Friday, 15th May 2026 in Lisbon

15th May in the Stars – Star Sign Taurus

Today, the zodiac sign Taurus celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality People born on May 15th blend Taurus steadfastness with mercurial sharpness. They're sensual, patient, and grounded, yet their intellect and communication skills distinguish them from typical Taureans. These natives balance practicality with intellectual curiosity in an engaging way.

Strengths & Weaknesses Their strengths include reliability, sensory refinement, and thoughtful communication. Stubbornness and immobility can become weaknesses—they resist change fiercely. Their pleasure-seeking nature may occasionally slip into indulgence or laziness.

Love In relationships, May 15th natives are loyal and sensual but crave mental connection too. They need partners who appreciate their practical approach and intellectual pursuits. Long-term stability matters far more than fleeting passion.

Caree & Finance These individuals thrive in roles combining hands-on skill with intellect—craftsmanship, design, commerce, or teaching. Financially, they're prudent and love saving, though they enjoy occasional luxury. Their networking ability opens professional doors naturally.

Health May 15th natives must guard against overindulgence—food and material pleasures can become excessive. Regular movement and sensory activities like massage or yoga support wellbeing. Creative outlets help release stress while honoring their grounded nature.

That night, the moon was in its waxing gibbous phase.

Chinese year of the Horse (Fire).

Fun Facts About 15th May

Name Days in Your Language: Sofia, Sonia, Sonya, Sophia, Sophie, Ward, Wardell

Someone born on this day would be just 17 days old today — roughly 411 hours, 24,682 minutes, or 1,480,928 seconds spent on Earth so far.

It's the 135. day of the year. In 2026, 15th May falls on a Friday.

There are 230 days still to come.

We’re currently in Week 20 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 15th May

On this day, 251 notable people were born on 15th May — spanning from 1397 to 2006. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

15/05/2006

Haerin, Korean singer

Kang Hae-rin, known mononymously as Haerin, is a South Korean singer. She is best known as a member of the South Korean girl group NewJeans, which debuted on July 22, 2022, under the record label ADOR.

15/05/2002

Chase Hudson, American internet celebrity, singer, actor

Cole Chase Hudson, known professionally as Huddy, is an American social media personality, singer, and actor known for co-founding the TikTok collective the Hype House, and popularizing the e-boy fashion style and subculture. A 2020 article in Billboard Magazine rated him as one of the top 10 music influencers on TikTok that year, with over 30 million followers, and one of the most influential people on the platform.

15/05/2000

Dayana Yastremska, Ukrainian tennis player

Dayana Oleksandrivna Yastremska is a Ukrainian professional tennis player and musician. She has been ranked as high as world No. 21 in singles by the WTA, and No. 82 in doubles, both achieved in January 2020. Yastremska has won three WTA Tour titles. Her best major performance is reaching the semifinals at the 2024 Australian Open.

15/05/1999

Anastasia Gasanova, Russian tennis player

Anastasia Dmitriyevna Gasanova is a Russian tennis player. Gasanova has a career-high singles ranking by the WTA of 121, achieved on 10 January 2022. She also has a career-high WTA ranking of 224 in doubles, reached on 19 June 2023.

15/05/1998

Lucrezia Stefanini, Italian tennis player

Lucrezia Stefanini is an Italian tennis player. Stefanini has career-high WTA rankings of 99 in singles and 393 in doubles. She has won ten singles titles and two doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She was finalist for Italy in the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup.

15/05/1997

Ousmane Dembélé, French footballer

Masour Ousmane Dembélé is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward or right winger for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team. Considered one of the best players in the world, he is one of ten players to have won the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, and Ballon d'Or in their career.

Scott Drinkwater, Australian rugby league player

Scott Drinkwater is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a fullback for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League (NRL).

15/05/1996

Birdy, English singer-songwriter

Jasmine Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde, known professionally as Birdy, is a British singer. She won the music competition Open Mic UK in 2008, at the age of 12.

15/05/1993

Jeremy Hawkins, New Zealand rugby league player

Jeremy Hawkins is a retired New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Redcliffe Dolphins in the Queensland Cup. He plays at centre and wing and previously played for the Canberra Raiders.

Tomáš Kalas, Czech international footballer

Tomáš Kalas is a Czech professional footballer who plays for Schalke 04 and the Czech Republic national team. He plays as a centre-back, but has also been played as a right-back.

15/05/1990

Jordan Eberle, Canadian ice hockey player

Jordan Leslie Christopher Eberle is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a right winger and captain of the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the first round in the 2008 NHL entry draft by the Edmonton Oilers and made his NHL debut with the Oilers in 2010.

Lee Jong-hyun, Korean guitarist

Lee Jong-hyun, also known by his mononym Jonghyun, is a South Korean musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He was the former lead guitarist and vocalist of South Korean rock band CNBLUE. He made his acting debut in an omnibus movie Acoustic in 2010, followed by his television debut in the Korean drama A Gentleman's Dignity in 2012. He appeared in television dramas Orange Marmalade (2015), Girls' Generation 1979 (2017) and Evergreen (2018).

Stella Maxwell, New Zealand model

Stella Maynes Maxwell is a British-Irish model. She is a former Victoria's Secret Angel, and is also the face of the cosmetics brand Max Factor.

15/05/1989

Susan Soonkyu Lee, Korean-American singer and entertainer

Susan Soonkyu Lee, known professionally as Sunny (Korean: 써니), is a South Korean and American singer and entertainer based in South Korea. She debuted as a member of girl group Girls' Generation in August 2007, which went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea and one of South Korea's most widely known girl groups worldwide. Apart from her group's activities, Sunny has participated in numerous side projects including original soundtracks, television variety shows, musical acting and radio hosting.

Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, French footballer

Mapou Nzapali Yanga-Mbiwa is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for FC Istres who are in Championnat National.

15/05/1988

Indrek Kajupank, Estonian basketball player

Indrek Kajupank is an Estonian professional basketball player for BC Tallinna Kalev of the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League. He is a 2.00 m tall small forward and power forward. He also represents the Estonian national basketball team internationally.

Scott Laird, English footballer

Scott Benjamin Laird is an English professional footballer and football manager who is player-manager of Western League Premier Division club Street. Primarily a left-back, he has also been deployed as a central midfielder later in his career.

15/05/1987

David Adams, American baseball player

David Lee Adams is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees in 2013.

Michael Brantley, American baseball player

Michael Charles Brantley Jr., is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians and the Houston Astros. The son of former MLB player and hitting coach Mickey Brantley, he is a left-handed batter and thrower.

Brian Dozier, American baseball player

James Brian Dozier is an American former professional baseball second baseman. The Minnesota Twins selected Dozier in the eighth round of the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. He made his MLB debut in 2012 and he played in MLB for the Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Nationals and New York Mets. Dozier was an All-Star in 2015, and won a Gold Glove Award in 2017.

Mark Fayne, American ice hockey player

Mark C. Fayne is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played with the New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Devils in the 5th round of the 2005 NHL entry draft.

Ersan İlyasova, Turkish basketball player

Ersan İlyasova is a Turkish former professional basketball player. He played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), including nine seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks. He also played in his native Turkey and for FC Barcelona in Spain.

Leonardo Mayer, Argentinian tennis player

Leonardo Martín Mayer is a tennis coach and a former professional player from Argentina. Mayer achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 in June 2015 and world No. 48 in doubles in January 2019.

Andy Murray, Scottish tennis player

Sir Andrew Barron Murray is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray won 46 ATP Tour singles titles, including three majors at the 2012 US Open, 2013 Wimbledon Championships, and 2016 Wimbledon Championships. He also won two gold medals at the Summer Olympics, the 2016 ATP World Tour Finals, 14 Masters events, and contested a total of eleven major finals.

15/05/1986

Thomas Brown, American football player

Thomas Brown is an American professional football coach and former running back who currently serves as the passing game coordinator and tight ends coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). Brown played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs and played professionally in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns. He previously served as an assistant coach for several NFL and college football teams.

Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer

Matías Ariel Fernández Fernández is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was known for his dribbling skills, also being a free kick specialist.

Adam Moffat, Scottish footballer

Adam John William Moffat is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and spent the majority of his career playing in the various professional leagues in the United States. He attended Gryffe High School in Houston, Scotland before beginning his career in Scottish football with Ross County and Elgin City, Moffat has played in the United States since 2007, initially with Cleveland City Stars. He then played for Major League Soccer (MLS) teams Columbus Crew, Portland Timbers, Houston Dynamo and Seattle Sounders FC and FC Dallas prior to joining the New York Cosmos in 2015 and finishing his career with Sacramento Republic. He won the MLS Cup with Columbus in 2008.

15/05/1985

Cristiane, Brazilian footballer

Cristiane Rozeira de Souza Silva, known as Cristiane, is a Brazilian footballer who plays for Flamengo and the Brazilian women's national team. A prolific forward, she was part of Brazil's silver medal-winning teams at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic football tournaments. In total she has participated in five FIFA Women's World Cups and four Olympics.

Tania Cagnotto, Italian diver

Tania Cagnotto is an Italian diver. She is the first female Italian diver to win a medal in a World Championship. A five-time Olympian, she won medals in both individual and synchronized springboard diving in her final appearance at the Olympics in 2016. She is also a 20-time champion at the European level.

Laura Harvey, English football coach

Laura Kate Harvey is an English football manager and former player who currently manages Seattle Reign FC of the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She holds USSF "A" and UEFA "A" coaching licences.

Tathagata Mukherjee, Indian actor

Tathagata Mukherjee is a Kolkata-based Indian writer, Director and actor. He is best known for his experimentation in Bengali Cinema and his acting performances as lead in various television shows.

Denis Onyango, Ugandan football goalkeeper

Denis Masinde Onyango is a Ugandan professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for South African Premier Soccer League club Mamelodi Sundowns and the Uganda national team.

Justine Robbeson, South African javelin thrower

Justine Gail Robbeson is a South African athlete who specialised in the javelin throw. She previously competed in the heptathlon, achieving a personal best of 5868 in 2004. Justine attended Springs Girls' High School. She completed her BSc degree in Nutrition and Human Movement Sciences, BSc Honours degree in Nutrition, and MSc degree in Sports Nutrition at North-West University, Potchefstroom, where she was a member of the athletics club coached by Terseus Liebenberg.

15/05/1984

Jeff Deslauriers, Canadian ice hockey player

Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks. Deslauriers was selected by the Oilers in the second round of the 2002 NHL entry draft with the 31st overall pick.

Sérgio Jimenez, Brazilian race car driver

Sérgio Jimenez is a Brazilian racing driver currently competing with Scuderia Chiarelli in the Stock Car Pro Series. He is the 2002 Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil champion, and the 2018-19 Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy champion.

Samantha Noble, Australian actress

Samantha C. Noble is a retired Australian actress who has worked on television series and films. She is best known for her role as Jade/Amitiel in Gabriel, and has appeared in several films including See No Evil and Court of Lonely Royals.

Beau Scott, Australian rugby league player

Beau Scott is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s in the National Rugby League (NRL). An Australia international and New South Wales State of Origin representative second-row, he could also play centre and lock. He played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, St. George Illawarra Dragons, the Newcastle Knights and the Parramatta Eels.

Mr Probz, Dutch singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer

Dennis Princewell Stehr, known professionally as Mr. Probz, is a Dutch record producer, singer and rapper.

15/05/1982

Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican sprinter

Veronica Campbell Brown is a Jamaican retired track and field sprinter, who specialized in the 100 and 200 meters. An eight-time Olympic medalist, she is the second of three women in history to win two consecutive Olympic 200 m gold medals, after Bärbel Wöckel of Germany and compatriot Elaine Thompson-Herah. Campbell-Brown is one of only eleven athletes to win World Championship titles at the youth, junior, and senior levels of an athletic event.

Segundo Castillo, Ecuadorian footballer

Segundo Alejandro Castillo Nazareno is an Ecuadorian football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He was recently the manager of Barcelona SC.

Rafael Pérez, Dominican baseball player

Rafael Jerome Pérez is a Dominican former left-handed professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians from 2006 to 2012, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Chunichi Dragons in 2015. He was signed by the Indians as an undrafted free agent in 2002 and played with them through 2012. He lives in Freeport, New York, on Long Island.

Layal Abboud, Lebanese singer

Layal Mounir Abboud is a Lebanese pop singer, folk music entertainer, sound-lyric poet, concert dancer, fit model and Muslim humanitarian.

15/05/1981

Patrice Evra, French footballer

Patrice Latyr Evra is a former professional footballer. Originally a forward, he primarily played as a left-back. Evra served as captain for both Manchester United and the France national team. He was named in the PFA Team of the Year on three occasions, as well as the FIFPro World XI and the UEFA Team of the Year. He is often regarded as one of the greatest full-backs of all time.

Paul Konchesky, English international footballer

Paul Martyn Konchesky is an English football coach and former professional player who most recently was manager of West Ham United Women of the FA WSL.

Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player

Justin Ernest George Morneau is a Canadian former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Colorado Rockies, and Chicago White Sox. At 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) and 220 pounds (100 kg), Morneau was drafted as a catcher by the Twins in 1999. He converted to first base in the minor leagues and made his MLB debut in 2003. Morneau held that position throughout his career and in 2007 became the first Twin since Gary Gaetti in 1987–1988 to hit 30 home runs in consecutive seasons.

Zara Phillips, English equestrian

Zara Anne Elizabeth Tindall is a British equestrian, Olympian, and member of the British royal family. She is the daughter of Anne, Princess Royal, and Captain Mark Phillips, and the eldest niece of King Charles III. At birth she was sixth in the line of succession to the British throne during the reign of her maternal grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and as of 2026 is 22nd.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress and singer

Jamie-Lynn Sigler is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Meadow Soprano on the HBO television series The Sopranos from 1999 to 2007.

15/05/1980

Josh Beckett, American baseball player

Joshua Patrick Beckett is an American former professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). A three-time MLB All-Star, he played for the Florida Marlins, the Boston Red Sox, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

15/05/1979

Adolfo Bautista, Mexican footballer

Adolfo Bautista Marrufo, also known as "Bofo", is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and centre-forward.

Daniel Caines, English sprinter

Daniel Stephen Caines is an English former athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres and competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics.

Chris Masoe, New Zealand rugby player

Chris Masoe is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer, who last played for Racing Metro 92 in the Top 14, and a current professional boxer. He is the brother of boxer Maselino Masoe. He was born on the island of Savai'i.

Ryan Max Riley, American skier

Ryan Max Riley is an American athlete who was a two-time US National Champion on the U.S. Ski Team in the freestyle skiing events of moguls and dual moguls.

Robert Royal, American football player

Robert Shelton Royal is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers and was selected by the Washington Redskins in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL draft. He also played in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns.

Dominic Scott, Irish guitarist

Dominic Scott is an Irish-born British guitarist, and the founder of the English rock band Roundstone and a founding member of the alternative rock band Keane.

15/05/1978

Amy Chow, American gymnast and pediatrician

Amy Yuen Yee Chow is an American former artistic gymnast who competed at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. She is best known for being a member of the Magnificent Seven, which won the United States' first team gold medal in Olympic gymnastics. She is also the first Asian-American woman to win an Olympic medal in gymnastics.

Dwayne De Rosario, Canadian soccer player

Dwayne Anthony De Rosario OOnt is a Canadian former professional soccer player who played as a forward or as an attacking midfielder. A versatile attacker, he played for the Toronto Lynx, FSV Zwickau and Richmond Kickers early in his career. He came to prominence in the 2000s playing in Major League Soccer for the San Jose Earthquakes, Houston Dynamo, Toronto FC, New York Red Bulls and D.C. United. A four-time MLS Cup champion, he also won the 2011 MLS Most Valuable Player award. He is the tenth-leading scorer in MLS history with 104 goals. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most decorated Canadian players of all time.

Edu, Brazilian footballer

Eduardo César Daud Gaspar, known as Edu or Edu Gaspar, is a Brazilian former professional footballer and currently the Global Head of Football at Premier League club Nottingham Forest. As a player, he was an attacking and central midfielder, and played for Corinthians in Brazil, Arsenal in England, and Valencia in Spain across a twelve-year career.

