May 21: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

May 21 is the 141st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (142nd in leap years). There are 224 days remaining.

Events

• 996 - Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1502 - The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova.
• 1674 - John Sobieski is elected by the nobility to be the King of Poland.
• 1725 - The Order of Alexander Nevsky was instituted in Russia by an empress Catherine I.
• 1758 - Mary Campbell is abducted from her home in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War.
• 1856 - Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Port Hudson – Union forces begin to lay siege to the Confederate-controlled Port Hudson, Louisiana.
• 1871 - French Government troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of "Bloody Week" some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.
• 1879 - War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique, Chile, battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.
• 1881 - The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.
• 1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal in England is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.
• 1894 - 22-year-old French Anarchist Emile Henry is executed by guillotine.
• 1904 - Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) founded in Paris.
• 1924 - University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing."
• 1927 - Charles Lindbergh touchs down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1932 - Amelia Earhart, because of bad weather, lands in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1934 - Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint each of its citizens.
• 1936 - Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her hand. Her story soon became one of Japan's most notorious scandals.
• 1941 - World War II: 950 miles off the coast of Brazil, the freighter SS Robin Moor becomes the first United States ship sunk by a German U-boat.
• 1945 - American screen legend Humphrey Bogart marries actress Lauren Bacall.
• 1956 - Nuclear testing: In the Pacific Ocean, Bikini Atoll is nearly obliterated by the first airborne explosion of a hydrogen bomb.
• 1958 - United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December, Subscriber Trunk Dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area.
• 1961 - American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
• 1966 - Cassius Clay beat Henry Cooper in the sixth round at Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, north London.
• 1979 - White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
• 1980 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back opens in theaters.
• 1981 - Pierre Mauroy becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1991 - Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.
• 1998 - At Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, Kipland Kinkel, suspended for bringing a gun to school, shoots a semi-automatic rifle into a room filled with students, killing 2 wounding 25 others after killing his parents at home.
• 1998 - Reproductive rights: In Miami, Florida, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker.
• 2000 - A chartered British Aerospace Jetstream 31 crashes near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, killing 19.
• 2003 - An earthquake hits northern Algeria, killing more than 2,000 people.
• 2004 - Sherpa Pemba Dorje climbs Mount Everest in 8 hours 10 minutes, breaking his rival Sherpa Lakpa Gelu's record from the previous year.
• 2004 - Stanislav Petrov is awarded the World Citizen Award for averting a potential World War III in 1983
• 2005 - In Kiev, Ukraine, Greece wins the fiftieth Eurovision Song Contest with "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou.

• 427 BC - Plato, Greek philosopher (d. 347 BC)
• 1471 - Albrecht Dürer, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1528)
• 1526 - King Philip II of Spain (d. 1598)
• 1664 - Giulio Alberoni, Italian cardinal and statesman (d. 1754)
• 1688 - Alexander Pope, English poet (d. 1744)
• 1763 - Joseph Fouché, French statesman (d. 1820)
• 1780 - Elizabeth Fry, British social reformer and philanthropist (d. 1845)
• 1792 - Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, French scientist (d. 1843)
• 1843 - Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1914)
• 1844 - Henri Rousseau, French artist (d. 1910)
• 1850 - Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (d. 1914)
• 1851 - Léon Bourgeois, French statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1925)
• 1853 - Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, French politician (d. 1905)
• 1860 - Willem Einthoven, Dutch inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1927)
• 1863 - Eugen, Archduke of Austria, Austrian field marshal (d. 1954)
• 1873 - Hans Berger, German neuroscientist (d. 1941)
• 1898 - Armand Hammer, American physician, entrepreneur, oil magnate, and art collector (d. 1990)
• 1901 - Horace Heidt, American band leader (d. 1986)
• 1901 - Sam Jaffe, American film producer (d. 2000)
• 1902 - Earl Averill, baseball player (d. 1983)
• 1902 - Marcel Lajos Breuer, Hungarian-born architect (d. 1981)
• 1903 - Manly Wade Wellman, American author (d. 1986)
• 1904 - Robert Montgomery, American actor (d. 1981)
• 1904 - Fats Waller, American pianist (d. 1943)
• 1912 - Monty Stratton, baseball player (d. 1982)
• 1916 - Tinus Osendarp, Dutch runner (d. 2002)
• 1916 - Harold Robbins, American novelist (d. 1997)
• 1917 - Raymond Burr, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1921 - Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (declined) (d. 1989)
• 1923 - Armand Borel, Swiss mathematician (d. 2003)
• 1923 - Ara Parseghian, American football coach
• 1929 - Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist
• 1930 - Malcolm Fraser, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia
• 1933 - Maurice André, French trumpeter
• 1934 - Bengt I. Samuelsson, Swedish biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1936 - Günter Blobel, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1939 - Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist and composer
• 1941 - Martin Carthy, English singer and guitarist
• 1944 - Mary Robinson, President of Ireland
• 1945 - Ernst Messerschmid, German physicist and astronaut
• 1948 - Leo Sayer, English pop singer & musician
• 1951 - Al Franken, American comedian and author
• 1952 - Mr. T, American actor
• 1955 - Paul Barber, British field hockey player
• 1955 - Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter and producer
• 1956 - Judge Reinhold, American actor
• 1957 - Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress
• 1967 - Chris Benoit, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1967 - Lisa Edelstein, American actress
• 1972 - The Notorious B.I.G., American musician (d. 1997)
• 1972 - Alesha Oreskovich, American model
• 1977 - Quinton Fortune, South African footballer
• 1977 - Ricky Williams, American football player
• 1978 - Briana Banks, German-American actress
• 1980 - Raab Himself, American actor
• 1981 - Belladonna, American actress
• 1981 - Max, German singer
• 1987 - Ashlie Brillault, American actress

