History of 16 May
1910 – The U.S. Bureau of Mines was authorized by the U.S. Congress.
1914 – The American Horseshoe Pitchers Association (AHPA) was formed in Kansas City, Kansas.
1920 – Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome.
1929 – The first Academy Awards were held in Hollywood.
1939 – The Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland Indians met at Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the first baseball game to be played under the lights in the American League.
1946 – “Annie Get Your Gun” opened on Broadway.
1946 – Jack Mullin showed the world the first magnetic tape recorder.
1948 – The body of CBS News correspondent George Polk was found in Salonika Bay in Greece. It had been a week after he’d disappeared.
1960 – A Big Four summit in Paris collapsed due to the American U-2 spy plane incident.
1960 – Theodore Maiman, at Hughes Research Laboratory in California, demonstrated the first working laser.
1963 – After 22 Earth orbits, Gordon Cooper returned to Earth, ending Project Mercury.
1965 – Spaghetti-O’s were sold for the first time.
1969 – Venus 5, a Russian spacecraft, landed on the planet Venus.
1971 – U.S. postage for a one-ounce first-class stamp was increased from 6 to 8 cents.
1975 – Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
1977 – Five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling on top of the Pan Am Building in Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying.
1985 – Michael Jordan was named Rookie of the Year in the NBA.
1987 – The Bobro 400 set sail from New York Harbor with 3,200 tons of garbage. The barge traveled 6,000 miles in search of a place to dump its load. It returned to New York Harbor after 8 weeks with the same load.
1988 – A report released by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop declared that nicotine was addictive in similar was as heroin and cocaine.
1988 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police do not have to have a search warrant to search discarded garbage.
1991 – Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
1992 – The Endeavour space shuttle landed safely after its maiden voyage.
1996 – Admiral Jeremy “Mike” Boorda, the nation’s top Navy officer, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after some of his military awards were called into question.
1997 – In Zaire, President Mobutu Sese Seko gave control of the country to rebel forces ending 32 years of autocratic rule.
2000 – U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was nominated to run for U.S. Senator in New York. She was the first U.S. first lady to run for public office.
2003 – Adam Rich was placed on three years probation after he pled no contest to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and being under the influence of a controlled substance. He was also ordered to take part in a 60-day treatment program and pay about $1,200 in fines.
2005 – Sony Corp. unveiled three styles of its new PlayStation 3 video game machine.
2011 – STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.
2014 – Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Ricardo Costa, Portuguese footballer
- 1982 – Łukasz Kubot, a Polish tennis player
- 1983 – Daniel Kerr, Australian footballer
- 1983 – Kyle Wellwood, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Darío Cvitanich, the Argentinian footballer
- 1984 – Tomáš Fleischmann, Czech ice hockey player
- 1984 – Jensen Lewis, American baseball player
- 1984 – Rick Rypien, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2011)
- 1985 – Anja Mittag, German footballer
- 1985 – Rodrigo Peters Marques, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Corey Perry, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Megan Fox, American actress
- 1986 – Andy Keogh, Irish footballer
- 1986 – Shamcey Supsup, Filipino model and architect
- 1987 – Tom Onslow-Cole, English race car driver
- 1988 – Jesús Castillo, Mexican footballer
- 1988 – Martynas Gecevičius, Lithuanian basketball player
- 1988 – Jaak Põldma, an Estonian tennis player
- 1989 – Behati Prinsloo, Namibian model
- 1990 – Amanda Carreras, a Gibraltarian tennis player
- 1990 – Thomas Brodie-Sangster, English actor
- 1990 – Darko Šarović, Serbian sprinter
- 1990 – Omar Strong, American basketball player
- 1991 – Grigor Dimitrov, a Bulgarian tennis player
- 1991 – Joey Graceffa, American internet celebrity
- 1991 – Ashley Wagner, American figure skater
- 1992 – Jeff Skinner, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Kirstin Maldonado, American singer, and songwriter
- 1993 – Johannes Thingnes Bø, Norwegian biathlete
- 1993 – Karol Mets, Estonian footballer
- 1995 – Elizabeth Ralston, Australian footballer
- 1996 – Louisa Chirico, an American tennis player