David Krumholtz, American actor

David Krumholtz is an American actor. Krumholtz is best known for portraying Bernard in The Santa Clause franchise (1994–present), Michael Eckman in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Goldstein in the Harold & Kumar film trilogy (2004–2011), Charlie Eppes in the CBS drama series Numb3rs (2005–2010), and Isidor Isaac Rabi in Oppenheimer (2023).

15/05/1976

Torraye Braggs, American basketball player

Torraye L. Braggs is an American professional basketball player. During his pro club career, Braggs played in the NBA, and also in seventeen other countries' national domestic leagues, including: Spain, Venezuela, Greece, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Israel, Russia, South Korea, China, Latvia, Mexico, Jordan, Iran, Uruguay, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia.

Mark Kennedy, Irish footballer

Mark John Kennedy is an Irish football coach and former professional footballer who was most recently the U21 professional phase coach of Birmingham City.

Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer

Jacek Kamil Krzynówek is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or striker.

Ryan Leaf, American football player and coach

Ryan David Leaf is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for four seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys between 1998 and 2001.

Anže Logar, Slovenian politician

Anže Logar is a Slovenian politician who was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the third Janša cabinet from March 2020 to June 2022.

Tyler Walker, American baseball player

Tyler Lanier Walker is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He is an alumnus of San Francisco University High School, where he was closely mentored by Duncan Lyon, and University of California, Berkeley. Walker pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets (2002), San Francisco Giants, Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2006), Philadelphia Phillies (2009), and Washington Nationals (2010).

15/05/1975

Ray Lewis, American football player and sportscaster

Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. is an American former professional football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes, earning All-America honors. He is considered one of the greatest linebackers of all time.

Ales Michalevic, Belarusian lawyer and politician

Ales (Alaksiej) Anatoljevich Michalevic is a Belarusian public figure and politician, candidate in the 2010 Belarusian presidential election.

Janne Seurujärvi, Finnish Sami politician, first Sami ever to be elected to the Finnish Parliament

Janne Antero Seurujärvi is a Finnish Sami politician. He was the first Sami ever to be elected to the Finnish Parliament. Seurujärvi represents the Finnish Centre Party (Keskusta). Seurujärvi was a member of the Finnish Parliament from 2007 to 2011. Seurujärvi is the CEO of Saariselkä ltd., one of the biggest holiday resorts in Finnish Lapland.

15/05/1974

Vasilis Kikilias, Greek basketball player and politician

Vasilis Kikilias is a Greek politician, currently Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy in the second cabinet of Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Matthew Sadler, English chess player and author

Matthew David Sadler is an English chess grandmaster, chess writer and two-time British Chess Champion.

Marko Tredup, German footballer and manager

Marko Tredup is a German former professional footballer who played as a right-back.

Ahmet Zappa, American musician and writer

Ahmet Emuukha Rodan Zappa is an American musician, writer, actor and trustee of the Zappa Family Trust.

15/05/1973

Giles Perry, British keyboardist

15/05/1972

Danny Alexander, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Scotland

Sir Daniel Grian Alexander is a British banker, lobbyist and former politician who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury between 2010 and 2015. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey constituency from 2005 until the general election in May 2015. In his first parliamentary term (2005–2010), Alexander was the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Work and Pensions (2007–2008), the Chief of Staff to party leader Nick Clegg, and Chair of the Liberal Democrat Manifesto Group (2007–2010).

David Charvet, French actor and singer

David Franck Charvet is a French-American singer, actor, model, and television personality.

15/05/1971

Karin Lušnic, Slovenian tennis player

Karin Lušnic is a former tennis player from Slovenia.

15/05/1970

Frank de Boer, Dutch footballer and manager

Franciscus de Boer is a Dutch former professional footballer and current manager. A former defender, De Boer spent most of his playing career with Ajax, winning five Eredivisie titles, two KNVB Cups, three Super Cups, one UEFA Super Cup, one UEFA Cup, one UEFA Champions League, and one Intercontinental Cup. He later spent five years at Barcelona, where he won the 1998–99 La Liga title, followed by short spells at Galatasaray, Rangers, Al-Rayyan and Al-Shamal before retiring.

Ronald de Boer, Dutch footballer and manager

Ronaldus de Boer is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right or attacking midfielder or right winger. He played for the Netherlands national team as well as a host of professional clubs in Europe. He is the twin brother of Frank de Boer. The majority of his success as a football player was with Ajax. He works as the Ajax A1 assistant manager.

Desmond Howard, American football player and sportscaster

Desmond Kevin Howard is an American sportscaster and former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1991, and was selected fourth overall in the 1992 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins. Howard spent most of his career on special teams as a return specialist and holds the NFL single-season record for punt return yardage. With the Green Bay Packers, Howard was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXXI after returning a kickoff for a 99-yard touchdown, the longest return in Super Bowl history at the time. He is the only special teams player to receive the award. Howard was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010. Since 2005, he has served as an analyst on ESPN College Gameday.

Alison Jackson, English photographer, director, and screenwriter

Alison Jackson is an English artist, photographer and filmmaker. Her work explores the theme of celebrity culture. She makes realistic work of celebrities doing things in private using lookalikes.

Rod Smith, American football player

Roderick Duane Smith is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, all with the Denver Broncos. He played college football for the Missouri Southern Lions and was signed by the Broncos as an undrafted free agent and played his entire career with the team. Following his final game in the NFL at the conclusion of the 2006 season, Smith's 849 career receptions and 11,389 receiving yards ranked him 11th and 17th all-time respectively. As of 2025's offseason, Smith ranks 35th and 40th all-time in receptions and receiving yards respectively.

Ben Wallace, English captain and politician

Sir Robert Ben Lobban Wallace is a British politician and former British Army Officer who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wyre and Preston North, formerly Lancaster and Wyre, from 2005 to 2024.

15/05/1969

Hideki Irabu, Japanese-American baseball player (died 2011)

Hideki Irabu was a Japanese professional baseball player. He played professionally in both Japan and North America. Irabu played for the Lotte Orions / Chiba Lotte Marines and Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and for the New York Yankees, Montreal Expos, and Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Kari Baadstrand Sandnes, Norwegian politician

Kari Marie Baadstrand Sandnes is a Norwegian politician and deputy member of the Storting. A member of the Labour Party, she has represented Nordland since October 2025.

Emmitt Smith, American football player and sportscaster

Emmitt James Smith III is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. He is the league's all-time leading rusher, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs of all time.

15/05/1968

Cecilia Malmström, Swedish academic and politician, 15th European Commissioner for Trade

Anna Cecilia Malmström is a Swedish politician who served as European Commissioner for Trade from 2014 to 2019. She previously served as European Commissioner for Home Affairs from 2010 to 2014 and Minister for European Union Affairs from 2006 to 2010. She was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Sweden from 1999 to 2006.

Sophie Raworth, English journalist and broadcaster

Sophie Jane Raworth is an English journalist, newsreader and broadcaster working for the BBC. She is a senior newsreader and is one of the main presenters of BBC News. She has been a television presenter for state occasions and has also presented the BBC's Election Night coverage, alongside other presenters.

15/05/1967

Simen Agdestein, Norwegian chess grandmaster and football player

Simen Agdestein is a Norwegian chess grandmaster, chess coach, author, and former professional footballer as a striker for the Norway national football team.

Laura Hillenbrand, American journalist and author

Laura Hillenbrand is an American author. Her two bestselling nonfiction books, Seabiscuit: An American Legend (2001) and Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (2010), have sold over 13 million copies, and each was adapted for film. Her writing style is distinct from New Journalism, dropping "verbal pyrotechnics" in favor of a stronger focus on the story itself.

John Smoltz, American baseball player and sportscaster

John Andrew Smoltz, nicknamed "Smoltzie" and "Marmaduke", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1988 to 2009, all but the last year with the Atlanta Braves. An eight-time All-Star, Smoltz was part of a celebrated trio of starting pitchers, along with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, who propelled Atlanta to perennial pennant contention in the 1990s, highlighted by a championship in the 1995 World Series. He won the National League (NL) Cy Young Award in 1996 after posting a record of 24–8, equaling the most victories by an NL pitcher since 1972. He also played for the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals.

Madhuri Dixit, Indian actress

Madhuri Dixit Nene is an Indian actress and television personality. She has appeared in over 70 Hindi films, attaining nationwide stardom that influenced Indian popular culture. Noted by critics for her performances and dancing abilities, Dixit was credited for singularly paralleling her male contemporaries by leading star vehicles in a male-dominated industry. Her accolades include six Filmfare Awards from a record 17 nominations. In 2008, the Government of India awarded her with Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honour of the country.

15/05/1966

Jiří Němec, Czech footballer

Jiří Němec is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He started his professional career playing football in Czechoslovakia, winning two titles with Sparta Prague. He then moved to Germany, where he played until 2002, when he moved back to the Czech Republic and finished his active career.

15/05/1965

André Abujamra, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist

André Cibelli Abujamra is a Brazilian score composer, musician, singer, guitarist, actor, and comedian of Lebanese and Italian origin. Both his father, Antônio Abujamra, and cousin, Clarisse Abujamra, are actors.

Scott Tronc, Australian rugby league player

Scott Tronc is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Queensland State of Origin representative forward, he played club football in Brisbane with Souths, winning a premiership with them in 1985, and later the Broncos, and in Sydney with Wests, Canterbury-Bankstown and Souths.

15/05/1964

Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Danish lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Denmark

Lars Løkke Rasmussen is a Danish politician serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Leader of the Moderates since 2022. He previously served two non-consecutive terms as Prime Minister of Denmark and as Leader of Venstre between 2009 and 2019.

15/05/1963

Gavin Nebbeling, South African footballer

Gavin Mark Nebbeling is a South African former professional footballer who was active exclusively in England between 1981 and 1998. Nebbeling, who played as a central defender, made over 250 appearances in the Football League and over 300 senior professional appearances throughout his entire career.

15/05/1962

Lisa Curry, Australian swimmer

Lisa Gaye Curry, also known by her married name Lisa Curry-Kenny, is an Australian former competition swimmer.

15/05/1961

Giselle Fernández, Mexican-American television journalist.

Giselle Fernández is an American television journalist and anchor for Spectrum News 1. Her appearances on network television include reporting and guest anchoring for CBS Early Show, CBS Evening News, Today, and NBC Nightly News, regular host for Access Hollywood, and contestant on Dancing with the Stars.

15/05/1960

Rhonda Burchmore, Australian actress, singer, and dancer

Rhonda Suzanne Burchmore is an Australian entertainer, most notable as an actress, recording artist and singer in musical theatre, she has appeared in numerous television shows and briefly in film.

Rob Bowman, American director and producer

Rob Stanton Bowman is an American director. He grew up around film and television production, and developed an interest in the field because of the work of his father, director Chuck Bowman. Bowman is a prolific director for television, and has contributed to series such as Star Trek: The Next Generation, and The X-Files, for which he received four consecutive Emmy nominations as a producer. He was an executive producer and director for the comedy drama Castle.

R. Kuhaneswaran, Sri Lankan politician

Raja Kuhaneswaran is a Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former Member of Parliament.

Rimas Kurtinaitis, Lithuanian basketball player and coach

Rimas Kurtinaitis is a Lithuanian professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for Lithuania men's national team and Sabah of the Azerbaijan Basketball League (ABL). As a player, he was a member of the senior Soviet Union and Lithuania national teams, and won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. During his playing career, at a height of 1.96 m tall, he played at the shooting guard position. He is the only non-NBA player to ever participate at the NBA All-Star Weekend's Three-Point Contest, doing so in 1989, where he scored 9 points.

15/05/1959

Khaosai Galaxy, Thai boxer and politician

Khaosai Galaxy is a Thai former professional boxer and Muay Thai fighter who competed between 1980 and 1991. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) super-flyweight title from 1984 and 1991. He is listed #19 on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time and named him the 43rd greatest fighter of the past 80 years in 2002. As of 2022, BoxRec rates him as the best Thai boxer of all time, pound for pound.

Luis Pérez-Sala, Spanish race car driver

Luis Pérez-Sala Valls-Taberner is a Spanish retired racing driver who competed in Formula One, Formula 3, Formula 3000 and Touring Cars. He was also the team principal of HRT Formula 1 Team during the 2012 F1 season.

Beverly Jo Scott, American-Belgian singer-songwriter

Beverly Jo Scott, also known as B. J. Scott, is an American-born singer-songwriter living in Brussels, Belgium.

15/05/1958

Jason Graae, American musical theater actor

Jason Graae is an American musical theater actor, best known for his musical theater performances but with a varied career spanning Broadway, opera, television and film. He has won four Bistro Awards, two Ovation Awards, two New York Nightlife Awards, the Theatre Bay Area Award for Best Actor in a Musical and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Joel Hirschhorn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre.

Ruth Marcus, American journalist

Ruth Allyn Marcus is an American political commentator and journalist. She worked for The Washington Post from 1984 to 2025, where she wrote an op-ed column and served as the Deputy Editorial Page Editor for the newspaper. In March 2007, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

Ron Simmons, American football player and wrestler

Ronald Kyle Simmons is an American former professional wrestler and football player. He is best known for his tenures in WWE and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) where he was the first ever African American WCW Champion. Prior to becoming a professional wrestler, Simmons played football as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL), Canadian Football League (CFL) and United States Football League (USFL) for four seasons during the 1980s.

15/05/1957

Meg Gardiner, American-English author and academic

Meg Gardiner is an American thriller writer and author of fifteen published books. Her best-known books are the Evan Delaney novels, first published in 2002. In June 2008, she published the first novel in a new series, featuring forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett. More recently she has published three stand-alone novels—Ransom River, The Shadow Tracer, and Phantom Instinct —and four novels in a new series: UNSUB (2017), Into the Black Nowhere (2018), The Dark Corners of the Night (2020), and Shadow Heart (2024).

Juan José Ibarretxe, Spanish politician

Juan José Ibarretxe Markuartu is a former president of the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain. Also a leading member of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) during the period, he held office from 2 January 1999 to 7 May 2009. Ibarretxe is an advocate of Basque independence by peaceful means.

Kevin Von Erich, American football player and wrestler

Kevin Ross Adkisson is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Kevin Von Erich. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under a "Legends" deal and as a coach. A member of the Von Erich family, Adkisson is best known for his appearances with his father's World Class Championship Wrestling promotion. He is a former world champion in professional wrestling, having once held the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship.

15/05/1956

Andreas Loverdos, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Labour

Andreas Loverdos is a Greek politician who was Minister for Education and Religious Affairs from 2014 to 2015.

Dan Patrick, American television anchor and sportscaster

Daniel Patrick Pugh is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and actor. He hosts The Dan Patrick Show broadcast on radio on Premiere Networks and streaming on Peacock. He co-hosted NBC's Football Night in America and served as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He worked at ESPN for 18 years, where he often anchored the weeknight and Sunday 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter. He is unrelated to Bill Patrick, whom he often worked with on SportsCenter. He is also the host of the podcast "Dan Patrick Takes a Gamble", about sports wagering.

Kevin Greenaugh, American nuclear engineer (died 2023)

Kevin Charles Greenaugh was an American nuclear engineer who was a senior manager at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in Washington, DC, United States.

15/05/1955

Mohamed Brahmi, Tunisian politician (died 2013)

Mohamed Brahmi was a Tunisian politician. Brahmi was the founder and former leader of the People's Movement, which, under his leadership, won two seats in the constituent election in 2011.

Lia Vissi, Cypriot singer-songwriter and politician

Olympia "Lia" Vissi is a Greek Cypriot singer, songwriter and composer who is most notable for her two participations in the Eurovision Song Contest and for being the older sister of fellow singer Anna Vissi.

15/05/1954

Diana Liverman, English-American geographer and academic

Diana Liverman is a retired Regents Professor of Geography and Development and past Director of the University of Arizona School of Geography, Development and Environment in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences in Tucson, Arizona.

Caroline Thomson, English journalist and broadcaster

Caroline Agnes Morgan Thomson, Lady Liddle is a British business executive. Thomson was the chief operating officer at the BBC from 2006 to 2012 and chair of Oxfam until October 2020. Thomson has been a member of the BBC Board since April 2025.

