May 7

Events

• 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of St. Sophia Basilica collapses. Justinian immediately orders the dome rebuilt.
• 1274 - In France the Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the pope.
• 1763 - Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.
• 1832 - Greece becomes independent. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.
• 1840 - The Great Natchez Tornado occurred. To date, it is the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history. 317 people were killed.
• 1847 - In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
• 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.
• 1915 - World War I: The RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat killing 1,198.
• 1920 - Russian-Polish War: Polish troops occupy Kiev.
• 1937 - Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion Fighter Group, equipped with Heinkel He-51 biplanes arrive in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.
• 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.
• 1952 - The concept for the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.
• 1954 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
• 1992 - Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the United States Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise.
• 1992 - space shuttle Endeavour launches on its maiden voyage.
• 1992 - 3 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 to date.
• 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 - 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. Shmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure's family US$25 million.
• 1999 - Kosovo War: In Yugoslavia, three Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft mistakenly bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
• 1999 - In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
• 2002 - A China Southern Airlines MD-82 plunges into Yellow Sea killing 112.

Births

• 1812 - Robert Browning, poet and husband to Elizabeth Barrett Browning († 1889)
• 1833 - Johannes Brahms, composer († 1897)
• 1840 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer († 1893)
• 1885 - George 'Gabby' Hayes, actor († 1969)
• 1892 - Archibald MacLeish, poet, Pulitzer Prize winner († 1982)
• 1892 - Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia († 1980)
• 1901 - Gary Cooper, actor († 1961)
• 1908 - Max Grundig, industrialist († 1989)
• 1909 - Edwin H. Land, inventor and founder of Polaroid
• 1919 - Eva Peron, wife of Argentina's President Juan Peron († 1952)
• 1922 - Darren McGavin, actor
• 1923 - Anne Baxter, actress († 1985)
• 1931 - Teresa Brewer, singer
• 1933 - Johnny Unitas, American football star († 2002)
• 1939 - Ruud Lubbers, politician and Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• 1939 - Jimmy Ruffin, singer
• 1942 - Gerhard Polt, cabaretist
• 1946 - Thelma Houston, singer
• 1950 - Randall 'Tex' Cobb, boxer, actor
• 1954 - Amy Heckerling, director
• 1956 - Anne Dudley, musician
• 1956 - Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• 1957 - Sinjin Smith, volleyball player
• 1968 - Traci Lords, actress
• 1969 - Eagle Eye Cherry, musician

Deaths

• 973 - Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1825 - Antonio Salieri, composer
• 1951 - Warner Baxter, actor
• 1998 - Eddie Rabbitt, musician
• 2000 - Douglas Fairbanks Jr., actor

Holidays and Observances

May 6 - May 8 - April 7 - June 7 -- listing of all days

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Referenced By