May 10: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). There are 235 days remaining.

Events

• 1291 - Scottish nobles recognize the authority of King Edward I of England.
• 1497 - Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
• 1503 - Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles there.
• 1534 - Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.
• 1768 - John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for the North Briton severely criticizing King George III. This action provokes rioting in London.
• 1774 - Louis XVI becomes King of France.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Fort Ticonderoga is taken by a small force led by Colonel Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Representatives from the 13 colonies of the United States meet in Philadelphia and raise the Continental Army to defend the new republic. They place it under command of Cavalier George Washington of Virginia.
• 1796 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France wins a decisive victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the River Adda in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
• 1801 - First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States.
• 1837 - Panic of 1837: New York City banks fail, and unemployment reaches record levels.
• 1857 - Indian Mutiny: In India, the Sepoys revolt against the British Army.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill in Kentucky, who lingers until his death on June 6.
• 1869 - The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah).
• 1872 - Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
• 1877 - Romania declares itself independent from Turkey, recognized on March 26, 1881 after the end of the Romanian independence war.
• 1908 - Mother's Day is observed for the first time (Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, USA).
• 1924 - J. Edgar Hoover is appointed the Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and remains so until his death in 1972.
• 1933 - Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
• 1940 - World War II: The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent.
• 1940 - World War II: Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
• 1940 - World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1941 - World War II: The House of Commons in London is destroyed by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
• 1941 - World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland in order to try and negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.
• 1954 - Bill Haley and the Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the charts.
• 1960 - The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.
• 1969 - The first "Zip to Zap" rural outdoor rock concert at Zap, North Dakota, is ended prematurely as North Dakota National Guard is ordered to disperse the unruly crowd.
• 1979 - The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
• 1981 - François Mitterrand takes office as the first Socialist President of France.
• 1988 - Michel Rocard becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1993 - In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills 188 workers, mostly young women.
• 1994 - The U.S. state of Illinois executes serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murder of 33 young men and boys.
• 1994 - An annular eclipse of the sun is visible across much of North America.
• 1996 - A "rogue storm" near the summit of Mount Everest kills eight climbers, making this the deadliest day in the mountain's history. Among the dead are experienced climbers Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, both of whom were leading paid expeditions to the summit.
• 1997 - An earthquake near Ardekul in northeastern Iran kills at least 2,400 people.
• 1998 - National elections are held in Hungary.
• 2001 - In Ghana, a stampede at a football game kills over 120 spectators.
• 2002 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is given a life sentence without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
• 2002 - Lynda Lyon Block is executed in Yellow Mama, the electric chair of Alabama.
• 2003 - Record shattering tornado activity during the May 2003 Tornado Outbreaks.
• 2005 - A live hand grenade lands about 100 feet from United States President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but malfunctions and does not detonate. Vladimir Arutinian later admits throwing the grenade.

• 1265 - Emperor Fushimi of Japan (d. 1317)
• 1604 - Jean Mairet, French dramatist (d. 1686)
• 1641 - Dudley North, English economist (d. 1691)
• 1727 - Anne Robert Turgot, French statesman (d. 1781)
• 1760 - Johann Peter Hebel, German poet (d. 1826)
• 1770 - Louis Nicolas Davout, French marshal (d. 1823)
• 1788 - Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist (d. 1827)
• 1838 - John Wilkes Booth, American actor and assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
• 1841 - James Gordon Bennett Jr., American publisher (d. 1918)
• 1866 - Léon Bakst, Russian artist (d. 1924)
• 1872 - Marcel Mauss, French sociologist (d. 1950)
• 1878 - Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1929)
• 1886 - Karl Barth, Swiss Protestant theologian (d. 1968)
• 1886 - Felix Manalo, first Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo (d. 1963)
• 1888 - Max Steiner, Austrian composer (d. 1971)
• 1889 - Mae Murray, American actress (d. 1965)
• 1890 - Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
• 1897 - Einar Gerhardsen, Prime minister of Norway (d. 1987)
• 1899 - Fred Astaire, American singer, dancer, and actor (d. 1987)
• 1899 - Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-born composer (d. 1979)
• 1902 - Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-born film director (d. 1974)
• 1902 - David O. Selznick, American film producer (d. 1965)
• 1909 - Maybelle Carter, American musician
• 1916 - Milton Babbitt, American composer
• 1927 - Nayantara Sahgal, Indian author
• 1928 - Arnold Rüütel, Estonian president
• 1930 - Pat Summerall, American football player and broadcaster
• 1933 - Barbara Taylor Bradford, English writer
• 1934 - Cliff Wilson, Welsh snooker player (d. 1994)
• 1936 - Gary Owens, American actor and announcer
• 1944 - Jim Abrahams, American film director
• 1946 - Donovan, Scottish musician
• 1946 - Dave Mason, English musician (Traffic)
• 1953 - John Diamond, British journalist (d. 2001)
• 1955 - Chris Berman, American sportscaster
• 1955 - Mark David Chapman, American assassin of John Lennon
• 1955 - Ashoka Jahnavi-Prasad, scientist
• 1956 - Vladislav Listyev, Russian television anchor and journalist
• 1957 - Sid Vicious, English bassist (The Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)
• 1958 - Rick Santorum, U.S. Senator
• 1960 - Bono, Irish singer ( U2)
• 1965 - Linda Evangelista, Canadian model
• 1966 - Jonathan Edwards, British athlete
• 1967 - Scott Brison, Canadian politican
• 1969 - Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer
• 1970 - David Weir, Scottish footballer
• 1971 - Ådne Søndrål, Norwegian speed skater
• 1972 - Radosław Majdan, Polish footballer
• 1975 - Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
• 1977 - Nick Heidfeld, German Formula 1 driver
• 1980 - Jørgen Scharling Rasmussen, Danish singer and cartoonist