15/05/1953

George Brett, American baseball player and coach

George Howard Brett is an American former professional baseball third baseman, designated hitter, and first baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals.

Athene Donald, English physicist and academic

Dame Athene Margaret Donald is a British physicist. She was Professor Emerita of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge, and former Master of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Mike Oldfield, English-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Michael Gordon Oldfield is a retired English musician, songwriter and producer best known for his debut album Tubular Bells (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a guitarist, Oldfield played a range of instruments, which included keyboards and percussion, as well as vocals. He had adopted a range of musical styles throughout his career, including progressive rock, world, folk, classical, electronic, ambient and new age music. His discography includes 25 studio albums, nine of which have reached the UK top ten.

15/05/1952

Chazz Palminteri, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Calogero Lorenzo "Chazz" Palminteri is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and playwright. He is best known for his film roles in A Bronx Tale (1993), based on his play of the same name, along with Bullets Over Broadway (1994) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and The Usual Suspects (1995). His recent work includes his recurring role as Shorty in Modern Family (2010–2019).

15/05/1951

Dennis Frederiksen, American singer-songwriter (died 2014)

Dennis Hardy "Fergie" Frederiksen was an American rock singer best known as the former lead singer of Trillion, Angel, LeRoux and Toto, as well as providing backing vocals for Survivor. He contributed to hit singles in three consecutive years, all with different bands: Survivor's "American Heartbeat" in 1982, LeRoux's "Carrie's Gone" in 1983 and Toto's "Stranger in Town" in 1984.

Chris Ham, English political scientist and academic

Sir Chris Ham, is a health policy academic who started life as a political scientist. He was chief executive of the King's Fund from 2010 to 2018. He was professor of health policy and management at University of Birmingham's health services management centre from 1992 to 2010. He was seconded to the Department of Health where he was Director of the Strategy Unit working with Alan Milburn and John Reid until 2004.

Frank Wilczek, American mathematician and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

Frank Anthony Wilczek is an American theoretical physicist. He shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics with David Gross and H. David Politzer "for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction".

15/05/1950

Jim Bacon, Australian politician, 41st Premier of Tasmania (died 2004)

James Alexander Bacon, AC was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Tasmania from 1998 to 2004.

Jim Simons, American golfer (died 2005)

James Bradley Simons was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1970s and 1980s.

15/05/1949

Frank L. Culbertson Jr., American captain, pilot, and astronaut

Frank Lee Culbertson Jr. is an American former naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, NASA astronaut, graduate of the US Naval Academy, and member of the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. He served as the commander of the International Space Station for almost four months in 2001 and was the only U.S. citizen not on Earth when the September 11 attacks occurred.

Robert S.J. Sparks, English geologist and academic

Sir Robert Stephen John Sparks, is Chaning Wills Professor of Geology in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. He is one of the world's leading volcanologists and has been widely recognised his pioneering research into the physics of eruptions, volcanic geology, igneous petrology, volcanic hazards and risk assessment, and wider services to the science community.

15/05/1948

Yutaka Enatsu, Japanese baseball player

Yutaka Enatsu is a Japanese former pitcher regarded as one of the best Japanese strikeout pitchers of all-time. In 1968, he recorded 401 strikeouts, which is still the world record.

Brian Eno, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer

Brian Eno is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, sound designer, author and political activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambient music and electronica, and for producing, recording, and writing works in rock and pop music. A self-described "non-musician", Eno has helped introduce unconventional concepts and approaches to contemporary music. He has been described as one of popular music's most influential and innovative figures. In 2019, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Roxy Music.

Kathleen Sebelius, American politician, 44th Governor of Kansas

Kathleen Sebelius is an American politician who served as the 21st United States secretary of health and human services from 2009 until 2014. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebelius was instrumental in overseeing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Before becoming secretary, she served as the 44th governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, the second woman to hold that office. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Sebelius was the Democratic respondent to the 2008 State of the Union address and is chair-emerita of the Democratic Governors Association. She is CEO of Sebelius Resources LLC.

15/05/1947

Graeham Goble, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer

Graeham George Goble, is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as a founding member of Australian rock group Little River Band and Birtles Shorrock Goble.

15/05/1946

Thadeus Nguyễn Văn Lý, Vietnamese priest and activist

Thadeus Nguyễn Văn Lý is a Vietnamese Roman Catholic priest and dissident involved in many pro-democracy movements, for which he was imprisoned for a total of almost 15 years. For his ongoing imprisonment and continuous non-violent protest, Amnesty International adopted Lý in December 1983 as a prisoner of conscience. Most recently, his support for the Bloc 8406 manifesto has led to his sentence on 30 March 2007, for an additional eight years in prison, where he was released and then returned in 2011.

15/05/1945

Michael Dexter, English hematologist and academic

(Thomas) Michael Dexter FRS is a British haematologist and director of the Wellcome Trust, from 1998 to 2003.

Jerry Quarry, American boxer (died 1999)

Jerry Quarry, nicknamed "Irish" or "the Bellflower Bomber" or the "Great White Hope", was an American professional boxer and multiple heavyweight boxing title contender. During the peak of his career from 1968 to 1971, Quarry was a popular figure in boxing, featured on the cover of The Ring and other boxing magazines, as well as on hit TV shows. His most famous bouts were against Muhammad Ali. He is regarded as being one of the best heavyweight boxers never to win a title. He beat former world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson and top contenders Ron Lyle, Earnie Shavers, Brian London, Thad Spencer, Buster Mathis, Randy Neumann, Jack Bodell, Mac Foster and Eduardo Corletti. The damage he accumulated from lack of attention to defense against larger men at the top level, no head guard sparring, and attempted comebacks in 1977, 1983, and 1992 resulted in Quarry developing an unusually severe case of dementia pugilistica.

15/05/1944

Bill Alter, American police officer and politician

Bill Alter was a former Missouri Republican politician who served in the Missouri Senate. He lived in High Ridge, Missouri, with his wife Merijo.

Ulrich Beck, German sociologist and academic (died 2015)

Ulrich Beck was a German sociologist, and one of the most cited social scientists in the world during his lifetime. His work focused on questions of uncontrollability, ignorance and uncertainty in the modern age, and he coined the terms "risk society" and "second modernity" or "reflexive modernization". He also tried to overturn national perspectives that predominated in sociological investigations with a cosmopolitanism that acknowledges the interconnectedness of the modern world. He was a professor at LMU Munich and also held appointments at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (FMSH) in Paris, and at the London School of Economics.

15/05/1943

Paul Bégin, Canadian lawyer and politician

Paul Bégin is a former Quebec politician and Cabinet Minister. Member of the Parti Québecois, he served as the province's Justice Minister from 1994 to 1997 and from 2001 to 2002.

Freddie Perren, American songwriter, producer, and conductor (died 2004)

Frederick James Perren was an American songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger, and orchestra conductor. He co-wrote and co-produced songs including "Boogie Fever" by the Sylvers, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, and "Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches & Herb.

15/05/1942

Lois Johnson, American singer-songwriter (died 2014)

Lois Johnson Scoggins was an American country music singer. She was from Maynardville, Tennessee. She recorded for different labels between 1969 and 1978, charted twenty singles on the Hot Country Songs charts. Her highest chart peak was "Loving You Will Never Grow Old", which reached No. 6 in 1975. Johnson toured with Hank Williams Jr. between 1970 and 1973.

Jusuf Kalla, Indonesian businessman and politician, 10th Vice President of Indonesia

Muhammad Jusuf Kalla, commonly referred to by his initials JK, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who served as the 10th and 12th Vice President of Indonesia from 2004 to 2019, the only Vice President to serve two non-consecutive terms in office. He was the Golkar Party's presidential nominee in the 2009 presidential election. Before Kalla declared himself as the running mate for Joko Widodo in the 2014 presidential election, a 2012 poll placed his popularity among likely voters in the top three contenders for the presidency and ahead of his own party's nominee Aburizal Bakrie.

Charles Horman, American journalist and documentary filmmaker (died 1973)

Charles Edmund Lazar Horman was an American journalist and documentary filmmaker. He was executed in Chile in the days following the 1973 Chilean coup d'état led by General Augusto Pinochet, which overthrew the socialist president Salvador Allende. Horman's death was the subject of the 1982 Costa-Gavras film Missing, in which he was portrayed by actor John Shea.

Doug Lowe, Australian politician, 35th Premier of Tasmania

Douglas Ackley Lowe AM was the 35th Premier of Tasmania, from 1 December 1977 to 11 November 1981. His time as Premier coincided with controversy over a proposal to build a dam on Tasmania's Gordon River, which would have flooded parts of the Franklin River. The ensuing crisis saw Lowe overthrown as Premier and resign from the Labor Party, acting as an independent for the remainder of his political career.

K. T. Oslin, American singer-songwriter and actress (died 2020)

Kay Toinette Oslin was an American country music singer-songwriter. She had several years of major commercial success in the late 1980s after signing a record deal at age 45. Oslin had four number one hits and placed additional singles on the Billboard country chart during that timespan; in addition, she won three Grammy Awards and is an inductee of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

15/05/1941

Jaxon, American illustrator and publisher, co-founded the Rip Off Press (died 2006)

Jack Edward Jackson, also known by his pen name Jaxon, was an American cartoonist, illustrator, historian, and writer. He co-founded Rip Off Press, and some consider him to be the first underground comix artist, due to his most well-known satirical comic strip God Nose.

15/05/1940

Roger Ailes, American businessman (died 2017)

Roger Eugene Ailes was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, and for Rudy Giuliani's 1989 New York City mayoral election. In July 2016, he left Fox News after allegations of sexually harassing female Fox employees, including on-air hosts Gretchen Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Andrea Tantaros.

Lainie Kazan, American actress and singer

Lainie Kazan is an American actress, singer and classical composer. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for St. Elsewhere and the 1993 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for My Favorite Year. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role in My Favorite Year (1982). Kazan played Maria Portokalos in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise. She also played Aunt Freida on The Nanny.

Don Nelson, American basketball player and coach

Donald Arvid Nelson is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. Nelson is second all-time in regular season wins of any coach in NBA history, with 1,335. He coached the Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Golden State Warriors. After an All-American career at the University of Iowa, Nelson won five NBA championships playing with the Boston Celtics, with his number 19 retired by the franchise in 1978.

15/05/1939

Dorothy Shirley, English high jumper and educator

Dorothy Ada Emerson is a former British athlete, who mainly competed in the women's high jump event.

15/05/1938

Mireille Darc, French actress, director, and screenwriter (died 2017)

Mireille Darc was a French actress, director, photographer, singer and model. She appeared as a lead character in Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 film Weekend. Darc was a Knight of the Legion of Honour and Commander of the National Order of Merit. Alain Delon was her longtime co-star and companion.

Nancy Garden, American author (died 2014)

Nancy Garden was an American writer of fiction for children and young adults, best known for the lesbian novel Annie on My Mind. She received the 2003 Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association recognizing her lifetime contribution in writing for teens.

Diane Nash, American civil rights movement activist

Diane Judith Nash is an American civil rights activist and strategist of the student wing of the Civil Rights Movement. Nash's campaigns were among the most successful of the era. Her efforts included becoming the chairman of the Nashville Student Movement; organizing the Nashville sit-ins, the first successful civil rights campaign to integrate lunch counters; continuing the Freedom Rides, which desegregated interstate travel; co-founding the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); and co-initiated the Alabama Voting Rights Project and working on the Selma Voting Rights Movement with her husband, James Bevel.

15/05/1937

Madeleine Albright, Czech-American politician and diplomat, 64th United States Secretary of State (died 2022)

Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman to hold the position.

Karin Krog, Norwegian singer

Karin Krog is a Norwegian jazz singer.

Trini Lopez, American singer, guitarist, and actor (died 2020)

Trinidad López III, known as Trini Lopez, was an American singer and guitarist. His first album included a cover version of Pete Seeger's "If I Had a Hammer", which earned a gold disc for him. His other hits included "Lemon Tree", "I'm Comin' Home, Cindy" and "Sally Was a Good Old Girl". He designed two guitars for the Gibson Guitar Corporation, which are now collector's items. A documentary on his life and career, My Name Is Lopez, was released in April 2022.

15/05/1936

Anna Maria Alberghetti, Italian-American actress and singer

Anna Maria Alberghetti is an American actress and soprano. Alberghetti sang in concert from the time she was a child and performed at Carnegie Hall at age 13.

Mart Laga, Estonian basketball player (died 1977)

Mart Laga was an Estonian basketball player who competed for the Soviet Union in the EuroBasket 1955 and EuroBasket 1957 events.

Ralph Steadman, English painter and illustrator

Ralph Idris Steadman is a Welsh illustrator and collaborator with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman draws satirical political cartoons, social caricatures, and picture books.

Paul Zindel, American playwright and novelist (died 2003)

Paul Zindel Jr. was an American playwright, young adult novelist, and educator.

15/05/1935

Don Bragg, American pole vaulter (died 2019)

Donald George Bragg was an American athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault and won a gold medal in that event at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

Ted Dexter, Italian-English cricketer (died 2021)

Edward Ralph Dexter, was an England international cricketer.

Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2008)

Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips was an American labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller and poet. He described the struggles of labor unions and the power of direct action, self-identifying as an anarchist. He often promoted the Industrial Workers of the World in his music, actions, and words.

Akihiro Miwa, Japanese singer, actor, director, composer, author and drag queen

Akihiro Maruyama , better known by his stage name Akihiro Miwa , is a Japanese singer, actor, director, composer, author and drag queen.

15/05/1931

Ken Venturi, American golfer and sportscaster (died 2013)

Kenneth Paul Venturi was an American professional golfer and golf broadcaster. In a career shortened by injuries, he won 14 events on the PGA Tour including a major, the U.S. Open in 1964. Shortly before his death in 2013, Venturi was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

James Fitz-Allen Mitchell, Vincentian politician and agronomist, 2nd Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (died 2021)

Sir James Fitz-Allen Mitchell was a Vincentian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines from 1984 to 2000 and as the second Premier of Saint Vincent from 1972 to 1974. He founded the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1975, and served as its president until 2000.

15/05/1930

Jasper Johns, American painter and sculptor

Jasper Johns is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker. Considered a central figure in the development of American postwar art, he has been variously associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art movements.

15/05/1926

Clermont Pépin, Canadian pianist, composer, and educator (died 2006)

Clermont Pépin was a Canadian pianist, composer and teacher who lived in Quebec.

Anthony Shaffer, English author, playwright, and screenwriter (died 2001)

Anthony Joshua Shaffer was an English playwright, screenwriter, novelist, barrister, and advertising executive. He is best remembered for his Tony Award winning play Sleuth, and its acclaimed 1972 film adaptation. His screenplays included Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy and folk horror The Wicker Man.

Peter Shaffer, English playwright and screenwriter (died 2016)

Sir Peter Levin Shaffer was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. His best-known works are the plays Equus and Amadeus, both of which earned him the Tony Award for Best Play. They were later adapted for the screen by Shaffer himself in 1977 and 1984, respectively. He was nominated for an Academy Award for both screenplays, winning for Amadeus, which also earned him a Golden Globe Award. Shaffer also earned nominations for two BAFTA Awards and a Laurence Olivier Award.

15/05/1925

Andrei Eshpai, Russian pianist and composer (died 2015)

Andrei Yakovlevich Eshpai was a Soviet composer. He was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1981.

Mary F. Lyon, English geneticist and biologist (died 2014)

Mary Frances Lyon was an English geneticist best known for her discovery of X-chromosome inactivation, an important biological phenomenon.

Carl Sanders, American soldier, pilot, and politician, 74th Governor of Georgia (died 2014)

Carl Edward Sanders Sr. was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 74th governor of Georgia from 1963 to 1967.

Roy Stewart, Jamaican-English actor and stuntman (died 2008)

Roy Stewart was a Jamaican-born British actor. He began his career as a stuntman and went on to work in film and television.

