May 21

May 21 in recent years

2024 (Tuesday)

2023 (Sunday)

2022 (Saturday)

2021 (Friday)

2020 (Thursday)

2019 (Tuesday)

2018 (Monday)

2017 (Sunday)

2016 (Saturday)

2015 (Thursday)

May 21 is the 141st day of the year (142nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 224 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 293 – Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as Caesar to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy.
• 878 – Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily.
• 879 – Pope John VIII gives blessings to Branimir of Croatia and to the Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state.
• 996 – Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1085 – The Swedish town of Helsingborg is founded.
• 1349 – Dušan's Code, the constitution of the Serbian Empire, is enacted by Dušan the Mighty.
• 1403 – Henry III of Castile sends Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo as ambassador to Timur to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and Castile against the Ottoman Empire.
• 1502 – The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese explorer João da Nova.
• 1554 – Queen Mary I grants a royal charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England.
• 1674 – The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
• 1725 – The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by Empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
• 1758 – Ten-year-old Mary Campbell is abducted in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War. She is returned six and a half years later.
• 1809 – The first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling between the Austrian army led by Archduke Charles and the French army led by Napoleon I of France sees the French attack across the Danube held.
• 1851 – Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America.
• 1856 – Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege.
• 1863 – Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.
• 1864 – Russia declares an end to the Russian–Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.
• 1864 – American Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
• 1871 – French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of "Bloody Week", some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.
• 1871 – Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi-Bahnen on Mount Rigi.
• 1879 – War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.
• 1881 – The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.
• 1894 – The Manchester Ship Canal in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who later knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.
• 1904 – The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris.
• 1911 – President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
• 1917 – The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is established through royal charter to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military forces.
• 1917 – The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 causes $5.5 million in damages, destroying some 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses and churches, displacing about 10,000 people but leading to only one fatality (due to heart attack).
• 1924 – University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing".
• 1927 – Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1932 – Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1934 – Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens.
• 1936 – Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her handbag. Her story soon becomes one of Japan's most notorious scandals.
• 1937 – A Soviet station, North Pole-1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.
• 1939 – The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa.
• 1946 – Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
• 1951 – The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition – a gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School.
• 1961 – American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
• 1966 – The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.
• 1969 – Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, known as Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student.
• 1972 – Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth.
• 1976 – The Yuba City bus disaster occurs in Martinez, California. Twenty-nine are killed making it the deadliest road accident in U.S. history.
• 1979 – White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
• 1981 – Irish Republican hunger strikers Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara die on hunger strike in Maze prison.
• 1981 – The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries.
• 1982 – Falklands War: A British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton leads to the Battle of San Carlos.
• 1991 – Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.
• 1991 – Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
• 1992 – After 30 seasons Johnny Carson hosted his penultimate episode and last featuring guests (Robin Williams and Bette Midler) of The Tonight Show.
• 1994 – The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessful attempts to secede from the Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out.
• 1996 – The ferry MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000.
• 1996 – The Trappist Martyrs of Atlas, kidnapped during the Algerian Civil War and held for two months, are found dead.
• 1998 – In Miami, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker.
• 1998 – President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Tri Sakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule.
• 2001 – French Taubira law is enacted, officially recognizing the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
• 2003 – An earthquake hits northern Algeria, killing more than 2,000 people.
• 2005 – The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey.
• 2006 – The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The Montenegrin people choose independence with a majority of 55%.
• 2010 – JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year.
• 2011 – Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the end of the world would occur on this day, a prophecy that would prove incorrect.
• 2012 – A bus accident near Himara, Albania kills 13 people and injures 21 others.
• 2012 – A suicide bombing kills more than 120 people in Sana'a, Yemen.
• 2014 – A knife attack on a Taipei Metro train leaves at least 4 dead and 21 others injured.
• 2014 – The National September 11 Museum opens to the public.

