Born on Thursday, 5th February – Famous Birthdays
On this day, 216 notable people were born on 5th February — spanning from 976 to 2016. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
Stina Blackstenius, the Swedish footballer, and Adnan Januzaj, the Belgian-Albanian footballer, marked their births on 5 February in 1996 and 1995 respectively, joining a remarkable roster of athletes and public figures sharing this date. Elsewhere in sporting history, the date also witnessed the birth of Dmitry Andreikin in 1990, a Russian chess player who would go on to achieve prominence in competitive chess. Beyond athletes, notable figures such as the Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo were born on this day, along with many other accomplished individuals across various disciplines spanning centuries of recorded history.
The 5th of February presents a moderately cool winter day in the Northern Hemisphere with typical late-winter meteorological conditions. Thursday brings variable cloud cover with temperatures ranging between two and eight degrees Celsius in most European locations, though conditions vary by region and specific latitude. Those born on this date fall under the zodiac sign of Aquarius, whilst the lunar calendar shows the moon approaching its waxing gibbous phase, illuminating approximately seventy-five percent of the lunar surface visible from Earth.
DayAtlas provides comprehensive information about births, deaths, and historical events occurring on any specified date. The platform enables users to explore significant moments in history alongside weather patterns and astronomical data relevant to particular locations and times.
Discover who was born today 6th April.
05/02/2016
Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, Bhutanese prince
Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck is the heir apparent to the Bhutanese throne. He is the first child of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema.
05/02/2002
Jisung, South Korean rapper
Park Ji-sung, also known mononymously as Jisung is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. He began his career as a child actor, model and dancer, as part of the Nam Hyun-Joon and Kids dance crew. He debuted as cameo actor with "Tree with Deep Roots" in 2011 and made more screentime as supporting role in "Go, Stop Murder" in 2013. After that, he became a trainee under SM Entertainment in 2013 and was part of its pre-debut trainee team SM Rookies. Jisung made his idol debut in August 2016 as a member of South Korean boy group NCT through the sub-unit NCT Dream.
Taehyun, South Korean singer-songwriter
Kang Tae-hyun, known mononymously as Taehyun, is a South Korean singer and songwriter. He is a member of the South Korean boy band Tomorrow X Together, formed by Big Hit Entertainment in 2019.
05/02/2001
Kim Min-ju, South Korean actress
Kim Min-ju is a South Korean actress and former singer. She is best known as a former member of the South Korean–Japanese girl group Iz*One, having finished 11th in Mnet's girl group survival show Produce 48, representing Urban Works. As an actress, she is represented by Management Soop and has appeared in Tempted (2018), The Fault Is Not Yours (2019), The Forbidden Marriage (2022–2023), and Hear Me: Our Summer (2024).
05/02/1997
Patrick Roberts, English footballer
Patrick John Joseph Roberts is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for EFL Championship club Birmingham City.
05/02/1996
Stina Blackstenius, Swedish footballer
Emma Stina Blackstenius is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Arsenal in the English Women's Super League and the Sweden national team.
05/02/1995
Adnan Januzaj, Belgian-Albanian footballer
Adnan Januzaj is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger for La Liga club Sevilla.
05/02/1993
Leilani Latu, Australian rugby league player
Leilani Latu is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who played as a prop most recently for the Warrington Wolves in the Super League.
Ty Rattie, Canadian ice hockey player
Ty Rattie is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing for Linköping HC of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).
05/02/1992
Stefan de Vrij, Dutch footballer
Stefan de Vrij is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Inter Milan and the Netherlands national team.
Neymar, Brazilian footballer
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, simply known as Neymar Júnior or mononymously as Neymar, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a forward for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Santos, which he captains. Known for his dribbling, technical ability, playmaking, and finishing, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He is one of only five players to have scored 100 goals with three different clubs, both the all-time Brazilian top goalscorer (43) and assist provider (33) in the UEFA Champions League, ranks second for the all-time South American men's top goalscorers in international football (79), and was the all-time top assist provider in international football (59) for two years. He has scored over 400 senior career goals and registered over 250 assists for club and country.
05/02/1991
Nabil Bahoui, Swedish footballer
Nabil Bahoui is a Swedish former professional footballer who last played as a forward for Allsvenskan club IF Brommapojkarna.
Gerald Tusha, Albanian footballer
Gerald Tusha is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a left midfielder for KF Vora.
05/02/1990
Dmitry Andreikin, Russian chess player
Dmitry Vladimirovich Andreikin is a Russian chess grandmaster, World Junior Chess Champion in 2010 and two-time Russian Chess Champion. He won the Tashkent leg of FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15 and finished runners-up in Chess World Cup 2013 and Belgrade leg of FIDE Grand Prix 2022. He is also currently the second-highest rated chess player from Russia, only behind Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Indian cricketer
Bhuvneshwar Kumar Singh is an Indian cricketer who has played for the Indian cricket team in all three formats of the game. He plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League and Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket. A right-arm medium bowler, he is known for his ability to effectively swing the ball both ways at will. Kumar was a member of the India team that won the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He is the first bowler to win the IPL Purple Cap in two consecutive seasons.
Jordan Rhodes, Scottish footballer
Jordan Luke Rhodes is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the loans manager at Blackburn Rovers. Born in England, he represented the Scotland national team.
05/02/1989
Jeremy Sumpter, American actor
Jeremy Robert Myron Sumpter is an American actor. His prominent roles include the title role in the 2003 fantasy adventure film Peter Pan, Jacob in the 2014 disaster film Into the Storm, and the recurring role of J. D. McCoy in the NBC television series Friday Night Lights (2008–2010).
05/02/1987
Alex Brightman, American actor, singer, and voice actor
Alexander Michael Brightman is an American actor, best known for his work in musical theatre, especially in the Broadway musical, Beetlejuice.
05/02/1986
Vedran Ćorluka, Croatian footballer
Vedran Ćorluka is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a centre-back or right-back. He is an assistant to Zlatko Dalić in the Croatia national team.
Kevin Gates, American rapper, singer, and entrepreneur
Kevin Jerome Gilyard, known professionally as Kevin Gates, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is currently signed to Bread Winners' Association with a partnership with Atlantic Records. His debut studio album, Islah, released in January 2016 and peaked at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Prior to Islah, Gates also released a number of mixtapes, including Stranger Than Fiction (2013), By Any Means (2014), and Luca Brasi 2 (2014), all of which peaked in the top 40 on the Billboard 200 chart.
05/02/1985
Lloyd Johansson, Australian rugby player
Lloyd Johansson is an Australian rugby union professional player of Tongan and Swedish descent. He plays for the Melbourne Rising in the National Rugby Championship, and his usual position is centre.
Laurence Maroney, American football player
Laurence Maroney is an American former professional football player who was a running back for five seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Minnesota Golden Gophers and was selected by the New England Patriots with the 21st overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft. He also played a season for the Denver Broncos.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, nicknamed CR7, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr and the Portugal national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in history, he has won numerous individual accolades throughout his career, including five Ballon d'Ors, a record three UEFA Men's Player of the Year Awards, and four European Golden Shoes. He was also named the world's best player five times by FIFA. He has won 34 trophies in his career, including five UEFA Champions Leagues and the UEFA European Championship. He holds the records for most goals (140) and assists (42) in the Champions League, goals (14) and assists (8) in the European Championship, and most international appearances (226) and international goals (143). He is the only player to have scored 100 goals with four different clubs. He has made over 1,300 professional career appearances, the most by an outfield player, and has scored over 960 official senior career goals for club and country, making him the top goalscorer of all time.
05/02/1984
Carlos Tevez, Argentinian footballer
Carlos Alberto Tevez is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. A dynamic forward in his prime, Tevez was capable of playing as a striker, as a winger, as a supporting forward, or as an attacking midfielder. He is the head coach of Primera División club Talleres.
05/02/1983
Anja Hammerseng-Edin, Norwegian handball player
Anja Hammerseng-Edin is a Norwegian former handball player. She previously played for Larvik HK and for the Norwegian national team.
05/02/1982
Laura del Río, Spanish footballer
Laura del Río García is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. She last managed men's club Flat Earth FC.
Kevin Everett, American football player
Kevin Everett is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Bills in the third round of the 2005 NFL draft. He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes after transferring from Kilgore College, where he played on an undefeated team in 2001 under head coach Jimmy Rieves.
