May 11

Events

1601–1900

*1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
*1813 – William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth discover a route across the Blue Mountains, opening up inland Australia to settlement.
*1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
*1880 – Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California.
*1889 – An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort results in the theft of over $28,000 and the award of two Medals of Honor.
*1894 – Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike.

1901–present

*1919 – Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
*1970 – The 1970 Lubbock tornado kills 26 and causes $250 million in damage.
*1985 – Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in the Bradford City stadium fire.
*1996 – After the aircraft's departure from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 on board.
*1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
*1998 – India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.
*2011 – An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Lorca, Spain.
*2013 – Fifty-two people are killed in a bombing in Reyhanlı, Turkey.
*2014 – Fifteen people are killed and 46 injured in Kinshasa in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into soccer stands by police officers.
*2016 – One hundred and ten people are killed in an ISIL bombing in Baghdad.

Births

Pre-1600

*1571 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyō (d. 1637)

1601–1900

*1715 – Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach, German organist (d. 1739)
*1752 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German physician, physiologist, and anthropologist (d. 1840)
*1797 – José Mariano Salas, Mexican general and politician (d. 1867)
*1811 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss politician (d. 1893)
*1852 – Charles W. Fairbanks, American journalist and politician, 26th United States Vice President (d. 1918)
*1854 – Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (d. 1932)
*1869 – Archibald Warden, English tennis player (d. 1943)
*1871 – Frank Schlesinger, American astronomer and author (d. 1943)
*1875 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (d. 1912)
*1881 – Al Cabrera, Spanish-Cuban baseball player and manager (d. 1964)
* 1881 – Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1944)
* 1881 – Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and engineer (d. 1963)
*1888 – Irving Berlin, Belarusian-American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
* 1888 – Willis Augustus Lee, American admiral (d. 1945)
*1889 – Paul Nash, British painter (d. 1946)
*1890 – Willie Applegarth, English-American sprinter (d. 1958)
* 1890 – Helge Løvland, Norwegian decathlete (d. 1984)
*1894 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1991)
*1895 – Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (d. 1978)
* 1895 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher and speaker (d. 1986)
* 1895 – William Grant Still, American composer and conductor (d. 1978)
*1896 – Josip Štolcer-Slavenski, Croatian composer and academic (d. 1955)
*1897 – Robert E. Gross, American businessman (d. 1961)

1901–present

*1901 – Rose Ausländer, Ukrainian-English poet and author (d. 1988)
* 1901 – Gladys Rockmore Davis, American painter (d. 1967)
*1902 – Edna Ernestine Kramer, American mathematician (d. 1984)
*1903 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player and manager (d. 1993)
*1904 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (d. 1989)
*1905 – Lise de Baissac, Mauritian-born SOE agent, war hero (d. 2004)
* 1905 – Catherine Bauer Wurster, American architect and public housing advocate (d. 1964)
*1907 – Rip Sewell, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989)
*1911 – Mitchell Sharp, Canadian economist and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Finance (d. 2004)
* 1911 – Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian (d. 1985)
*1912 – Saadat Hasan Manto, Indian-Pakistani author and screenwriter (d. 1955)
*1916 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
*1918 – Richard Feynman, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
*1921 – Robin Barbour, Scottish minister and author (d. 2014)
* 1921 – Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician (d. 2016)
*1924 – Antony Hewish, English astronomer and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2021)
*1925 – Edward J. King, American football player and politician, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
*1927 – Bernard Fox, British actor (d. 2016)
* 1927 – Gene Savoy, American explorer, author, and scholar (d. 2007)
*1930 – Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist and academic (d. 2002)
* 1930 – Stanley Elkin, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1995)
*1932 – Valentino Garavani, Italian fashion designer
*1933 – Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader
*1934 – Jim Jeffords, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2014)
* 1934 – Jack Twyman, American basketball player (d. 2012)
*1935 – Francisco Umbral, Spanish journalist and author (d. 2007)
*1937 – Ildikó Újlaky-Rejtő, Hungarian Olympic and world champion foil fencer
*1938 – Narendra Patel, Baron Patel, Tanzanian-English obstetrician, academic, and politician
*1941 – Eric Burdon, English musician
* 1941 – Ian Redpath, Australian cricketer and coach
*1943 – Nancy Greene, Canadian skier and politician
*1944 – John Benaud, Australian cricketer
*1948 – Jack Cantoni, French rugby player (d. 2013)
* 1948 – Nirj Deva, Sri Lankan-English politician
*1950 – Jeremy Paxman, English journalist and author
* 1950 – Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Indian actor (d. 2014)
*1951 – Ed Stelmach, Canadian farmer and politician, 13th Premier of Alberta
*1954 – John Gregory, English footballer and manager
*1955 – John DeStefano, Jr., American politician, 49th Mayor of New Haven
*1957 – Mike Nesbitt – Steve Bono, American football player
*1964 – Bobby Witt, American baseball player
* 1964 – Floyd Youmans, American baseball player, coach, and manager
*1967 – Alberto García Aspe, Mexican footballer and manager
*1969 – Mitch Healey, Australian rugby league player and coach
* 1969 – Simon Vroemen, Dutch runner
*1970 – Harold Ford, Jr., American lawyer and politician
* 1970 – Jason Queally, English cyclist
*1972 – Tomáš Dvořák, Czech decathlete and coach
*1973 – Tsuyoshi Ogata, Japanese runner
*1974 – Stanley Gene, Papua New Guinean rugby league player
* 1974 – Darren Ward, English-Welsh footballer and coach
* 1974 – Tony Warner, English born Trinidadian international footballer and coach
*1975 – Francisco Cordero, Dominican-American baseball player
*1976 – Kardinal Offishall, Canadian rapper and record producer/executive
*1977 – Pablo Gabriel García, Uruguayan footballer
* 1977 – Victor Matfield, South African rugby player, coach, and sportscaster
* 1977 – Bobby Roode, Canadian professional wrestler
*1978 – Laetitia Casta, French model and actress
*1981 – Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
*1981 – JP Karliak, American actor, voice actor and comedian
*1982 – Cory Monteith, Canadian actor and singer (d. 2013)
*1983 – Matt Leinart, American football player
* 1983 – Steven Sotloff, American-Israeli journalist (d. 2014)
* 1983 – Holly Valance, Australian actress, singer and model
*1984 – Andrés Iniesta, Spanish footballer
*1985 – Beau Ryan, Australian rugby league player and television host
*1986 – Abou Diaby, French footballer
* 1986 – Miguel Veloso, Portuguese footballer
*1987 – Lim Seul-ong, South Korean singer and actor
* 1987 – Monica Roșu, Romanian gymnast
*1988 – Jeremy Maclin, American football player
* 1988 – Brad Marchand, Canadian ice hockey player
*1989 – Alyssa Brown, Canadian artistic gymnast
* 1989 – Giovani dos Santos, Mexican international footballer
* 1989 – Cam Newton, American football player
*1992 – Thibaut Courtois, Belgian footballer
* 1992 – Pablo Sarabia, Spanish footballer
*1993 – Maurice Harkless, American-Puerto Rican basketball player
*1994 – Hagos Gebrhiwet, Ethiopian runner
* 1994 – Nene Macdonald, Papua New Guinean rugby league player
*1995 – Gelson Martins, Portuguese footballer
*1995 – Sachia Vickery, American tennis player
*1998 – Viktória Kužmová, Slovak tennis player
*1999 – Sabrina Carpenter, American singer and actress