• 987 - King Louis V of France
• 1254 - Conrad IV of Germany (b. 1228)
• 1481 - King Christian I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (b. 1426)
• 1512 - Pandolfo Petrucci, ruler of Siena
• 1524 - Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier and statesman
• 1542 - Hernando de Soto, Spanish explorer
• 1607 - John Rainolds, English scholar and Bible translator (b. 1549)
• 1639 - Tommaso Campanella, Italian theologian, philosopher, and poet (b. 1568)
• 1647 - Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch poet and historian (b. 1581)
• 1650 - James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, Scottish royalist (b. 1612)
• 1664 - Elizabeth Poole, Puritan businesswoman
• 1670 - Niccolo Zucchi, Italian astronomer and physicist (b. 1586)
• 1690 - John Eliot, English Puritan missionary (b. 1604)
• 1724 - Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, English statesman (b. 1661)
• 1742 - Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (b. 1664)
• 1771 - Christopher Smart, English poet (b. 1722)
• 1786 - Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist (b. 1742)
• 1790 - Thomas Warton, English poet (b. 1728)
• 1844 - Giuseppe Baini, Italian composer (b. 1775)
• 1894 - Emile Henry, French anarchist (b. 1872)
• 1894 - August Kundt, German physicist (b. 1839)
• 1895 - Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer (b. 1819)
• 1897 - Arturo Prat, Chilean naval officer (b. 1898)
• 1911 - Williamina Fleming, Scottish-born astronomer (b. 1857)
• 1929 - Archibald Primrose, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1847)
• 1935 - Jane Addams, American social worker, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1860)
• 1952 - John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)
• 1964 - James Franck, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
• 1965 - Geoffrey de Havilland, British aircraft designer (b. 1882)
• 1970 - E. L. Grant Watson, Australian author and biologist (b. 1885)
• 1988 - Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (b. 1900)
• 1991 - Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (b. 1944)
• 1996 - Lash LaRue, American actor (b. 1917)
• 1999 - Karnail Pitts, also known as Bugz, rapper for D12 (b. 1979)
• 2000 - Barbara Cartland, English author (b. 1901)
• 2000 - Sir John Gielgud, British actor (b. 1904)
• 2002 - Niki de Saint Phalle, French artist (b. 1930)
• 2003 - Frank D. White, Governor of Arkansas (b. 1933)

• Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
  • Thibaut
  • Gisela
  • Godric of Finchale
  • Hospitus
  • Maurelius
• Namibia - Casinga Day
• Navy Day in Chile
• Armed Forces Day in the United States (2005), third Saturday in May
• Astrology: First day of sun sign Gemini in New World
• Astrology: Last day of sun sign Taurus in Old World

May 20 - May 22 - April 21 - June 21 – listing of all days