May 7

May 7 is the 127th day of the year (128th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 238 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately orders the dome rebuilt.
973 – Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor takes sole charge of the Holy Roman Empire after the death of his father and co–Emperor Otto I.
1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
1429 – Joan of Arc leads a French attack on English bridgeheads on the south side of the Loire River.
1487 – Siege of Malaga during the Spanish Reconquista.
1664 – The Palace of Versailles is inaugurated by Louis XIV of France.
1697 – Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed in a huge fire (in the 18th century, it is replaced with the current Royal Palace).
1718 – City of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste le Moyne de Bienville.
1763 – Indian Wars: Pontiac's Rebellion begins – Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.
1824 – Ludwig van Beethoven, completely deaf, conducts the debut of his Ninth Symphony in Vienna.
1832 – Greece was recognised independent by the Treaty of London. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.
1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi, killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.
1847 – In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.
1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
1864 – The world's oldest–surviving clipper ship, City of Adelaide, is launched by William Pile in Sunderland, Northeast England.
1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates an invention which became the prototype of radio. In the former Soviet Union this day was celebrated as Day of Radio.
1896 – H. H. Holmes is hanged in Philadelphia.

1901 – 2000

1915 – World War I: a German U-boat sinks the RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people.
1920 – Polish-Bolshevik War: Polish–Ukrainian troops captured Kyiv during the Kiev Offensive.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion arrive in Spain with Heinkel He 51 biplanes to assist Franco's forces.
1940 – The Norway Debate begins in the British House of Commons. It eventually results in Winston Churchill replacing Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document will take effect the next day.
1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with about 20 employees.
1947 – Kraft Television Theater debuts, running for the next 11 years.
1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.
1952 – The concept for the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.
1954 – First Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis – Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.
1964 – Pacific Air Lines flight 773, a Fairchild F–27 airliner crashes near San Ramon, California, killing 44. The pilot and co–pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.
1974 – Willy Brandt resigns as Chancellor of Germany.
1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb to the top of the Seven Summits.
1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203–year–old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid–term pay rise.
1992 – Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its maiden voyage.
1992 – Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first fast–food murder in Canada.
1994 – The Scream by Edvard Munch is recovered after it was stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in Oslo, in February.
1995 – Jacques Chirac is elected President of France.
1998 – Apple Computer unveils the iMac.
1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope that had visited a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
1999 – A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same–sex crush episode. Schmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure's family US$25 million.
1999 – Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 wounded when a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) aircraft mistakenly bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
2000 – Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russia.

From 2001

2001 – Wanted train robber Ronnie Biggs returns to the UK after spending over 30 years on the run in Brazil.
2002 – A China Southern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea killing 112 people.
2007 – The tomb of King Herod the Great, who is mentioned in the Bible, is discovered.
2008 – Dmitry Medvedev becomes President of Russia, with Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister.
2010 – Scientists working on the Neanderthal Genome Project announce that modern humans and Neanderthals could have interbred.
2012 – Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russia for a second time, swapping places with Dmitry Medvedev, who becomes Prime Minister.
2012 – Victor Ponta is elected Prime Minister of Romania.
2013 – 27 people are killed and over 30 are injured when a tanker truck explodes outside Mexico City.
2014 – Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra is removed from office for abuse of power.
2015 – The United Kingdom general election, 2015 is held. The Conservative Party of incumbent Prime Minister David Cameron wins a surprise overall majority, with the Labour Party losing seats across England, Scotland and Wales. The Scottish National Party wins all but three seats in Scotland.
2016 – Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party becomes Mayor of London, after defeating Conservative Zac Goldsmith in the election. He is the first Muslim Mayor of a major Western city.
2017 – Emmanuel Macron is elected President of France, defeating Marine Le Pen in the run–off.

Births

Up to 1800

1328 – Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1365)
1530 – Louis, Prince de Condé, French general (d. 1569)
1605 – Patriarch Nikon of the Russian Orthodox Church (d. 1681)
1643 – Stephanus Van Cortlandt, American politician (d. 1700)
1704 – Carl Heinrich Graun, German composer and tenor (d. 1759)
1711 – David Hume, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1776)
1724 – Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, Austrian general (d. 1797)
1740 – Nikolai Arkharov, Russian general (d. 1814)
1748 – Olympe de Gouges, French playwright and feminist revolutionary (d. 1793)
1763 – Jozef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince (d. 1813)
1767 – Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia (d. 1820)
1787 – Jacques Viger, 1st Mayor of Chicago (d. 1858)

1801 – 1900

1812 – Robert Browning, English poet (d. 1889)
1819 – Otto Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer (d. 1905)
1826 – Varina Davis, First Lady of the Confederate States of America (d. 1906)
1833 – Johannes Brahms, German composer (d. 1897)
1836 – Joseph Gurney Cannon, American politician (d. 1926)
1837 – Karl Mauch, German geographer and explorer (d. 1875)
1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (d. 1893)
1841 – Gustave Le Bon, French psychologist (d. 1931)
1847 – Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, British Prime Minister (d. 1929)
1857 – William A. MacCorkle, 9th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1930)
1861 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian poet and writer of the Bengali language (d. 1941)
1867 – Wladyslaw Reymont, Polish writer (d. 1925)
1875 – William Hoyt, American athlete (d. 1954)
1882 – Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (d. 1960)
1891 – Harry McShane, Scottish engineer and activist (d. 1988)
1892 – Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (d. 1980)
1892 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet and politician (d. 1982)
1893 – Frank J. Selke, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 1985)