Births

• 120 BC – Aurelia Cotta, Roman wife of Gaius Julius Caesar (d. 54 BC)
• 1471 – Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (d. 1528)
• 1527 – Philip II of Spain (d. 1598)
• 1653 – Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Poland (d. 1697)
• 1664 – Giulio Alberoni, Italian cardinal (d. 1754)
• 1688 – Alexander Pope, English poet (d. 1744)
• 1755 – Alfred Moore, American judge (d. 1810)
• 1763 – Joseph Fouché, French politician (d. 1820)
• 1775 – Lucien Bonaparte, French soldier and politician (d. 1840)
• 1780 – Elizabeth Fry, English philanthropist and reformer (d. 1845)
• 1790 – William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, French-English politician, Lord Chamberlain of the Household (d. 1858)
• 1792 – Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1843)
• 1799 – Mary Anning, English paleontologist (d. 1847)
• 1827 – William P. Sprague, American banker and politician (d. 1899)
• 1832 – Elizabeth Storrs Mead, American academic (d. 1917)
• 1835 – František Chvostek, Czech-Austrian physician (d. 1884)
• 1843 – Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss lawyer and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1914)
• 1844 – Henri Rousseau, French painter (d. 1910)
• 1850 – Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (d. 1914)
• 1851 – Léon Bourgeois, French politician, 64th Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1925)
• 1853 – Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, French politician (d. 1905)
• 1856 – José Batlle y Ordóñez, Uruguayan politician, President of Uruguay (d. 1929)
• 1860 – Willem Einthoven, Indonesian-Dutch physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1927)
• 1861 – Abel Ayerza, Argentinian physician (d. 1918)
• 1863 – Archduke Eugen of Austria (d. 1954)
• 1864 – Princess Stéphanie of Belgium (d. 1945)
• 1873 – Hans Berger, German neurologist (d. 1941)
• 1878 – Glenn Curtiss, American engineer (d. 1930)
• 1880 – Tudor Arghezi, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1967)
• 1884 – Manuel Pérez y Curis, Uruguayan poet (d. 1920)
• 1885 – Princess Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg (d. 1936)
• 1898 – Armand Hammer, American physician and businessman, founded Occidental Petroleum (d. 1990)
• 1898 – Charles Léon Hammes, Luxembourgian lawyer and judge (d. 1967)
• 1898 – Carl Johnson, American long jumper (d. 1932)
• 1898 – John McLaughlin, American painter (d. 1976)
• 1901 – Manfred Aschner, German-Israeli microbiologist and entomologist (d. 1989)
• 1901 – Horace Heidt, American pianist, bandleader, and radio host (d. 1986)
• 1901 – Sam Jaffe, American film producer and agent (d. 2000)
• 1901 – Suzanne Lilar, Belgian author and playwright (d. 1992)
• 1902 – Earl Averill, American baseball player (d. 1983)
• 1902 – Marcel Breuer, Hungarian-American architect, designed the Ameritrust Tower (d. 1981)
• 1902 – Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1974)
• 1903 – Manly Wade Wellman, American author (d. 1986)
• 1904 – Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (d. 1981)
• 1904 – Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1943)
• 1907 – John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (d. 1979)
• 1909 – François-Albert Angers, Canadian economist (d. 2003)
• 1912 – John Curtis Gowan, American psychologist (d. 1986)
• 1912 – Chen Dayu, Chinese artist (d. 2001)
• 1912 – Monty Stratton, American baseball player and coach (d. 1982)
• 1912 – Akiva Vroman, Dutch-Israeli geologist (d. 1989)
• 1913 – Gina Bachauer, Greek pianist (d. 1976)
• 1915 – Cathleen Cordell, American actress (d. 1997)
• 1916 – Tinus Osendarp, Dutch sprinter (d. 2002)
• 1916 – Harold Robbins, American author (d. 1997)
• 1917 – Raymond Burr, Canadian-American actor (d. 1993)
• 1918 – Dennis Day, American singer and actor (d. 1988)
• 1919 – George P. Mitchell, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
• 1920 – Bill Barber, American tuba player and educator (d. 2007)
• 1920 – Anthony Steel, English actor and singer (d. 2001)
• 1920 – Forrest White, American businessman, co-founded the Music Man Company (d. 1994)
• 1921 – Sandy Douglas, English computer scientist and educator, designed OXO (d. 2010)
• 1921 – Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist (d. 1989)
• 1923 – Vernon Biever, American photographer (d. 2010)
• 1923 – Armand Borel, Swiss-American mathematician and educator (d. 2003)
• 1923 – Ara Parseghian, American football player and coach
• 1923 – Evelyn Ward, American actress (d. 2012)
• 1924 – Peggy Cass, American actress, comedian, game show panelist, and announcer (d. 1999)
• 1926 – Robert Creeley, American author and poet (d. 2005)
• 1927 – Péter Zwack, Hungarian businessman and diplomat (d, 2012)
