Sun · 27 SepMoon 99%Field Kp 4 · active Quote · Marcus Aurelius Riddle of the day Card of the dayHow today feels →

This day in history

This day in history: 16 May

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

Share

← Previous day15 May

Events56

Born on this day · Died on this day213 · 99

Next day →17 May

Key facts

368 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 16 May.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: A catastrophic EF3 tornado kills five people and causes over $1 billion in damages in St. Louis, MO.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Aaron (Coptic Church)

Christian feast day: Abda and Abdjesus, and companions: Abdas of Susa

Christian feast day: Andrew Bobola

Christian feast day: Brendan the Navigator (Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodox Church)

Christian feast day: Caroline Chisholm (Church of England)

Christian feast day: Gemma Galgani (Passionists Calendar)

Christian feast day: Germerius

Christian feast day: Honoratus of Amiens

Christian feast day: May 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Peregrine of Auxerre

Christian feast day: Possidius

Christian feast day: Simon Stock

Events

2025A catastrophic EF3 tornado kills five people and causes over $1 billion in damages in St. Louis, MO.

2025A devastating EF4 tornado kills nineteen people in Southeast Kentucky, hitting the towns of Somerset and London.

2014Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya.

2011STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.

2005Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote.

2003In Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.

1997Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country.

1991Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

1988A report by the Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.

1975Junko Tabei from Japan becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1974Josip Broz Tito is elected president for life of Yugoslavia.

1972An Antonov An-24 crashes into a kindergarten building in Svetlogorsk, killing 35.

1969Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus.

1966The Chinese Communist Party issues the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

1961Park Chung Hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.

1960Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.

1959The Tritons' Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time.

1954Beginning of the Kengir uprising in the Gulag.

1951The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.

1945Beginning of the Levant Crisis between Britain and France in Syria. The latter try to quell nationalist protests but backs down after threat of military action by the British.

1943Operation Chastise is undertaken by RAF Bomber Command with specially equipped Avro Lancasters to destroy the Mohne, Sorpe, and Eder dams in the Ruhr valley.

1943The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.

1929In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place.

1925The first modern performance of Claudio Monteverdi's opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria occurred in Paris.

1920In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.

1919A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.

1918The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later.

1918The victory military parade by the Finnish White Guard is held in Helsinki celebrating their decisive victory in the Finnish Civil War. The day also begin to be celebrated on the Defence Forces Flag Day before it is moved in 1942 to the Jun

1916The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria.

1891The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, featuring the world's first long-distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current (the most common form today).

1888Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.

1877The 16 May 1877 crisis occurs in France, ending with the dissolution of the National Assembly 22 June and affirming the interpretation of the Constitution of 1875 as a parliamentary rather than presidential system. The elections held in Oct

1874A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.

1868The United States Senate fails to convict President Andrew Johnson by one vote.

1866The United States Congress establishes the nickel.

1863American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, the decisive Union victory by Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Champion Hill drives the Confederate army under John C. Pemberton back towards Vicksburg, Mississippi.

1842The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers.

1834The Battle of Asseiceira is fought; it was the final and decisive engagement of the Liberal Wars in Portugal.

1832Juan Godoy discovers the rich silver outcrops of Chañarcillo sparking the Chilean silver rush.

1822Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.

Born on this day

2002Ryan Gravenberch, Dutch footballer

2000Luis García Jr., Dominican-American baseball player

1996Louisa Chirico, American tennis player

1995Elizabeth Ralston, Australian footballer

1994Kathinka von Deichmann, Liechtenstein tennis player

1993IU, Korean singer-songwriter and actress

1993Johannes Thingnes Bø, Norwegian biathlete

1993Karol Mets, Estonian footballer

1992Jeff Skinner, Canadian ice hockey player

1992Kirstin Maldonado, American singer and songwriter

1991Ashley Wagner, American figure skater

1991Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgarian tennis player

1991Joey Graceffa, American internet celebrity

1990Amanda Carreras, Gibraltarian tennis player

1990Darko Šarović, Serbian sprinter

1990Omar Strong, American basketball player

1990Thomas Brodie-Sangster, English actor

1989Behati Prinsloo, Namibian model

1988Jaak Põldma, Estonian tennis player

1988Jesús Castillo, Mexican footballer

1988Martynas Gecevičius, Lithuanian basketball player

1987Tom Onslow-Cole, English race car driver

1986Andy Keogh, Irish footballer

1986Megan Fox, American actress

1986Shamcey Supsup, Filipino model and architect

1985Anja Mittag, German footballer

1985Corey Perry, Canadian ice hockey player

1985Rodrigo Peters Marques, Brazilian footballer

1984Darío Cvitanich, Argentinian footballer

1984Jensen Lewis, American baseball player

1984Rick Rypien, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2011)

1984Tomáš Fleischmann, Czech ice hockey player

1983Daniel Kerr, Australian footballer

1983Kyle Wellwood, Canadian ice hockey player

1982Łukasz Kubot, Polish tennis player

1982Melissa Altro, Canadian actress

1981Ricardo Costa, Portuguese footballer

1980Nuria Llagostera Vives, Spanish tennis player

1979Michael Oberlechner, Austrian politician

1978Lionel Scaloni, Argentinian footballer and manager

Died on this day

2025Domingos Maubere, East Timorese Catholic priest and activist (born 1952)

2024Dabney Coleman, American actor (born 1932)

2024Eddie Gossage, American public speaker and businessman (born 1958)

2023Norm Green, American long-distance runner (born 1932)

2021Bruno Covas, Brazilian lawyer, politician (born 1980)

2019Bob Hawke, Australian politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Australia (born 1929)

2019I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect (born 1917)

2019Piet Blauw, Dutch politician (born 1937)

2015Flora MacNeil, Scottish Gaelic singer (born 1928)

2015Moshe Levinger, Israeli rabbi and author (born 1935)

2015Prashant Bhargava, American director and producer (born 1973)

2014Bud Hollowell, American baseball player and manager (born 1943)

2014Chris Duckworth, Zimbabwean-South African cricketer (born 1933)

2014Clyde Snow, American anthropologist and author (born 1928)

2014Vito Favero, Italian cyclist (born 1932)

2013Angelo Errichetti, American politician (born 1928)

2013Bernard Waber, American author and illustrator (born 1921)

2013Bryan Illerbrun, Canadian football player (born 1957)

2013Dick Trickle, American race car driver (born 1941)

2013Frankie Librán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (born 1948)

2013Heinrich Rohrer, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1933)

2013Paul Shane, British actor and comedian (born 1940)

2012Chuck Brown, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1936)

2012Ernie Chan, Filipino-American illustrator (born 1940)

2012James Abdnor, American soldier and politician (born 1923)

2012Kevin Hickey, American baseball player (born 1956)

2012Patricia Aakhus, American author and academic (born 1952)

2011Bob Davis, Australian footballer and coach (born 1928)

2011Edward Hardwicke, English actor (born 1932)

2011Kiyoshi Kodama, Japanese actor (born 1934)

Quote of the day

“Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”

Zen proverb

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

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

This day in history

Every question has its own page

Journal

What you should know, before others do

Weekly insights. One article. One practice. No noise.

Cookies

We use essential cookies to run the platform. Analytics and marketing cookies are only turned on once you consent — you can change your choice at any time.