15th May is the 135th day of the year (136th in leap years). 230 days remain until the end of the year. Today also marks the International Conscientious Objectors Day and the International Day of Families. Take a look at some of the events that happened today, 15th May, in history.
Historical events
756 — Abd-al-Rahman I becomes emir of Cordova, Spain.
1004 — Henry II the Saint crowned King of Italy.
1536 — Anne Boleyn and her brother George, Lord Rochford, accused of adultery and incest. Anne Boleyn is beheaded after a four-day show trial.
1618 — German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovers the third of his three planetary laws his “harmonics law”.
1672 — First copyright law enacted by Massachusetts.
1711 — Poet Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Criticism” is published anonymously.
1718 — James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents world’s first machine gun.
1793 — Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for “about 360 metres”, at a height of 5-6 metres, one of the first attempted flights.
15th May in the 19th Century
1800 — King George III, the King of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover, survives a second assassination attempt.
1817 — First private mental health hospital opens in the US, Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1829 — Religious leader Joseph Smith ordained by John the Baptist according to Joseph Smith.
1836 — Francis Baily observes “Baily’s Beads” during the annular solar eclipse.
1856 — Lyman Frank Baum, author of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” was born.
1863 — Salon des Refusés opens in Paris, an exhibition of works rejected by official Salon, features French painter Paul Cézanne, painter Camille Pissarro, Henri Fantin-Latour, James Whistler and impressionist painter Édouard Manet.
1869 — National Woman Suffrage Association forms in New York, founded by suffragette Susan B. Anthony and women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
1882 — May Laws-Tsar Alexander III bans Jews from living in rural Romania.
1897 — The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee is founded in Berlin by the physician and gay rights advocate, Magnus Hirschfeld. It is the first-ever LGBT rights organisation.
15th May in the 20th Century
1902 — Lyman Gilmore is the first person to fly a powered craft.
1917 — The first officer’s training camp is opened in the US, as the country prepares for war.
1928 — Mickey Mouse makes his first-ever appearance in the silent film, “Plane Crazy”.
1930 — Ellen Church becomes the first female airline stewardess aboard a United flight from San Francisco to Cheyenne.
1936 — Aviator Amy Johnson arrives in Croydon, England having flown from South Africa in a record 4 days and 16 hours
1940 — McDonald’s opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
1941 — First British turbojet flies.
1942 — Gasoline first rationed in the US (17 Eastern States).
1951 — AT&T becomes the 1st US corporation to have a million stockholders after young car salesman Brady Denton purchases 7 shares worth $1,078.
1955 — Building of space travel centre at Baikonur Kazakhstan begins.
1957 — Evangelist Billy Graham launches his “crusade” in front of 18,000 people at Madison Square Garden in NYC.
1957 — Operation Grapple: Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb near Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
1960 — Composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s 7th String quartet premieres in Leningrad.
1963 — 5th Grammy Awards: I Left My Heart In San Francisco by singer and actor Robert Goulet wins.
1974 — Ma’alot massacre: Palestinian terrorist takes school hostage. Leaves 25 mostly children killed and 68 injured.
1983 — Madison Hotel (Boston) destroyed by implosion.
1987 — Last episode of “The Late Show with Joan Rivers” after the host is fired by the Fox network.
1989 — Maxwell House coffee runs ads during “Roe vs Wade” film despite the threat of a boycott by right-to-lifers.
1990 — AD taxman delivers a cruel blow to Miss Whiplash. “If I agreed to your demand for cash payment it means that you would be living off immoral earnings,” celebrated Madam tells the tax authority.
15th May in the 21st Century
2001 — “Fiesta” single released by R. Kelly featuring Jay-Z and Boo and Gotti. The song wins the 2001 Billboard Song of the Year.
2002 — “Bowling for Columbine”, a documentary directed by Michael Moore has its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
2004 — “Shrek 2” directed Andrew Adamson and Kelly Asbury, with voices by Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz premieres at the Cannes Film Festival.
2005 — Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith directed by George Lucas, starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman premieres at the Cannes Film Festival.
2008 — California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-s*x marriage after the state’s own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
2009 — “Farrah’s Story” documentary following actress Farrah Fawcett’s battle with cancer airs on NBC in the US.
2010 — Jessica Watson, at age 16, becomes the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world.
2011 — “The Artist” directed by Michel Hazanavicius and starring Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo premieres at the Cannes Film festival (Best Picture 2012).
2013 — The Eurozone economy records a recession for the sixth straight quarter.
2015 — Investor and business magnate Carl Icahn invests $100 million in Lyft, a ride-sharing service
2017 — The first US prosecution under the federal Hate Crimes Act of violence against a transgender person, the murder of Mercedes Williamson.
2017 — State of Emergency declared in Sanaa, Yemen after an outbreak of cholera kills 115.
2018 — 58 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and 1700 hospitalized on the Gaza border protesting the opening of US embassy in Jerusalem and 70 year founding of Israel.
2018 — “Laurel vs Yanny” disagreement over what word heard in an audio file begins across social media.