• 1928 – Tom Donahue, American radio host and producer (d. 1975)
• 1928 – Alice Drummond, American actress
• 1929 – Larance Marable, American drummer (d. 2012)
• 1930 – Tommy Bryant, American bassist (d. 1982)
• 1930 – Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia
• 1932 – Inese Jaunzeme, Latvian javelin thrower (d. 2011)
• 1932 – Billy Wright, American singer (d. 1991)
• 1933 – Maurice André, French trumpet player (d. 2012)
• 1933 – Yevgeny Minayev, Russian weightlifter (d. 1993)
• 1934 – Jocasta Innes, Chinese-English journalist and author (d. 2013)
• 1934 – Bengt I. Samuelsson, Swedish biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1935 – Terry Lightfoot, English clarinet player and bandleader (d. 2013)
• 1936 – Günter Blobel, Polish-American biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1938 – Shot Williams, American singer (d. 2011)
• 1939 – Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboe player, composer, and conductor
• 1941 – Martin Carthy, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Steeleye Span, The Watersons, Waterson:Carthy, Brass Monkey, and Blue Murder)
• 1941 – Bobby Cox, American baseball player and manager
• 1941 – Ambrose Greenway, 4th Baron Greenway, English photographer and politician
• 1941 – Ronald Isley, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (The Isley Brothers)
• 1942 – David Hunt, Baron Hunt of Wirral, English politician, Secretary of State for Wales
• 1942 – Danny Ongais, American race car driver
• 1943 – Vincent Crane, English pianist (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster) (d. 1989)
• 1943 – Hilton Valentine, English guitarist and songwriter (The Animals)
• 1944 – Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar, Iranian-English academic and politician
• 1944 – Marcie Blane, American singer
• 1944 – Janet Dailey, American author (d. 2013)
• 1944 – Mary Robinson, Irish politician, 7th President of Ireland
• 1945 – Ernst Messerschmid, German physicist and astronaut
• 1946 – Allan McKeown, English-American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
• 1947 – Bill Champlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Chicago and Sons of Champlin)
• 1947 – Jonathan Hyde, Australian-English actor
• 1947 – Linda Laubenstein, American physician and academic (d. 1992)
• 1948 – Elizabeth Buchan, English author
• 1948 – Jacqueline Davies, English judge
• 1948 – Denis MacShane, Scottish politician, Minister of State for Europe
• 1948 – Leo Sayer, English-Australian singer-songwriter
• 1949 – Andrew Neil, Scottish journalist and academic
• 1949 – Denis O'Connor, Irish police officer
• 1949 – Rosalind Plowright, English soprano
• 1950 – Will Hutton, English economist and journalist
• 1951 – Al Franken, American actor, screenwriter, and politician
• 1952 – Jonathan Phillips, Irish civil servant
• 1952 – Mr. T, American actor and wrestler
• 1954 – D. B. S. Jeyaraj, Sri Lankan-Canadian journalist
• 1954 – Janice Karman, American voice actress, singer, and producer
• 1954 – Marc Ribot, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Bar Kokhba Sextet)
• 1955 – Paul Barber, English field hockey player
• 1955 – Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter, and producer (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
• 1957 – James Bailey, American basketball player
• 1957 – Bruce Buffer, American ring announcer
• 1957 – Johann Carlo, American actress
• 1957 – Nadine Dorries, English nurse and politician
• 1957 – Judge Reinhold, American actor
• 1957 – Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress
• 1958 – Muffy Calder, Scottish computer scientist
• 1958 – Michael Crick, English journalist and author
• 1958 – Naeem Khan, Indian-American fashion designer
• 1958 – Jefery Levy, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1959 – Nick Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1959 – Abdulla Yameen, Maldivian politician, 6th President of the Maldives
• 1960 – Mohanlal, Indian actor and producer
• 1960 – Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (d. 1994)
• 1960 – Kent Hrbek, American baseball player
• 1960 – Vladimir Salnikov, Russian swimmer
• 1960 – Jeffrey Toobin, American lawyer and author
• 1962 – David Crumb, American composer
• 1962 – Janey Robbins, American porn actress
• 1963 – Richard Appel, American screenwriter and producer
• 1963 – David Lonsdale, English actor
• 1963 – Pete Sandoval, Salvadoran-American drummer (Terrorizer and Morbid Angel)
• 1963 – Kevin Shields, American-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (My Bloody Valentine, The Complex, and Primal Scream)
• 1963 – Dave Specter, American guitarist
• 1964 – Danny Bailey, English footballer and coach
