906
    Margret Rey, author and illustrator (d. 1996)
  • 1909
    Margaret Sullavan, American actress (d. 1960)
  • 1910
    Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter (d. 1972)
  • 1910
    Olga Berggolts, Russian poet (d. 1975)
  • 1912
    Studs Terkel, American writer (d. 2008)
  • 1913
    Woody Herman, American musician and band leader (d. 1987)
  • 1914
    Edward T. Hall, American anthropologist and author (d. 2009)
  • 1916
    Adriana Caselotti, American actress (d. 1997)
  • 1916
    Ephraim Katzir, Israeli politician (d. 2009)
  • 1917
    George Gaynes, American actor
  • 1917
    James C. Murray, American politician (d. 1999)
  • 1917
    Juan Rulfo, Mexican novelist (d. 1986)
  • 1918
    Wilf Mannion, English former footballer (d. 2000)
  • 1919
    Liberace, American pianist (d. 1987)
  • 1919
    Ramon Margalef, Spanish scientist (d. 2004)
  • 1920
    Martine Carol, French actress (d. 1967)
  • 1921
    Harry Carey, Jr., American actor
  • 1921
    S. Neil Fujita, American graphic designer (d. 2010)
  • 1923
    Merton Miller, American economist, Nobel laureate (d. 2000)
  • 1923
    Peter Underwood, English parapsychologist
  • 1923
    Victoria Fromkin, American linguist (d. 2000)
  • 1925
    Bobbejaan Schoepen, Belgian entertainer (d. 2010)
  • 1926
    Ronald Podrow, British peace activist (d. 2004)
  • 1927
    Nílton Santos, Brazilian footballer
  • 1928
    Billy Martin, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989)
  • 1929
    Adrienne Rich, American writer
  • 1929
    Claude Morin, French Canadian politician
  • 1929
    John Conyers, American politician
  • 1930
    Betty Carter, American jazz singer (d. 1998)
  • 1930
    Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist (d. 2000)
  • 1931
    Denise Filiatrault, French Canadian actress and director
  • 1931
    Hana Brady, Polish Holocaust victim (d. 1944)
  • 1931
    Jack Dodson, American actor (d. 1994)
  • 1931
    Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., American politician
  • 1931
    Natwar Singh, Indian politician
  • 1936
    Karl Lehmann, German Catholic cardinal
  • 1936
    Roy Hudd, English radio and television actor
  • 1937
    Yvonne Craig, American actress
  • 1943
    Dan Coats, American politician, junior senator of Indiana
  • 1943
    Marko Kravos, Slovenian poet
  • 1944
    Billy Cobham, American drummer
  • 1944
    Danny Trejo, American actor
  • 1945
    Alan Flusser, American clothing designer
  • 1945
    Nicky Chinn, English songwriter (Sweet, Suzi Quatro)
  • 1946
    Robert Fripp, English guitarist (King Crimson)
  • 1946
    Roger Earl, English rock drummer (Savoy Brown, Foghat)
  • 1947
    Bill Smitrovich, American actor
  • 1947
    Bob Edwards, American newscaster
  • 1948
    Adrian Legg, English guitarist
  • 1948
    Jesper Christensen, Danish actor
  • 1948
    Judy Finnegan, English TV presenter (Richard & Judy)
  • 1948
    Katia Dandoulaki, Greek actress
  • 1949
    Rick Reuschel, American baseball player
  • 1950
    J. Georg Bednorz, German physicist, Nobel laureate
  • 1950
    Ray Condo, Canadian rockabilly musician (d. 2004)
  • 1951
    Christian Lacroix, French fashion desinger
  • 1951
    Jonathan Richman, American Protopunk singer and musician (The Modern Lovers)
  • 1952
    James Herndon, American media psychologist
  • 1953
    Kitanoumi Toshimitsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 55th Yokozuna
  • 1953
    Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
  • 1954
    Dafydd Williams, Canadian physician and astronaut
  • 1955
    Debra Winger, American actress
  • 1955
    Hazel O'Connor, English singer
  • 1955
    Jack Morris, American baseball player
  • 1955
    Olga Korbut, Belarussian gymnast
  • 1957
    Yuri Shevchuk, Russian singer
  • 1958
    Gitane Demone, American Goth singer
  • 1958
    Glenn Gregory, British musician (Heaven 17)
  • 1959
