Edward Jenner (English Scientist) administers the first smallpox innoculation on James Phipps, an 8-year-old boy, with material from a milkmaid's cowpox blisters (1796) - May 14
Skylab (U.S.'s 1st space station) is launched from Kennedy Space Center (1973) - May 14
Stars and Stripes Forever Day (U.S. National March by John Philip Sousa) - May 14
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia has his coronation with Empress Alexandra Feodorovna at the Uspensky Sobor Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin (1896) - May 14 (O.S.)
Charles VIII of France (aka The Affable only son of King Louis XI) is crowned King at age 13 in Reims (1484) - 5/14
Dance Like a Chicken Day is for those who like to do the Chicken Dance - May 14
Frederick, Crown Prince of Denmark, weds Mary Donaldson, an Australian marketing consultant, at Copenhagen Cathedral in Copenhagen (2004) - May 14
Henry IV of France is assassinated in Paris by a fanatically passionate Catholic, Francois Ravaillac, who stabbed the king while he rode in his coach (1610) - May 14
Henry III of England (son of John Lackland) is capatured during the Battle of Lewes making Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, the uncrowned King of England (1264) - 5/14
Lina Medina becomes the world's youngest confimred mother in medical history by giving birth at age 5 (1939) - May 14
Louis XIV of France (aka The Sun King) ascends to the throne at age 4 upon the death of his father Louis XIII (1643) - May 14
Marguerite de Valois (consort to Henry IV of France and Navarre) is born at the royal Chateau de Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1553) - May 14
Paraguay gains independence from Spain (1811) - May 14
Seinfeld (American television sitcom that lasted for nine seasons and is now in syndication) airs its last episode (1998) - May 14
Thomas Gainsborough (British painter of portraits and landscapes) is born in Sudbury Suffolk England (1727) - 5/14
Mother's Day (2017) - May 14
Lag Ba'Omer (Jewish 33rd Day after Pesach) held on the 18th Day of Iyar (2017) - May 14
May 15, 2017
Concientious objector Day - May 15
International Day of Families - May 15
Moloka'i Ka Hula Piko (celebrates the birth of the Hula on Moloka'i) - May 15
Charles VIII of Sweden dies (1470) - May 15
Edith Cresson becomes Frances first female Prime Minister (1991) - May 15
Emily Dickenson (American poet) dies at age 55 from the Bright's disease (acute kidney disease) she'd had for 2 1/2 years (1886) - May 15
Prime Minister Inukai Tusyoshi (Japanese Prime Minister) is assassinated by 11 young Naval officers in the Prime Minister's residence (1932) - 5/15
L Frank Baum (American author, pet, playwright, actor and independent filmmaker) is born in Chittenango, New York (1856) - May 15
Mary Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, her third husband, according to Protestant rites (1567) - May 15
Peace Officer's Memorial Day - May 15
Pierre Curie (French physicist) is born in Paris, France (1859) - May 15
Pope Innocent IV issues a Papal Bull, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medival Inquisition (1252) - May 15
Rama IV (aka Mongut) is crowned King of Siam (1851) - May 15
Chocolate Chip Day - 5/15
War of the Spanish Succession (war fought to stop a possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under a single Buron Monarch) begins (1701) - May 15
Portrait of Doctor Gachet (portrait by Vincent van Gogh) fetches a record price of $82.5 million at Christie's New York (1990) - May 15
Royal Opera House (3rd built and present building) opens with a performance of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots (1858) - May 15
Britain drops its first hydrogen bomb at a high altitude over Christmas Island (1957) - 5/15
May 16, 2017
U.S. Half Dime is discontinued by U.S. Congress (1873) - 5/16
Edgar Allen Poe (American writer, poet, editor and critic) marries his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clem (1836) - May 16
Love a Tree Day - 5/16
Marie Antoinette (age 14) marries Louis Auguste (Dauphin of France and her second cousin once removed, age 15) in the Palace of Versailles (1770) - May 5/16
Middlesex Day commemorates the battle against Napoleon's army (1811) - May 16
Junko Tabei (indiaese mountain-climber) becomes the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest (1985) - May 16