Tomáš Kopecký, Slovak ice hockey player
Tomáš Kopecký is a Slovak former professional ice hockey forward. He played in the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers.
Rodrigo Palacio, Argentinian footballer
Rodrigo Sebastián Palacio Alcalde is a former professional footballer who played as a second striker. He is the son of José Ramón Palacio, a historic player of Club Olimpo during the 1980s. Palacio holds a Spanish passport, allowing him to be counted as an EU player.
05/02/1981
Mia Hansen-Løve, French director and screenwriter
Mia Hansen-Løve is a French film director, screenwriter, and former actress. She has won several accolades for her work. Her first feature film, All Is Forgiven, won the Louis Delluc Prize for Best First Film in 2007 along with Céline Sciamma's Water Lilies. Hansen-Løve's film Father of My Children won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In 2014, Hansen-Løve was awarded the status of Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2016, she won the Silver Bear for Best Director for her film Things to Come at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival, as well as becoming a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Loukas Vyntra, Czech-Greek footballer
Loukas Vyntra is a Greek former professional footballer. Mainly a central defender, he could also play as a right back, left back, or a defensive midfielder.
05/02/1980
Brad Fitzpatrick, American programmer, created LiveJournal
Bradley Joseph Fitzpatrick is an American programmer. He is best known as the creator of LiveJournal and is the author of a variety of free software projects such as memcached, WebSub, OpenID, and Perkeep.
Jo Swinson, Scottish politician
Joanne Kate Swinson is a Scottish former politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from July to December 2019. Swinson was Member of Parliament (MP) for East Dunbartonshire from 2005 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019. In September 2020, Swinson became Director of Partners for a New Economy (P4NE).
05/02/1979
Nate Holzapfel, American entrepreneur and television personality
Nate Holzapfel is an American entrepreneur and convicted fraudster known for his appearance on ABC's Shark Tank, where he pitched as a representative of the Mission Belt Co. He then pursued a career in consulting and public speaking.
05/02/1978
Brian Russell, American football player
Brian William Russell is an American former professional football player who was a safety for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL) from 2001 to 2009. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2001 and last played for the Houston Texans. He played college football for the Penn Quakers and San Diego State Aztecs.
Samuel Sánchez, Spanish cyclist
Samuel "Samu" Sánchez González is a Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally in the sport between 2000 and 2017 for the Euskaltel–Euskadi and BMC Racing Team squads. He was the gold medal winner in the road race at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the following years Sánchez proved himself in hilly classics and stage races as one of the most important riders in the peloton. He was also known as one of the best descenders in the peloton. He finished in the top 6 of the Tour de France three times and in the top 10 of the Vuelta a España 6 times. Other notable achievements include winning the Vuelta a Burgos in 2010, the 2012 Tour of the Basque Country and five stages of the Vuelta a España.
05/02/1977
Ben Ainslie, English sailor
Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie is a British competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at four consecutive Games from 2000 to 2012.
Adam Dykes, Australian rugby league player
Adam Dykes is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He played in the National Rugby League for Sydney clubs, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Parramatta Eels, and in the Super League for English club Hull FC. Dykes' usual position was five-eighth, though he has also been shuffled around the backs during his career, playing minor parts of it at both lock and in the halfback role. He is the father of Kade Dykes.
Adam Everett, American baseball player and coach
Jeffery Adam Everett is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played college baseball for both the NC State Wolfpack and South Carolina Gamecocks. He was drafted in the first round of the 1998 Major League Baseball draft and established himself for his defensive prowess as the starting shortstop for the Houston Astros in 2003. Everett continued his involvement in baseball as a roving infield instructor for the Astros minor league system, and was named bench coach for the Astros on September 1, 2014.
05/02/1976
John Aloisi, Australian footballer and manager
John Aloisi is an Australian former soccer player and current head coach of Chinese Super League club Chengdu Rongcheng. In a professional career that spanned 20 seasons, with league totals of 459 games and 127 goals, he was the first Australian ever to play and score in La Liga, the Premier League and Serie A.
Abhishek Bachchan, Indian actor
Abhishek Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Hindi films. Part of the Bachchan family, he is the son of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. From 2012 to 2016, Bachchan appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list, based on his income and popularity.
05/02/1975
Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Dutch footballer and manager
Giovanni Christiaan van Bronckhorst is a Dutch football manager and former player. Originally a midfielder, he moved to left-back later in his career. He is currently an assistant coach for Premier League club Liverpool.
05/02/1974
Michael Maguire, Australian rugby league player and coach
Michael "Madge" Maguire is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League, whom he coached to victory in the 2025 NRL Grand Final. Previously, he coached New South Wales and New Zealand at international level. In the 1990s, Maguire played as a fullback, winger and centre.
05/02/1973
Richard Matvichuk, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Richard Dorian Matvichuk is a Canadian former ice hockey defenceman. He played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars, and the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League.
Trijntje Oosterhuis, Dutch singer-songwriter
Judith Katrijntje "Trijntje" Oosterhuis is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She formed the band Total Touch in 1990 with her brother Tjeerd Oosterhuis before she started as a solo singer. She represented the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Walk Along", placing fourteen in the first semi-final with 33 points and winning the Barbara Dex Award of the year.
Luke Ricketson, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
Luke Ricketson is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australian and Ireland international, and New South Wales State of Origin representative back-row forward, he played his entire club football career for the Sydney Roosters of the National Rugby League (NRL).
05/02/1972
Queen Mary of Denmark
Mary is Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Frederik X.
Brad Fittler, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
Bradley Scott Fittler, also known by the nickname of "Freddy", is an Australian rugby league commentator, television presenter, and former player.
05/02/1971
Michel Breistroff, French ice hockey player (died 1996)
Michel Breistroff was a French professional ice hockey defenceman.
Sara Evans, American country singer
Sara Lynn Evans is an American country music singer and songwriter. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the Billboard country songs chart and has sold over six million albums. Nine additional singles have reached the top ten of the Billboard country chart, including "I Could Not Ask for More", "I Keep Looking", and "Cheatin'". Among her top 20 charting singles are "Saints & Angels", "Backseat of a Greyhound Bus", and "As If". She has won accolades from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. She has also been nominated for several more accolades from both associations, including Female Vocalist of the Year and Single of the Year.
05/02/1970
Jean-Marc Jaumin, Belgian basketball player and coach
Jean-Marc Jaumin is a Belgian professional basketball coach and former basketball player. He was most recently the head coach of Landstede Hammers of the BNXT League.
Darren Lehmann, Australian cricketer and coach
Darren Scott Lehmann is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who coached the Australian national team. He is currently head coach at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Lehmann made his ODI debut in 1996 and Test debut in 1998. He was on the fringes of national selection for the entirety of the 1990s, and only became a regular in the ODI team in 2001 and Test team in late 2002, before being dropped in early 2005. Primarily an aggressive left-handed batsman, Lehmann was also a part-time left arm orthodox bowler, and gained renown for his disregard for physical fitness and modern dietary regimes. He announced his retirement from first-class cricket in November 2007. Lehmann was a member of the Australian team that won the 1999 Cricket World Cup and the 2003 Cricket World Cup, where in the 1999 final, he scored the winning boundary, and took the winning catch in the 2003 final.
Jeremy Rockliff, Australian politician, 47th Premier of Tasmania
Jeremy Page Rockliff MP is an Australian politician currently serving as the 47th premier of Tasmania. Rockliff's premiership began in 2022 following the resignation of Peter Gutwein. He previously served as deputy premier from 2014 to 2022.
05/02/1969
Bobby Brown, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
Robert Barisford Brown Sr. is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and dancer. Alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, he is recognized as a pioneer of new jack swing: a fusion of hip-hop and R&B. Brown rose to fame as a founding member of the R&B/pop vocal group New Edition, contributing to hits like "Candy Girl", "Cool It Now", and "Mr. Telephone Man". He left the group in 1985 to pursue a solo career but later reunited with them for their Billboard 200 number-one album Home Again (1996).
Michael Sheen, Welsh actor and director
Michael Christopher Sheen is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in Romeo and Juliet (1992), Don't Fool with Love (1993), Peer Gynt (1994), The Seagull (1995), The Homecoming (1997), and Henry V (1997). He received Olivier Awards nominations for his performances in Amadeus (1998) at the Old Vic, Look Back in Anger (1999) at the National Theatre and Caligula (2003) at the Donmar Warehouse.