15/05/1924

Maria Koepcke, German-Peruvian ornithologist and zoologist (died 1971)

Maria Koepcke was a German ornithologist known for her work with Neotropical bird species. Koepcke was a well-respected authority in South American ornithology and her work is still referenced today. For her efforts, she is commemorated in the scientific names of four Peruvian bird species and, along with her husband, a Peruvian lizard species.

15/05/1923

Richard Avedon, American sailor and photographer (died 2004)

Richard Avedon was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and Elle specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and dance. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century".

John Lanchbery, English-Australian composer and conductor (died 2003)

John 'Jack' Arthur Lanchbery OBE was an English conductor and composer who was famous for his ballet arrangements, and for his ballet adaptations of canonical works.

15/05/1922

Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt, Russian historian and ethnographer (died 2013)

Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt was a Russian historian, ethnographer and teacher.

Jakucho Setouchi, Japanese nun and author (died 2021)

Jakucho Setouchi, formerly known as Harumi Setouchi, was a Japanese Buddhist nun, writer, and activist. Setouchi wrote a best-selling translation of The Tale of Genji and over 400 fictional biographical and historical novels. In 1997, she was honoured as a Person of Cultural Merit, and in 2006, she was awarded the Order of Culture of Japan.

15/05/1921

Federico Krutwig, Basque writer, member of ETA and translator (died 1998)

Federico Krutwig Sagredo was a Spanish Basque writer, philosopher, politician, and author of several books, with Vasconia standing out in the political domain for its influence in the early stages of ETA, and as an advocate of classic Labourdin for the standardization of Basque. He distanced himself from Sabino Arana's brand of Basque nationalism, emphasizing language instead of race as pivotal for the Basque nation.

15/05/1920

Michel Audiard, French director and screenwriter (died 1985)

Paul Michel Audiard was a French screenwriter and film director, known for his witty, irreverent and slang-laden dialogues which made him a prominent figure on the French cultural scene of the 1960s and 1970s. He was the father of French film director Jacques Audiard.

15/05/1918

Eddy Arnold, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2008)

Richard Edward Arnold was an American country music singer. He was a Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more than 85 million records. A member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Arnold ranked 22nd on Country Music Television's 2003 list of "The 40 Greatest Men of Country Music."

Arthur Jackson, American lieutenant and target shooter (died 2015)

Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Charles Jackson was an American competitive sport shooter. In his international career, he won numerous medals across three Summer Olympic Games, three ISSF World Shooting Championships, and two editions of the Pan American Games. He began shooting in the seventh grade and joined the rifle team at Brooklyn Technical High School in 1934. He competed in local and regional tournaments prior to World War II, during which he worked at the Sperry Corporation and later served as a bombardier in the Pacific Theater of Operations. His first international tournament was the 1948 Summer Olympics and his last was the 1956 edition, at which point he began a career in public service with the Central Intelligence Agency in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He stopped competing at the international level in 1957 and retired from the CIA at the end of 1974. After several years as an instructor and coach, he continued participating in smaller tournaments through the 1990s.

Joseph Wiseman, Canadian-American actor (died 2009)

Joseph Wiseman was a Canadian-American theatre, film and television actor. He starred as the villain Julius No in the first James Bond film, Dr. No, in 1962. He was also known for his role as crime boss Manny Weisbord on the television series Crime Story and his lengthy career on Broadway, where he was once called "the spookiest actor in the American theatre".

15/05/1916

Vera Gebuhr, Danish actress (died 2014)

Vera Margrethe Gebuhr was a Danish film, television and stage actress. Gebuhr was most noted for her portrayal of the snobbish neurotic head saleswoman Miss Jørgensen in the popular television series Matador. She trained at the Royal Danish Theatre school from 1937 to 1939 and debuted at the Folketeatret, working there until 1964. She played her first lead film role as the scheming maid in the 1943 melodrama Møllen. Gebuhr appeared in 65 films between 1937 and 2005, as well as made numerous appearances on Danish television series.

15/05/1915

Hilda Bernstein, English-South African author and activist (died 2006)

Hilda Bernstein OLG was a British-born author, artist, and an activist against apartheid and for women's rights.

Paul Samuelson, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2009)

Paul Anthony Samuelson was an American economist who was the first American to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. When awarding the prize in 1970, the Swedish Royal Academies stated that he "has done more than any other contemporary economist to raise the level of scientific analysis in economic theory".

Henrik Sandberg, Danish production manager and producer (died 1993)

Henrik Sandberg was a Danish film producer. He produced 39 films between 1955 and 1979. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. His father was the Danish film director A. W. Sandberg.

15/05/1914

Turk Broda, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 1972)

Walter Edward "Turk" Broda was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. A goaltender, Broda played his entire career for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1936 and 1951, taking a brief hiatus from 1943 to 1946 to fight in the Second World War. The 1940-41 season saw him win his first Vezina Trophy with a GAA of 2.00 to go along with being named to the NHL First All-Star Team. The following season saw him backstop the team to the Stanley Cup championship, recording a shutout and a record of 8-5.

Angus MacLean, Canadian farmer and politician, 25th Premier of Prince Edward Island (died 2000)

John Angus MacLean was a politician and farmer in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Norrie Paramor, English composer, producer, and conductor (died 1979)

Norman William "Norrie" Paramor was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff Richard and the Shadows, both together and separately, steering their early careers and producing and arranging most of their material from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Paramor was an orchestra conductor and composer of music for studio albums, theatrical productions, and film scores.

15/05/1912

Arthur Berger, American composer and educator (died 2003)

Arthur Victor Berger was an American composer and music critic who has been described as a New Mannerist.

15/05/1911

Max Frisch, Swiss playwright and novelist (died 1991)

Max Rudolf Frisch was a Swiss playwright and novelist. Frisch's works focused on problems of identity, individuality, responsibility, morality, and political commitment. The use of irony is a significant feature of his post-war output. Frisch was one of the founders of Gruppe Olten. He was awarded the 1965 Jerusalem Prize, the 1973 Grand Schiller Prize, and the 1986 Neustadt International Prize for Literature.

Herta Oberheuser, German physician (died 1978)

Herta Oberheuser was a German Nazi physician and convicted war criminal who performed medical atrocities on prisoners at the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp. For her role in the Holocaust, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the Doctors' Trial, but served only five years of her sentence. A survivor of Ravensbrück called Oberheuser "a beast masquerading as a human".

15/05/1910

Constance Cummings, British-based American actress (died 2005)

Constance Cummings CBE was an American-British actress with a career spanning over 50 years. She starred in films such as Movie Crazy (1932) and American Madness (1932).

15/05/1909

James Mason, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 1984)

James Neville Mason was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes and two BAFTA Awards in his career.

Clara Solovera, Chilean singer-songwriter (died 1992)

Clara Solovera was a famous Chilean folk musician and composer. She was Chile's most popular folk music composer in the early 1960s.

15/05/1907

Sukhdev Thapar, Indian activist (died 1931)

Sukhdev Thapar was an Indian freedom fighter who fought against the British government for Indian independence. He was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), and was executed along with Shivaram Rajguru and Bhagat Singh on 23 March 1931.

15/05/1905

Joseph Cotten, American actor (died 1994)

Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of The Philadelphia Story (1939) and Sabrina Fair (1953). He gained worldwide fame for his collaborations with Orson Welles on films Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Journey into Fear (1943). Cotten starred in the latter and was also credited with the screenplay.

Albert Dubout, French cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and sculptor (died 1976)

Albert Dubout was a French cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and sculptor.

Abraham Zapruder, American businessman and amateur photographer, filmed the Zapruder film (died 1970)

Abraham Zapruder was a Ukrainian-born American clothing manufacturer based in Dallas, Texas, who became known for his film work during the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Of Russian-Jewish extraction, Zapruder resided in Dallas and founded a fashion company. On the day of the assassination, he unexpectedly captured the shooting in a home movie while filming Kennedy's presidential limousine as it traveled through Dealey Plaza. The Zapruder film is regarded as the most complete footage of the assassination. Zapruder died in 1970.

15/05/1904

Clifton Fadiman, American game show host and author (died 1999)

Clifton Paul "Kip" Fadiman was an American intellectual, author, editor, and radio and television personality. He began his work in radio, and switched to television later in his career.

15/05/1903

Maria Reiche, German mathematician and archaeologist (died 1998)

Maria Reiche Grosse-Neumann was a German-born Peruvian mathematician, archaeologist, and technical translator. She is known for her research into the Nazca Lines, which she first saw in 1941 together with American historian Paul Kosok. Known as the "Lady of the Lines", Reiche made the documentation, preservation and public dissemination of the Nazca Lines her life's work.

15/05/1902

Richard J. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 48th Mayor of Chicago (died 1976)

Richard Joseph Daley was an American politician who served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955, and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party from 1953, until his death. He has been called "the last of the big city bosses" who controlled and mobilized American cities. He was the patriarch of a powerful Chicago political family. His son Richard M. Daley went on to serve as mayor of Chicago, and another son, William M. Daley, served as United States Secretary of Commerce and White House Chief of Staff.

Sigizmund Levanevsky, Soviet aircraft pilot of Polish origin (died 1937)

Sigizmund Aleksandrovich Levanevsky was a Soviet pioneer of long-range flight who was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1934 for his role in the SS Chelyuskin rescue.

15/05/1901

Xavier Herbert, Australian author (died 1984)

Xavier Herbert was an Australian writer best known for his Miles Franklin Award-winning novel Poor Fellow My Country (1975). He was considered one of the elder statesmen of Australian literature. He is also known for short story collections and his autobiography Disturbing Element.

Luis Monti, Argentinian-Italian footballer and manager (died 1983)

Luis Felipe Monti was an Italian Argentine footballer who played as a midfielder and an Olympian. Monti has the distinction of having played in two FIFA World Cup final matches with two different national teams. He played the first of these finals with his native Argentina in 1930, which was lost to Uruguay; and the second with Italy as one of their Oriundi in 1934, thanks to his Romagnol descent. This second time Monti was on the winning side in a 2–1 victory over Czechoslovakia.

15/05/1900

Ida Rhodes, American mathematician, pioneer in computer programming (died 1986)

Ida Rhodes was an American mathematician who became a member of the clique of influential women at the heart of early computer development in the United States.

15/05/1899

Jean Étienne Valluy, French general (died 1970)

Jean Étienne Valluy was a French general.

15/05/1898

Arletty, French model, actress, and singer (died 1992)

Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat, known professionally as Arletty, was a French actress, singer, and fashion model. As an actress she is particularly known for classics directed by Marcel Carné, including Hotel du Nord (1938), Le jour se lève (1939) and Children of Paradise (1945). She was found guilty of treason for an affair with a German officer during World War II.

15/05/1895

Prescott Bush, American captain, banker, and politician (died 1972)

Prescott Sheldon Bush was an American banker and Republican Party politician. After working as a Wall Street executive investment banker, he represented Connecticut in the United States Senate from 1952 to 1963. A member of the Bush family, he was the father of President George H. W. Bush, and the paternal grandfather of President George W. Bush and Florida governor Jeb Bush.

William D. Byron, American lieutenant and politician (died 1941)

William Devereux Byron II, a Democrat, was a U.S. congressman who represented the 6th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1939, to February 27, 1941. After his death in an airplane crash in Georgia on February 27, 1941, his widow, Katharine Byron, a granddaughter of U.S. Senator Louis E. McComas, was elected in a special election to complete his term of office.

15/05/1894

Feg Murray, American hurdler and cartoonist (died 1973)

Frederic Seymour Murray, known as Fred Murray or Feg Murray, was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 110 meter hurdles. He won a bronze medal in the 1920 Summer Olympics.

15/05/1893

José Nepomuceno, Filipino filmmaker, founder of Philippine cinema (died 1959)

José Nepomuceno y Zialcita was a Filipino filmmaker. A founding father of Philippine cinema, he is widely known for pioneering film directing and producing locally until the Second World War began. He had his own production company Jose Nepomuceno Productions, which produced the first Filipino silent film entitled Dalagang Bukid in 1919. The film starred Atang de la Rama, a future National Artist of the Philippines. He also directed Un (El) Capullo Marchito in 1920. It starred Luisa Acuña, who then became a famous leading lady in Filipino silent films.

15/05/1892

Charles E. Rosendahl, American admiral (died 1977)

Charles Emery Rosendahl was a highly decorated vice admiral in the United States Navy, and an advocate of lighter-than-air flight.

Jimmy Wilde, Welsh boxer (died 1969)

William James Wilde was a Welsh professional boxer who competed from 1911 to 1923. He simultaneously held the National Sporting Clubs British flyweight title and the World Flyweight championship from 1916 to 1923.

15/05/1891

Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist and playwright (died 1940)

Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright. His novel The Master and Margarita, published posthumously, has been called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century. He also wrote the novel The White Guard and the plays Ivan Vasilievich, Flight, and The Days of the Turbins.

Hjalmar Dahl, Finnish journalist, translator and writer (died 1960)

Hjalmar Karl Emil Dahl was a Swedish-speaking Finnish journalist, translator and author.

Fritz Feigl, Austrian-Brazilian chemist and academic (died 1971)

Fritz Feigl was a Jewish Austrian-born chemist. He taught at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

15/05/1890

Katherine Anne Porter, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist (died 1980)

Katherine Anne Porter was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, poet, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in the United States that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim. In 1966, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the U.S. National Book Award for The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter.

15/05/1882

Walter White, Scottish international footballer (died 1950)

Walter White was a Scottish professional footballer who played as an inside forward in the Football League for Bolton Wanderers, Fulham and Everton. He won two caps for Scotland at international level.

15/05/1873

Oskari Tokoi, Finnish socialist and the Chairman of the Senate of Finland (died 1963)

Antti Oskari Tokoi was a Finnish socialist politician who served as a leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland. Tokoi became Chairman of the Senate of Finland in 1917, and thus, he was the world's first social democratic leader of the government. During the short-lived Revolution of 1918, Tokoi participated as a leading figure in the revolutionary government. Tokoi later emigrated to the United States, where he served as the long-time editor of Raivaaja, the newspaper of the Finnish Socialist Federation.

15/05/1869

Paul Probst, Swiss target shooter (died 1945)

Paul Probst was a Swiss sport shooter who competed in the late 19th century and early 20th century. He participated in Shooting at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and won a gold medal with the Military pistol team for Switzerland.

John Storey, Australian politician, 20th Premier of New South Wales (died 1921)

John Storey was an Australian politician who was Premier of New South Wales from 12 April 1920 until his sudden death in Sydney. His leadership enabled the New South Wales Labor Party to recover after the split over conscription and to allow it to continue to be a left-wing pragmatist rather than a socialist party.

15/05/1863

Frank Hornby, English businessman and politician, invented Meccano (died 1936)

Frank Hornby was an English inventor, businessman and politician. He was a visionary in toy development and manufacture, and although he had no formal engineering training, he was responsible for the invention and production of three of the most popular lines of toys based on engineering principles in the 20th century: Meccano, Hornby Model Railways and Dinky Toys. He also founded the British toy company Meccano Ltd in 1908, and launched a monthly publication, Meccano Magazine in 1916.

15/05/1862

Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian author and playwright (died 1931)

Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist. He is considered one of the most significant representatives of Viennese Modernism. Schnitzler's works, which include psychological dramas and narratives, dissected turn-of-the-century Viennese bourgeois life, making him a sharp and stylistically conscious chronicler of Viennese society around 1900. Schnitzler's Jewish upbringing and the sexual content of his works made them controversial or banned in his time and beyond.

15/05/1859

Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1906)

Pierre Curie was a French physicist and chemist, and a pioneer in crystallography and magnetism. He shared one half of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Curie, for their work on radioactivity. With their win, the Curies became the first married couple to win a Nobel Prize, launching the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes.

15/05/1857

Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (died 1911)

Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming was a Scottish astronomer. At the Harvard College Observatory, she contributed to the photographic classification of stellar spectra, helping to develop a common designation system for stars. Fleming cataloged more than ten thousand stars, 59 gaseous nebulae, over 310 variable stars, and 10 novae, among other astronomical phenomena. She is credited with the discovery of the Horsehead Nebula in 1888, and she was a vocal supporter of women's representation in her field.