Pierce Brosnan (Irish actor, film producer and environmentalist) is born in Drogheda, County Louth Ireland (1953) - May 16
The first Academy Awards are given out during a private dinner in Hollywood with an audience of less than 300 people (1929) - May 16
STS-49 Space Shuttle Endeavor lands safely after a successful maiden voyage (1992) - May 16
Teachers' Day (Malaysia) - May 16
Thomas Moore resigns as Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor (1531) - May 16
Venera 5 (probe in the Soviet space program Venera) lands on Venus (1969) - May 16
May 17, 2017
Anne of Denmark (consort to James VI of Scotland) is crowned Queen of Scotland at the Abbey Church at Holyrood (1590) - 5/17
Aristedes (American Thoroughbred racehorse) wins the first Kentucky Derby (1875) - May 17
Peter Phillips (only son of Princess Anne of Great Britain) marries Autumn Kelly, a Canadian management consultant, at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle (2008) - May 17
Caroline of Brunswick (Queen consort to George IV of England) is born at Braunschweig Germany (1768) - 5/17
Catherine I of Russia (second wife of Peter the Great) dies in Saint Petersburg, Russia at age 43 (1727) - May 17
Christian Frederik is elected King of Norway (1814) - May 17
Norwegian Constitution Day commemorates the signing of Constitution of Norway at Eidsvoll (1814) - May 17
Edward Jenner (English scientist widely credited as the pioneer of smallpox vaccine) is born in Berkeley, England (1749) - 5/17
Edward Stafford (3rd Duke of Buckingham) is convicted of intending to kill Henry VIII, then executed on Tower Hill (1521) - May 17
George Boleyn (Viscount Rochford, brother to Queen Anne Boleyn) charged with incest and treason, is beheaded on Tower Hill along with 4 others accused with him (1536) - May 17
Harold Geiger (peioneer in Army aviation and ballooning) dies when his plane struck ground and burst into flames (1927) - May 17
International Telecommunication Union is founded (1865) - May 17
International Day Against Homophobia celebrates the date that homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases by WHO (1992) - 5/17
Jacques Chirac takes office as the 22nd President of France (1995) - May 17
New York Stock Exchange is formed (1792) - May 17
Sandro Botticelli (Italian Painter of the Florentine school best known for his "The Birth of Venus") dies in Florence Italy at age 66 (1510) - May 17
Montreal is founded by French colonists, who set up a mission named Ville Marie (1642) - May 17
World Information Society Day commemorates the founding of the International Telecommunication Union (1865) - May 17
May 18, 2017
Apollo Program: Apollo 10 (4th manned mission in the program) is launched from Kennedy Space Center, FL (1969) - May 18
Bruges Matins occurs when armed insurrectionists led by Pieter de Coninck and Jan Breydel slaughter the French garrisoned soldiers in Bruges, Belgium (1302) - 5/18
Dracula (horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker) is first published (1897) - May 18
F-104A (Lockheed Starfighter) sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h) on (1958) - May 18
Gustav Mahler (Bohemian-born Austrian composer and conductor) died in Vienna from a streptococcal blood infection at age 50 (1911) - May 18
Haiti Flag Day - May 18
Earth passes through the tail of Halley's Comet (1910) - May 18
Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine at Poitiers Cathedral (1152) - 5/18
World AIDS Vaccine Day (observed annually) is first observed 1 year after President Bill Clinton gave his commencement speech at Morgan State University (1998) - May 18
Khodynka Tragedy is a mass panic that occurs during the coronation of Nicholas II, resulting in 1,389 people being trampled to death and 1,300 more injured (1896) - May 18
Mount St. Helens (a stratovolcano located in Washington state) erupts, depositing ash in 11 U.S. states killing 57 people an causing $3 billion in damage (1980) - May 18
Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed the Emperor of the French by the French senate (1804) - May 18
Nicholas II of Russia (last Tsar of Russia) is born at Tsarskoe Selo in Saint Petersburg (1868) - May 18
Omar Khayyam (Persian mathematician, philosopher, astronomer and poet) is born in Neyshapur, Iran (1048) - May 18
SCNF TGV Atlantique (high-speed train used in France) sets the World speed record 515.3 km/h (1990) - May 18