Derek Stephen Prince, American voice actor
Steve Prince is an American voice actor who provided the voice of Elgar in the live-action Power Rangers Turbo and Power Rangers in Space series, along with various characters in the Digimon series.
05/02/1968
Roberto Alomar, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
Roberto Alomar Velázquez is a Puerto Rican former second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for seventeen seasons. He is regarded as one of the greatest second basemen in baseball history and overall players of his generation. During his career, the 12-time All-Star won more Gold Glove Awards (10) than any other second baseman in baseball history, in addition to winning four Silver Slugger Awards for his hitting. Among second basemen, he ranks third in games played (2,320), fifth in stolen bases (474), sixth in plate appearances (10,400), seventh in doubles (504) and assists (6,524), and eighth in hits (2,724), runs (1,508), at-bats (9,073), and double plays turned (1,407). In 2011, Alomar was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Chris Barron, American rock singer
Christopher Barron Gross, best known as Chris Barron is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the Spin Doctors.
Marcus Grönholm, Finnish race car driver
Marcus Ulf Johan "Bosse" Grönholm is a Finnish former rally and rallycross driver, being part of a family of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland lineage. His son, Niclas Grönholm, is an upcoming FIA World Rallycross Championship driver. Grönholm's nicknames are either "Bosse" or "Magic Marcus". Grönholm is one of the most successful WRC drivers of all time, ranking third in rally wins (30), and winning two championships, in 2000 and 2002. After Peugeot withdrew from the World Rally Championship, Grönholm moved to Ford for the 2006 season and placed second in the drivers' world championship, losing out to Sébastien Loeb by one point. The next year he again placed second, four points behind Loeb. He and his co-driver Timo Rautiainen retired from rallying after the 2007 season but returned to the championship in 2009 driving a private Subaru for a short period of time, and in the 2019 World Rally Championship where he competed in a Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT-maintained Toyota Yaris under the GRX Team banner.
05/02/1967
Chris Parnell, American actor and comedian
Thomas Christopher Parnell is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Parnell found wider success during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006. After leaving SNL, he played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013). Parnell is also a prominent voice actor known for his deep and distinctive voice. In animation, he voices the narrator on the PBS Kids series WordGirl (2007–2015), Cyril Figgis on the FX series Archer (2009–2023), Jerry Smith on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty (2013–present), and Doug on Fox's Family Guy (2019–2022). His work also extends into commercials, having voiced the Hamburger Helper mascot "Lefty", appeared in advertisements as "America's Dad" for Orbit Gum, and voiced "The Progressive Box" in a series of advertisements by the Progressive Corporation.
05/02/1966
José María Olazábal, Spanish golfer
José María Olazábal Manterola is a Spanish professional golfer from the Basque Country, Spain who has enjoyed success on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He has won 30 professional tournaments, including two major championships, both the 1994 and 1999 Masters Tournaments.
Rok Petrovič, Slovenian skier (died 1993)
Rok Petrovič was a Yugoslav and Slovenian alpine skier.
05/02/1965
Tarik Benhabiles, Algerian-French tennis player and coach
Tarik Benhabiles is an Algerian-born French former tennis player. He achieved his highest ATP-ranking on 8 June 1987, when the right-hander was listed as the number 22 player in the world.
Gheorghe Hagi, Romanian footballer and manager
Gheorghe Hagi is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently minority shareholder of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of the best players in the world during the 1980s and 1990s. Fans of Turkish club Galatasaray, with whom Hagi ended his career, called him Comandante, while he was known as Regele to Romanian supporters. Nicknamed "The Maradona of the Carpathians", he was a creative advanced playmaker renowned for his dribbling, technique, vision, passing and shooting.
Keith Moseley, American bass player and songwriter
Keith Moseley is an American musician and songwriter, who plays bass guitar among other instruments for The String Cheese Incident, a jam band from Boulder, Colorado, of which he is a founding member.
Quique Sánchez Flores, Spanish footballer and manager
Enrique "Quique" Sánchez Flores is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a right-back. He is the head coach of La Liga club Alavés.
Jon Spencer, American singer, guitarist, and bandleader
Jon Spencer is an American singer, guitarist, and bandleader known for his work in the noise- and garage-rock scenes with Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, and especially Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. In the mid-1990s he collaborated with Mississippi hill country blues musician R. L. Burnside on the album A Ass Pocket of Whiskey (1996), a crossover that drew wider attention to Burnside beyond blues audiences. After announcing in 2022 that the Blues Explosion had ended, Spencer issued new music and toured with Jon Spencer & the Hitmakers, featuring Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss, and later formed a trio with Kendall Wind and Macky “Spider” Bowman of The Bobby Lees.
05/02/1964
Laura Linney, American actress
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of several awards, including four Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, five Tony Awards, and a BAFTA.
Ha Seung-moo, Korean poet, pastor, historical theologian
Ha Seung-moo is a South Korean poet, Presbyterian minister, seminary professor, and theologian.
Duff McKagan, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the band in 2016, following their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
05/02/1963
Steven Shainberg, American film director and producer
Steven Shainberg is an American film director and producer. He is the nephew of author Lawrence Shainberg. Both are part of the Shainberg family of Memphis, Tennessee, founder of the Shainberg's chain of stores, which is now part of Dollar General.
05/02/1962
Jennifer Jason Leigh, American actress, screenwriter, producer and director
Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American actress. She began her career on television during the 1970s before making her film breakthrough in the teen film Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). She received critical praise for her performances in Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), Miami Blues (1990), Backdraft (1991), Single White Female (1992), and The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of Dorothy Parker in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994). For her role as fugitive Daisy Domergue in The Hateful Eight (2015), she was nominated for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
05/02/1961
Savvas Kofidis, Greek footballer and manager
Savvas Kofidis is a Greek professional football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the best football players of his generation in Greece, and is most famous for his successful partnership with Vasilis Hatzipanagis at Iraklis and his flamboyant haircuts which he has kept to this day. He also appeared 67 times for the Greece national team, scoring once and being a vital part of the team's qualification to the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
Tim Meadows, American actor and screenwriter
Tim Meadows is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he appeared for 10 seasons from 1991 to 2000. For his work on SNL, he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1993. He played main character John Glascott on the ABC sitcom Schooled for its two-season run after playing the same character in a recurring role for six seasons on The Goldbergs. Meadows is also known for his role as Principal Duvall in the 2004 teen comedy film Mean Girls, a role he then reprised in Mean Girls 2 and in the film's 2024 musical adaptation.
05/02/1960
Aris Christofellis, Greek soprano and musicologist
Aris Christofellis is a Greek sopranist and musicologist.
Bonnie Crombie, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 6th Mayor of Mississauga
Bonnie-Michelle Teresa Bernadette Stack Sawarna Crombie is a Canadian politician and businesswoman who was the sixth mayor of Mississauga from 2014 to 2024 and the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2023 to 2026.
Micky Hazard, English footballer
Michael Hazard is an English football coach and former professional footballer.
05/02/1959
Jennifer Granholm, Canadian-American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of Michigan
Jennifer Mulhern Granholm is a Canadian-born American politician who was the 16th United States secretary of energy from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 47th governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011 and as the 51st attorney general of Michigan from 1999 to 2003, the first woman to hold either office.
05/02/1957
Jüri Tamm, Estonian hammer thrower and politician (died 2021)
Jüri Tamm was an Estonian hammer thrower and politician. In his sporting career Tamm represented the Soviet Union, he won a bronze medal in the 1980 and 1988 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics. He set the world record for the hammer in 1980. Tamm was member of Estonian parliament Riigikogu from 2007 to 2011 as a member of the Social Democratic Party.
05/02/1956
Vinnie Colaiuta, American drummer
Vincent Peter "Vinnie" Colaiuta is an American drummer known for his technical mastery who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2014. Colaiuta has won one Grammy Award and has been nominated twice. Since the late 1970s, he has recorded and toured with Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, and Sting, among many other appearances in the studio and in concert.
Héctor Rebaque, Mexican race car driver
Héctor Alonso Rebaque is a Mexican former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from 1977 to 1981.
David Wiesner, American author and illustrator
David Wiesner is an American illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books including some that tell stories without words. As an illustrator he has won three Caldecott Medals recognizing the year's "most distinguished American picture book for children" and he was one of five finalists in 2008 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available for creators of children's books.