• 1964 – Nancy Benoit, American wrestling manager (d. 2007)
• 1964 – Carolyn Lawrence, American actress
• 1965 – Josh Richman, American actor, writer, producer, and director
• 1966 – Lisa Edelstein, American actress and playwright
• 1966 – Tatyana Ledovskaya, Belarusian hurdler
• 1967 – Chris Benoit, Canadian-American wrestler (d. 2007)
• 1967 – Blake Schwarzenbach, American singer and guitarist (Jawbreaker, Jets to Brazil, The Thorns of Life, and forgetters)
• 1968 – Lauren Hays, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1968 – Ilmar Raag, Estonian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1968 – Matthias Ungemach, German-Australian rower
• 1968 – Julie Vega, Filipino actress and singer (d. 1985)
• 1969 – Pierluigi Brivio, Italian footballer
• 1969 – Georgiy Gongadze, Georgian-Ukrainian journalist (d. 2000)
• 1969 – Masayo Kurata, Japanese voice actress
• 1969 – George LeMieux, American lawyer and politician
• 1970 – Brigita Bukovec, Slovenian hurdler
• 1970 – Dorsey Levens, American football player and sportscaster
• 1970 – Carl Veart, Australian footballer and coach
• 1972 – Adriano Cintra, Brazilian singer, guitarist, and producer (CSS)
• 1972 – The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (d. 1997)
• 1972 – Alesha Oreskovich, American model
• 1972 – Brett Tucker, Australian actor and singer
• 1973 – Stewart Cink, American golfer
• 1973 – Noel Fielding, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter
• 1974 – Havoc, American rapper and producer (Mobb Deep)
• 1974 – Fairuza Balk, American actress
• 1976 – Abderrahim Goumri, Moroccan runner (d. 2013)
• 1976 – Aditi Gowitrikar, Indian model, actress, and physician, Mrs. World 2001
• 1976 – Deron Miller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (CKY, World Under Blood, and Foreign Objects)
• 1977 – Quinton Fortune, South African footballer
• 1977 – Michael Fuß, German footballer
• 1977 – Ricky Williams, American football player
• 1978 – Adam Gontier, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Three Days Grace and Big Dirty Band)
• 1978 – Jamaal Magloire, Canadian basketball player
• 1979 – Damián Ariel Álvarez, Argentinian-Mexican footballer
• 1979 – Briana Banks, German-American porn actress and model
• 1979 – Jamie Hepburn, Scottish politician
• 1979 – James Clancy Phelan, Australian author
• 1979 – Scott Smith, American mixed martial artist
• 1980 – Gotye, Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter (The Basics)
• 1980 – Morgan Benoit, American actor and martial artist
• 1980 – Chris Raab, American actor and stuntman
• 1981 – Craig Anderson, American ice hockey player
• 1981 – Edson Buddle, American soccer player
• 1981 – Josh Hamilton, American baseball player
• 1981 – Maximilian Mutzke, German singer-songwriter
• 1981 – Anna Rogowska, Polish pole vaulter
• 1981 – Kaori Shimizu, Japanese voice actress
• 1982 – Brian Klemm, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Suburban Legends and Big D and the Kids Table)
• 1983 – Līga Dekmeijere, Latvian tennis player
• 1983 – Deidson Araújo Maia, Brazilian footballer
• 1984 – Lorena Ayala, Dutch model
• 1984 – Brandon Fields, American football player
• 1984 – Sara Goller, German volleyball player
• 1985 – Kano, English rapper, producer, and actor
• 1985 – Mutya Buena, English singer-songwriter (Sugababes and Mutya Keisha Siobhan)
• 1985 – Marco Carta, Italian singer
• 1985 – Mark Cavendish, Manx cyclist
• 1985 – Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (d. 2012)
• 1985 – Isa Guha, English cricketer
• 1985 – Lucie Hradecká, Czech tennis player
• 1985 – Marie McCray, American porn actress and model
• 1985 – Andrew Miller, American baseball player
• 1986 – Konstantinos Argyros, Greek singer
• 1986 – Myra, American singer and actress
• 1986 – Mario Mandžukić, Croatian footballer
• 1986 – Alexander Noyes, American drummer (Honor Society)
• 1986 – Eder Sánchez, Mexican race walker
• 1986 – Park Sojin, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer (Girl's Day)
• 1986 – Greg Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1988 – Claire Cashmore, English swimmer
• 1988 – Park Gyu-ri, South Korean singer and actress (Kara)
• 1988 – Jonny Howson, English footballer
• 1988 – Kaire Leibak, Estonian triple jumper
• 1989 – Emily Robins, New Zealand actress and singer
• 1989 – Hal Robson-Kanu, English footballer
• 1991 – Sarah Ramos, American actress
• 1992 – Hutch Dano, American actor
• 1992 – Philipp Grüneberg, German footballer
• 1992 – Olivia Olson, American actress and singer
• 1993 – Grete Gaim, Estonian biathlete
• 1994 – Tom Daley, English diver
• 1996 – Indy de Vroome, Dutch tennis player
• 1997 – Viktoria Petryk, Ukrainian singer