Smiling Buddha (Pokhran-I) codename of the first nuclear test explosion by India in Pokhran (1974) - 5/18
Bath School Disaster refers to 3 bombings in Bath Township, MI which killed 45 people (38 grade-schoolers and 7 adults) and injured at least 58 (1927) - May 18
Visit Your Relatives Day - May 18
May 19, 2017
Anne Boleyn (2nd wife of Henry VIII of England) is beheaded by sword on a scaffold set up at the tower for the crimes of adultery, incest and treason (1536) - May 19
Booth Tarkington (American novelist and dramatist best known for his novel The Magnificient Ambersons) dies at age 76 (1946) - May 19
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (queen-consort to King George III) is born in Minrow, Germany (1744) - May 19
New England's Dark Day occurs when a combination of thick smoke and heavy cloud cover causes complete darkness to fall in northeast America at 10:30 A.M. (1790) - May 19
Ho Chi Minh (Vietnamese Communist revolutionary) is born in French Indochina (1890) - May 19
Catherine of Aragon marries Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales (elder brother of Henry VIII) by proxy she is 13, he is 12 (1499) - May 19
James Boswell (Scottish lawyer, diarist and author best known for his biography of Samuel Johnson) dies in London from veneral disease (1795) - May 19
Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States of American) is imprisoned in a casemate at Fortress Monroe (1865) - May 19
Johns Hopkins (wealthy entrepreneur, philanthropist and abolitionist) is born in Anne Arundel County, MD (1795) - May 19
Nancy Witcher Astor (Viscountess Astor, 1st woman to serve as a Member of Parliament is born in Danville, VA (1879) - May 19
The Legion of Honor (An Order that is the highest decoration in France) is established by Napoleon Bonaparte (1802) - May 19
Malcolm X (African American Muslim minister and human rights activist) is born in Omaha, Nebraska (1925) - May 19
Marilyn Monroe sings her "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy for his 45th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden (1952) - May 19
Mary Queen of Scots is imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth at Carlisle Castle (1568) - May 19
Nathaniel Hawthorne (American author and short story writer) dies in his sleep at age 59 in Plymouth, NH (1864) - May 19
Ohio Company is granted a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River by King George II of Great Britain (1749) - May 19
Oscar Wilde (Irish playwright, poet and author) is released from Reading gaol after serving a prison term for gross indency (1897) - May 19
T.E. Lawrence (British soldier, aka Lawrence of Arabia) is fatally injured in a motorcycle accident in Dorset and dies at age 46 (1935) - May 19
US Congress sets immigration limits to 3% of the number of persons from that country currently living in the USA with the Emergency Quota Act (1921) - May 19
Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the Mexican war with California (1848) - 5/19
Circus Day - May 19
Preakness Stakes Day - held the third Saturday in May (2017) - May 20
May 20, 2017
Abraham Ortelius (Flemish cartographer and geographer) creates the world's first modern atlas with 53 maps (1570) - May 20
Amelia Earhart (American aviation pioneer and author) at age 34 sets off from Harbour Grace Newfoundland for her record-setting solo trans-Atlantic flight (1932) - May 20
Charles Lindbergh (American aviator, author, inventor and explorer) takes off from Roosevelt Field in NY on the world's 1st solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic (1927) - 5/20
123 Greetings Anniversary - May 20
Honore de Balzac (French novelist and playwright) is born in Tours, France (1799) - May 20
Christopher Columbus (Genoese navigator, colonizer and explorer) dies in Valladolid, Spain at age 55 (1506) - 5/20
Dolley Madison (spouse to James Madison, 4th President of the USA) is born in North Carolina (1768) - May 20
Gilda Radner Wilder (American comedienne and actress best known for her roles on Saturday Night Live) dies at age 42 from ovarian cancer (1989) - May 20
2nd Battle of Lincoln, occuring at Lincoln Castle, results in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (1217) - May 20
Liza Doolittle Day (From the song "Just you Wait" in My Fair Lady) - 5/20