1901 – 1950

1901 – Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961)
1901 – Marcel Poot, Belgian composer (d. 1988)
1905 – Bumble Bee Slim, American musician (d. 1968)
1908 – Max Grundig, German businessman (d. 1989)
1909 – Edwin H. Land, American inventor (d. 1991)
1911 – Ishiro Honda, Japanese movie director (d. 1993)
1913 – Simon Ramo, American physicist (d. 2016)
1914 – Arthur Snelling, English diplomat (d. 1996)
1917 – Domenico Bartolucci, Italian cardinal (d. 2013)
1919 – Joe Mitty, British philanthropist (d. 2007)
1919 – Eva Perón, First Lady of Argentina (d. 1952)
1921 – Gaston Rebuffat, French mountaineer (d. 1985)
1923 – Anne Baxter, American writer and actress (d. 1985)
1923 – Bülend Ulusu, 18th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2015)
1924 – Albert Band, French–American director and producer (d. 2002)
1924 – Marjorie Boulton, British author and poet (d. 2017)
1925 – Lauri Vaska, Estonian–American chemist and academic (d. 2015)
1926 – Val Bisoglio, American actor
1927 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German screenwriter (d. 2013)
1928 – John Ingle, American actor (d. 2012)
1931 – Teresa Brewer, American singer (d. 2007)
1932 – Jordi Bonet, Canadian–Catalan painter, muralist and sculptor (d. 1979)
1932 – Pete Domenici, American politician (d. 2017)
1933 – Nexhmije Pagarusha, Kosovar singer and actress
1935 – Avraham Heffner, Israeli television and movie director, producer and writer (d. 2014)
1936 – Tony O'Reilly, Irish billionaire
1936 – Jimmy Ruffin, American singer (d. 2014)
1939 – Sidney Altman, Canadian molecular biologist
1939 – Ruud Lubbers, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2018)
1939 – Ruggero Deodato, Italian director, actor and screenwriter
1939 – Volker Braun, German writer
1940 – Angela Carter, English novelist and journalist (d. 1992)
1943 – Peter Carey, Australian writer
1944 – Richard O'Sullivan, English actor
1945 – Christy Moore, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – Robin Strasser, American actress
1946 – Thelma Houston, American singer-songwriter and actress
1946 – Michael Rosen, English poet and writer
1946 – Bill Kreutzmann, American drummer (The Grateful Dead)
1947 – Gary Herbert, American politician
1947 – Antonio de la Cruz, Spanish footballer
1947 – Numa Sadoul, French writer
1948 – Susan Atkins, American murderer (d. 2009)
1950 – Tim Russert, American broadcast journalist (d. 2008)
1950 – Mark Warawa, Canadian politician (d. 2019)

1951 – 1975

1951 – Robert Hegyes, American actor (d. 2012)
1956 – Jan Peter Balkenende, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1956 – Nicholas Hytner, English director and producer
1958 – Christine Lieberknecht, German politician
1961 – Hans-Peter Bartels, German politician
1961 – Sue Black, Scottish forensic anthropologist
1962 – Tony Campbell, American basketball player and coach
1962 – Dominik Moll, German–French director and screenwriter
1965 – Owen Hart, Canadian professional wrestler (died 1999)
1965 – Andrew Little, New Zealand politician
1965 – Norman Whiteside, Northern Irish footballer
1966 – Andrea Tafi, Italian cyclist
1967 – Martin Bryant, Australian criminal
1968 – Traci Lords, American actress & singer
1968 – Lisa Raitt, Canadian politician
1969 – Rick Porras, American movie producer
1969 – Eagle-Eye Cherry, Swedish singer-songwriter
1969 – Katerina Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
1972 – Jennifer Yuh Nelson, South Korean–American animator
1973 – Paolo Savoldelli, Italian cyclist
1975 – Arni Gautur Arason, Icelandic footballer

From 1976

1976 – Calvin Booth, American basketball player
1977 – Lisa Kelly, Irish singer
1978 – Stian Arnesen, Norwegian musician and songwriter
1978 – Shawn Marion, American basketball player
1979 – Katie Douglas, American basketball player
1981 – Maria Radner, German opera singer (d. 2015)
1983 – Julio dos Santos, Paraguayan footballer
1983 – Garry O'Connor, Scottish footballer
1983 – Makano, Panamanian singer and composer
1986 – Matt Helders, English musician
1987 – Stefan Read, Canadian ski jumper
1988 – Nathan Burns, Australian footballer
1988 – Natalie Mejia, American dancer and singer
1988 – Takayuki Morimoto, Japanese footballer
1988 – Eino Puri, Estonian footballer
1988 – Sander Puri, Estonian footballer
1989 – Master Shortie, English singer-songwriter, rapper and producer
1989 – Raina, South Korean singer, dancer, model and rapper
1990 – Yoon Bit-Garam, South Korean footballer
1992 – Alexander Ludwig, Canadian actor
1992 – Tyler Johnson, American basketball player
1999 – Masaki Sato, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
2000 – Maxwell Perry Cotton, American actor
2004 – Minji, South Korean singer