Deaths

• 987 – Louis V of France (b. 967)
• 1237 – Olaf the Black, Manx son of Godred II Olafsson
• 1254 – Conrad IV of Germany (b. 1228)
• 1471 – Henry VI of England (b. 1421)
• 1481 – Christian I of Denmark (b. 1426)
• 1512 – Pandolfo Petrucci, Italian ruler (b. 1452)
• 1524 – Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1443)
• 1542 – Hernando de Soto, Spanish-American explorer (b. 1496)
• 1607 – John Rainolds, English scholar and academic (b. 1549)
• 1639 – Tommaso Campanella, Italian astrologer, theologian, and poet (b. 1568)
• 1647 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch poet and playwright (b. 1581)
• 1650 – James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, Scottish soldier (b. 1612)
• 1664 – Elizabeth Poole, English-American settler, founded Taunton, Massachusetts (b. 1588)
• 1670 – Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer and physicist (b. 1586)
• 1690 – John Eliot, English-American minister and missionary (b. 1604)
• 1719 – Pierre Poiret, French mystic and philosopher (b. 1646)
• 1724 – Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1661)
• 1742 – Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (b. 1664)
• 1771 – Christopher Smart, English poet (b. 1722)
• 1786 – Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist (b. 1742)
• 1790 – Thomas Warton, English poet and critic (b. 1728)
• 1844 – Giuseppe Baini, Italian priest and composer (b. 1775)
• 1862 – John Drew, Irish-American actor and manager (b. 1827)
• 1879 – Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and commander (b. 1848)
• 1894 – Émile Henry, French anarchist (b. 1872)
• 1894 – August Kundt, German physicist (b. 1839)
• 1895 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1819)
• 1901 – Joseph Olivier, French rugby player (b. 1874)
• 1911 – Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer (b. 1857)
• 1915 – Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (b. 1875)
• 1919 – Evgraf Fedorov, Russian mathematician, crystallographer, and mineralogist (b. 1853)
• 1920 – Venustiano Carranza, Mexican politician, 54th President of Mexico (b. 1859)
• 1925 – Hidesaburō Ueno, Japanese agriculturalist, guardian of Hachikō (b. 1871)
• 1926 – Ronald Firbank, English author (b. 1886)
• 1929 – Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1847)
• 1932 – Marcel Jacques Boulenger, French fencer and author (b. 1873)
• 1935 – Jane Addams, American activist and author, co-founded Hull House, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
• 1940 – Billy Minter, English footballer and manager (b. 1888)
• 1949 – Klaus Mann, German-American author (b. 1906)
• 1952 – John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)
• 1956 – Harry Bensley, English businessman and adventurer (b. 1877)
• 1957 – Alexander Vertinsky, Ukrainian-Russian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (b. 1889)
• 1964 – James Franck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
• 1965 – Geoffrey de Havilland, English engineer, designed the de Havilland Mosquito (b. 1882)
• 1968 – Doris Lloyd, English-American actress (b. 1896)
• 1970 – E. L. Grant Watson, English-Australian biologist and author (b. 1885)
• 1973 – Vaughn Monroe, American singer, trumpet player, bandleader, and actor (b. 1911)
• 1981 – Raymond McCreesh, Irish activist (b. 1957)
• 1981 – Patsy O'Hara, Irish activist (b. 1957)
• 1983 – Kenneth Clark, English historian and author (b. 1903)
• 1984 – Ann Little, American actress (b. 1891)
• 1988 – Sammy Davis, Sr., American actor and dancer (b. 1900)
• 1991 – Lino Brocka, Filipino director and screenwriter (b. 1939)
