What happened on May 11? There are more than 275 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About May 11
May 11 is the 132nd day of the year 2024. There are 234 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday. This day falls under the 19th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Little Elm, Texas 75806 sunrise occured at 06:28 AM and sunset occured at 08:19 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Taurus. The modern birthstone for this month is Emerald while the mystical birthstone is Sapphire.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 263 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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Historical Events For May 11
- 330Byzantium is renamed Nova Roma during a dedication ceremony, but it is more popularly referred to as Constantinople.
- 912Alexander becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1310In France, fifty-four members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake as heretics.
- 1502Christopher Columbus leaves for his fourth and final voyage to the West Indies.
- 1647Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam to replace Willem Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland, the Dutch colonial settlement in present-day New York City.
- 1745War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy – French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army.
- 1792Captain Robert Gray becomes the first documented white person to sail into the Columbia River.
- 1812Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London.
- 1813In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth lead an expedition westwards from Sydney. Their route opens up inland Australia for continued expansion throughout the 19th century.
- 1820Launch of HMS Beagle, the ship that took Charles Darwin on his scientific voyage.
- 1846President James K. Polk asked for and received a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican-American War
- 1857Indian Mutiny: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
- 1858Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. State.
- 1862American Civil War: The ironclad Ship CSS is scuttled in the James River northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.
- 1867Luxembourg gains its independence.
- 1880Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California
- 1891The Ōtsu incident: Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Imperial Russia (later Nicholas II) suffers a critical head injury during a sword attack by Japanese policeman Tsuda Sanzō. He is rescued by Prince George of Greece and Denmark.
- 1894Pullman Strike: Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike in Illinois.
- 190732 Shriners are killed when their chartered train derails at a switch near Surf Depot in Lompoc, California.
- 1910An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.
- 1918The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus is officially established.
- 1924Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies.
- 1927The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded.
- 1942William Faulkner’s collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published.
- 1943World War II: American troops invade Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
- 1944World War II: The Allies begin a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line.
- 1945World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill, is hit by two kamikazes, killing 346 of her crew. Although badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.
- 1946UMNO is created.
- 1949Israel joins the United Nations.
- 1949Siam officially changes its name to Thailand for the second time. The name had been in use since 1939 but was reverted in 1945.
- 1953The 1953 Waco tornado outbreak: an F5 tornado hits downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114.
- 1960In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents capture fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who is living under the alias of Ricardo Klement.
- 1967Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and socialist politician, is imprisoned in Athens by the Greek military junta.
- 1968The Toronto Transit Commission opens the largest expansion of its Bloor–Danforth line, going to Scarborough in the East, and Etobicoke in the West.
- 1970The Lubbock Tornado, a F5 tornado, hits Lubbock, Texas, killing 26 and causing $250 million in damage.
- 1973Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg has charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times dismissed.
- 1983Aberdeen F.C. defeat Real Madrid 2-1 to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden.
- 1985Bradford City stadium fire: Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in a flash fire at Valley Parade football ground during a match against Lincoln City in Bradford, England.
- 1987In Baltimore, Maryland, the first heart-lung transplant takes place. The surgery is performed by Dr. Bruce Reitz of the Stanford University School of Medicine.
- 1987Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
- 1995In New York City more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.
- 1996After the aircraft’s departure from Miami, Florida, a fire started by improperly handled oxygen canisters in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 on board.
- 1996The 1996 Mount Everest disaster: on a single day eight people die during summit attempts on Mount Everest.
- 1997Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
- 1998India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran to include a thermonuclear device.
- 2000Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.
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Who Were Born On May 11?
