On This Day In History

[Who Me]

May 6 1954 medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, in 3:59.4.

 

[Johannes Reifsteck]

May 7 0558, The dome of the church of St. Sophia in Constantinople collapses. Its immediate rebuilding is ordered by Justinian.

 

[Who Me]

May 8 1886 Coca-Cola is invented

 

[Johannes Reifsteck]

May 10 1285, Philip III of Spain is succeeded by Philip IV ("the Fair").

 

[Who Me]

May 10 1869 In the United States, the first coast to coast railroad is completed.

 

[Johannes Reifsteck]

May 10 1503, Christopher Columbus discovers the Cayman Islands.

 

[Who Me]

May 10 1652 John Johnson, a free African American, is granted 550 acres in Northampton, Virginia.

 

[Johannes Reifsteck]

May 12 254, St. Stephen I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.

 

[Who Me]

May 12 1941 The world's first programmable, fully automatic computer is presented.

 

[Johannes Reifsteck]

May 13 1779, The War of Bavarian Succession ends.

 

[Who Me]

May 13 1861 The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.

 

[Johannes Reifsteck]

May 17 1630, Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi sees the belts on Jupiter's surface. ugh, I still can't believe a Jesuit found the rings on Saturn, such a disappointment.

 

[Who Me]

May 17 1883 Buffalo Bill's 1st Wild West show opens in Omaha, Nebraska.

 

[Johannes Reifsteck]

May 17 1792, Merchants form the New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street.

 

[Who Me]

May 18 1980 Mount St. Helens erupts.

 

[Johannes Reifsteck]

may 18 1643, Queen Anne, the widow of Louis XIII, is granted sole and absolute power as regent by the Paris parliament, overriding the late king's will.

 

[Who Me]

May 18 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte is appointed Emperor of the French.

 

[Johannes Reifsteck]

May 18 1802, Britain declares war on France.

 

[Who Me]

May 19 1935 T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia dies.

 

[Johannes Reifsteck]

May 20 1674, John Sobieski becomes Poland's first king.