15/05/1856

L. Frank Baum, American novelist (died 1919)

Lyman Frank Baum was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, part of a series. In addition to the 14 Oz books, Baum penned 41 other novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th-century cinema.

Matthias Zurbriggen, Swiss mountaineer (died 1917)

Matthias Zurbriggen (15 May 1856 in Saas-Fee – 21 June 1917 in Geneva) was a Swiss mountaineer. He climbed throughout the Alps, the Andes, the Himalayas and New Zealand.

15/05/1854

Ioannis Psycharis, Ukrainian-French philologist and author (died 1929)

Ioannis (Yiannis) Psycharis was a Russian-born philologist who was much of his life a national of France. He was of Greek descent. He was also a writer and a promoter of Demotic Greek.

15/05/1848

Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter and illustrator (died 1926)

Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov was a Russian painter and draughtsman who specialised in mythological and historical subjects. He is considered a co-founder of Russian folklorist and romantic nationalistic painting, and a key figure in the Russian Revivalist movement.

Carl Wernicke, German neuropathologist. (died 1905)

Carl Wernicke was a German physician, anatomist, psychiatrist and neuropathologist. He is known for his influential research into the pathological effects of specific forms of encephalopathy and also the study of receptive aphasia, both of which are commonly associated with Wernicke's name and referred to as Wernicke encephalopathy and Wernicke's aphasia, respectively. His research, along with that of Paul Broca, led to groundbreaking realizations of the localization of brain function, specifically in speech. As such, Wernicke's area has been named after the scientist.

15/05/1845

Élie Metchnikoff, Russian zoologist (died 1916)

Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, gallicised and known in Western sources as Élie Metchnikoff, was a zoologist from the Russian Empire of Moldavian noble ancestry best known for his research in immunology and thanatology. He and Paul Ehrlich were jointly awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of their work on immunity".

15/05/1841

Clarence Dutton, American commander and geologist (died 1912)

Clarence Edward Dutton was an American geologist and US Army officer.

15/05/1817

Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher and author (died 1905)

Debendranath Tagore was an Indian philosopher and religious reformer, active in the Brahmo Samaj. He joined the Brahmo Samaj in 1842. He was the founder in 1848 of the Brahmo religion, which today is synonymous with Brahmoism. Born in Shilaidaha, his father was the industrialist Dwarakanath Tagore; many of his 14 children, including Nobel Prize winning poet Rabindranath Tagore, made significant artistic or literary contributions to society.

15/05/1808

Michael William Balfe, Irish composer and conductor (died 1870)

Michael William Balfe was an Irish composer, best remembered for his operas, especially The Bohemian Girl.

15/05/1805

Samuel Carter, English railway solicitor and Member of Parliament (MP) (died 1878)

Samuel Carter was a member of parliament for his native city of Coventry, and solicitor to two major railway companies for nearly four decades during the development of Britain's rail network.

15/05/1803

Juan Almonte, son of José María Morelos, was a Mexican soldier and diplomat who served as a regent in the Second Mexican Empire (died 1869)

Juan Nepomuceno Almonte Ramírez was a Mexican soldier, commander, minister of war, congressman, diplomat, presidential candidate, and regent. The natural son of Catholic cleric José María Morelos, a leading commander during the Mexican War of Independence, Almonte played an important role as a conservative in the Mexican Republic. He served as Minister of War during multiple administrations as well as in various diplomatic posts in the United States and in Europe. In 1840 he led government forces in an attempt to rescue president Anastasio Bustamante after the president was taken hostage by rebels in the National Palace. Almonte was minister to the United States in the years leading up to the Mexican–American War and lobbied against its interference in Texas, which Mexico considered a rebellious province. Almonte was a leading figure in conservative efforts to re-establish monarchy in Mexico, supporting the French imperial forces during the Second French intervention in Mexico and the establishment of the Second Mexican Empire under Maximilian I of Mexico. Almonte was serving as a diplomat in France when France withdrew military support of the Empire, which fell in 1867. He died two years later in 1869.

15/05/1786

Dimitris Plapoutas, Greek general and politician (died 1864)

Dimitris 'Koliopoulos' Plapoutas was a Greek general who fought during the Greek War of Independence against the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

15/05/1773

Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire (died 1859)

Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein, known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternich, was a German statesman and diplomat in the service of the Austrian Empire. A conservative, Metternich was at the center of the European balance of power known as the Concert of Europe for three decades as Austrian foreign minister from 1809 and chancellor from 1821 until the liberal Revolutions of 1848 forced his resignation.

15/05/1770

Ezekiel Hart, Canadian businessman and politician (died 1843)

Ezekiel Hart was an entrepreneur and politician in British North America. He is often said to be the first Jew to be elected to public office in the British Empire.

15/05/1759

Maria Theresia von Paradis, Austrian pianist and composer (died 1824)

Maria Theresia Paradis was an Austrian musician and composer who lost her sight at an early age, and for whom her close friend Mozart may have written his Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major. She was also in contact with Salieri, Haydn, and Gluck.

15/05/1749

Levi Lincoln Sr., American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Attorney General (died 1820)

Levi Lincoln Sr. was an American revolutionary, lawyer, and statesman from Massachusetts. A Democratic-Republican, he served as Thomas Jefferson's first attorney general, and played a significant role in the events that led to the celebrated Marbury v. Madison court case. He served two terms as the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, acting as governor for the remainder of Governor James Sullivan's term after his death in December 1808. Lincoln was unsuccessful in his bid to be elected governor in his own right in 1809.

15/05/1720

Maximilian Hell, Hungarian priest and astronomer (died 1792)

Maximilian Hell was an astronomer and ordained Jesuit priest from the Kingdom of Hungary. The lunar crater Hell is named after him.

15/05/1689

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English writer (died 1762)

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat, medical pioneer, writer, and poet. Born in 1689, Lady Mary spent her early life in England. In 1712, Lady Mary married Edward Wortley Montagu, who later served as the British ambassador to the Sublime Porte. Lady Mary joined her husband on the Ottoman excursion, where she was to spend the next two years of her life. During her time there, Lady Mary wrote extensively on her experience as a woman in Ottoman Constantinople. After her return to England, Lady Mary devoted her attention to the upbringing of her family before dying of cancer in 1762.

15/05/1645

George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, British judge (died 1689)

George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys was a Welsh judge and politician. He became notable during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor. His conduct as a judge was to enforce royal policy, resulting in a historical reputation for severity and bias, earning Jeffreys the nickname of "the Hanging Judge".

15/05/1608

René Goupil, French-American missionary and saint (died 1642)

René Goupil,, was a French Jesuit lay missionary who became a lay brother of the Society of Jesus shortly before his death. He was the first of the eight North American Martyrs of the Roman Catholic Church to receive the crown of martyrdom and the first canonized Catholic martyr in North America.

15/05/1567

Claudio Monteverdi, Italian priest and composer (died 1643)

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music history.

15/05/1565

Hendrick de Keyser, Dutch sculptor and architect (died 1621)

Hendrick de Keyser was a Dutch sculptor, merchant in Belgium bluestone, and architect who was instrumental in establishing a late Renaissance form of Mannerism changing into Baroque. Most of his works appeared in Amsterdam, some elsewhere in the Dutch Colonies. He was the father of Pieter, Thomas de Keyser and Willem, and the uncle of Huybert de Keyser, who became his apprentices and all involved in building, decoration and architecture.

15/05/1531

Maria of Austria, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (died 1581)[citation needed]

Archduchess Maria of Austria was the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor from the House of Habsburg and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary.

15/05/1397

Sejong the Great, Korean king of Joseon (died 1450)

Sejong, commonly known as Sejong the Great, was the fourth monarch of the Koreanic state Joseon. He ruled from 1418 to his death in 1450. He is widely regarded as the greatest king in Korean history, and is particularly remembered for the creation of Hangul, the native alphabet of the Korean language.

Lives Remembered on 15th May

On 15th May, 93 remarkable people passed away — from 392 to 2025. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

15/05/2025

Robert Walls, Australian footballer, coach, and sportscaster (born 1950)

Robert Walls was an Australian rules footballer who represented Carlton and Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s.

15/05/2024

Kamla Beniwal, Indian politician (born 1927)

Kamla Beniwal was an Indian independence activist and veteran politician who served as the deputy chief minister of Rajasthan. A leader of the Indian National Congress, she was the first female minister and held cabinet ministerial positions in the state government of Rajasthan for more than two decades between 1980 and 2003.

15/05/2022

Frank Curry, Australian rugby league player and coach (born 1950)

Frank Curry Jr. was an Australian rugby league player and coach of the South Sydney Rabbitohs club.

Kay Mellor, English actress (born 1951)

Kay Mellor was an English actress, scriptwriter, producer and director. She was known for creating television series such as Band of Gold, Fat Friends, and The Syndicate, as well as co-creating CITV's children's dramas Children's Ward (1989–2000) and Just Us (1992–94).

15/05/2021

Oliver Gillie, British journalist and scientist (born 1937)

Oliver J. Gillie was a British journalist and scientist. He previously served as the medical correspondent for The Sunday Times, and later medical editor for The Independent.

15/05/2020

Fred Willard, American actor, comedian, and writer (born 1933)

Frederic Charles Willard was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his work with Christopher Guest in his mockumentary films This Is Spinal Tap (1984), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016). He also appeared in supporting roles in the comedy films Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), American Wedding (2003), and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004). On television, Willard received several Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on the sitcoms Everybody Loves Raymond and Modern Family.

15/05/2017

Herbert R. Axelrod American tropical fish expert, publisher of pet books, and entrepreneur (born 1927)

Herbert Richard Axelrod was an American tropical fish expert, a publisher of pet books, and an entrepreneur. In 2005 he was sentenced in U.S. court to 18 months in prison for tax fraud.

15/05/2015

Elisabeth Bing, German-American physical therapist and author (born 1914)

Elisabeth Dorothea Bing was a German physical therapist, co-founder of Lamaze International, and proponent of natural childbirth. She trained as a physical therapist in England after fleeing Nazi Germany due to her Jewish ancestry. Her hospital work there made her interested in natural childbirth, and she taught it to parents in the United States after she moved there in 1949. To promote natural childbirth methods, she co-founded the American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics, made several TV appearances and radio broadcasts, and wrote several books on the subject. She became known as the "mother" of the Lamaze method in the United States.

Jackie Brookner, American sculptor and educator (born 1945)

Jackie Brookner was an ecological artist, writer, and educator. She worked with ecologists, design professionals, engineers, communities, and policy-makers on water remediation/public art projects for parks, wetlands, rivers, and urban stormwater runoff. In these projects, local resources become the focal point of community collaboration and collective creative agency.

Flora MacNeil, Scottish Gaelic singer (born 1928)

Flora MacNeil, MBE was a traditional singer of Scottish Gaelic folk music. MacNeil gained prominence after meeting Alan Lomax and Hamish Henderson during the early 1950s, and continued to perform into her later years.

Garo Yepremian, Cypriot-American football player (born 1944)

Garabed Sarkis "Garo" Yepremian was an Armenian-Cypriot American football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Miami Dolphins. During his nine seasons with the Dolphins, Yepremian led the league in scoring in 1971, received two Pro Bowl and two first-team All-Pro honors, and helped the Dolphins win back-to-back Super Bowl titles. Yepremian's first championship victory in Super Bowl VII occurred as a member of the 1972 Dolphins, the only team to complete a perfect season in NFL history. He also played for the Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring in 1981.

15/05/2014

Jean-Luc Dehaene, French-Belgian politician, 63rd Prime Minister of Belgium (born 1940)

Jean Luc Joseph Marie "Jean-Luc" Dehaene was a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1992 until 1999. During his political career, he was nicknamed "The Plumber", as well as "The Minesweeper", for his ability to negotiate political deadlocks.

Noribumi Suzuki, Japanese director and screenwriter (born 1933)

Norifumi Suzuki , was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the Torakku Yarō series.

15/05/2013

Henrique Rosa, Bissau-Guinean politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (born 1946)

Henrique Pereira Rosa was a Bissau-Guinean politician who served as interim President of Guinea-Bissau from 2003 to 2005. He was born in 1946 in Bafatá.

15/05/2012

Carlos Fuentes, Mexican novelist and essayist (born 1928)

Carlos Fuentes Macías was a Mexican novelist, essayist and ambassador to France. Among his works are The Death of Artemio Cruz (1962), Aura (1962), Terra Nostra (1975), The Old Gringo (1985) and Christopher Unborn (1987). In his obituary, The New York Times described Fuentes as "one of the most admired writers in the Spanish-speaking world" and an important influence on the Latin American Boom, the "explosion of Latin American literature in the 1960s and '70s", while The Guardian called him "Mexico's most celebrated novelist". His many literary honors include the Miguel de Cervantes Prize as well as Mexico's highest award, the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor (1999). He was often named as a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he never won.

Arno Lustiger, German historian and author (born 1924)

Arno Lustiger was a German historian and author of Jewish origin. Lustiger made significant contributions to research and document the history of Jewish resistance under Nazi rule.

Zakaria Mohieddin, Egyptian soldier and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Egypt (born 1918)

Zakaria Mohieddin was an Egyptian military officer, politician who served as the 3rd prime minister of Egypt and head of the first Intelligence body in Egypt, the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate.

15/05/2010

Besian Idrizaj, Austrian footballer (born 1987)

Besian Idrizaj was an Austrian professional footballer. He played in the Football League for Crystal Palace and Luton Town both whilst on loan from Liverpool for whom he did not make a League appearance. He also played for LASK Linz, Wacker Innsbruck and FC Eilenburg before returning in the English football league with Swansea City. He died of a heart attack on 15 May 2010 at the age of 22. He was of Albanian descent.

Loris Kessel, Swiss race car driver (born 1950)

Loris Kessel was a racing driver from Switzerland.

15/05/2009

Bud Tingwell, Australian actor, director, and producer (born 1923)

Charles William Tingwell AM, known professionally as 'Bud' Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian actor. One of the veterans of Australian film, he acted in his first motion picture in 1946 and went on to appear in more than 100 films and numerous TV programs in both the United Kingdom and Australia.

Wayman Tisdale, American basketball player and bass player (born 1964)

Wayman Lawrence Tisdale was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and a smooth jazz bass guitarist. A three-time All American at the University of Oklahoma, he was elected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

15/05/2008

Tommy Burns, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1956)

Thomas Burns was a Scottish professional football player and manager. He is best known for his long association with Celtic, where he was a player, manager and coach.

Alexander Courage, American composer and conductor (born 1919)

Alexander Mair Courage Jr. familiarly known as "Sandy" Courage, was an American orchestrator, arranger, and composer of music, primarily for television and film. He is best known as the composer of the theme music for the original Star Trek series.

Will Elder, American illustrator (born 1921)

William Elder was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art but is best known for a frantically funny cartoon style that helped launch Harvey Kurtzman's Mad comic book in 1952.

15/05/2007

Jerry Falwell, American pastor, founded Liberty University (born 1933)

Jerry Laymon Falwell was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and politically conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy, later renamed Liberty Christian Academy, in 1967, founded Liberty University in 1971, and co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979.

15/05/2006

Nizar Abdul Zahra, Iraqi footballer (born 1961)

Nazar Abdul Zahra Khalaf, nicknamed "Maradona of Al-Minaa", was an Iraqi footballer who played forward. He spent the majority of his career with Al-Minaa club.

15/05/2003

June Carter Cash, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (born 1929)

Valerie June Carter Cash was an American country singer, songwriter, comedienne, actress, and author. A five-time Grammy Award winner, she was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. Before her marriage, she performed as June Carter, a name she continued to use professionally, including on songwriting credits. She played guitar, banjo, harmonica, and autoharp, and acted in several films and television shows. In 2009, she was posthumously inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame, and in 2025, she was named a posthumous inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

15/05/1998

Earl Manigault, American basketball player (born 1944)

Earl Manigault was an American street basketball player who was nicknamed "the Goat" or "the Lip". He is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players never to have played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Naim Talu, Turkish economist, banker, politician, 15th Prime Minister of Turkey (born 1919)

Mehmet Naim Talu was a Turkish economist, banker, politician and former prime minister of Turkey.

