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This day in history

This day in history: 4 May

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Key facts

278 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 4 May.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2023: Nine people are killed and thirteen injured in a spree shooting in Mladenovac and Smederevo, Serbia. It is the second mass shooting in the country in two days.

Holidays and observances

Anti-Bullying Day (United Nations)

Bird Day (United States)

Cassinga Day (Namibia)

Christian feast day: Blessed Ceferino Giménez Malla

Christian feast day: Blessed Michał Giedroyć

Christian feast day: English Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era (Church of England)

Christian feast day: F. C. D. Wyneken (Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)

Christian feast day: Florian

Christian feast day: Jean-Martin Moye

Christian feast day: John Houghton, Robert Lawrence and Augustine Webster

Christian feast day: Judas Cyriacus

Christian feast day: May 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Events

2023Nine people are killed and thirteen injured in a spree shooting in Mladenovac and Smederevo, Serbia. It is the second mass shooting in the country in two days.

2019The inaugural all-female motorsport series, W Series, takes place at Hockenheimring. The race was won by Jamie Chadwick, who would go on to become the inaugural series champion.

2014Three people are killed and 62 injured in a pair of bombings on buses in Nairobi, Kenya.

2007Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by the 2007 Greensburg tornado, a 1.7-mile wide EF5 tornado. It was the first-ever tornado to be rated with the new Enhanced Fujita scale.

2002One hundred three people are killed and 51 are injured in a plane crash near Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, Nigeria.

2000Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London (an office separate from that of the Lord Mayor of London).

1998A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.

1994Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord, granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

1990Latvia declares independence from the Soviet Union.

1989Iran–Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are later overturned on appeal.

1989Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on mission STS-30 to deploy the Venus-bound Magellan space probe.

1988The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of Space Shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.

1982Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.

1979Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1978The South African Defence Force attacks a SWAPO base at Cassinga in southern Angola, killing about 600 people.

1973The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet (442 m) as the world's tallest building.

1972The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to Greenpeace Foundation.

1970Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protes

1961American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.

1961Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km).

1959The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.

1953Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.

1949The entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Tomà, due to an injury and Renato Gandolfi, because of coach request) is killed in a plane crash.

1946In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Five people are killed in the riot.

1945World War II: Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.

1945World War II: The German surrender at Lüneburg Heath is signed, coming into effect the following day. It encompasses all Wehrmacht units in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany.

1942World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had invaded Tulagi the da

1932Having been incarcerated at the Cook County Jail since his sentencing on October 24, 1931, mobster Al Capone is transferred to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta after the U.S. Supreme Court denies his appeal for conviction of tax evasion.

1927The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is incorporated.

1926The United Kingdom general strike begins.

1919May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.

1912Italy begins the invasion and occupation of the Ottoman island of Rhodes.

1910The Royal Canadian Navy is created.

1904The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.

1886Haymarket affair: In Chicago, United States, a homemade bomb is thrown at police officers trying to break up a labor rally, killing one officer. Ensuing gunfire leads to the deaths of a further seven officers and four civilians.

1871The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

1869The four-day Naval Battle of Hakodate begins. The newly formed Imperial Japanese Navy defeats the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate navy in the Sea of Japan off the city of Hakodate, leading to the surrender of the Ezo Republic on May 17.

1859The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking Devon and Cornwall in England.

1836Formation of Ancient Order of Hibernians.

1823Brazilian War of Independence: A Brazilian squadron led by Lord Cochrane engages a Portuguese squadron under João de Campos off Salvador, Bahia.

Born on this day

2001Joan García, Spanish footballer

2001Noah Beck, American media personality and actor

1998Rex Orange County, English musician

1995Shameik Moore, American actor and musician

1994Abi Masatora, Japanese sumo wrestler

1994Joseph Tapine, New Zealand rugby league player

1992Victor Oladipo, American basketball player

1991Brianne Jenner, Canadian women's ice hockey player

1989James van Riemsdyk, American ice hockey player

1989Rory McIlroy, Northern Irish golfer

1988Radja Nainggolan, Belgian footballer

1987Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish footballer and manager

1987Jorge Lorenzo, Spanish motorcycle racer

1986Devan Dubnyk, Canadian ice hockey player

1986George Hill, American basketball player

1985Fernandinho, Brazilian footballer

1985Jamie Adenuga, English MC and rapper

1985Ravi Bopara, English cricketer

1984Brad Maddox, American wrestler and referee

1983Derek Roy, Canadian ice hockey player

1981Dallon Weekes, American singer-songwriter and musician

1981Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer

1981Ruth Negga, Ethiopian-Irish actress

1980Andrew Raycroft, Canadian ice hockey player

1979Lance Bass, American singer, dancer, and producer

1979Lesley Vainikolo, Tongan rugby player

1978Erin Andrews, American sportscaster and journalist

1978Igor Biscan, Croatian footballer and manager

1978James Harrison, American football player

1975Kimora Lee Simmons, American model

1974Tony McCoy, Northern Irish jockey and sportscaster

1973Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Argentinian footballer and coach

1973John Madden, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

1972Chris Tomlin, American singer-songwriter

1972Mike Dirnt, American bass player and songwriter

1970Dawn Staley, American basketball player

1970Will Arnett, Canadian actor and producer

1967Ana Gasteyer, American actress and singer

1967Kate Garraway, English journalist

1961Jay Aston, English singer-songwriter and dancer

Died on this day

2024Frank Stella, American painter (born 1936)

2024Ron Kavana, Irish singer, songwriter, guitarist and band leader (born 1950)

2024Tekin Kartal, Kurdish drug trafficker and gangster (born 1990)

2021Nick Kamen, English model, songwriter (born 1962)

2020Don Shula, American football player and coach (born 1930)

2020Greg Zanis, American carpenter and activist (born 1950)

2019Alia Abdulnoor, Emirati imprisoned woman (born 1977)

2016Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, Burundian politician (born 1946)

2015Ellen Albertini Dow, American actress (born 1913)

2015Marv Hubbard, American football player (born 1946)

2015William Bast, American screenwriter and author (born 1931)

2014Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (born 1924)

2014Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (born 1923)

2014Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-Scottish tennis player (born 1983)

2014Helga Königsdorf, German physicist and author (born 1938)

2014Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, Central African politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (born 1948)

2014Ross Lonsberry, Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1947)

2013César Portillo de la Luz, Cuban guitarist and composer (born 1922)

2013Christian de Duve, English-Belgian cytologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)

2013Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (born 1948)

2013Mario Machado, Chinese-American journalist and actor (born 1935)

2013Morgan Morgan-Giles, English admiral and politician (born 1914)

2013Otis Bowen, American physician and politician, 44th Governor of Indiana (born 1918)

2012Adam Yauch, American rapper and director (born 1964)

2012Bob Stewart, American television producer, founded Stewart Tele Enterprises (born 1920)

2012Mort Lindsey, American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1923)

2012Rashidi Yekini, Nigerian footballer (born 1963)

2011Sammy McCrory, Northern Irish footballer (born 1924)

2009Dom DeLuise, American actor, director, and producer (born 1933)

2008Fred Baur, American chemist and founder of Pringles (born 1918)

Quote of the day

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

Epictetus

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From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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