Mao Daichi, Japanese actress
Mayumi Morita , better known as Mao Daichi , is a Japanese actress and former Top Star otokoyaku of the Japanese Takarazuka Revue's Moon Troupe.
05/02/1955
Mike Heath, American baseball player and manager
Michael Thomas Heath is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees (1978), Oakland Athletics (1979–1985), St. Louis Cardinals (1986), Detroit Tigers (1986–1990), and Atlanta Braves (1991).
05/02/1954
Cliff Martinez, American drummer and songwriter
Cliff Robert Martinez is an American musician and composer. Early in his career, Martinez was known as a drummer notably with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. Since the 1990s, he has worked primarily as a film score composer, writing music for Spring Breakers (2012), The Foreigner (2017), and multiple films by Steven Soderbergh, Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), Solaris (2002), Contagion (2011) and Traffic (2000) and Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive (2011), Only God Forgives (2013), The Neon Demon (2016) and the miniseries Too Old to Die Young (2019).
Frank Walker, Australian journalist and author
Frank William Walker is an Australian journalist and non-fiction writer. He writes non-fiction books, mostly on military history including about the British nuclear tests at Maralinga, in South Australia.
05/02/1953
Freddie Aguilar, Filipino singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2025)
Ferdinand "Freddie" Pascual Aguilar, also known by his Muslim name Abdul Farid, was a Filipino musician regarded as one of the pillars and icons of Original Pilipino Music (OPM). He was best known for his international hit, "Anak" (1978), which became the best-selling Philippine music record of all time, selling 33 million copies worldwide, and the only Filipino song translated into 51 languages. His rendition of "Bayan Ko" became the anthem of the opposition against the regime of Ferdinand Marcos during the 1986 People Power Revolution. He was heavily associated with Pinoy rock.
John Beilein, American basketball player and coach
John Patrick Beilein is an American professional basketball coach who currently serves as a college basketball analyst for the Big Ten Network. He now also serves as Founder and CEO of Beilein Basketball, making basketballs with a stripe around the center to help shooting accuracy. Before being hired by the Big Ten Network, Beilein served as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Prior to joining the Cavaliers, he coached the Michigan Wolverines (2007–2019), West Virginia Mountaineers (2002–2007), Richmond Spiders (1997–2002), Canisius Golden Griffins (1992–1997) in NCAA Division I as well as the Le Moyne Dolphins (1983–1992), Nazareth College (1982–1983), and Erie Community College (1978–1982). Beilein has won 754 career games at four-year universities and 829 games altogether, including those at the junior college level. Beilein's overall career wins counting the time spent in Cleveland is 843 games.
Gustavo Benítez, Paraguayan footballer and manager
Gustavo Benítez is a retired Paraguayan football defender and coach.
05/02/1952
Daniel Balavoine, French singer-songwriter and producer (died 1986)
Daniel Xavier-Marie Balavoine was a French singer and songwriter. He was popular in the French-speaking world in the early 1980s; he inspired many singers of his generation such as Jean-Jacques Goldman, Michel Berger, who was his closest friend, as well as the Japanese pop-rock group Crystal King. Balavoine was a part of the original cast of the rock opera Starmania in 1978, which was written by Berger.
Vladimir Moskovkin, Ukrainian-Russian geographer, economist, and academic
Vladimir Mikhailovich Moskovkin is a Post-Soviet and Ukrainian geographer, economist, scientometrist, teacher, publicist. Doctor of Geographical Sciences, professor.
05/02/1951
Nikolay Merkushkin, Mordovian engineer and politician, 1st Head of the Republic of Mordovia
Nikolay Ivanovich Merkushkin is a Russian politician who served as Governor of Samara Oblast from 2012 to 2017 and as Head of the Republic of Mordovia from 1995 to 2012. From 24 January to 22 September 1995, he served as Chairman of the State Assembly of Mordovia.
05/02/1950
Jonathan Freeman, American actor and singer
Jonathan Freeman is an American actor and puppeteer. He is known for voicing Jafar in Disney's Aladdin franchise, as well as the Kingdom Hearts franchise and the 2011 Aladdin musical.
Rafael Puente, Mexican footballer
Rafael Puente Suárez is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager. He currently works as an analyst for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Mexico.
05/02/1949
Kurt Beck, German politician
Kurt Beck is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who served as the 7th Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate from 1994 to 2013 and as the 55th President of the Bundesrat in 2000–01. In May 2006, he succeeded Matthias Platzeck as chairman of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). He resigned from that post in September 2008.
Maidarjavyn Ganzorig, Mongolian cosmonaut and academic (died 2021)
Maidarjavyn Ganzorig was a Mongolian cosmonaut and academic.
Yvon Vallières, Canadian educator and politician
Yvon Vallières is a retired Canadian politician and teacher. He was a member of National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Richmond in the Estrie region from 1973 to 1976 and from 1981 to 2012. Formerly the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 2003 to 2007, he is the current chair of the Government Caucus. He was a member of the Quebec Liberal Party.
05/02/1948
Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish footballer and manager (died 2024)
Sven-Göran Eriksson was a Swedish football player and manager. After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 trophies with a variety of league clubs in Sweden, Portugal, and Italy. In European competition, he won the UEFA Cup in 1982, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1999, the last edition of the tournament before its abolition, the UEFA Super Cup in 1999, and reached the European Cup final in 1990.
Christopher Guest, British-American actor and director
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest, known professionally as Christopher Guest, is an American and British actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. Guest has written, directed, and starred in his series of comedy films shot in mockumentary style. He co-wrote and acted in the rock satire This Is Spinal Tap (1984), and later directed a string of satirical mockumentary films such as Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016). He also acted in the films Death Wish (1974), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), and A Few Good Men (1992); and was a regular cast member on the 10th season of Saturday Night Live.
Barbara Hershey, American actress
Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey, is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including Westerns, horrors, and comedies. She began acting at age 17 in 1965, but did not achieve widespread critical acclaim until the 1980s. By that time, the Chicago Tribune referred to her as "one of America's finest actresses".
Errol Morris, American director and producer
Errol Mark Morris is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of their subjects, and the invention of the Interrotron. In 2003, his The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. His film The Thin Blue Line placed fifth on a Sight & Sound poll of the greatest documentaries ever made. Morris is known for making films about unusual subjects; Fast, Cheap & Out of Control interweaves the stories of an animal trainer, a topiary gardener, a robot scientist, and a naked mole-rat specialist.
Tom Wilkinson, English actor (died 2023)
Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson was an English actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2005, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
05/02/1947
Mary L. Cleave, American engineer and astronaut (died 2023)
Mary Louise Cleave was an American engineer and NASA astronaut. She also served from 2005 to 2007 as NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate.
Clemente Mastella, Italian politician, Italian Minister of Justice
Mario Clemente Mastella is an Italian politician who has been the mayor of Benevento since 20 June 2016. He also served as leader of the Union of Democrats for Europe (UDEUR), a minor centrist and Christian-democratic Italian party. Mastella, who began his career in the Christian Democracy (DC) party, being elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1976, is known for his trasformismo, changing over his career many political parties and affiliations.
Darrell Waltrip, American race car driver and sportscaster
Darrell Lee Waltrip is an American motorsports analyst, author as well as a former national television broadcaster and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series, most notably driving the No. 11 Chevrolet for Junior Johnson. Waltrip is a three-time Cup Series champion.
05/02/1946
Amnon Dankner, Israeli journalist and author (died 2013)
Amnon Dankner was an Israeli newspaper editor and author. He was the editor of the mass-circulation daily Maariv for six years.
Charlotte Rampling, English actress
Tessa Charlotte Rampling is an English actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model. She was cast in the role of Meredith in the 1966 film Georgy Girl, which starred Lynn Redgrave. She soon began making French and Italian arthouse films, notably Luchino Visconti's The Damned (1969) and Liliana Cavani's The Night Porter (1974). She went on to star in many European and English-language films, including Stardust Memories (1980), The Verdict (1982), Long Live Life (1984), and The Wings of the Dove (1997). In the 2000s, she became the muse of French director François Ozon, appearing in several of his films, notably Under the Sand (2000), Swimming Pool (2003) and Young & Beautiful (2013). On television, she is known for her role as Dr. Evelyn Vogel in Dexter (2013).