- 1571Niwa Nagashige, Japanese warlord (d. 1637)
- 1720Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German adventurer (d. 1797)
- 1722Petrus Camper, Dutch anatomist (d. 1789)
- 1733Victoire of France, daughter of king Louis XV of France (d. 1799)
- 1752Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (d. 1840)
- 1763János Batsányi, Hungarian poet (d. 1845)
- 1771Laskarina Bouboulina, Greek naval commander in the Greek War of Independence (d. 1825)
- 1799John Lowell, American philanthropist (d. 1836)
- 1801Henri Labrouste, French architect (d. 1875)
- 1811Chang and Eng Bunker, Thai/American conjoined twins (d. 1874)
- 1811Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1893)
- 1817Fanny Cerrito, Italian ballet dancer (d. 1909)
- 1824Jean-Léon Gérôme, French painter and sculptor (d. 1904)
- 1827Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (d. 1875)
- 1835Kārlis Baumanis, Latvian composer (d. 1905)
- 1838Walter Goodman, British painter, illustrator and author (d. 1912)
- 1852Charles W. Fairbanks, 26th United States Vice President (d. 1918)
- 1854Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (d. 1932)
- 1861Frederick Russell Burnham, American inspiration and “father” of the international scouting movement (d. 1947)
- 1870Otto von Friesen, Swedish runologist and linguist (d. 1942)
- 1871Frank Schlesinger, American astronomer (d. 1943)
- 1881Al Cabrera, Spanish-born Cuban baseball player (d. 1964)
- 1881Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1944)
- 1881Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian physicist (d. 1963)
- 1888Irving Berlin, American composer (d. 1989)
- 1888Willis A. Lee, World War II U.S. naval admiral (d. 1945)
- 1890Woodall Rodgers, mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1961)
- 1892Margaret Rutherford, English actress (d. 1972)
- 1894Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1991)
- 1895William Grant Still, American composer (d. 1978)
- 1896Josip Štolcer-Slavenski Croatian composer (d. 1955)
- 1897Kurt Gerron, German director (d. 1944)
- 1897Robert E. Gross, American businessman (d. 1961)
- 1899Paulino Masip, Spanish playwright (d. 1963)
- 1903Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1904Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter (d. 1989)
- 1907Rip Sewell, American baseball player (d. 1989)
- 1907Rose Ausländer, German poet (d. 1988)
- 1909Ellis R. Dungan, American born Indian film director (d. 2001)
- 1909Herbert Murrill, English composer (d. 1952)
- 1911Mitchell Sharp, Canadian politician (d. 2004)
- 1911Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian (d. 1985)
- 1912Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (d. 2001)
- 1913Robert Jungk, Austrian publicist (d. 1994)
- 1914Haroun Tazieff, French volcanologist (d. 1998)
- 1916Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 2002)
- 1918Richard Feynman, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
- 1921Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
- 1922Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
- 1922Nestor Chylak, American baseball umpire (d. 1992)
- 1924Antony Hewish, English radio astronomer, Nobel laureate
- 1924Eugene Dynkin, Russian mathematician
- 1925Edward J. King, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
- 1927Bernard Fox, English actor
- 1927Gene Savoy, American author, explorer, scholar and cleric (d. 2007)
- 1927Mort Sahl, Canadian comedian and political commentator
- 1928Brother Andrew, Dutch missionary
- 1928Marco Ferreri, Italian film director and screenwriter (d. 1997)
- 1928Yaacov Agam, Israeli sculptor
- 1930Bud Ekins, American stuntman (d. 2007)
- 1930Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (d. 2002)
- 1932Valentino Garavani (Valentino), Italian designer
- 1933Louis Farrakhan, American Nation of Islam leader
- 1934Jim Jeffords, former American politician
- 1935Doug McClure, American actor (d. 1995)
- 1935Francisco Umbral, Spanish novelist (d. 2007)
- 1936Carla Bley, American musician and composer
- 1939Carlos Lyra, Brazilian musician
- 1939Dante Tinga, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
- 1940Juan Downey, Chilean video artist (d. 1993)
- 1941Eric Burdon, British singer (The Animals)
- 1941Graham Miles, English snooker player
- 1942Rachel Billington, British author
- 1943Juliet Harmer, English actress
- 1943Nancy Greene, Canadian alpine skier
- 1946Plume Latraverse, Quebec singer and musician
