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This day in history

This day in history: 22 May

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

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Born on this day · Died on this day210 · 86

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Key facts

376 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 22 May.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2026: A gas explosion at a coal mine in Changzhi, Shanxi, leaves at least 82 people dead.

Holidays and observances

Abolition Day (Martinique)

Aromanian National Day (marginal, celebration on May 23 is more common)

Christian feast day: Blessed John Forest

Christian feast day: Blessed Maria Domenica Brun Barbantini

Christian feast day: Castus and Emilius

Christian feast day: Fulk

Christian feast day: Humilita

Christian feast day: May 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Michael Hồ Đình Hy (one of Vietnamese Martyrs)

Christian feast day: Quiteria

Christian feast day: Rita of Cascia

Christian feast day: Romanus of Subiaco

Events

2026A gas explosion at a coal mine in Changzhi, Shanxi, leaves at least 82 people dead.

2021Hypothermia kills 21 runners in the 100 km (60-mile) Gansu ultramarathon disaster in China.

2020Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 crashes in Model Colony near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 98 people.

2017Twenty-two people are killed at an Ariana Grande concert in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.

2017United States President Donald Trump visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall.

2015The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to utilise a public referendum to legalise gay marriage.

2014An explosion occurs in Ürümqi, capital of China's far-western Xinjiang region, resulting in at least 43 deaths and 91 injuries.

2014General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d'état, following six months of political turmoil.

2013Fusilier Lee Rigby is murdered by two Islamic extremists in Woolwich, Southeast London.

2012SpaceX COTS Demo Flight 2 launches a Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket in the first commercial flight to the International Space Station.

2012Tokyo Skytree opens to the public. It is the tallest tower in the world (634 m), and the third tallest man-made structure on Earth after Merdeka 118 (680.5 m) and Burj Khalifa (829.8 m).

2011An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and wreaking $2.8 billion in damages, the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.

2010Air India Express Flight 812, a Boeing 737 crashes over a cliff upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of 166 people on board, becoming the deadliest crash involving a Boeing 737 until the crash of Lion Air Flight 610.

2010Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2–0 in the UEFA Champions League final in Madrid, Spain to become the first, and so far only, Italian team to win the historic treble (Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League).

2002Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

2000In Sri Lanka, over 150 Tamil rebels are killed over two days of fighting for control in Jaffna.

1998A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton.

1996The Burmese military regime jails 71 supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to block a pro-democracy meeting.

1994A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti goes into effect to punish its military rulers for not reinstating the country's ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

1992Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations.

1990North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen.

1987First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.

1987Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.

1972Ceylon adopts a new constitution, becoming a republic and changing its name to Sri Lanka.

1972Over 400 women in Derry, Northern Ireland attack the offices of Sinn Féin following the shooting by the Irish Republican Army of a young British soldier on leave.

1969Apollo 10's Lunar Module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the Moon's surface.

1968The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 nautical miles (740 km) southwest of the Azores.

1967Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.

1967L'Innovation department store in Brussels, Belgium, burns down, resulting in 323 dead or missing and 150 injured, the most devastating fire in Belgian history.

1964U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson launches his Great Society program.

1963Greek left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis is clubbed over the head, causing his death five days later.

1962Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes in Unionville, Missouri after bombs explode on board, killing 45.

1960The Great Chilean earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, hits southern Chile, becoming the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.

1958The 1958 riots in Ceylon become a watershed in the race relations of various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total deaths are estimated at 300, mostly Tamils.

1957South Africa's government approves of racial separation in universities.

1948Finnish President J. K. Paasikivi releases Yrjö Leino from his duties as interior minister after the Finnish parliament adopted a motion of censure of Leino with connection to his illegal handing over of nineteen people to the Soviet Union

1947Cold War: The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece.

1943Joseph Stalin disbands the Comintern.

1942Mexico enters the Second World War on the side of the Allies.