15/05/1996

Charles B. Fulton, American lawyer and judge (born 1910)

Charles Britton Fulton was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

15/05/1995

Eric Porter, English actor (born 1928)

Eric Richard Porter was an English actor of stage, film and television.

15/05/1994

Gilbert Roland, American actor (born 1905)

Luis Antonio Dámaso de Alonso, known professionally as Gilbert Roland, was a Mexican-born American film and television actor whose career spanned seven decades from the 1920s until the 1980s. He was twice nominated for the Golden Globe Award in 1952 and 1964 and inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

15/05/1993

Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese poet and diplomat (born 1933)

Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, was a Sudanese literary writer, poet and diplomat. He is considered one of the most important Sudanese poets of the first generation after the country's independence, marking the transition from literary romanticism to social realism.

15/05/1991

Andreas Floer, German mathematician and academic (born 1956)

Andreas Floer was a German mathematician who made seminal contributions to symplectic topology, and mathematical physics, in particular the invention of Floer homology. Floer's first pivotal contribution was a solution to a special case of Arnold's conjecture on fixed points of a symplectomorphism. Because of his work on Arnold's conjecture and his development of instanton homology, he achieved wide recognition and was invited as a plenary speaker for the International Congress of Mathematicians held in Kyoto in August 1990. He received a Sloan Fellowship in 1989.

Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Malian ethnologist and author (born 1901)

Amadou Hampâté Bâ was a Malian writer, historian, and ethnologist. He was an influential figure in the twentieth-century African literature and cultural heritage. A champion of Africa's oral tradition and traditional knowledge, he is remembered for his 1960 address to the UNESCO General Conference in which he urged the preservation of Africa's oral traditions, declaring: "I consider the death of each of these traditionalists as the burning of an unexploited cultural fund". A later formulation using the word bibliothèque emerged during a 1962 UNESCO Executive Board exchange.

Fritz Riess, German race car driver (born 1922)

Friedrich "Fritz" Riess or Rieß was a racing driver from Germany. He participated in one "Formula One" World Championship Grand Prix, the 1952 German Grand Prix on 3 August 1952, then run to Formula Two rules. He finished seventh, scoring no championship points as only the first five finishers scored points at that time.

15/05/1989

Johnny Green, American composer and conductor (born 1908)

John Waldo Green was an American songwriter, composer, musical arranger, conductor and pianist. He was given the nickname "Beulah" by colleague Conrad Salinger. His most famous song was one of his earliest, "Body and Soul" from the revue Three's a Crowd. Green won four Academy Awards for his film scores and a fifth for producing a short musical film, and he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. He was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Luc Lacourcière, Canadian ethnographer and author (born 1910)

Luc Lacourcière, CC was a Québécois writer and ethnographer, who established himself during his lifetime as a leading figure in folklore studies. Trained by Marius Barbeau, he in turn influenced renowned researchers such as linguist Claude Poirier. In 1944, Lacourcière founded the Archives de folklore (AF), which he directed until 1975. Since 1978, a Luc-Lacourcière medal has been awarded every two years.

15/05/1986

Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (born 1958)

Elio de Angelis was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1979 to 1986.

Theodore H. White, American historian, journalist, and author (born 1915)

Theodore Harold White was an American political journalist and historian, first known for his 1946 best-seller Thunder Out of China, reporting from China during World War II and then the Making of the President series.

15/05/1985

Jackie Curtis, American actress and writer (born 1947)

Jackie Curtis was an American underground actor, singer, and playwright best known as a Warhol superstar. Primarily a stage actor in New York City, Curtis performed as a man and also performed in drag.

15/05/1984

Francis Schaeffer, American pastor, theologian, and philosopher (born 1912)

Francis August Schaeffer was an American evangelical theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He co-founded the L'Abri community in Switzerland with his wife Edith Schaeffer, a prolific author in her own right. Opposed to theological modernism, Schaeffer promoted what he claimed was a more historic Protestant faith and a presuppositional approach to Christian apologetics, which he believed would answer the questions of the age.

15/05/1982

Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (born 1946)

Gordon Eugene Smiley was an American race car driver who was killed in a single-car crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was inducted into the Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2000.

15/05/1980

Gordon Prange, American historian and author (born 1910)

Gordon William Prange was the author of several World War II historical manuscripts which were published by his co-workers after his death in 1980. Prange was a professor of history at the University of Maryland from 1937 to 1980 with a break of nine years (1942–1951) of military service in the United States Navy during World War II, and in the postwar military occupation of Japan, when he was the Chief Historian on General Douglas MacArthur's staff. It was during this time that Prange collected material from and interviewed many Japanese military officers, enlisted men, and civilians, with the information later being used in the writing of his books. Several became New York Times bestsellers, including At Dawn We Slept, The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor and Miracle at Midway.

15/05/1978

Robert Menzies, Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (born 1894)

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies was an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th prime minister of Australia from 1939 to 1941 and from 1949 to 1966. He held office as the leader of the United Australia Party (UAP) in his first term, and subsequently as the inaugural leader of the Liberal Party of Australia in his second. He was the member of parliament (MP) for the Victorian division of Kooyong from 1934 to 1966. He is the longest-serving prime minister in Australian history.

15/05/1971

Tyrone Guthrie, English director, producer, and playwright (born 1900)

Sir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at his family's ancestral home, Annaghmakerrig, near Newbliss in County Monaghan, Ireland. He is famous for his original approach to Shakespearean and modern drama.

15/05/1969

Joe Malone, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1890)

Maurice Joseph Cletus Malone was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre. He played in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and National Hockey League (NHL) for the Quebec Bulldogs, Montreal Canadiens, and Hamilton Tigers from 1910 to 1924. Known for his scoring feats and clean play, Malone led the NHL in goals and points in 1918 and 1920, and the NHA in goals twice, in 1913 and 1917. He won the Stanley Cup with Quebec in 1912 and 1913.

15/05/1967

Edward Hopper, American painter (born 1882)

Edward Hopper was an American realist painter and printmaker. He is one of America's most renowned artists and known for his skill in depicting modern American life and landscapes.

Italo Mus, Italian painter (born 1892)

Italo Mus was an Italian painter.

15/05/1965

Pio Pion, Italian businessman (born 1887)

Pio Pion was an Italian entrepreneur, known for founding the first Italian company producing movie projectors, the Fumagalli, Pion & C.

15/05/1964

Vladko Maček, Croatian lawyer and politician (born 1879)

Vladimir Maček was a politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) following the 1928 assassination of Stjepan Radić, Maček had been a leading Croatian political figure until the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941. As a leader of the HSS, Maček played a key role in establishment of the Banovina of Croatia, an autonomous banovina in Yugoslavia in 1939.

15/05/1963

John Aglionby, English-born Bishop of Accra and soldier (born 1884)

John Orfeur Aglionby was Bishop of Accra during the second quarter of the 20th century.

15/05/1957

Keith Andrews, American race car driver (born 1920)

Keith Phillip Andrews was an American racecar driver. He was killed after crashing his car during practice for the 1957 Indianapolis 500.

Dick Irvin, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1892)

James Dickinson "Dick" Irvin Jr. was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach. He played for professional teams in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, the Western Canada Hockey League, and the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1916 to 1928, when he had to retire from repeated injuries. Irvin was one of the greatest players of his day, balancing a torrid slap shot and tough style with gentlemanly play. For his playing career, Irvin was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958. After playing, Irvin built a successful career as a coach in the NHL with the Chicago Black Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Montreal Canadiens. He coached his teams to the Stanley Cup Finals 16 times in 26 years as a full-time head coach, winning one Stanley Cup coaching Toronto and three coaching Montreal, finishing with over 600 wins as a coach. He also served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War.

15/05/1956

Austin Osman Spare, English painter and magician (born 1886)

Austin Osman Spare was an English artist and occultist who worked as a draughtsman, writer and painter. Influenced by symbolism and Art Nouveau, his art was known for its clear use of line and its depiction of monstrous and sexual imagery. In an occult capacity, he developed magical techniques including automatic writing, automatic drawing and sigilization based on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self.

15/05/1955

Harry J. Capehart, American lawyer, politician, and businessperson (born 1881)

Harry Jheopart Capehart Sr. was an American lawyer, politician, and businessperson in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Capehart served as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing McDowell County for three consecutive terms, from 1919 to 1925. He also served as an assessor, city councilperson, and city attorney for Keystone, West Virginia.

15/05/1954

William March, American soldier and author (born 1893)

William March was an American writer of psychological fiction and a highly decorated U.S. Marine. The author of six novels and four short-story collections, March was praised by critics but never attained great popularity.

15/05/1948

Edward J. Flanagan, Irish-American priest, founded Boys Town (born 1886)

Edward Joseph Flanagan was an Irish-born priest of the Catholic Church in the United States who served for decades in Nebraska. After serving as a parish priest in the Diocese of Omaha, he founded the orphanage and educational complex known as Boys Town, located west of the city in what is now Boys Town, Douglas County, Nebraska. In the 21st century, the complex also serves as a center for troubled youth.

15/05/1945

Kenneth J. Alford, English soldier, bandmaster, and composer (born 1881)

Frederick Joseph Ricketts was an English composer of marches for band. Under the pen name Kenneth J. Alford, he composed marches which are considered to be great examples of the art. He was a bandmaster in the British Army, and Royal Marines director of music. Conductor Vivian Dunn called him "The British March King". Alford's frequent use of the saxophone contributed to its permanent inclusion in military bands. His best known work is the "Colonel Bogey March".

Charles Williams, English author, poet, and critic (born 1886)

Charles Walter Stansby Williams was an English poet, novelist, playwright, theologian and literary critic. Most of his life was spent in London, where he was born, but in 1939 he moved to Oxford with the university press for which he worked until his death.

15/05/1937

Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1864)

Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden, PC was a British politician. A strong speaker, he became popular in trade union circles for his denunciation of capitalism as unethical and his promise of a socialist utopia. He was the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, a position he held in 1924 and again between 1929 and 1931. He broke with Labour policy in 1931, and was expelled from the party and excoriated as a turncoat, as the party was overwhelmingly crushed that year by the National Government coalition that Snowden supported. He was succeeded as chancellor by Neville Chamberlain.

15/05/1935

Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian-Russian painter and theoretician (born 1878)

Kazimir Severinovich Malevich was a Russian avant-garde artist and art theorist, whose work and writings pioneered the development of abstract painting in the 20th century. He is best known as the founder of Suprematism, a radically non-objective form of painting he introduced in 1915.

15/05/1928

Umegatani Tōtarō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15th Yokozuna (born 1845)

Umegatani Tōtarō I was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from the town of Haki, Chikuzen Province, now Shiwa, Fukuoka Prefecture. He was the sport's 15th yokozuna. He was generally regarded as the strongest wrestler to emerge since the era of Tanikaze and Raiden.

15/05/1926

Joseph James Fletcher, Australian biologist (born 1850)

Joseph James Fletcher was an Australian biologist, winner of the 1921 Clarke Medal.

15/05/1924

Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant, French diplomat and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1852)

Paul Henri Benjamin Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant, Baron de Constant de Rebecque, was a French diplomat and politician, advocate of international arbitration and winner of the 1909 Nobel Peace Prize.

15/05/1919

Hasan Tahsin, Turkish journalist (born 1888)

Hasan Tahsin was the code name of Osman Nevres, a Turkish nationalist and journalist of Dönmeh descent.

15/05/1914

Ida Freund, Austrian-born chemist and educator (born 1863)

Ida Freund was the first woman to be a university chemistry lecturer in the United Kingdom. She is known for her influence on science teaching, particularly the teaching of women and girls. She wrote two key chemistry textbooks and invented the idea of baking periodic table cupcakes, as well as inventing a gas measuring tube, which was named after her.

15/05/1886

Emily Dickinson, American poet and author (born 1830)

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Largely unpublished and unknown during her lifetime, her work is now widely regarded as canonical. The Poetry Foundation describes her as having "created in her writing a distinctively elliptical language for expressing what was possible but not yet realized."

15/05/1879

Gottfried Semper, German architect and educator, designed the Semper Opera House (born 1803)

Gottfried Semper was a German architect, art critic, and professor of architecture who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden between 1838 and 1841. In 1849 he took part in the May Uprising in Dresden and was put on the government's wanted list. He fled first to Zürich and later to London. He returned to Germany after the 1862 amnesty granted to the revolutionaries.

15/05/1845

Braulio Carrillo Colina, Costa Rican lawyer and politician, Head of State of Costa Rica (born 1800)

Braulio Evaristo Carrillo Colina was the Head of State of Costa Rica during two periods: the first between 1835 and 1837, and the de facto between 1838 and 1842.

15/05/1773

Alban Butler, English priest and hagiographer (born 1710)

Alban Butler was an English Roman Catholic priest and hagiographer. Born in Northamptonshire, he studied at the English College in Douay, France, where he later taught philosophy and theology. He served as a guide on the Grand Tour to the nephews of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Upon his return in 1749, Butler was made chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk. He was appointed president of the English seminary at Saint Omer in France. Butler is mainly known for his Lives of the Saints, the result of thirty years of work.

15/05/1740

Ephraim Chambers, English publisher (born 1680)

Ephraim Chambers was an English writer and encyclopaedist, who is primarily known for producing the Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Chambers' Cyclopædia is known as the original source material for the French Encyclopédie that started off as a translation of Cyclopædia.

15/05/1700

John Hale, American minister (born 1636)

John Hale was the Puritan pastor of Beverly, Massachusetts, and took part in the Salem witch trials in 1692. He was one of the most prominent and influential ministers associated with the witch trials, being noted as having initially supported the trials and then changing his mind and publishing a critique of them.

15/05/1699

Sir Edward Petre, 3rd Baronet, English politician (born 1631)

Sir Edward Petre, 3rd Baronet was an English Jesuit who became a close adviser to King James II and was appointed a privy councillor.

15/05/1698

Marie Champmeslé, French actress (born 1642)

Marie Champmeslé was a French stage actress.

15/05/1634

Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (born 1585)

Hendrick Avercamp was a Dutch painter during the Dutch Golden Age of painting. He was one of the earliest landscape painters of the 17th-century Dutch school, he specialized in painting the Netherlands in winter. His paintings are colorful and lively, with carefully crafted images of the people in the landscape. His works give a vivid depiction of sport and leisure in the Netherlands in the beginning of the 17th century. Many of Avercamp's paintings feature people ice skating on frozen lakes.

15/05/1615

Henry Bromley, English politician (born 1560)

Sir Henry Bromley was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1584 and 1604. He was imprisoned twice due to his political activities, with the more serious incident occurring after the Essex Rebellion. Later, during the Jacobean period, he regained favour and played an active role in suppressing the Gunpowder Plot.

15/05/1609

Giovanni Croce, Italian composer and educator (born 1557)

Giovanni Croce was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance, of the Venetian School. He was particularly prominent as a madrigalist, one of the few among the Venetians other than Monteverdi and Andrea Gabrieli.

15/05/1585

Niwa Nagahide, Japanese samurai (born 1535)

Niwa Nagahide , also known as Gorōzaemon (五郎左衛門), his other legal alias was Hashiba Echizen no Kami (羽柴越前守), was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku through Azuchi-Momoyama periods of the 16th century. He served as senior retainer to the Oda clan, and was eventually a daimyō in his own right. Going on to fight in the Oda clan's major campaigns, including Mino Campaign 1567, Omi Campaign 1568, the Honganji Campaign from 1570 to 1580, and Iga Campaign 1581, he was named one of the administrators of Kyoto after Nobunaga entered that city in 1568.

15/05/1470

Charles VIII, king of Sweden (born 1409)

Karl Knutsson Bonde, also known as Charles VIII and called Charles I in Norwegian contexts, was King of Sweden and King of Norway (1449–1450).

15/05/1464

Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset (born 1436)

Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset was an English nobleman and army commander for the House of Lancaster during the English Wars of the Roses. He is sometimes numbered the 2nd Duke of Somerset, because the title was re-created for his father after his uncle died. He also held the subsidiary titles of 5th Earl of Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Dorset and 2nd Earl of Dorset.

