May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (136th in leap years). There are 230 days remaining.
- 1602 - Bartholomew Gosnold[?] becomes the first European to discover Cape Cod.
- 1618 - Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).
- 1718 - James Puckle[?], a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
- 1756 - Seven Years' War: The war begins when England declares war on France.
- 1795 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France enters Milan in triumph.
- 1836 - Francis Baily observes "Baily's beads[?]" during an annular solar eclipse.
- 1851 - Rama IV[?] is crowed King of Thailand.
- 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture (later renamed USDA).
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca[?], Georgia ends.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia - Students from the Virginia Military Institute[?] fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel[?] out of the Shenandoah Valley.
- 1869 - Woman's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association[?].
- 1902 - In a field outside Grass Valley, California, Lyman Gilmore[?] reportedly becomes the first person to fly a powered airplane (a steam-powered glider).
- 1905 - Las Vegas, Nevada is founded when 110 acres (in what later would become downtown) are auctioned off.
- 1911 - The United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be dissolved.
- 1918 - The Post Office Department (later renamed the USPS) begins the first regular airmail[?] service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
- 1930 - Aboard a Boeing tri-motor, Ellen Church[?] becomes the first airline stewardess[?] (the flight was from Oakland, California to Chicago, Illinois).
- 1934 - The United States Department of Justice offers a $25,000 reward for John Dillinger.
- 1940 - Nylon stockings go on sale for the first time in the United States.
- 1940 - World War II: German troops occupy Amsterdam and invade Northern France.
- 1941 - Joe DiMaggio starts his record-breaking 56-game home run hitting streak.
- 1942 - World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps[?] (WAAC) is signed into law.
- 1948 - Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia attack Israel.
- 1958 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
- 1960 - Sputnik 4 is launched into Earth orbit.
- 1963 - Mercury program: NASA launches the last mission of the program, Mercury 9 (on June 12 NASA Administrator James Webb[?] told Congress the program was complete).
- 1970 - The Beatles' last LP, Let It Be, is released in the United States
- 1972 - In Laurel, Maryland a disturbed, out-of-work janitor named Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while Wallace is campaigning to be president.
- 1988 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: After more than eight years of fighting, the Red Army begins its withdraw from Afghanistan.
- 1990 - Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million.
- 1991 - Edith Cresson[?] becomes France's first female premier
- 1992 - The Genoa Expo '92[?] World's Fair opens in Genoa, Italy
- 1048 - Omar Khayyam, poet (+ 1123)
- 1567 - Claudio Monteverdi, composer (+ 1643)
- 1773 - Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, statesman (+ 1859)
- 1856 - L. Frank Baum, author (+ 1919)
- 1859 - Pierre Curie, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1903 (+ 1906)
- 1862 - Arthur Schnitzler, dramatist and narrator (+ 1931)
- 1889 - Bessie Hillman[?], founder, Almalgamated Clothing Workers of America[?]
- 1890 - Katherine Anne Porter[?], author (+ 1980)
- 1891 - Mikhail Bulgakov, writer (+ 1940)
- 1898 - Arletty[?], model, actress (+ 1992)
- 1902 - Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago, Illinois (+ 1976)
- 1905 - Joseph Cotten, actor (+ 1994)
- 1909 - James Mason, actor (+ 1984)
- 1911 - Max Frisch[?], author
- 1915 - Paul Samuelson, economist, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in economics
- 1918 - Eddy Arnold[?], singer
- 1926 - Peter Shaffer, playwright
- 1930 - Jasper Johns, painter
- 1931 - Ken Venturi[?], golfer
- 1934 - Alvin F. Poussaint[?], physicist, psychiatrist, educator
- 1936 - Paul Zindel[?], novelist, playwright
- 1936 - Anna Maria Alberghetti[?], actress
- 1937 - Trini López[?], musician
- 1941 - K.T. Oslin[?], country musician
- 1948 - Brian Eno, musician, record producer
- 1951 - Jonathan Richman, musician
- 1953 - Mike Oldfield, composer
- 1959 - Khaosai Galaxy, boxer
- 1959 - Kaokor Galaxy, boxer
- 1965 - Lizi Rodriguez[?], psychologist and media psychotherapist
- 1969 - Emmitt Smith, American football player
- 1634 - Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter
- 1886 - Emily Dickinson, poet
- 1948 - Father Edward Flanagan[?], priest, founder of Boys Town
- 1971 - Sir Tyrone Guthrie[?], director, producer, writer
- 1983 - Meyer Lansky, gangster
- 1986 - Theodore H. White, writer
- 1994 - Gilbert Roland[?], actor
- 1995 - Eric Porter[?], actor
- 1998 - Earl Manigault[?], basketball player
- 2003 - June Carter Cash, musician, singer, wife of Johnny Cash
See Also:
May 14 - May 16 - April 15 - June 15 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December