05/02/1945
Douglas Hogg, English lawyer and politician, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Douglas Martin Hogg, 3rd Viscount Hailsham, Baron Hailsham of Kettlethorpe, is a British politician and barrister. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in John Major's second government as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1995 to 1997, and was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2010.
05/02/1944
J. R. Cobb, American guitarist and songwriter (died 2019)
James Barney Cobb Jr. was an American guitarist and songwriter, most notable for co-writing "Spooky", "Stormy" and "Traces", among others, as a member of the Classics IV, plus "Champagne Jam" and "Do It Or Die", among others, as a member of the Atlanta Rhythm Section.
Henfil, Brazilian journalist, author, and illustrator (died 1988)
Henrique de Souza Filho, commonly known as Henfil, was a Brazilian cartoonist, caricaturist, journalist and writer, born in Ribeirão das Neves, Minas Gerais.
Al Kooper, American singer-songwriter and producer
Al Kooper is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, including playing organ on the Bob Dylan song "Like a Rolling Stone", French horn and piano on the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want", and lead guitar on Rita Coolidge's "The Lady's Not for Sale". He also formed and named Blood, Sweat & Tears, though he did not stay with the group long enough to share in its subsequent popularity. Kooper produced a number of one-off collaboration albums, such as the Super Session album that saw him work separately with guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills.
Tamanoumi Masahiro, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 51st Yokozuna (died 1971)
Tamanoumi Masahiro was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Aichi. He was the sport's 51st yokozuna. Making his professional debut in 1959, he reached the top makuuchi division in 1964. He won six tournament championships and was runner-up in 12 others. Earlier in his career he also earned six special prizes and four gold stars. He was promoted to yokozuna simultaneously with his friend and rival Kitanofuji in January 1970 and the two men represented the dawning of a new era after the dominance of Taihō. He died suddenly in October 1971 after a delayed appendectomy.
05/02/1943
Nolan Bushnell, American engineer and businessman, founded Atari, Inc.
Nolan Kay Bushnell is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc., and the Chuck E. Cheese chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame, received the BAFTA Fellowship and the Nations Restaurant News "Innovator of the Year" award and was named one of Newsweek's "50 Men Who Changed America". He has started more than 20 companies and is one of the founding fathers of the video game industry. He is on the board of Anti-Aging Games. In 2012, he founded an educational software company called Brainrush that uses video game technology in educational software.
Michael Mann, American director, producer, and screenwriter
Michael Kenneth Mann is an American film director, screenwriter, author and producer. Best known for his stylized crime dramas, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as earned nominations for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Award. His most acclaimed works include the films Thief (1981), Manhunter (1986), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Heat (1995), The Insider (1999), Ali (2001), Collateral (2004), Public Enemies (2009), and Ferrari (2023). He was executive producer on the popular TV series Miami Vice (1984–90), which he adapted into a 2006 feature film.
Craig Morton, American football player and sportscaster
Larry Craig Morton is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos. He played college football for the California Golden Bears, receiving All-American honors, and was selected by the Cowboys fifth overall in the 1965 NFL draft. Following nine seasons with the Cowboys, a quarterback controversy with Roger Staubach led to Morton joining the New York Giants for three seasons. He spent his final six seasons as a member of the Broncos, winning NFL Comeback Player of the Year and AFC Offensive Player of the Year in 1977.
Dušan Uhrin, Czech and Slovak footballer and manager
Dušan Uhrin is a Czech and Slovak football coach and former player. He was the coach of Slovan Bratislava. Born in the Nitra District in the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia, he has lived in Prague since the age of 16.
05/02/1942
Roger Staubach, American football player, sportscaster, and businessman
Roger Thomas Staubach, nicknamed "Roger the Dodger", "Captain America", and "Captain Comeback", is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy, where he played college football for the Navy Midshipmen and won the 1963 Heisman Trophy. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy, including a tour of duty in Vietnam.
05/02/1941
Stephen J. Cannell, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2010)
Stephen Joseph Cannell was an American television producer, writer, novelist, actor, and founder of Cannell Entertainment and The Cannell Studios.
Henson Cargill, American country music singer (died 2007)
Henson Cargill was an American country music singer best known for the socially controversial 1968 country number-one hit "Skip a Rope". His music career began in Oklahoma in clubs around Oklahoma City and Tulsa. He earned national recognition after getting a Nashville producer to agree to produce "Skip a Rope".
David Selby, American actor and playwright
David Lynn Selby is an American film, television, and stage actor and writer. He played Quentin Collins on the daytime soap Dark Shadows (1968–1971) and Richard Channing on the prime-time soap Falcon Crest (1982–1990). Selby also had prominent roles in the television series Flamingo Road (1981–1982) and the feature film Raise the Titanic (1980).
Barrett Strong, American soul singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2023)
Barrett Strong Jr. was an American singer and songwriter known for his recording of "Money ", which was the first hit single for the Motown record label. He is also known for his songwriting work in association with producer Norman Whitfield; together, they penned such songs as "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "War", "Just My Imagination ", and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone".
Kaspar Villiger, Swiss engineer and politician, 85th President of the Swiss Confederation
Kaspar Villiger is a Swiss businessman, former tobacco manufacturer and politician. He served as a member of the Federal Council (Switzerland) since 1 February 1989 for The Liberals. Villiger served two terms as President of the Swiss Confederation in 1995 and again in 2002. He previously served on the Council of States (Switzerland) from 1987 to 1989 and on the National Council (Switzerland) from 1982 to 1987.
05/02/1940
H. R. Giger, Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer (died 2014)
Hans Ruedi Giger was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines, an art style known as "biomechanical". He was part of the special effects team that won an Academy Award for the visual design of Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi horror film Alien, and was responsible for creating the xenomorph alien itself. His work is on permanent display at the H. R. Giger Museum in Gruyères, Switzerland. His style has been adapted to many forms of media, including album covers, furniture, and music videos.
Luke Graham, American wrestler (died 2006)
James Grady Johnson was an American professional wrestler, best known by his ring name, "Crazy" Luke Graham. As Luke Graham, Johnson was part of the Graham family, a stable of wrestlers. All members were billed as kayfabe brothers. He worked extensively for various National Wrestling Alliance territories as well as the World Wide Wrestling Federation, where he was a three-time tag-team champion and the inaugural WWWF World Tag Team Champion.
05/02/1939
Brian Luckhurst, English cricketer (died 2005)
Brian William Luckhurst was an English cricketer, who played his entire county career for Kent County Cricket Club. He played for Kent from 1958 to 1976, usually opening the batting, then in 1985, in an emergency, played in one more match against the Australians. He was cricket manager from 1981 to 1986, then became cricket administrator. He went on to become president of the club, and held that position until his death. He played 355 matches for Kent and represented England in 21 Test matches and three one day internationals.
Jane Bryant Quinn, American financial journalist
Jane Bryant Quinn is an American financial journalist. Her columns talk about financial topics such as investor protection, health insurance, Social Security, and the sufficiency of retirement plans.
05/02/1938
Rafael Nieto Navia, Colombian lawyer, jurist, and diplomat (died 2024)
Rafael Nieto Navia was a Colombian jurist and political scientist.
05/02/1937
Stuart Damon, American actor and singer (died 2021)
Stuart Damon was an American actor. He was best known for his 30-year portrayal of Dr. Alan Quartermaine on the American soap opera General Hospital, for which he won an Emmy Award in 1999. Outside the United States, he was known for the role of Craig Stirling in The Champions.
Larry Hillman, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2022)
Lawrence Morley Hillman was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and coach. One of the most travelled players in hockey history, he played for 15 different teams in his 22 professional seasons. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1955 and 1973, and then in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1973 to 1976. After retiring he spent parts of three seasons as a coach in the WHA. Hillman had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup six times during his playing career.
Gaston Roelants, Belgian runner
Gaston, Baron Roelants, is a Belgian former elite steeplechaser and cross country runner. He won the 1962 European and 1964 Olympic titles in the 3000 m steeplechase and twice broke the world record.
Alar Toomre, Estonian-American astronomer and mathematician
Alar Toomre is an American astronomer and mathematician. He is a professor of applied mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Toomre's research is focused on the dynamics of galaxies. He is a 1984 MacArthur Fellow.