15/05/1461

Domenico Veneziano, Italian painter (born c. 1410)

Domenico Veneziano was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance, active mostly in Perugia and Tuscany.

15/05/1268

Peter II, count of Savoy (born 1203)

Peter II, called the Little Charlemagne, was Count of Savoy from 1263 until his death in 1268. He was also holder of the Honour of Richmond, Yorkshire in England, and the English lands of the Honour of the Eagle also known as the Honour of Pevensey and the Honour of Eu also known as the Honour of Hastings. His significant land holdings in the English County of Sussex were also marked by his holding of the wardship of John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey which brought with it lands centred upon Lewes castle. Briefly, from 1241 until 1242, castellan of Dover Castle and Keeper of the Coast. In 1243 he was granted land by the River Thames on the Strand near the City of London, where he built the Savoy Palace.

15/05/1175

Mleh, prince of Armenia

Mleh I, also Meleh I, was the eighth lord of Armenian Cilicia (1170–1175).

15/05/1174

Nur ad-Din, Seljuk emir of Syria (born 1118)

Al-Malik al-Adil Abu al-Qasim Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd bin Imad al-Dīn Zengī, commonly known as Nur ad-Din or Nureddin, and al-Malik al-Adil, was a Turkoman member of the Zengid dynasty, who ruled the Syrian province of the Seljuk Empire. He reigned from 1146 to 1174. He is regarded as an important figure of the Second Crusade.

15/05/1157

Yuri Dolgorukiy, Grand Prince of Kiev (born 1099)

Yuri I Vladimirovich, commonly known as Yuri Dolgorukiy, was a Monomakhovichi prince of Rostov and Suzdal, acquiring the name Suzdalia during his reign. Noted for successfully curbing the privileges of the landowning boyar class in Rostov-Suzdal and his ambitious building programme, Yuri transformed this principality into the independent power that would evolve into early modern Muscovy. Yuri Dolgorukiy was the progenitor of the Yurievichi, a branch of the Monomakhovichi.

15/05/1036

Go-Ichijō, emperor of Japan (born 1008)

Emperor Go-Ichijō was the 68th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

15/05/0973

Byrhthelm, bishop of Wells

Byrhthelm was the Bishop of Wells and briefly the archbishop of Canterbury. A monk from Glastonbury Abbey, he served as Bishop of Wells beginning in 956, then was translated to Canterbury in 959, only to be translated back to Wells in the same year.

15/05/0926

Zhuang Zong, Chinese emperor (born 885)

Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang, personal name Li Cunxu, nickname Yazi (亞子), stage name Li Tianxia (李天下), was the second ruling prince of the Former Jin dynasty who later became the founding emperor of the Later Tang dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He was the son of Li Keyong, an ethnic Shatuo Jiedushi of the Tang dynasty.

15/05/0913

Hatto I, German archbishop (born 850)

Hatto I was Archbishop of Mainz (Mayence) from 891 until his death.

15/05/0884

Marinus I, pope of the Catholic Church (born 830)

Pope Marinus I was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 882 until his death on 15 May 884. Controversially at the time, he was already a bishop when he became pope, and had served as papal legate to Constantinople. He was also erroneously called Pope Martin II leading to the second pope named Martin to take the name Martin IV.

15/05/0558

Hilary of Galeata, Christian monk (born 476)

Hilary of Galeata is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church. His feast day is 15 May.

15/05/0392

Valentinian II, Roman emperor (born 371)

Valentinian II was a Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman Empire between AD 375 and 392. He was at first junior co-ruler of his half-brother, then was sidelined by a usurper, and finally became sole ruler after 388, albeit with limited de facto powers. He was the youngest emperor (co-ruler) in the Western Roman Empire.

Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 15th May

Aoi Matsuri (Kyoto)

The Aoi Matsuri (葵祭), or "Hollyhock Festival", is one of the three main annual festivals held in Kyoto, Japan, the other two being the Festival of the Ages and the Gion Festival. It is a festival of the two Kamo shrines in the north of the city, Shimogamo Shrine and Kamigamo Shrine. The festival may also be referred to as the Kamo Festival. It is held on 15 May of each year.

Army Day (Slovenia)

There are two kinds of public holidays in Slovenia – state holidays and work-free days. State holidays are those celebrated by the state. These include official functions and flying the national flag. The latter are actually Christian religious holidays, which are equivalent to any Sunday: companies and schools are closed, but there is no official celebration.

Christian feast day: Achillius of Larissa

Saint Achillius of Larissa, also known as Saint Achilles, Saint Ailus, Saintc Ahillas, or Saint Achilius, was a 4th century bishop of Larissa and one of the 318 persons present at the First Council of Nicaea. His feast day is on 15 May.

Christian feast day: Athanasius of Alexandria (Coptic Church)

Athanasius I of Alexandria, also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Christian theologian and the 20th patriarch of Alexandria. His intermittent episcopacy spanned 45 years, of which over 17 encompassed five exiles, when he was replaced on the order of four different Roman emperors. Athanasius was a Church Father, the chief proponent of Trinitarianism against Arianism, and a noted Egyptian Christian leader of the fourth century.

Christian feast day: Hallvard Vebjørnsson (Roman Catholic Church)

Hallvard Vebjørnsson, commonly referred to as Saint Hallvard, is the patron saint of Oslo. He is considered a martyr because of his defence of an innocent thrall woman. His religious feast day is 15 May.

Christian feast day: Hilary of Galeata

Hilary of Galeata is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church. His feast day is 15 May.

Christian feast day: Isidore the Laborer, celebrated with festivals in various countries, the beginning of bullfighting season in Madrid.

Isidore the Laborer, born Isidro de Merlo y Quintana, also known as Isidore the Farmer, was a Mozarab farmworker who lived in medieval Madrid. Known for his piety toward the poor and animals, he is venerated as a Catholic patron saint of farmers, and of Madrid; El Gobernador, Jalisco; Condiro Jalisco, La Ceiba, Honduras; and of Tocoa, Honduras. His feast day is celebrated on 15 May.

Christian feast day: Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (Roman Catholic Church)

Jean-Baptiste de La Salle was a French priest, educational reformer, and founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He is a saint of the Catholic Church and the patron saint for teachers of youth.

Christian feast day: Kaleb of Axum

Kaleb, also known as Elesbaan, Ella Asbeha, or Hellestheaios, was King of Aksum, which was situated in what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Christian feast day: Peter, Andrew, Paul, and Denise (Roman Catholic Church)

Saints Peter, Andrew, Paul and Denise are venerated as martyrs by the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. They were killed in the 3rd century at Lampsacus, Mysia on the Hellespont.

Christian feast day: Reticius (Roman Catholic Church)

Saint Reticius was a bishop of Autun, the first one known to history, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. He was a Gallo-Roman, and an ecclesiastical writer, and served as bishop of this see from around 310 to 334 AD.

Christian feast day: Sophia of Rome (Roman Catholic church)

Saint Sophia of Rome was an early Christian martyr venerated by many churches. She is identified in hagiographical tradition with the figure of Sophia of Milan, the mother of Saints Faith, Hope and Charity, whose veneration is attested for the sixth century.

Christian feast day: May 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar)

May 14 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 16

Constituent Assembly Day (Lithuania)

All official holidays in Lithuania are established by acts of Seimas.

Independence Day (Paraguay), celebrates the independence of Paraguay from Spain in 1811. Celebrations for the anniversary of the independence begin on Flag Day, May 14.

The following are national holidays in Paraguay

International Conscientious Objectors Day

A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience. In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to an alternative civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service.

International Day of Families (International)

The International Day of Families is observed on 15 May every year. The Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 with resolution A/RES/47/237 and reflects the importance the international community attaches to families. The International Day provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.

La Corsa dei Ceri begins on the eve of the feast day of Saint Ubaldo. (Gubbio)

Saint Ubaldo Day or Festa dei Ceri is an event celebrated on 15 May in the Italian town of Gubbio. It honors the life of Bishop Ubaldo Baldassini who was canonized as protector of Gubbio. It is also celebrated in the American town of Jessup, Pennsylvania.

Mother's Day (Paraguay)

Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in March or May. It complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Father's Day, Siblings Day, and Grandparents' Day.

Nakba Day (Palestinian communities)

Nakba Day is the day of commemoration for the Nakba, also known as the Palestinian Catastrophe, when the Palestinian homeland and society were destroyed in 1948 and most Palestinians were permanently displaced. It is generally commemorated on 15 May, the day after the Gregorian calendar date of the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948.

Peace Officers Memorial Day (United States)

Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week is an observance in the United States that pays tribute to the local, state, and federal peace officers who have died, or who have been disabled, in the line of duty. It is celebrated May 15 of each year. The event is sponsored by the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and is implemented by the FOP Memorial Committee.

Republic Day (Lithuania)

All official holidays in Lithuania are established by acts of Seimas.

Teachers' Day (Colombia, Mexico, and South Korea)

Teachers' Day is a special day for the appreciation of teachers. It may include celebrations to honor them for their special contributions in a particular field area, or the community tone in education. This is one of the most celebrated days and the primary reason why countries celebrate this day on different dates, unlike many other International Days. For example, Argentina has commemorated Domingo Faustino Sarmiento's death on 11 September as Teachers' Day since 1915. In India, the birthday of the second president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, 5 September, is celebrated as Teachers' Day since 1962.

What Happened on 15th May?

56 significant events took place on Monday, 15th May — stretching from 221 to 2024. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

15/05/2024

Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico is shot and critically injured while meeting with supporters at an event in Handlová.

The prime minister of Slovakia, officially the chairman of the government of the Slovak Republic, commonly referred to in Slovakia as Predseda vlády or informally as Premiér, is the head of the government of the Slovak Republic. Officially, the officeholder is the third-highest constitutional official in Slovakia after the president of the Republic (appointer) and chairman of the National Council; in practice, the appointee is the country's leading political figure.

15/05/2013

An upsurge in violence in Iraq leaves more than 389 people dead over three days.

From 15 to 21 May 2013, a series of deadly bombings and shootings struck the central and northern parts of Iraq, with a few incidents occurring in towns in the south and far west as well. The attacks killed at least 449 people and left 732 others injured in one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence in years.

15/05/2010

Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.

Jessica Rose Watson is an Australian sailor who attempted a solo circumnavigation at the age of 16 from 18 October 2009 to 15 May 2010. Although she circled the planet, she did it in a narrow range of latitudes relatively far from the equator that resulted in her voyage falling short of the distance criterion of 21,600 nautical miles (40,000 km) for a circumnavigation – the equivalent of the circumference of the Earth at the equator – by nearly 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km); Watson was nevertheless named 2011 Young Australian of the Year and awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2012 for "...service to sailing and to youth through the achievement of sailing solo and unassisted around the world, and as a role model for young Australians". As of November 2022, she resides in Melbourne. Netflix produced a film, True Spirit (2023), about Watson's voyage.

15/05/2008

California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in California since June 28, 2013. The State of California first issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples from June 16, 2008 to November 5, 2008, as a result of the Supreme Court of California finding in the case of In re Marriage Cases that barring same-sex couples from marriage violated the Constitution of California. The issuance of such licenses was halted from November 5, 2008 through June 27, 2013 due to the passage of Proposition 8—a state constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriages. The granting of same-sex marriages resumed following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry, which restored the effect of a federal district court ruling that overturned Proposition 8 as unconstitutional. In 2024, the passage of Proposition 3 repealed Proposition 8.

15/05/2004

Arsenal F.C. go an entire league campaign unbeaten in the English Premier League, joining Preston North End F.C. with the right to claim the title "The Invincibles".

The Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Domestically, Arsenal have won 14 league titles, a record 14 FA Cups, 2 League Cups, 17 FA Community Shields and a Football League Centenary Trophy. In European football, they have won one European Cup Winners' Cup and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In terms of trophies won, it is the third-most successful club in English football, and one of the most successful clubs in world football.

15/05/2001

A CSX EMD SD40-2 8888 rolls out of a train yard in Walbridge, Ohio, with 47 freight cars, including some tank cars with flammable chemical, after its engineer fails to reboard it after setting a yard switch. It travels south driverless for 66 miles (106 km) until it is brought to a halt near Kenton. The incident became the inspiration for the 2010 film Unstoppable.

CSX Transportation, known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles (34,000 km) of track, it is the leading subsidiary of CSX Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

15/05/1997

The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.

The Laotian Civil War was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. The Kingdom of Laos was a covert theater during the Vietnam War with both sides receiving heavy external support in a proxy war between the global Cold War superpowers. The fighting also involved the North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, American and Thai armies, both directly and through irregular proxies. The war is known as the "Secret War" among the American CIA Special Activities Center, and Hmong and Mien veterans of the conflict.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-84 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.

Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985.

15/05/1991

Édith Cresson becomes France's first female Prime Minister.

Édith Jeanne Thérèse Cresson is a French politician of the Socialist Party. She served as Prime Minister of France from 1991 to 1992, the first woman to do so and only woman until Élisabeth Borne's appointment in 2022. Her political career ended in scandal as a result of corruption charges dating from her tenure as European Commissioner for Research, Science and Technology.

15/05/1988

Soviet–Afghan War: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdraw 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.

The Soviet–Afghan War took place in Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 47-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Communist-led Afghan military fight against the rebelling Afghan mujahideen, aided by Pakistan. While backed by various countries and organizations, the majority of the mujahideen's support came from Pakistan, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Iran, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, in addition to a large influx of foreign fighters known as the Afghan Arabs. American and British involvement on the side of the mujahideen escalated the Cold War, ending a short period of relaxed Soviet Union–United States relations.

15/05/1976

Aeroflot Flight 1802 crashes near Viktorivka, Chernihiv Raion, Chernihiv Oblast, killing 52.

Aeroflot Flight 1802 was a commercial flight from Vinnytsia to Moscow that crashed after the rudder deflected sharply and the propellers feathered on 15 May 1976. All 52 passengers and crew aboard the aircraft perished in the crash.

15/05/1974

Ma'alot massacre: Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attack and take hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people are killed, including 22 schoolchildren.

The Ma'alot massacre was a Palestinian terrorist attack that occurred on 14–15 May 1974 and involved the hostage-taking of 115 Israelis, chiefly school children, which ended in the murder of 25 hostages and six other civilians. It began when three armed members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) infiltrated Israel from Lebanon. Soon afterwards they attacked a van, killing two Israeli Arab women while injuring a third, and entered an apartment building in the town of Ma'alot, where they killed a couple and their four-year-old son. From there, they headed for the Netiv Meir Elementary School in Ma'alot, where in the early hours of 15 May 1974 they took hostage more than 115 people including 105 children. Most of the hostages were 14- to 16-years-old students from a high school in Safad on a pre-military Gadna field trip spending the night in Ma'alot.

15/05/1972

The Ryukyu Islands, under U.S. military governance since their conquest in 1945, revert to Japanese control.

The Ryukyu Islands , also known as the Nansei Islands or the Ryukyu Arc , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan. Administratively, they are divided between Kagoshima Prefecture and Okinawa Prefecture. The larger ones are mostly volcanic islands and the smaller mostly coral. The largest is Okinawa Island.

15/05/1970

President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington as the first female United States Army generals.

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he represented California in both houses of the United States Congress before serving as the 36th vice president under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961. His presidency saw the reduction of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Nixon's second term ended early when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office, as a result of the Watergate scandal.

15/05/1963

Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.

Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Union. Taken over from the US Air Force by the newly created civilian space agency NASA, it conducted 20 uncrewed developmental flights, and six successful flights by astronauts. The program, which took its name from Roman mythology, cost $2.83 billion. The astronauts were collectively known as the "Mercury Seven", and each spacecraft was given a name ending with a "7" by its pilot.

15/05/1957

At Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.

Malden Island, sometimes called Independence Island in the 19th century, is a low, arid, uninhabited atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, about 39 km2 (15 sq mi) in area. It is one of the Line Islands belonging to the Republic of Kiribati. The lagoon is entirely enclosed by land, though it is connected to the sea by underground channels, and is quite salty.

15/05/1948

Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel, thus starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Mandatory Palestine, officially known as Palestine, was a British administrative territory between 1920 and 1948 in the region of Palestine. From 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations, it was a mandated territory, administered by the British under the Mandate for Palestine.