- 1946Robert Jarvik, American physician and inventor
- 1947Butch Trucks, American drummer (The Allman Brothers Band)
- 1948Nirj Deva, Sri Lankan-British politician
- 1948Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese folk musician
- 1950Dane Iorg, American baseball player
- 1950Jeremy Paxman, British journalist and author
- 1951Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta, Canada
- 1952Frances Fisher, English-born actress
- 1952Mike Lupica, American sports journalist
- 1952Renaud, French composer
- 1952Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iranian actress
- 1952Warren Littlefield, American television executive
- 1953Céline Lomez, Quebec singer and actress
- 1953David Gest, American television producer
- 1954John Gregory, English football manager
- 1954Lubomir Stoykov, Bulgarian journalist and broadcaster
- 1955John DeStefano, Jr., American politician
- 1956Alex Lester, British broadcaster
- 1956Theresa Burke, Canadian journalist
- 1957Peter North, Canadian pornographic actor
- 1958Christian Brando, American actor; son of Marlon Brando (d. 2008)
- 1958Dan Ireland, American film director
- 1958Phil Smyth, Australian basketball player
- 1958Walt Terrell, American baseball player
- 1959Martha Quinn, American television personality
- 1961Luis Felipe, Cuban gangster
- 1963Gunilla Carlsson, Swedish politician
- 1963Masatoshi Hamada, Japanese comedian
- 1963Natasha Richardson, English/American actress (d. 2009)
- 1963Roark Critchlow, Canadian actor
- 1964Bobby Witt, American baseball player
- 1964Floyd Youmans, American baseball player
- 1964John Parrott, English snooker player
- 1964Katie Wagner, American television reporter
- 1964Tim Blake Nelson, American actor
- 1965Greg Dulli, American musician
- 1965Monsour del Rosario, Filipino martial artist and actor
- 1965Stefano Domenicali, Italian Formula One team principal (Ferrari)
- 1966Christoph Schneider, German drummer (Rammstein)
- 1968Jeffrey Donovan, American actor
- 1970Glenn Hugill, British television presenter and producer
- 1970Harold Ford Jr., Political commentator and former U.S. Congressman
- 1970Nicky Katt, American actor
- 1972Anita Hegh, Australian actress
- 1972Daniel Ornellas, Zimbabwean musician
- 1974Benoît Magimel, French actor
- 1974Billy Kidman, American professional wrestler
- 1974Darren Ward, Welsh footballer
- 1974Kevin Brown, English-born Canadian ice hockey player
- 1974Stanley Gene, Papua New Guinean rugby league footballer
- 1975Coby Bell, American actor
- 1975Francisco Cordero, Dominican baseball player
- 1977Gonzalo Colsa, Spanish footballer
- 1977Janne Ahonen, Finnish ski jumper
- 1977Pablo García, Uruguayan footballer
- 1977Victor Matfield, South African rugby union footballer
- 1978Laetitia Casta, French supermodel and actress
- 1978Perttu Kivilaakso, Finnish cellist (Apocalyptica)
- 1979Erin Lang, Canadian musician
- 1981Austin O'Brien, American actor
- 1981Daniel Ortmeier, American baseball player
- 1981Dusán Mukics, Slovene journalist and reporter in Hungary
- 1981Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
- 1982Andrew Walter, American football player
- 1982Cory Monteith, Canadian actor
- 1982Guji Lorenzana, Filipino singer and actor
- 1982Jonathan Jackson, American actor
- 1983Daizee Haze, American professional wrestler
- 1983Frédéric Xhonneux, Belgian decathlete
- 1983Hanna Verboom, Dutch actress
- 1983Holly Valance, Australian-born actress and singer
- 1983Matt Leinart, American football player
- 1984Andrés Iniesta, Spanish football player
- 1984Gerald Clayton, Dutch/American jazz pianist
- 1984John Bowie, American football player
- 1985Matt Giraud, American singer
- 1985sifow, Japanese singer and businesswoman
- 1986Abou Diaby, French footballer
- 1986Manuel Schenkhuizen, Dutch gamer
- 1986Miguel Veloso, Portuguese footballer
- 1986Ronny Heberson Furtado de Araújo, Brazilian footballer
- 1987Justin King, American football player
- 1987Louis Murphy, American football player
- 1987Monica Roşu, Romanian gymnast
- 1988Ace Hood, American rapper
- 1988Brad Marchand, Canadian-born hockey player
- 1988Jeremy Maclin, American football player
- 1989Cam Newton, American football player
- 1989Gianluigi Bianco, Italian footballer
- 1989Giovani dos Santos, Mexican footballer
- 1990Daniel Jason Torres, American politician
- 1994David Alvarez, Canadian dancer and actor
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Who Died On May 11?