Wang Xuan, Chinese computer scientist and academic (died 2006)
Wang Xuan was a Chinese computer scientist. He was a computer application specialist and innovator of the Chinese printing industry, as well as an academician at both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He was the vice-president of the CPPCC and founder of the major technology conglomerate company Founder Group in 1986.
05/02/1936
K. S. Nissar Ahmed, Indian poet and academic (died 2020)
Kokkare Hosahalli Shekh Haider Nissar Ahmed was an Indian poet and writer in the Kannada language. He was awarded the Padma Shri (2008), the Rajyotsava Award (1981) and the Pampa award for his work (2017). He became a household name for his work Nityotsava, which is a poem about Karnataka, a piece he composed after seeing Jog falls. He has numerous poems, translations and children's books to his credit. He is known for using simple words that resonate deeply with the public in his literary work.
05/02/1935
Alex Harvey, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1982)
Alexander James Harvey was a Scottish rock and blues musician. Although his career spanned almost three decades, he is best remembered as the frontman of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, with whom he built a reputation as an exciting live performer during the era of glam rock in the 1970s.
Johannes Geldenhuys, South African military commander (died 2018)
General Johannes Jacobus (Jannie) Geldenhuys was a South African military commander who served as Chief of the South African Defence Force from 1985 to 1990.
05/02/1934
Hank Aaron, American baseball player (died 2021)
Henry Louis Aaron, nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. Considered one of the greatest baseball players in history, he spent 21 seasons with the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL) and two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League (AL). At the time of his retirement, Aaron held most of the game's key career power-hitting records. He broke the long-standing MLB record for career home runs held by Babe Ruth and remained the career leader for 33 years, until Barry Bonds surpassed his famous total of 755 in 2007. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973 and is one of only two players to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least 15 times.
Don Cherry, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
Donald Stewart Cherry is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. He played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins. After concluding a playing career in the American Hockey League, he coached the Bruins for five seasons leading the team to four division titles and two appearances in the Stanley Cup Final.
05/02/1933
Jörn Donner, Finnish director and screenwriter (died 2020)
Jörn Johan Donner was a Finnish writer, film director, actor, producer, politician and founder of Finnish Film Archive. He was also a publisher, editor, and a prominent literary and film critic. He produced Ingmar Bergman's film Fanny and Alexander, which won four Academy Awards in 1984. Donner also served in the Finnish parliament and the European Parliament, making significant contributions to both cinema and politics.
B. S. Johnson, English author, poet, and critic (died 1973)
Bryan Stanley William Johnson was an English experimental novelist, poet and literary critic. He also produced television programmes and made films.
05/02/1932
Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer and manager (died 2016)
Cesare Maldini was an Italian professional football manager and player who played as a defender.
05/02/1929
Hal Blaine, American session drummer (died 2019)
Hal Blaine was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one.
Luc Ferrari, French pianist and composer (died 2005)
Luc Ferrari was a French composer of Italian heritage and a pioneer in musique concrète and electroacoustic music. He was a founding member of RTF's Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRMC), working alongside composers such as Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry.
Fred Sinowatz, Austrian politician, 19th Chancellor of Austria (died 2008)
Alfred Sinowatz was an Austrian historian and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), who served as Chancellor of Austria from 1983 to 1986. Prior to becoming Chancellor, he had served as Minister of Education from 1971 to 1983 and Vice-Chancellor from 1981 to 1983.
05/02/1928
Hristu Cândroveanu, Romanian editor, literary critic and writer (died 2013)
Hristu Cândroveanu was a Romanian editor, literary critic, poet, prose writer and translator of Aromanian ethnicity. He published several works related to the Aromanians, led several Aromanian magazines and was involved in some Aromanian organizations.
Tage Danielsson, Swedish author, actor, and director (died 1985)
Tage Ivar Roland Danielsson was a Swedish author, actor, comedian, poet and film director. He worked together with Hans Alfredson in the comedy duo Hasse & Tage.
Andrew Greeley, American priest, sociologist, and author (died 2013)
Andrew Moran Greeley was an American Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist and novelist. He was a professor of sociology at the University of Arizona and the University of Chicago, and a research associate with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC). For many years, Greeley wrote a weekly column for the Chicago Sun-Times and contributed regularly to The New York Times, the National Catholic Reporter, America and Commonweal.
P. J. Vatikiotis, Israeli-American historian and political scientist (died 1997)
Panayiotis Jerasimof Vatikiotis was a Greek-American political scientist and historian of the Middle East. He was Professor of Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, in London.
05/02/1927
Robert Allen, American pianist and composer (died 2000)
Robert Allen Deitcher was an American pianist and an arranger and writer of music for popular songs.
Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch captain and pilot (died 1977)
Jacob Louis "Jaap" Veldhuyzen van Zanten was a Dutch aircraft captain and flight instructor. He was the captain of the KLM plane involved in the Tenerife airport disaster and died in the collision, which is the deadliest accident in aviation history. He was KLM's chief instructor and commonly appeared on advertising.
05/02/1924
Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Indian cardinal (died 2014)
Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy was an Indian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Roman Curia and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1985. His episcopical motto was Aedificare domum Dei which means "To build the house of God". He was the fourth cardinal from India and the first curial cardinal of Asia outside of the Middle East.
05/02/1923
Claude King, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2013)
Claude King was an American country music singer and songwriter. He is best known for his 1962 million-selling hit, "Wolverton Mountain".
James E. Bowman, American physician and academic (died 2011)
James Edward Bowman Jr. was an American physician and specialist in pathology, hematology, and genetics. He was a professor of pathology and genetics at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. He published more than ninety works across the fields of human genetics; population genetics; and ethical, legal and public policy issues in human genetics. He received many awards, including the Chicago African American History Makers Award and recognition from the Hastings Center and Stanford’s Kaiser Family Foundation, and Howard University.
05/02/1921
Ken Adam, German-born English production designer and art director (died 2016)
Sir Kenneth Adam was a German-British movie production designer, best known for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for Dr. Strangelove and Salon Kitty.
05/02/1919
Red Buttons, American actor (died 2006)
Red Buttons was an American actor and comedian. He won an Oscar and Golden Globe for Sayonara. He was nominated for awards for his work such as Harlow (1965), They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), and Pete's Dragon (1977).
Tim Holt, American actor (died 1973)
Charles John "Tim" Holt III was an American actor. He was a popular Western star during the 1940s and early 1950s, appearing in forty-six B westerns released by RKO Pictures.
Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (died 1996)
Andreas Georgiou Papandreou was a Greek academic and economist who was prime minister of Greece from 1981 to 1989 and again from 1993 to 1996. He founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).
05/02/1917
Edward J. Mortola, American academic and president of Pace University (died 2002)
Edward Joseph Mortola was an American academic and education executive who served as president of New York's Pace University from 1960 to 1984, when he became chancellor. He was the university's third president and oversaw its growth from a Lower Manhattan business school to one of the largest independent universities in the U.S., with a centrally located campus at One Pace Plaza, across from City Hall.
Isuzu Yamada, Japanese actress (died 2012)
Isuzu Yamada was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career spanned seven decades.
05/02/1915
Robert Hofstadter, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1990)
Robert Hofstadter was an American physicist. He was the joint winner of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his pioneering studies of electron scattering in atomic nuclei and for his consequent discoveries concerning the structure of nucleons".
05/02/1914
William S. Burroughs, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (died 1997)
William Seward Burroughs II was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced both underground and popular culture and literature. Much of Burroughs's work is highly experimental and features unreliable narrators. Also noted as semi-autobiographical, his work often drew from his experiences with drug addiction, and featured his various places of residence as settings in much of his work. With Brion Gysin, Burroughs popularized the cut-up, an aleatory literary technique. His writing also engaged frequent mystical, occult, or otherwise magical themes, constant preoccupations in both his fiction and real life.
Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist, biophysicist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998)
Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was an English physiologist and biophysicist who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Huxley and John Eccles.
05/02/1911
Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (died 1960)
Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th century, Björling appeared for many years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and less frequently at the major European opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in London and La Scala in Milan. He sang the Italian, French and Russian opera repertory with taste.
05/02/1910
Charles Philippe Leblond, French-Canadian biologist and academic (died 2007)
Charles Philippe Leblond was a pioneer of cell biology and stem cell research and a Canadian former professor of anatomy. Leblond is notable for developing autoradiography and his work showing how cells continuously renew themselves, regardless of age.