• 1991 – Rajiv Gandhi, Indian politician, 6th Prime Minister of India (b. 1944)
• 1995 – Les Aspin, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1938)
• 1996 – Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter and producer (Zahara) (b. 1957)
• 1996 – Lash LaRue, American actor and producer (b. 1917)
• 1998 – Robert Gist, American actor and director (b. 1917)
• 2000 – Barbara Cartland, English author (b. 1901)
• 2000 – John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (b. 1904)
• 2000 – Mark R. Hughes, American businessman, founded Herbalife (b. 1956)
• 2002 – Niki de Saint Phalle, French-American sculptor and painter (b. 1930)
• 2003 – Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentinian-Italian race car driver and businessman, founded De Tomaso (b. 1928)
• 2003 – Frank D. White, American politician, 41st Governor of Arkansas (b. 1933)
• 2005 – Howard Morris, American actor and director (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Spencer Clark, American race car driver (b. 1987)
• 2006 – Katherine Dunham, American dancer, choreographer, and author (b. 1909)
• 2006 – Cherd Songsri, Thai director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1931)
• 2006 – Billy Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Eddie Blazonczyk, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
• 2012 – Otis Clark, American butler and preacher, survivor of the Tulsa race riot (b. 1903)
• 2012 – Roman Dumbadze, Georgian commander (b. 1964)
• 2012 – Constantine of Irinoupolis, American metropolitan (b. 1936)
• 2012 – Douglas Rodríguez, Cuban boxer (b. 1950)
• 2012 – Bill Stewart, American football player and coach (b. 1952)
• 2012 – Alan Thorne, Australian anthropologist and academic (b. 1939)
• 2013 – Count Christian of Rosenborg (b. 1942)
• 2013 – Frank Comstock, American trombonist, composer, and conductor (b. 1922)
• 2013 – Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach (b. 1923)
• 2013 – Mohammad Khaled Hossain, Bangladeshi mountaineer (b. 1979)
• 2013 – Leonard Marsh, American businessman, co-founded Snapple (b. 1933)
• 2013 – Bob Thompson, American pianist and composer (b. 1924)
• 2013 – Dominique Venner, French journalist and historian (b. 1935)
• 2013 – David Voelker, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1953)
• 2014 – Poni Adams, American actress (b. 1918)
• 2014 – Tunku Annuar, Malaysian son of Badlishah of Kedah (b. 1939)
• 2014 – Evelyn Blackmon, American politician (b. 1924)
• 2014 – Johnny Gray, American baseball player (b. 1926)
• 2014 – Karl-Hans Kern, German politician (b. 1932)
• 2014 – Jaime Lusinchi, Venezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1924)
• 2014 – Alireza Soleimani, Iranian wrestler (b. 1956)

Holidays and observances

• Afro-Colombian Day (Colombia)
• Christian feast day:
  • Christopher Magallanes
  • Eugène de Mazenod
  • Emperor Constantine I
  • Earliest day on which Corpus Christi can fall, while June 24 is the latest; held on Thursday after Trinity Sunday. (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Helena of Constantinople, also known as "Feast of the Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine and Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles." (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • May 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Circassian Day of Mourning (Circassians)
• Day of Patriots and Military (Hungary)
• Navy Day (Chile)
• Saint Helena Day, celebrates the discovery of Saint Helena in 1502.
• World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (International)
• One of the festivals of Vejovis (Roman Empire)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada