On this day in history

May 24

30 births · 10 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

689

Hundred Years' War

689 years ago

Born this day

1941

Bob Dylan

Turns 85

Photo (modified): Raph_PH · CC BY 2.0

Oldest record

1385th

Heraclius Constantine

death anniversary

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Famous births30

1494 · 532 yrs

Pontormo

Jacopo Carucci or Carrucci (IPA:; May 24, 1494 – January 2, 1557), usually known as Jacopo (da) Pontormo or simply Pontormo (IPA:), was an Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 62

View profile Photo (modified): Giorgio Vasari · Public domain

1544 · 482 yrs

William Gilbert

William Gilbert (24 May 1544? – 30 November 1603), also known as Gilberd, was an English physician, physicist and natural philosopher.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 59

View profile Photo (modified): Granger · Public domain

1686 · 340 yrs

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit FRS (24 May 1686 – 16 September 1736) was a physicist, inventor, and scientific instrument maker. He was born in Poland to a family of German origin, although he spent much of his life in the Dutch Republic.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 50

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

1743 · 283 yrs

Jean-Paul Marat

Jean-Paul Marat (UK:, US:; French:; born Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French scientist, physician, political theorist, journalist, and politician. Before the French Revolution, he pursued a career in medicine and science and spent more than ten years abroad.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 50

View profile Photo (modified): Joseph Boze · Public domain

1803 · 223 yrs

Charles Lucien Bonaparte

Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (French pronunciation:; 24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857) was a French naturalist and ornithologist, and a nephew of Napoleon. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 54

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

1819 · 207 yrs

Victoria

Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 81

View profile Photo (modified): Alexander Bassano · Public domain

1870 · 156 yrs

Jan Christiaan Smuts

Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts (Afrikaans:; baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts; 24 May 1870 – 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military officer and philosopher.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Harris & Ewing, photographer · Public domain

1899 · 127 yrs

Kazi Nazrul Islam

Kazi Nazrul Islam (Bengali:; 24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bengali poet, short story writer, journalist, lyricist, and musician. He was later honoured with the title of national poet of Bangladesh.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 127

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

1899 · 127 yrs

Suzanne Lenglen

Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen (French pronunciation:; 24 May 1899 – 4 July 1938) was a French tennis player. She was the inaugural world No.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsWould be 127

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

1903 · 123 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

1905 · 121 yrs

Mikhail Sholokhov

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov (Russian: Михаил Александрович Шолохов, IPA:; 24 May 1905 – 21 February 1984) was a Russian novelist and winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 121

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

1940 · 86 yrs

Joseph Brodsky

Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996), anglicized as Joseph, was a Russian and American poet and essayist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 86

View profile Photo (modified): Anefo / Croes, R.C. · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

Showing 12 of 30

Famous deaths10

AD 641 · 1385 yrs

Heraclius Constantine

Heraclius Constantine (Latin: Heraclius novus Constantinus; Greek: Ἡράκλειος νέος Κωνσταντῖνος, romanized: Hērákleios néos Kōnstantīnos; 3 May 612 – 25 May 641), often enumerated as Constantine III, was one of the shortest reigning sole Byzantine emperors, ruling for three months in 641.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 29

View profile Photo (modified): unknown; Image: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. . CNG allows the use of any of their images as long as they are attribu · CC BY-SA 3.0

1543 · 483 yrs

Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 70

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

1950 · 76 yrs

Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell

Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded in the Second Battle of Ypres.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 143

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

1957 · 69 yrs

Sacha Guitry

Alexandre-Pierre Georges "Sacha" Guitry (French:; 21 February 1885 – 24 July 1957) was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French actor, Lucien Guitry, and followed his father into the theatrical profession.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 141

View profile Photo (modified): Studio Harcourt · Public domain

1959 · 67 yrs

John Foster Dulles

John Foster Dulles (February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat who served as United States secretary of state under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 until his resignation in 1959. A member of the Republican Party, he was briefly a U.S. senator from New York in 1949.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 138

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown, dedicated to Bettmann Archive, presumably U.S. Senate or photographic company working with Senate · Public domain

1972 · 54 yrs

Asta Nielsen

Asta Sofie Amalie Nielsen (11 September 1881 – 24 May 1972) was a Danish silent film actress who was one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1910s and one of the first international movie stars. Seventy of Nielsen's 74 films were made in Germany where she was known simply as Die Asta (The Asta).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 145

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

1974 · 52 yrs

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Music critic Ralph J. Gleason called him "America's most important composer".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 127

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

2018 · 8 yrs

John Bain

John Peter Bain (8 July 1984 – 24 May 2018), also known as TotalBiscuit ( TOH-təl-BISS-kit, TB; sometimes The Cynical Brit or TotalHalibut), was a British video gaming commentator and game critic on YouTube.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TelevisionWould be 42

View profile Photo (modified): FlamingCow TV · CC BY 3.0

2019 · 7 yrs

Murray Gell-Mann

Murray Gell-Mann (September 15, 1929 – May 24, 2019) was an American theoretical physicist who played a preeminent role in the development of the theory of elementary particles.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 97

View profile Photo (modified): World Economic Forum · CC BY-SA 2.0

2023 · 3 yrs

Tina Turner

Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress and author. Dubbed the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she broke both racial and gender barriers in rock music with her vocal prowess and stage presence.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 86

View profile Photo (modified): HBO · Public domain

Events5

1337 · 689 yrs

Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War (French: Guerre de Cent Ans; 1337–1453) was a series of conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France and a civil war in France during the late Middle Ages.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1956 · 70 yrs

Eurovision Song Contest 1956

The Eurovision Song Contest 1956, originally titled the Gran premio Eurovisione 1956 della canzone europea (English: Grand Prix of the Eurovision song competition 1956; French: Grand prix Eurovision 1956 de la chanson européenne), was the first edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 24 May 1956 at the Teatro…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

2014 · 12 yrs

2014 UEFA Champions League Final

The 2014 UEFA Champions League final was the final match of the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League, the 59th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 22nd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

2020 · 6 yrs

2020–2021 Belarusian protests

The 2020–2021 Belarusian protests were a series of mass political demonstrations and protests against the Belarusian government and President Alexander Lukashenko.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

2022 · 4 yrs

Robb Elementary School shooting

On May 24, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States. Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old former student of the school, fatally shot 19 students and 2 teachers, while injuring 18 others.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

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