Francisco Varallo, Argentinian footballer (died 2010)
Francisco Antonio Varallo was an Argentine footballer who played as a forward for the Argentina national team from 1930 to 1937, also representing the country at the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930.
05/02/1909
Grażyna Bacewicz, Polish violinist and composer (died 1969)
Grażyna Bacewicz Biernacka was a Polish composer and violinist of Lithuanian origin. She is the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century.
05/02/1908
Marie Baron, Dutch swimmer and diver (died 1948)
Mietje "Marie" Baron was a Dutch swimmer and diver who competed at the 1924 and 1928 Olympics. In 1924 she was sixth in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. She was disqualified in the first round of the 200 m breaststroke event, as the judges believed she touched the wall with one hand instead of two hands at one of the turns. Meanwhile, her time of 3:22.6 was several seconds ahead of the gold medalist's. Four years later she swam 3:15.2, but this was only enough for a silver medal, as her main rival Germany's Hilde Schrader clocked 3:12.6. At the 1928 Games Baron also competed in the 10 m platform diving event and finished fourth.
Peg Entwistle, Welsh-American actress (died 1932)
Millicent Lilian "Peg" Entwistle was a British stage and screen actress. She began her stage career in 1925, appearing in several Broadway productions. She appeared in only one film, Thirteen Women (1932), which was released posthumously. Entwistle gained notoriety after she jumped to her death from atop the 'H' on the Hollywoodland sign in September 1932, at the age of 24.
Eugen Weidmann, German criminal (died 1939)
Eugen Weidmann was a German criminal and serial killer who was executed by guillotine in France in June 1939, the last public execution in France.
05/02/1907
Birgit Dalland, Norwegian politician (died 2007)
Birgit Ellenora Johanne Dalland was a Norwegian politician for the Communist Party.
Pierre Pflimlin, French politician, Prime Minister of France (died 2000)
Pierre Eugène Jean Pflimlin was a French Christian Democrat politician who served as the Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic for a few weeks in 1958, before being replaced by Charles de Gaulle during the crisis of that year.
05/02/1906
John Carradine, American actor (died 1988)
John Carradine was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, known for his roles in horror films, Westerns, and Shakespearean theater, most notably portraying Count Dracula in House of Frankenstein (1944), House of Dracula (1945), Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966), and Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula (1979). Among his other notable roles was "Preacher Casy" in John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath. In later decades of his career, he starred mostly in low-budget B-movies. In total, he holds 351 film and television credits, making him one of the most prolific English-speaking film and television actors of all time.
05/02/1903
Koto Matsudaira, Japanese diplomat, ambassador to the United Nations (died 1994)
Koto Matsudaira was a Japanese diplomat who served as an ambassador to the United Nations from 1957 to 1961.
Joan Whitney Payson, American businesswoman and philanthropist (died 1975)
Joan Whitney Payson was an American heiress, businesswoman, philanthropist, patron of the arts and art collector, and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She co-founded, and was the majority owner of, Major League Baseball's New York Mets baseball franchise, making her the first woman to own a major league team in North America without inheriting it.
05/02/1900
Adlai Stevenson II, American soldier, politician, and diplomat, 5th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (died 1965)
Adlai Ewing Stevenson II was an American politician and diplomat who was the United States ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965. He previously served as the 31st governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953 and was the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States in 1952 and 1956, losing both elections to Dwight D. Eisenhower.
05/02/1897
Dirk Stikker, Dutch businessman and politician, 3rd Secretary General of NATO (died 1979)
Dirk Uipko Stikker was a Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Liberal State Party (LSP), co-founder of the defunct Freedom Party (PvdV) and of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and businessman. Stikker was known for his abilities as a manager and negotiator. Stikker continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death. He holds the distinction as the first Secretary General of NATO from the Netherlands.
05/02/1892
Elizabeth Ryan, American tennis player (died 1979)
Elizabeth Montague Ryan was an American tennis player who was born in Anaheim, California, but lived most of her adult life in the United Kingdom. Ryan won 26 Grand Slam titles, 19 in women's doubles and 7 in mixed doubles at Wimbledon, an all-time record for those two events. Twelve of her Wimbledon titles were in women's doubles and seven were in mixed doubles. Ryan also won four women's doubles titles at the French Championships, as well as one women's doubles title and two mixed-doubles titles at the U.S. Championships. During a 19-year run Ryan amassed a total of 659 titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
05/02/1891
Renato Petronio, Italian rower (died 1976)
Renato Petronio was an Italian rowing coxswain who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics and in the 1936 Summer Olympics.
05/02/1889
Patsy Hendren, English cricketer and footballer (died 1962)
Elias Henry "Patsy" Hendren was an English first-class cricketer, active 1907 to 1937, who played for Middlesex and England. He also had a concurrent career as a footballer and had a long tenure with Brentford F.C. He was born in Turnham Green and died in Tooting Bec. A right-handed batsman who occasionally bowled off breaks, Hendren was one of the most prolific batsmen of the inter-war period, averaging 47.63 in his 51 Test matches and 50.80 in all his first-class matches. He has the third highest first-class run aggregate of 57,611 runs, and his total of 170 centuries ranks second only to Hobbs, who was a personal friend. Hendren was a noted wit, a keen practical joker and had a talent for mimicry.
Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (died 1962)
George Ernest Tyldesley was an English cricketer. The younger brother of Johnny Tyldesley and the leading batsman for Lancashire. He remains Lancashire's most prolific run-getter of all time, and is one of only a few batsmen to have scored 100 centuries in the first-class game.
Recep Peker, Turkish officer and politician (died 1950)
Mehmet Recep Peker was a Turkish military officer and politician. A heavy-handed modernist, he served in various ministerial posts and finally as the Prime Minister of Turkey between 1946 and 1947.
05/02/1880
Gabriel Voisin, French pilot and engineer (died 1973)
Gabriel Voisin was a French aviation pioneer and the creator of Europe's first manned, engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft capable of a sustained (1 km), circular, controlled flight, which was made by Henri Farman on 13 January 1908 near Paris, France. During World War I, the company founded by Voisin became a major producer of military aircraft, notably the Voisin III. Subsequently, he switched to the design and production of luxury automobiles under the name Avions Voisin.
05/02/1878
André Citroën, French engineer and businessman, founded Citroën (died 1935)
André-Gustave Citroën was a French industrialist and the founder of French automaker Citroën. He is also remembered for his application of double helical gears.
05/02/1876
Ernie McLea, Canadian ice hockey player (died 1931)
Ernest Hope "Ernie" McLea was a Canadian amateur ice hockey player, in the era before professional hockey. McLea played in the 1890s for the Montreal Victorias and was a member of four Stanley Cup-winning teams. He scored the first hat trick in Stanley Cup play, and scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in a challenge game in 1896.
05/02/1870
Charles Edmund Brock, British painter and book illustrator (died 1938)
Charles Edmund Brock was a widely published English painter, line artist and book illustrator, who signed most of his work C. E. Brock. He was the eldest of four artist brothers, including Henry Matthew Brock, also an illustrator.
05/02/1866
Domhnall Ua Buachalla, Irish politician, 3rd and last Governor-General of the Irish Free State (died 1963)
Domhnall Ua Buachalla was an Irish politician and member of the First Dáil who served as third and final governor-general of the Irish Free State from 1932 to 1936, and later served as a member of the Council of State from 1959 until his death.
05/02/1852
Terauchi Masatake, Japanese field marshal and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Japan (died 1919)
Count Terauchi Masatake was a Japanese military officer and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1916 to 1918. He was a Gensui in the Imperial Japanese Army.
05/02/1848
Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author and critic (died 1907)
Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans. He is most famous for the novel À rebours. He supported himself by way of a 30-year career in the French civil service.
Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Chilean lieutenant (died 1882)
Ignacio Carrera Pinto (1848–1882) was a Chilean soldier and Captain of the 4th Company of the "Chacabuco" 6th Line Battalion who was killed in action at the Battle of La Concepción. A hero of the War of the Pacific, Carrera is commemorated on the thousand peso banknote.
05/02/1847
Eduard Magnus Jakobson, Estonian missionary and engraver (died 1903)
Eduard Magnus Jakobson was an Estonian wood engraver and Baptist missionary. He illustrated many books and designed the masthead logo for Sakala, a newspaper founded by his older brother, Carl Robert Jakobson.