• 1290 - Duke Rudolph II of Austria (b. 1271)
• 1424 - Go-Kameyama, Emperor of Japan
• 1482 - Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1397)
• 1493 - Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician
• 1521 - Sebastian Brant, Alsatian humanist (b. 1457)
• 1566 - Leonhart Fuchs, German botanist (b. 1501)
• 1641 - Johan Banér, Swedish soldier (b. 1596)
• 1657 - Gustaf Horn, Swedish soldier and politician (b. 1592)
• 1691 - Colonel John Birch, English soldier (b. 1615)
• 1696 - Jean de La Bruyère, French writer (b. 1645)
• 1717 - John Hathorne, American magistrate (b. 1641)
• 1726 - Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier (b. 1670)
• 1733 - Barton Booth, English actor (b. 1681)
• 1737 - Nakamikado Emperor of Japan (b. 1702)
• 1774 - King Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
• 1787 - William Watson, English physician and scientist (b. 1715)
• 1792 - John Stevens, American delegate to the Continental Congress
• 1807 - Comte de Rochambeau, French soldier (b. 1725)
• 1818 - Paul Revere, American patriot (b. 1735)
• 1829 - Thomas Young, English physician and linguist (b. 1773)
• 1850 - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist (b. 1778)
• 1863 - Stonewall Jackson, American Confederate general (b. 1824)
• 1889 - Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian satirist (b. 1826)
• 1897 - Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino revolutionary leader (b. 1863)
• 1950 - Belle da Costa Greene, librarian, bibliographer, archivist (b. 1883)
• 1955 - Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer (b. 1881)
• 1960 - Yury Olesha, Russian novelist (b. 1899)
• 1977 - Joan Crawford, American actress (b. 1905)
• 1988 - Shen Congwen, Chinese writer (b. 1902)
• 1990 - Walker Percy, American author (b. 1916)
• 1994 - John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (executed) (b. 1942)
• 1999 - Shel Silverstein, American poet and composer (b. 1930)
• 2003 - Milan Vukcevich, Yugoslavian chemist and chess problem composer (b. 1937)
• 2005 - David Wayne, American singer (Metal Church) (b. 1958)

• Feast Day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
  • Solange
  • Saint Alphius
  • Saint Aurelian
  • Saint William of Pontoise
  • Saint Calepodius
  • Saint Cataldus
  • Saint Comgall
  • Saint Dioscorides
  • Saint Epimachus
  • Gordianus
  • Isidore the Laborer
  • Saint John of Avila
  • Saint Quaratus and Quintus
  • Saint Peter Van
• Memorial Day of Blessed Damien of Moloka'i in Christianity
• Celebration of the Clandestine Retreat of Ma'at and Re in Ancient Egypt
• Confederate Memorial Day in North Carolina and South Carolina
• Constitution Day in the Federated States of Micronesia
• Inauguration Day in South Africa
• Sita Pujan in Hinduism
• Tin Han's Day in China
• Start of Tori no Mawari/Bird Week in Japan
• Mania (mythology) in Ancient Rome
• Dia de la Madre in Mexico
• Mother's Day - 1987, 1998, 2009
• Yom Ha'atzma'ut in Judaism - 2000
• Lag Ba'omer in Judaism - 2012

May 9 - May 11 - April 10 - June 10 – listing of all days