15/05/1945

World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe, is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.

The Battle of Poljana took place outside of Poljana, near the town of Prevalje in Yugoslavia between the Yugoslav Army and a column of 30,000 retreating Axis soldiers, which consisted of the German Wehrmacht, the Croatian Armed Forces, the Montenegrin People's Army, the Serbian Volunteer Corps, the Slovene Home Guard, the 15th Waffen SS Cossack Cavalry Corps and other collaborationist forces who were on their way to surrender to the British in Austria. The battle was one of the last confrontations of World War II in Europe taking place on 14 and 15 May 1945, 6 days after Germany unconditionally capitulated.

15/05/1943

Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Soviet revolutionary and politician who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held office as the General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952 and as the premier from 1941 until his death. Despite initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he eventually consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s. Stalin codified the Communist Party's official interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, and his version of it is referred to as Stalinism.

15/05/1942

World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.

The Women's Army Corps was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), on 15 May 1942, and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States as the WAC on 1 July 1943. Its first director was Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby. The WAC was disbanded on 20 October 1978, and all WAC units were integrated with male units.

15/05/1941

First flight of the Gloster E.28/39, the first British and Allied jet aircraft.

The Gloster E.28/39, was the first British turbojet-engined aircraft, first flying in 1941. It was the third turbojet aircraft to fly after the German Heinkel He 178 (1939) and Heinkel He 280 (1941).

15/05/1940

USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus.

USS Sailfish (SS-192) was a Sargo-class submarine of the United States Navy, originally named Squalus. As Squalus, the submarine sank off the coast of New Hampshire during test dives on 23 May 1939. The sinking drowned 26 crew members, but an ensuing rescue operation, using the McCann Rescue Chamber for the first time, saved the lives of the remaining 33 aboard. Squalus was salvaged in late 1939 and recommissioned as Sailfish in May 1940.

World War II: The Battle of the Netherlands: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

Richard and Maurice McDonald open the first McDonald's restaurant.

Richard James McDonald and Maurice James "Mac" McDonald, known as the McDonald brothers, were American entrepreneurs who founded the fast food company McDonald's.

15/05/1934

A self coup by prime minister Kārlis Ulmanis succeeds in Latvia, suspending its constitution and dissolving its Saeima.

The 1934 Latvian coup d'état known in Latvia also as the 15 May Coup or Ulmanis' Coup, was a self-coup by the veteran Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis against the parliamentary system in Latvia. His regime lasted until the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940.

15/05/1933

All military aviation organizations within or under the control of the RLM of Germany are officially merged in a covert manner to form its Wehrmacht military's air arm, the Luftwaffe.

The Ministry of Aviation was a government department during the period of Nazi Germany (1933–45). It is also the original name of the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus building on the Wilhelmstrasse in central Berlin, Germany, which houses the modern German Finance Ministry.

15/05/1932

In an attempted coup d'état, the Prime Minister of Japan, Inukai Tsuyoshi, is assassinated.

A coup d'état, or simply a coup, is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent person or leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to power through legal means, tries to stay in power through illegal means.

15/05/1929

A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.

A major structure fire occurred at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on May 15, 1929. Nitrocellulose X-ray film ignited in a basement storage room, emitting a poisonous yellowish-brown gas which spread throughout much of the Clinic and subsequently exploded several times. The fire claimed 123 lives including that of one of the Clinic's founders, Dr. John Phillips. Most of the deaths from the fire were due to toxic inhalation. Many were immediate; some were delayed by hours or even days. A policeman, Ernest Staab, rescued 21 victims from the fire, and left the scene, seemingly in good health. He later collapsed while working on his lawn, was hospitalized, but contrary to many contemporaneous newspaper articles survived and worked for the police department for another 25 years.

15/05/1919

The Winnipeg general strike begins. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.

The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most dramatic and influential strikes in Canadian history. For six weeks, May 15 to June 26, more than 30,000 strikers brought economic activity to a standstill in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which at the time was Canada's third largest city.

Greek occupation of Smyrna. During the occupation, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks; those responsible are punished by Greek commander Aristides Stergiades.

The city of Smyrna and surrounding areas were under Greek military occupation from 15 May 1919 until 9 September 1922. The Allied Powers authorized the occupation and creation of the Zone of Smyrna during negotiations regarding the partition of the Ottoman Empire to protect the ethnic Greek population living in and around the city. The Greek landing on 15 May 1919 was celebrated by the substantial local Greek population but quickly resulted in ethnic violence in the area. This violence decreased international support for the occupation and led to a rise in Turkish nationalism. The high commissioner of Smyrna, Aristeidis Stergiadis, firmly opposed discrimination against the Turkish population by the administration; however, ethnic tensions and discrimination remained. Stergiadis also began work on projects involving resettlement of Greek refugees, the foundations for a university, and some public health projects. Smyrna was a major base of operations for Greek troops in Anatolia during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922).

15/05/1918

The Finnish Civil War ends when the Whites take over Fort Ino, a Russian coastal artillery base on the Karelian Isthmus, from Russian troops.

The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of recently independent Finland between White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic. The clashes took place in the context of the national, political, and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The belligerents were the paramilitary Red Guards, led by a section of the Social Democratic Party with backup of the Russian bolsheviks, and the paramilitary White Guards of the senate. General C. G. E. Mannerheim led the White Guards with major assistance by both the Finnish Jäger Battalion trained in Germany and the German Imperial Army, along the German goal to control Fennoscandia and Petrograd of Russia. The Reds, composed of industrial and agrarian working class people, controlled the cities and industrial centres of southern Finland. The Whites, composed of land owners and the middle and upper class, controlled the rural central and northern Finland.

15/05/1916

A seventeen-year-old farmworker, Jesse Washington, is infamously lynched in Waco, Texas, USA, after being convicted of rape and murder.

A farmworker or farmhand, is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including harvesting. Agricultural work varies widely depending on context, degree of mechanization and crop. Low wages for farmworkers have been associated with farmworker shortages and delayed adoption of agricultural technology.

15/05/1911

In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.

Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, 221 U.S. 1 (1911), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled that John D. Rockefeller's petroleum conglomerate Standard Oil had illegally monopolized the American petroleum industry and ordered the company to break itself up. The decision also held, however, that U.S. antitrust law bans only "unreasonable" restraints on trade, an interpretation that came to be known as the "rule of reason".

More than 300 Chinese immigrants are killed in the Torreón massacre when the forces of the Mexican Revolution led by Emilio Madero take the city of Torreón from the Federales.

The Torreón massacre was a massacre that took place from May 13 to May 15, 1911 in the Mexican city of Torreón, Coahuila. A total of 308 Cantonese were killed, amounting to half the Chinese community in Torreón. The victims, accused of collusion with Porfirio Díaz, were killed by a local mob and the revolutionary forces of Francisco I. Madero. A large number of Chinese homes and shops were looted and destroyed.

15/05/1891

Pope Leo XIII defends workers' rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.

Pope Leo XIII was head of the Catholic Church from 1878 until his death in 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign and third-longest verified reign of any pope, behind those of St. Peter, Pius IX, and John Paul II.

15/05/1864

American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia: Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.

The Battle of New Market was fought on May 15, 1864, in Virginia during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. A makeshift Confederate army of 4,100 men defeated the larger Army of the Shenandoah under Major General Franz Sigel, delaying the capture of Staunton by several weeks.

15/05/1851

The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.

During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the colonial government of New South Wales had suppressed the news out of the fear that it would reduce the workforce and destabilise the economy.

15/05/1850

The Arana–Southern Treaty is ratified, ending "the existing differences" between Great Britain and Argentina.

The Arana–Southern Treaty or Convention of Settlement, formally known as the Convention for the perfect restoration of friendly relations between the Argentine Confederation and Her Britannic Majesty, was a peace treaty signed between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Argentine Confederation following the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata.

15/05/1849

The Sicilian revolution of 1848 is finally extinguished.

The Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848 was the first of the numerous Revolutions of 1848 which swept across Europe. It was a popular rebellion against the rule of Ferdinand II of the House of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies. Three revolutions against the Bourbon ruled Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had previously occurred on the island of Sicily starting from 1800: this final one, which commenced on 12 January 1848, resulted in an independent state which survived for 16 months. The Sicilian Constitution of 1848 which survived the 16 months was advanced for its time in liberal democratic terms, as was the proposal of a unified Italian confederation of states. It was in effect a curtain-raiser to the end of the Bourbon kingdom of the Two Sicilies, finally completed by Giuseppe Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand in 1860, the Siege of Gaeta of 1860–1861 and the proclamation of the unified Kingdom of Italy.

15/05/1836

Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads" during an annular eclipse.

Francis Baily was an English astronomer. He is most famous for his observations of "Baily's beads" during a total eclipse of the Sun. Baily was also a major figure in the early history of the Royal Astronomical Society, as one of the founders and as the president four times.

15/05/1791

French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance.

The French Revolution was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799. Many of the revolution's ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, and its values remain central to modern French political discourse. It was caused by a combination of social, political, and economic factors which the existing regime proved unable to manage.

15/05/1725

Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Ich bin ein guter Hirt, BWV 85, about Jesus as the Good Shepherd.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. He is known for his mastery of counterpoint, as heard in The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. Felix Mendelssohn precipitated the Bach Revival with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Ever since, Bach has been acclaimed as one of the greatest composers of classical music.

15/05/1648

The Peace of Münster is ratified, by which Spain acknowledges Dutch sovereignty.

The Peace of Münster, signed on 30 January 1648, was a treaty between Philip IV of Spain and the Lords States General of the Dutch Republic. Negotiated in parallel to, but not part of, the Peace of Westphalia, under its terms Spain formally recognised the independent Dutch Republic, and ended the Eighty Years' War.

15/05/1602

Cape Cod is sighted by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold.

Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The name Cape Cod, coined in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold, is the ninth-oldest English place-name in the U.S.

15/05/1571

Venice, Spain, Naples, the Papal States, and other Italian states establish the Holy League to fight the Ottomans, resulting in the victory at Lepanto later that year.

The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and maritime republic with its capital in Venice, on the northeastern coast of Italy. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 by Paolo Lucio Anafesto, over the course of its 1,100 years of history it established itself as one of the major European commercial and naval powers. Initially extended in the Dogado area, during its history it annexed a large part of Northeast Italy, Istria, Dalmatia, the coasts of present-day Montenegro and Albania as well as numerous islands in the Adriatic and eastern Ionian seas. At the height of its expansion, between the 13th and 16th centuries, it also governed Crete, Cyprus, the Peloponnese, a number of Greek islands, as well as several cities and ports in the eastern Mediterranean.

15/05/1567

The wedding of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Earl of Bothwell, the chief instigator of the murder of her previous husband Lord Darnley, takes place.

The wedding of Mary, Queen of Scots and James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell took place at Holyrood Palace on 15 May 1567.

15/05/1536

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest; she is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury.

Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading for treason, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.

15/05/1532

The English church submits to the king of England in passing a convocation in which it surrenders a number of rights, such as to make provincial ecclesiastic laws independently of the king.

The Church of England is the established Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It was the initial church of the Anglican tradition. The church traces its history to the Christian hierarchy recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the 3rd century and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury. Its members are called Anglicans.

15/05/1525

Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Müntzer are defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants' War in the Holy Roman Empire.

An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregular forces face a large, well-equipped, regular military force state adversary. Due to this asymmetry, insurgents avoid large-scale direct battles, opting instead to blend in with the civilian population where they gradually expand territorial control and military forces. Insurgency frequently hinges on control of and collaboration with local populations.

15/05/1252

Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.

Pope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.

15/05/1194

Michael the Syrian reconsecrates the Mor Bar Sauma Monastery, which he reconstructed after its destruction by a fire. The monastery stays a center of the Syriac Orthodox Church until the end of the thirteenth century.

Michael the Syrian, also known as Michael the Great, was the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch from 1166 until his death in 1199. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church, remembered both as a saint and as a historian.

15/05/0908

Constantine VII is crowned Byzantine co-emperor.

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, and the nephew of his predecessor Alexander.

15/05/0756

Abd al-Rahman I, the founder of the Arab dynasty that ruled the greater part of Iberia for nearly three centuries, becomes emir of Cordova, Spain.

Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya, commonly known as Abd al-Rahman I, was the founder and first emir of the Emirate of Córdoba, ruling from 756 to 788. He established the Umayyad dynasty in al-Andalus, which continued for nearly three centuries.

15/05/0589

King Authari marries Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombard nobility.

Authari was king of the Lombards from 584 to his death. He was considered the first Lombard king to have adopted some level of Romanitas (Roman-ness) and introduced policies that led to drastic changes, particularly in the treatment of the Romans and greater tolerance for the Christian faith.

15/05/0392

Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence at Vienne.

Valentinian II was a Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman Empire between AD 375 and 392. He was at first junior co-ruler of his half-brother, then was sidelined by a usurper, and finally became sole ruler after 388, albeit with limited de facto powers. He was the youngest emperor (co-ruler) in the Western Roman Empire.

15/05/0221

Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty.

Liu Bei, courtesy name Xuande (玄德), was a Chinese warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of China.

On this day

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Personality Profile

Fun Facts About 15th May

Famous Birthdays on 15th May

Haerin, Korean singer

Chase Hudson, American internet celebrity, singer, actor

Dayana Yastremska, Ukrainian tennis player

Anastasia Gasanova, Russian tennis player

Lucrezia Stefanini, Italian tennis player

Ousmane Dembélé, French footballer

Scott Drinkwater, Australian rugby league player

Birdy, English singer-songwriter

Jeremy Hawkins, New Zealand rugby league player

Tomáš Kalas, Czech international footballer

Jordan Eberle, Canadian ice hockey player

Lee Jong-hyun, Korean guitarist

Stella Maxwell, New Zealand model

Susan Soonkyu Lee, Korean-American singer and entertainer

Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, French footballer

Indrek Kajupank, Estonian basketball player

Scott Laird, English footballer

David Adams, American baseball player

Michael Brantley, American baseball player

Brian Dozier, American baseball player

Mark Fayne, American ice hockey player

Ersan İlyasova, Turkish basketball player

Leonardo Mayer, Argentinian tennis player

Andy Murray, Scottish tennis player

Thomas Brown, American football player

Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer

Adam Moffat, Scottish footballer

Cristiane, Brazilian footballer

Tania Cagnotto, Italian diver

Laura Harvey, English football coach

Tathagata Mukherjee, Indian actor

Denis Onyango, Ugandan football goalkeeper

Justine Robbeson, South African javelin thrower

Jeff Deslauriers, Canadian ice hockey player

Sérgio Jimenez, Brazilian race car driver

Samantha Noble, Australian actress

Beau Scott, Australian rugby league player

Mr Probz, Dutch singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer

Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican sprinter

Segundo Castillo, Ecuadorian footballer

Rafael Pérez, Dominican baseball player

Layal Abboud, Lebanese singer

Patrice Evra, French footballer

Paul Konchesky, English international footballer

Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player

Zara Phillips, English equestrian

Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress and singer

Josh Beckett, American baseball player

Adolfo Bautista, Mexican footballer

Daniel Caines, English sprinter

Chris Masoe, New Zealand rugby player

Ryan Max Riley, American skier

Robert Royal, American football player

Dominic Scott, Irish guitarist

Amy Chow, American gymnast and pediatrician

Dwayne De Rosario, Canadian soccer player

Edu, Brazilian footballer

David Krumholtz, American actor

Torraye Braggs, American basketball player

Mark Kennedy, Irish footballer

Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer

Ryan Leaf, American football player and coach

Anže Logar, Slovenian politician

Tyler Walker, American baseball player

Ray Lewis, American football player and sportscaster

Ales Michalevic, Belarusian lawyer and politician

Janne Seurujärvi, Finnish Sami politician, first Sami ever to be elected to the Finnish Parliament

Vasilis Kikilias, Greek basketball player and politician

Matthew Sadler, English chess player and author

Marko Tredup, German footballer and manager

Ahmet Zappa, American musician and writer

Giles Perry, British keyboardist

Danny Alexander, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Scotland