05/02/1840
John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish businessman, co-founded Dunlop Rubber (died 1921)
John Boyd Dunlop was a Scottish inventor and veterinary surgeon who spent most of his career in Ireland. Familiar with making rubber devices, he invented the practical pneumatic tyres for his child's tricycle and developed them for use in cycle racing. He sold his rights to the pneumatic tyres to a company he formed with the president of the Irish Cyclists' Association, Harvey du Cros, for a small cash sum and a small shareholding in their pneumatic tyre business. Dunlop withdrew in 1896. The company that bore his name, Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, was not incorporated until later and, despite its name, was Du Cros's creation.
Hiram Maxim, American engineer, invented the Maxim gun (died 1916)
Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim was an American-born British inventor best known as the creator of the first automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. Maxim held patents on numerous mechanical devices such as hair-curling irons, a mousetrap, and steam pumps. Maxim laid claim to inventing the lightbulb.
05/02/1837
Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist and publisher, founded Moody Church, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers (died 1899)
Dwight Lyman Moody, also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers. One of his most famous quotes was "Faith makes all things possible... Love makes all things easy." Moody gave up his lucrative boot and shoe business to devote his life to revivalism, working first in the Civil War with Union troops through YMCA in the United States Christian Commission. In Chicago, he built one of the major evangelical centers in the nation, which is still active. Working with singer Ira Sankey, he toured the country and the British Isles, drawing large crowds with a dynamic speaking style.
05/02/1827
Peter Lalor, Irish-Australian activist and politician (died 1889)
Peter Fintan Lalor ; 5 February 1827 – 9 February 1889) was an Irish-Australian rebel and, later, politician, who rose to fame for his leading role in the Eureka Rebellion, an event identified with the "birth of democracy" in Australia.
05/02/1810
Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist and composer (died 1880)
Ole Bornemann Bull was a Norwegian virtuoso violinist and composer. According to Robert Schumann, he was on a level with Niccolò Paganini for the speed and clarity of his playing.
05/02/1808
Carl Spitzweg, German painter and poet (died 1885)
Carl Spitzweg was a German romantic painter, especially of genre subjects. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era.
05/02/1804
Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet and hymn-writer (died 1877)
Johan Ludvig Runeberg was a Finnish priest, lyric and epic poet. He wrote exclusively in Swedish. He is considered a national poet of Finland. He is the author of the lyrics to Vårt land which became the Finnish national anthem. Runeberg was also involved in the modernization of the Finnish Lutheran hymnal and produced many texts for the new edition.
05/02/1795
Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist, geologist, and physicist (died 1871)
Wilhelm Karl Haidinger, ennobled as Wilhelm Ritter von Haidinger in 1864, was an Austrian mineralogist.
05/02/1788
Robert Peel, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1850)
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–1835). He previously was Home Secretary twice. He is regarded as the father of modern British policing, owing to his founding of the Metropolitan Police while he was Home Secretary. Peel was one of the founders of the modern Conservative Party.
05/02/1748
Christian Gottlob Neefe, German composer and conductor (died 1798)
Christian Gottlob Neefe was a German opera composer and conductor. He was known as one of the first teachers of Ludwig van Beethoven.
05/02/1744
John Jeffries, American medical doctor, scientist, military surgeon, and inspiration for National Weatherperson's Day
John Jeffries was an American medical doctor, scientist, and military surgeon with the British Army in Nova Scotia and New York during the American Revolution. He is best known for accompanying French inventor Jean-Pierre Blanchard on his 1785 balloon flight across the English Channel.
05/02/1725
James Otis Jr., American lawyer and politician (died 1783)
James Otis Jr. was an American lawyer, politician, and activist who was an early supporter of patriotic causes in the Province of Massachusetts Bay at the beginning of the American Revolution. Otis was a fervent opponent of the writs of assistance introduced in 1761 which allowed law enforcement officials to search private property without cause. He later criticized British plans to introduce new taxes in the Thirteen Colonies. As a result, Otis is often credited with coining the slogan "taxation without representation is tyranny".
05/02/1723
John Witherspoon, Scottish-American minister and academic (died 1794)
John Witherspoon was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister, educator, farmer, and a Founding Father of the United States. Witherspoon embraced the concepts of Scottish common sense realism, and while president of the College of New Jersey became an influential figure in the development of the United States' national character. Politically active, Witherspoon was a delegate from New Jersey to the Second Continental Congress and a signatory to the July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence. He was the only active clergyman and the only college president to sign the Declaration. Later, he signed the Articles of Confederation and supported ratification of the Constitution of the United States. In 1789 he was convening moderator of the First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. As one of the first national leaders of American Presbyterianism, he promoted theological and civic ideas adjacent to John Calvin, John Knox, and Samuel Rutherford, particularly the concept that resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.
05/02/1703
Gilbert Tennent, Irish-American minister (died 1764)
Gilbert Tennent was a Presbyterian revivalist minister in Colonial America. Born into a Scotch-Irish family in County Armagh, Ireland, he migrated to America with his parents, studied theology, and along with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, became one of the leaders of the evangelical revival known as the First Great Awakening. His most famous sermon, On the Danger of an Unconverted Ministry, also known as the "Nottingham Sermon," compared "Old Side" ministers to the biblical Pharisees of the Gospels, triggering a schism in the Presbyterian Church which lasted for 17 years. A prolific writer, Tennent would later work towards reunification of the two synods involved.
05/02/1650
Anne Jules de Noailles, French general (died 1708)
Anne Jules de Noailles, 2nd Duke of Noailles was one of the chief generals of France towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV, and, after raising the regiment of Noailles in 1689, he commanded in Spain during both the War of the Grand Alliance and the War of the Spanish Succession, and was made marshal of France in 1693.
05/02/1626
Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (died 1696)
Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, also widely known as Madame de Sévigné or Mme de Sévigné, was a French aristocrat, remembered for her letter-writing. Most of her letters, celebrated for their wit and vividness, were addressed to her daughter, Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné. She is revered in France as one of the great icons of French 17th-century literature.
05/02/1608
Gaspar Schott, German mathematician and physicist (died 1666)
Gaspar Schott was a German Jesuit and scientist, specializing in the fields of physics, mathematics and natural philosophy, and known for his industry.
05/02/1594
Biagio Marini, Italian violinist and composer (died 1663)
Biagio Marini was an Italian virtuoso violinist and composer in the first half of the seventeenth century.
05/02/1589
Esteban Manuel de Villegas, Spanish poet and educator (died 1669)
Esteban Manuel de Villegas was a 17th-century Spanish poet.
05/02/1534
Giovanni de' Bardi, Italian soldier, composer, and critic (died 1612)
Giovanni de' Bardi, Count of Vernio, was an Italian literary critic, writer, composer and soldier.
05/02/1533
Andreas Dudith, Croatian-Hungarian nobleman and diplomat (died 1589)
Andreas Dudith, also András Dudith de Horahovicza, was a Hungarian nobleman of Croatian and Italian origin, Catholic bishop, humanist and diplomat in the Kingdom of Hungary.
05/02/1525
Juraj Drašković, Croatian Catholic cardinal (died 1587)
Juraj II Drašković was a Croatian nobleman, statesman and Catholic bishop and cardinal. He held significant positions within the Croatian Kingdom. He was a member of the House of Drašković and elected by the Sabor – the Parliament of Croatia – as Ban (viceroy) of Croatia to oversee the country between 1567 and 1578.
05/02/1519
René of Châlon, prince of Orange (died 1544)
René of Chalon, also known as Renatus of Chalon, was a Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Gelre.
05/02/1505
Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss statesman and historian (died 1572)
Aegidius Tschudi was a Swiss historian, statesman and soldier, an eminent member of the Tschudi family of Glarus, Switzerland. His best-known work is the Chronicon Helveticum, a history of the early Swiss Confederation.
05/02/1438
Philip II, duke of Savoy (died 1497)
Philip II, known as the Landless, was Duke of Savoy from 1496 until his death in 1497. A member of a junior branch of the House of Savoy, he was the son of Louis I, Duke of Savoy, and the younger brother of Duke Amadeus IX. Philip inherited the duchy late in life, following the death of his grandnephew Charles II.
05/02/1321
John II, marquess of Montferrat (died 1372)
John II Palaeologus was the Margrave of Montferrat from 1338.
05/02/0976
Sanjō, emperor of Japan (died 1017)
Emperor Sanjō was the 67th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.