East Timor's independence is recognized by Portugal (2002) - May 20
Shakespeare's sonnets are first published (1609) - May 20
Leo Blair (son of Tony Blair - PM of England and his wife Cherie) is born as the first child born to a currently serving British Prime Minister (2000) - 5/20
Lucy Gordon (British actress and model) commits suicide by hanging at age 28 in her Paris apartment (2009) - May 20
Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting "Boy with Baby Carriage" (1916) - May 20
Princess Athena of Denmark (currently 10th in line for the Danish throne) is christened Athena Marguerite Francoise Marie at the Megeltender Church (2012) - May 20
First Council of Nicea is held by the Roman Emperor Constantine I (325) - May 20
Robin Gibb (British musician co-founder ol the Bee Gees) dies at age 62 in London England from liver and kidney failure related to colon cancer (2012) - May 20
Armed Forces Day (celebrated on the 3rd Saturday in May) is created in 1949 to replace the separate services having their own day, but their observance continues (2017) - May 20
Preakness - (2nd race in The Triple Crown) runs on the 3rd Saturday in May (2017) - 5/20
May 21, 2017
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (UN sanctioned international holiday) - May 21
Navy Day (Chile) commemorates the Iquique Naval Combat in the War of the Pacific (1879) - May 21
Rajiv Gandhi (elder son of Indira Ghandi and 9th Prime Minister of India) is assassinated by a suicide bomber, a woman known as Dhanu (1991) - May 21
Amelia Earhart (American aviation pioneer and author) lands in Derry, Ireland making her the first woman to make a solo trans-Atlantic flight (1932) - May 21
American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton (1881) - May 21
Charles Lindbergh (American aviator, author, inventor and explorer) lands at Le Bourget Airport, France on the world's 1st solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic (1927) - 5/21
Derby School is granted a royal charter by Queen Mary I (1554) - May 21
Great Atlanta Fire begins just after noon and lasts for 10 hours destorying 300 acres and displacing 10,000 people (1917) - 5/21
Henry VI of England is imprisoned in the Tower of London where he dies at his altar in St. Thomas's Tower under suspicious circumstances (1471) - May 21
Lauren Bacall (age 20) marries Humphrey Bogart (age 45) at Malabar Farm, Lucas, OH in the country home of author Louis Bromfield (1945) - 5/21
Montengro (country located in Southeastern Europe) separates from Serbia based on a referendum (2006) - May 21
John III Sobieski is elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania by the nobility (1674) - 5/21
Louis V of France (aka the Indolent or the Sluggard) dies from suspected poisoning by his mother (987) - 5/21
Manchester Ship Canal in England is officially opened by Queen Victoria (1894) - 5/21
Mary Campbell (American colonial settler) is abducted at age 12 by the Lenape Indian's near Penn's Creek (1758) - May 21
Mary Robinson (7th and 1st female President of Ireland) is born in Ballina, County Mayo (1944) - May 21
Otto III (4th ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire) is crowned emperor at age 16 (996) - May 21
The Imperial Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is established in Russia by Catherine I (1725) - May 21
Philip II of Spain (son of Charles I of Spain and Isabella of Portugal) is born in Valladolid Spain (1527) - May 21
Lawrence Knasas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces (1856) - May 21
Saint Helena Island is discovered by the Portugese navigator Joao da Nova on his voyage home from India (1502) - May 21
Michelangelo's Pieta is damaged when Laszlo Toth, a mentally disturbed geologist, walked into the chapel and took a hammer to the statue shattering Mary's nose (1972) - May 21
Cutty Sark (clipper ship built in 1869) is badly damaged by fire due to an industrial vacuum cleaner being left switched on for 48 hours (2007) - May 21
Tornado sweeps southern England in a 66 mile path killing two and injuring several more (1950) - May 21
Alexander Pope (18th century English poet best known for his satirical verse and translation of Homer) is born in London (1688) - May 21
Icelandic Volcano (Grimsvotn) erupts causing air flight delays in Europe again (2011) - May 21
Waitstaff Day - May 21
Most photos and descriptions are courtesy of Wikipedia