    Mare Winningham, American actress
  • 1960
    Landon Deireragea, Nauruan politician
  • 1961
    Charles Wright, American professional wrestler
  • 1961
    Kevin McDonald, Canadian comedian and actor
  • 1963
    Jon Coffelt, American artist
  • 1963
    Mercedes Echerer, Austrian actress and politician
  • 1964
    Boyd Tinsley, American musician (Dave Matthews Band)
  • 1964
    Edit Berces, Hungarian marathon runner
  • 1964
    John Salley, American basketball player
  • 1965
    Krist Novoselic, American musician and author
  • 1966
    Janet Jackson, American singer
  • 1966
    Scott Reeves, American actor and singer
  • 1966
    Thurman Thomas, American football player
  • 1967
    Doug Brocail, American baseball player
  • 1968
    Chingmy Yau, Hong Kong actress
  • 1968
    Ralph Tresvant, American singer (New Edition)
  • 1969
    David Boreanaz, American actor
  • 1969
    Steve Lewis, American athlete
  • 1969
    Tracey Gold, American actress
  • 1969
    Tucker Carlson, American television commentator
  • 1970
    Danielle Spencer, Australian singer and actress
  • 1970
    Gabriela Sabatini, Argentine tennis player
  • 1971
    Rachel Goswell, English singer and songwriter (Slowdive, Mojave 3)
  • 1972
    Christian Califano, French rugby player
  • 1972
    Derek Mears, American actor
  • 1972
    Khary Payton, American actor
  • 1973
    Jason Acuña, American television personality
  • 1973
    Special Ed, American rapper
  • 1973
    Tori Spelling, American actress
  • 1974
    Adam Richman, American actor and television personality
  • 1974
    Laura Pausini, Italian pop singer
  • 1974
    Sonny Sandoval, American singer (P.O.D.)
  • 1975
    Tonéx, American singer
  • 1975
    Tony Kakko, Finnish singer (Sonata Arctica)
  • 1976
    Brian Langtry, American lacrosse player
  • 1976
    Dirk Nannes, Dutch-born Australian cricketer
  • 1977
    Dolcenera, Italian singer
  • 1977
    Emiliana Torrini Icelandic singer and songwriter
  • 1977
    Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1977
    Melanie Lynskey, New Zealand actress
  • 1978
    David Ford, English singer and songwriter
  • 1978
    Lionel Scaloni, Argentine footballer
  • 1979
    McKenzie Lee, English pornographic actress
  • 1980
    Melanie Lofton, American journalist
  • 1980
    Michael Ryan, American ice hockey player
  • 1980
    Mikel Alonso, Spanish footballer
  • 1981
    Jim Sturgess, English actor
  • 1981
    Taavi Rähn, Estonian footballer
  • 1982
    Łukasz Kubot, Polish tennis player
  • 1982
    Billy Crawford, Filipino singer and musician
  • 1982
    Hanna Mariën, Belgian athlete
  • 1982
    Joo Ji Hoon, Korean actor and model
  • 1983
    Daniel Kerr, Australian football player (AFL)
  • 1983
    Kyle Wellwood, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1983
    Nancy Ajram, Lebanese singer
  • 1984
    Dario Cvitanich, Argentinian footballer
  • 1984
    Jensen Lewis, American baseball player
  • 1984
    Mickie Knuckles, American professional wrestler
  • 1984
    Rick Rypien, Canadian hockey player (d. 2011)
  • 1985
    Anja Mittag, German footballer
  • 1985
    Café, Brazilian footballer
  • 1985
    Corey Perry, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1985
    Okura Tadayoshi, Japanese singer (Kanjani Eight)
  • 1985
    Stanislav Ianevski, Bulgarian actor
  • 1986
    Andy Keogh, Irish footballer
  • 1986
    Megan Fox, American actress
  • 1987
    Tom Onslow-Cole, British racing driver
  • 1990
    Darko Sarovic, Serbian sprinter
  • 1990
    Thomas Sangster, English actor
  • 1991
    Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgarian tennis player
  • 1992
    Jeff Skinner, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1993
    Lee Ji-eun, Korean singer also known as IU
  • 1994
    Miles Heizer, American actor
  • 1998
    Ariel Waller, Canadian actress

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Who Died On May 16?

