On this day in history

May 1

25 births · 14 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

175

Great Exhibition

175 years ago

Born this day

1769

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Died aged 83

Photo (modified): Thomas Lawrence · Public domain

Oldest record

1618th

Arcadius

death anniversary

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Famous births25

1218 · 808 yrs

Rudolph I of Germany

Rudolf of Habsburg (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was a German nobleman and the first member of the House of Habsburg to become King of the Romans, reigning from 1273 until his death.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 73

View profile Photo (modified): Antoni Boys · Public domain

1672 · 354 yrs

Joseph Addison

Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 June 1719) was a British writer and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 47

View profile Photo (modified): After Godfrey Kneller · Public domain

1769 · 257 yrs

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (né Wesley; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852), was a British Army officer and statesman. A leading figure in early-19th-century British politics, Wellesley served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 83

View profile Photo (modified): Thomas Lawrence · Public domain

1825 · 201 yrs

Johann Jakob Balmer

Johann Jakob Balmer (1 May 1825 – 12 March 1898) was a Swiss mathematician best known for his work in physics, the Balmer series of the hydrogen atom.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 72

View profile Photo (modified): Johann Jakob Balmer · Public domain

1830 · 196 yrs100 Club

Mary Harris Jones

Mary G. Harris Jones (baptized August 1, 1837 – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onward, was an American labor organizer, schoolteacher, and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 100

View profile Photo (modified): Bertha Howell. · Public domain

1852 · 174 yrs

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Spanish:; 1 May 1852 – 17 October 1934) was a Spanish neuroscientist, pathologist, and histologist specialising in neuroanatomy, and the central nervous system. He and Camillo Golgi received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1906.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 82

View profile Photo (modified): Original photo is anonymous although published by Clark University in 1899. Restoration by Garrondo · Public domain

1881 · 145 yrs

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. (French:; 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, philosopher, mystic and teacher.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 145

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0

1895 · 131 yrs

Nikolai Yezhov

Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov (Russian: Николай Иванович Ежов, IPA:; 1 May 1895 – 4 February 1940), also spelt Ezhov, was a Soviet secret police official under Joseph Stalin who was head of the NKVD from 1936 to 1938, at the height of the Great Purge.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 131

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1916 · 110 yrs

Glenn Ford

Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006), known as Glenn Ford, was a Canadian-born American actor. He was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, and had a career that lasted more than 50 years.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 110

View profile Photo (modified): Alan Light · CC BY 2.0

1923 · 103 yrs

Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is his debut novel Catch-22 (1961), a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for an absurd or contradictory choice.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 103

View profile Photo (modified): Photograph: Thomas R. Koeniges · Public domain

1925 · 101 yrs

Scott Carpenter

Malcolm Scott Carpenter (May 1, 1925 – October 10, 2013) was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, astronaut, and aquanaut. He was one of the Mercury Seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury in April 1959.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

AviationWould be 101

View profile Photo (modified): NASA · Public domain

1937 · 89 yrs

Ahmad Yasin

Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin (Arabic: الشيخ أحمد إسماعيل حسن ياسين; June 1936/37 – 22 March 2004) was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, an Islamist political and military organization.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 89

View profile Photo (modified): khamenei.ir · CC BY 4.0

Showing 12 of 25

Famous deaths14

AD 408 · 1618 yrs

Arcadius

Arcadius (Latin: Arcadius, Ancient Greek: Ἀρκάδιος Arkadios; c. 377 – 1 May 408) was Roman emperor from 383 to his death in 408.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 31

View profile Photo (modified): Gryffindor · CC BY-SA 4.0

1539 · 487 yrs

Isabella of Portugal

Isabella of Portugal (Portuguese and Spanish: Isabel de Portugal; 24 October 1503 – 1 May 1539) was the empress consort of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, and Duke of Burgundy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 35

View profile Photo (modified): Titian · Public domain

1555 · 471 yrs

Marcellus II

Pope Marcellus II (Italian: Marcello II; 6 May 1501 – 1 May 1555), born Marcello Cervini degli Spannocchi, was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 10 April 1555 to his death, 22 days later. Marcellus succeeded Pope Julius III.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 53

View profile Photo (modified): Workshop of Italian art schools of the Renaissance · Public domain

1572 · 454 yrs

Pius V

Pope Pius V, OP (Italian: Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (and from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri), was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 7 January 1566 to his death, in May 1572. He was an inquisitor and is venerated as a saint of the Catholic Church.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Bartolomeo Passarotti and workshop · Public domain

1700 · 326 yrs

John Dryden

John Dryden (19 August 1631 – 12 May 1700) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): John Richardson · CC BY-SA 4.0

1873 · 153 yrs

David Livingstone

David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish doctor, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livingstone, from the prominent 18th-century Moffat missionary family.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ExplorationDied aged 60

View profile Photo (modified): Thomas Annan / Adam Cuerden · Public domain

1896 · 130 yrs

Naser al-Din Shah Qajar

Naser al-Din or Naseroddin Shah Qajar (Persian: ناصرالدین‌شاه قاجار, romanized: Nâseroddin Shâh Qâjâr, pronounced; 17 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 64

View profile Photo (modified): Nadar / Adam Cuerden · Public domain

1904 · 122 yrs

Antonín Dvořák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák (8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic era nationalist example of his predecessor Bedřich Smetana.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 62

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1945 · 81 yrs

Joseph Goebbels

Paul Joseph Goebbels (29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German politician and philologist who was the Gauleiter (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 until his suicide in 1945.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 128

View profile Photo (modified): Heinrich Hoffmann · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

1978 · 48 yrs

Aram Khachaturian

Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (6 June 1903 – 1 May 1978) was a Soviet Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Soviet composers.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 123

View profile Photo (modified): Roger Pic · Public domain

1994 · 32 yrs

Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese:; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver and philanthropist who competed in Formula One from 1984 to 1994.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

BusinessWould be 66

View profile Photo (modified): File:Ayrton Senna 2.jpg : Instituto Ayrton Senna derivative work: F1fans · CC BY 2.0

2021 · 5 yrs

Olympia Dukakis

Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, in some 60 films, and in approximately 50 television series.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 95

View profile Photo (modified): Montclair Film · CC BY 2.0

Showing 12 of 14

Events5

1526 · 500 yrs

Battle of Panipat

The First Battle of Panipat, on 21 April 1526 was fought between the invading forces of Babur against Ibrahim Khan Lodi, the Sultan of Delhi, in North India. Babur's forces, employing gunpowder firearms and cannons, defeated Ibrahim.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1851 · 175 yrs

Great Exhibition

The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

1893 · 133 yrs

World's Columbian Exposition

The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 1 to October 30, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

1960 · 66 yrs

1960 U-2 incident spy aircraft

On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane, having taken off from Peshawar in Pakistan, was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces in Sverdlovsk, Russia.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

2021 · 5 yrs

2021 Taliban offensive

The Taliban insurgent group and allied militants conducted a military offensive in 2021 that led to the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the end of the nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan that had begun following the United States invasion of the country.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

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