Deaths

Up to 1900

685 – Mawan I, Umayyah Caliph (b. 623)
973 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 912)
1266 – Farid-ud-din Ganj Shakar, Islamic saint in South Asia (b. 1179)
1539 – Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism (born 1469)
1539 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (born 1466)
1615 – Sanada Yukimura, Japanese samurai (born 1567)
1617 – David Fabricius, German astronomer (born 1564)
1682 – Tsar Feodor III of Russia (born 1661)
1718 – Mary of Modena, wife of James II of England (born 1658)
1793 – Pietro Nardini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1722)
1805 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1737)
1825 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer (born 1750)
1840 – Caspar David Friedrich, German painter (born 1774)
1868 – Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, English statesman (born 1778)
1872 – Alexander Loyd, 4th Mayor of Chicago (born 1805)
1873 – Salmon P. Chase, American politician (born 1808)

1901 – 2000

1902 – Agostino Roscelli, Italian priest (born 1818)
1922 – Max Wagenknecht, German composer (born 1857)
1924 – Alluri Sita Rama Raju, Indian activist (born 1897)
1940 – George Lansbury, English politician (born 1859)
1941 – James George Frazer, Scottish ethnologist and classical philologist (born 1854)
1942 – Felix Weingartner, Yugoslavian conductor (born 1863)
1943 – Fethi Okyar, Turkish diplomat and politician (born 1880)
1951 – Warner Baxter, American actor (born 1889)
1958 – Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian organist, composer and conductor (born 1880)
1985 – Dawn Addams, British actress (born 1930)
1986 – Jeffrey Mylett, American actor (born 1949)
1986 – Haldun Taner, Turkish playwright and short story writer (born 1915)
1987 – Colin Blakely, English actor (born 1930)
1989 – Guy Williams, American actor (born 1924)
1991 – István Zsolt, Hungarian football referee (born 1921)
1995 – Ray McKinley, American jazz musician (born 1910)
1998 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South African physicist (born 1924)
2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American actor (born 1909)

From 2001

2001 – Jacques de Borbon Busset, French novelist, essayist and politician (born 1912)
2005 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorean footballer (born 1980)
2010 – Wally Hickel, American politician, 2nd Governor of Alaska (born 1919)
2011 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (born 1957)
2011 – Willard Boyle, Canadian physicist (born 1924)
2011 – Gunter Sachs, German businessman, art patron and playboy (born 1932)
2013 – Ray Harryhausen, American animator, director and producer (born 1920)
2013 – Aubrey Woods, English actor and singer (born 1928)
2013 – Ferruccio Mazzola, Italian footballer and manager (born 1948)
2014 – Colin Pillinger, British planetary scientist (born 1943)
2014 – Nazim Al-Haqqani, Turkish–Cypriot spiritual leader (born 1922)
2014 – Neville McNamara, Royal Australian Air Force commander (born 1923)
2014 – Manuel Jiménez de Parga, Spanish politician (born 1929)
2015 – John Dixon, Australian cartoonist (born 1929)
2015 – Maurice Flanagan, British businessman (born 1928)
2015 – Frank DiPascali, American financier and fraudster (born 1956)
2016 – Bernardo Ribeiro, Brazilian footballer (born 1989)
2016 – John Stabb, American punk music singer (born 1961)
2017 – Gran Apache, Mexican professional wrestler (born 1959)
2017 – Elon Lages Lima, Brazilian mathematician (born 1929)
2017 – Beppo Mauhart, Austrian football executive and journalist (born 1933)
2017 – Gholamreza Pahlavi, Iranian prince and writer (born 1923)
2017 – Lee Weissenborn, American politician (born 1929)
2017 – Wu Wenjun, Chinese mathematician (born 1919)
2018 – Maurane, Belgian singer and actress (born 1960)
2018 – Miki Muster, Slovenian artist (born 1925)
2018 – Jesús Kumate Rodríguez, Mexican physician and politician (born 1924)
2018 – Crosbie E. Saint, American military officer (born 1936)
2019 – Vicente Emano, Filipino politician (born 1943)
2019 – Georg Katzer, German composer (born 1935)
2019 – Te Wharehuia Milroy, New Zealand Maori language academic (born 1937)
2019 – Adam Svoboda, Czech ice hockey player (born 1978)
2019 – Jean Vanier, Canadian philosopher and theologian (born 1928)
2019 – Joel Virador, Filipino politician (born 1967)

Observances

Radio Day (Russia, Bulgaria)
Defender of the Fatherland Day (Kazakhstan)
Dien Bien Phu Victory Day (Vietnam)