  • 583
    Saint Brendan, Irish navigator (b. 484)
  • 1265
    Saint Simon Stock, English saint (b. 1165)
  • 1569
    Dirk Willems, Dutch Anabaptist
  • 1620
    William Adams, English navigator (b. 1564)
  • 1657
    Andrzej Bobola, Polish Jesuit missionary (b. 1591)
  • 1667
    Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, English statesman (b. 1607)
  • 1669
    Pietro da Cortona, Italian architect (b. 1596)
  • 1691
    Jacob Leisler, American colonist (b. 1640)
  • 1703
    Charles Perrault, French author (b. 1628)
  • 1778
    Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English diplomat (b. 1718)
  • 1782
    Daniel Solander, Swedish botanist (b. 1736)
  • 1790
    Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician (b. 1720)
  • 1830
    Joseph Fourier, French scientist (b. 1768)
  • 1882
    Reuben Chapman, American lawyer and politician (b. 1799)
  • 1891
    Ion Brătianu, Romanian statesman (b. 1821)
  • 1913
    Louis Perrier, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1849)
  • 1920
    Levi P. Morton, 22nd United States Vice President (b. 1824)
  • 1926
    Mehmed VI, last Ottoman Sultan (b. 1861)
  • 1943
    Alfred Hoche, German psychiatrist (b. 1865)
  • 1944
    George Ade, American author (b. 1866)
  • 1947
    Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1861)
  • 1953
    Django Reinhardt, Belgian musician (b. 1910)
  • 1954
    Clemens Krauss, Austrian conductor (b. 1893)
  • 1955
    James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)
  • 1956
    H. B. Reese, American confectioner, founder of Reese’s (b. 1876)
  • 1957
    Eliot Ness, American federal agent (b. 1903)
  • 1959
    Elisha Scott, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1894)
  • 1961
    George A. Malcolm, American jurist & educator (b. 1881)
  • 1969
    Robert R., American AIDS victim (b. 1954)
  • 1975
    Al Helfer, American radio sportscaster (b. 1911)
  • 1979
    A. Philip Randolph, American civil rights activist and labor union leader (b. 1889)
  • 1981
    Ernie Freeman, American pianist and arranger (b. 1922)
  • 1984
    Andy Kaufman, American comedian (b. 1949)
  • 1984
    Irwin Shaw, American author (b. 1913)
  • 1985
    Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
  • 1988
    Charles Keeping, English illustrator (b. 1924)
  • 1988
    George Pyrounakis, Greek religious figure (b. 1910)
  • 1990
    Jim Henson, American puppeteer (b. 1936)
  • 1990
    Sammy Davis, Jr., American entertainer (b. 1925)
  • 1992
    Chalino Sánchez, Mexican musician (b. 1960)
  • 1993
    Marv Johnson, American R&B and soul singer (b. 1938)
  • 1996
    Jeremy Michael Boorda, American admiral (b. 1939)
  • 1997
    Elbridge Durbrow, American diplomat (b. 1903)
  • 2000
    Bodacious the Bull, rodeo bull (b. 1988)
  • 2001
    Brian Pendleton, English musician (The Pretty Things) (b. 1944)
  • 2002
    Alec Campbell, Australian soldier (b. 1899)
  • 2002
    Big Dick Dudley, American professional wrestler (b. 1968)
  • 2003
    Mark McCormack, American businessman (b. 1930)
  • 2008
    David Mitton, British television director (b. 1939)
  • 2008
    Robert Mondavi, American winemaker (b. 1913)
  • 2010
    Hank Jones, American jazz pianist (b. 1918)
  • 2010
    Ronnie James Dio, American heavy metal vocalist (b. 1942)
  • 2011
    Bill Skiles, American comic (b. 1931)
  • 2011
    Bob Davis, Australian rules footballer (b. 1928)
  • 2011
    Edward Hardwicke, English actor (b. 1932)

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