- 912Leo VI, Byzantine Emperor (b. 866)
- 1304Mahmud Ghazan, Mongol ruler (b. 1271)
- 1610Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit missionary (b. 1552)
- 1672Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline, Scottish royalist (b. 1615)
- 1708Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (b. 1646)
- 1723Jean Galbert de Campistron, French dramatist (b. 1656)
- 1760Alaungpaya, Founder of Konbaung Dynasty of Burma (b. 1714)
- 1777George Pigot, Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (b. 1719)
- 1778William Pitt, the Elder, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708)
- 1779John Hart, delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (b. 1711)
- 1812Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1762)
- 1848Tom Cribb, English boxer (b. 1781)
- 1849Juliette Récamier, French socialite (b. 1777)
- 1871John Herschel, British mathematician and astronomer (b. 1792)
- 1887Jean Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist (b. 1802)
- 1891A. E. Becquerel, French physicist (b. 1820)
- 1916Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer and physicist (b. 1873)
- 1916Max Reger, German composer (b. 1873)
- 1920William Dean Howells, American writer (b. 1837)
- 1927Juan Gris, Spanish cubist artist (b. 1887)
- 1929Jozef Murgaš, Slovak inventor (b. 1864)
- 1934Blaise Diagne, Sengalese politician (b. 1872)
- 1934Orest Khvolson, Russian physicist (b. 1852)
- 1939Evgenii Miller, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1867)
- 1940Chujiro Hayashi, Japanese Reiki Master (b. 1880)
- 1955Gilbert Laird Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
- 1960John D. Rockefeller, Jr., American philanthropist (b. 1874)
- 1963Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1888)
- 1966Alfred Wintle, British WW1 & WW2 soldier; author of “The Last Englishman” (b. 1897)
- 1970Johnny Hodges, American musician (b. 1906)
- 1973Lex Barker, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1976Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (b. 1898)
- 1979Lester Flatt, American bluegrass musician (b. 1914)
- 1981Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (b. 1945)
- 1981Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1897)
- 1985Chester Gould, American cartoonist (b. 1900)
- 1986Fritz Pollard, American football player (b. 1894)
- 1986Henry P. McIlhenny, American philanthropist (b. 1910)
- 1988Kim Philby, British spy (b. 1912)
- 1990Stratos Dionysiou, Greek singer (b. 1935)
- 1994Timothy Carey, American actor (b. 1928)
- 1996Ademir Marques de Menezes, Brazilian footballer (b. 1922)
- 1996Nnamdi Azikiwe, President of Nigeria (b. 1904)
- 1998Oreste Kirkop, Maltese tenor and actor (b. 1923)
- 1999Giorgos Kappis, Greek actor (b. 1929)
- 2000Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (b. 1907)
- 2000René Muñoz, Cuban actor, screenwriter of telenovelas (b. 1938)
- 2001Douglas Adams, English author (b. 1952)
- 2002Renaude Lapointe, French Canadian journalist and senator (b. 1912)
- 2003Noel Redding, English bassist (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (b. 1945)
- 2004John Whitehead, American singer (McFadden & Whitehead) (b. 1949)
- 2004Mick Doyle, Irish rugby union footballer and coach (b. 1941)
- 2005Michalis Genitsaris, Greek rebetiko singer and composer (b. 1917)
- 2006Floyd Patterson, American boxer (b. 1935)
- 2006Frankie Thomas, American actor (b. 1921)
- 2006Yossi Banai, Israeli singer (b. 1932)
- 2007Bernard Gordon, blacklisted American screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
- 2007Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan Head of State (O le Ao o le Malo) (b. 1913)
- 2008Bruno Neves, Portuguese cyclist (b. 1981)
- 2008Dottie Rambo, American gospel singer (b. 1934)
- 2008John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (Rush) (b. 1953)
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