1941During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah.

Born on this day

2004Peyton Elizabeth Lee, American actress

2002Anthony Richardson, American football player

2001Emma Chamberlain, American internet personality

2001Enzo Barrenechea, Argentine footballer

2001Joshua Zirkzee, Dutch footballer

2000Julián Carranza, Argentine footballer

1999Femke Huijzer, Dutch model

1999Hōshōryū Tomokatsu, Mongolian sumo wrestler

1999Samuel Chukwueze, Nigerian footballer

1998Samile Bermannelli, Brazilian fashion model

1997Brandon Duhaime, American ice hockey player

1997Lauri Markkanen, Finnish basketball player

1994Athena Manoukian, Greek-Armenian singer and songwriter

1994Florian Luger, Austrian male model

1992Anna Baryshnikov, American actress

1991Joel Obi, Nigerian footballer

1991Suho, South Korean singer and actor

1990Wyatt Roy, Australian politician

1989Corey Dickerson, American baseball player

1988Heida Reed, Icelandic-British actress

1987Arturo Vidal, Chilean footballer

1987Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player

1986Julian Edelman, American football player

1986Matt Jarvis, English footballer

1986Tatiana Volosozhar, Russian figure skater

1985Mauro Boselli, Argentine footballer

1985Tao Okamoto, Japanese model and actress

1985Tranquillo Barnetta, Swiss footballer

1984Clara Amfo, English television and radio presenter

1984Didier Ya Konan, Ivorian footballer

1984Dustin Moskovitz, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Facebook

1984Karoline Herfurth, German actress

1983Natasha Kai, American soccer player and Olympic medalist

1982Apolo Ohno, American speed skater

1982Erin McNaught, Australian model and actress

1982Hong Yong-jo, North Korean footballer

1981Bassel Khartabil, Syrian computer programmer and engineer (died 2015)

1981Bryan Danielson, American wrestler

1981Jürgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player

1981Mark O'Meley, Australian rugby league player

Died on this day

2026Richard A. Tapia, American mathematician, National Medal of Science recipient (born 1939)

2024David Wilkie, Scottish swimmer (born 1954)

2022Dervla Murphy, Irish touring cyclist and author (born 1931)

2020Denise Cronenberg, Canadian costume designer (born 1938)

2019Judith Kerr, German-born British writer and illustrator (born 1923)

2017Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (born 1981)

2016Velimir "Bata" Živojinović, Serbian actor and politician (born 1933)

2015Marques Haynes, American basketball player and coach (born 1926)

2015Vladimir Katriuk, Ukrainian-Canadian SS officer (born 1921)

2013Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt, Russian historian and ethnographer (born 1922)

2012Muzafar Bhutto, Pakistani politician (born 1970)

2012Wesley A. Brown, American lieutenant and engineer (born 1927)

2011Joseph Brooks, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (born 1938)

2010Martin Gardner, American mathematician, cryptographer, and author (born 1914)

2008Robert Asprin, American soldier and author (born 1946)

2007Pemba Doma Sherpa, Nepalese mountaineer (born 1970)

2006Lee Jong-wook, South Korean physician and diplomat (born 1945)

2005Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (born 1914)

2005Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (born 1914)

2004Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (born 1945)

2004Richard Biggs, American actor (born 1960)

2000Davie Fulton, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (born 1916)

1998John Derek, American actor, director, and photographer (born 1926)

1998José Enrique Moyal, Israeli physicist and engineer (born 1910)

1997Alfred Hershey, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1908)

1997Alziro Bergonzo, Italian architect and painter (born 1906)

1993Mieczysław Horszowski, Polish-American pianist and composer (born 1892)

1992Zellig Harris, American linguist and academic (born 1909)

1991Lino Brocka, Filipino director and screenwriter (born 1939)

1991Shripad Amrit Dange, Indian lawyer and politician (born 1899)

Quote of the day

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Lao Tzu

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.

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