Deaths

Pre-1600

* 912 – Leo VI the Wise, Byzantine Emperor, the second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (b.866).Kazhdan, p. 1211

1601–1900

* 1610 – Matteo Ricci, Italian priest and mathematician (b. 1552)
*1778 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708)
*1779 – John Hart, American lawyer and politician (b. 1711)
*1812 – Spencer Perceval, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1762)
*1848 – Tom Cribb, English boxer (b. 1781)
* 1849 – Juliette Récamier, French businesswoman (b. 1777)
*1882 – Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1816)
*1889 – John Cadbury, English businessman and philanthropist, founded the Cadbury Company (b. 1801)

1901–present

*1908 – Charles Kingston, Australian politician, 20th Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
*1916 – Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer and physicist (b. 1873)
*1918 – George Elmslie, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Victoria (b. 1861)
*1920 – James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1878)
* 1920 – William Dean Howells, American novelist, literary critic, and playwright (b. 1837)
*1927 – Juan Gris, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
*1929 – Jozef Murgaš, Slovak-American priest, architect, botanist, and painter (b. 1864)
*1938 – George Lyon, Canadian golfer and cricketer (b. 1858)
*1946 – Seán McCaughey Irish Republican, Hunger Striker
*1955 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
*1960 – John D. Rockefeller Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1874)
*1963 – Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
*1967 – James E. Brewton, American painter (b. 1930)
*1979 – Lester Flatt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914)
*1981 – Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
* 1981 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1945)
*1983 – Zenna Henderson, American writer (b. 1917)
*1985 – Chester Gould, American cartoonist, created ''Dick Tracy'' (b. 1900)
*1986 – Fritz Pollard, American football player and coach (b. 1894)
*1988 – Kim Philby, British-Soviet double agent (b. 1912)
*1994 – Timothy Carey, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1928)
*2001 – Douglas Adams, English novelist and screenwriter (b. 1952)
*2002 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1912)
* 2002 – Bill Peet, American animator and screenwriter (b. 1915)
*2003 – Noel Redding, English bass player (b. 1945)
*2005 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (b. 1908)
*2006 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer and actor (b. 1935)
*2007 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan ruler (b. 1913)
*2008 – John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (b. 1953)
*2009 – Abel Goumba, Central African physician and politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1926)
* 2009 – Claudio Huepe, Chilean economist and politician, Chilean Minister Secretary-General of Government (b. 1939)
* 2009 – Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda, Indian admiral (b. 1915)
*2010 – Doris Eaton Travis, American dancer and vaudevillian (b. 1904)
*2011 – Robert Traylor, American basketball player (b. 1977)
*2019 – Peggy Lipton, American actress, model, and singer (b. 1946)
* 2019 – Thomas Silverstein, American murderer (b. 1952)
*2020 – Jerry Stiller, American comedian, actor (b. 1927)
*2021 – Colt Brennan, American quarterback (b. 1983)
* 2021 – Norman Lloyd, American actor, producer and director (b. 1914)

Holidays and observances

*Christian feast day:
**Anthimus of Rome
** Gangulphus of Burgundy
**Majolus of Cluny
**Mamertus, the first of the Ice Saints

References

External links

BBC: On This Day
*

Historical Events on May 11

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Days of the year
May