1899 : Execution of Indian revolutionary Balkrishna Chafekar.
1929 : The Hollywood Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences held its first film commemoration ceremony. These awards were later named Oscars.
1969 : Soviet Russia’s Venera-5 unmanned spacecraft landed on Venus.
1975 : Sikkim merged with India.
1975 : Junko Tabei of Japan became the first woman to climb Mount Everest.
1991 : Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
1993 : The first female Indian expedition led by Bachendri Pal honored 18 climbers, including seven girls, to climb Everest, setting a new world record.
1996 : Atal Bihari Vajpayee took over as the 10th Prime Minister of India. However, due to a lack of support, his government lasted only 13 days.
2000 : To make badminton more popular and to facilitate television broadcasting of the game, it decided to increase the game by 7 points instead of 15 at the meeting of the International Badminton Federation in Kuala Lumpur. However, this rule was changed again in 2006.
2005 : Women gained the right to vote for the first time in Kuwait.
Famous Birthdays - May 16
1825: Kerunana Laxman Chhatre, an Indian mathematician.
1831: David Edward Hughes, a British-American inventor, practical experimenter, and professor.
1926: Manik Varma, an Indian classical singer.
1931: Natwar Singh, an Indian politician.
1988: Vicky Kaushal, an Indian actor.
Death Anniversaries - May 16
1830: Joseph Fourier, a French mathematician, and physicist.
1990: James Henson, an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, filmmaker, and screenwriter.
1994: Phani Majumdar, an Indian film director.
2004: Kamala Markandaya, an Indian novelist and journalist.
2014: Russi Mody, a chairman and managing director of Tata Steel.
1718: The world’s first machine gun was patented by James Puckle.
1730: Robert Walpole became the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1836: Francis Bailey, a scientist, first observed the Belize beads that appear before the eclipse of the solar eclipse.
1889: The official inauguration of the Eiffel Tower was on this day, the opening day of the Exposition Universelle.
1928: Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premiered in his first cartoon, “Plane Crazy”.
1940: Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald’s restaurant.
1993: United Nations decided to celebrate May 15 as International Family Day.
2000: A landmine blast planted by militants at Mandipura in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district killed five people, including Jammu and Kashmir’s Minister of State for Energy Ghulam Hasan Butt.
Famous Birthdays – May 15.
1817: Debendranath Tagore, a Hindu philosopher, and religious reformer.
1859: Pierre Curie, a French physicist.
1907: Sukhdev Thapar, an Indian revolutionary.
1967: Madhuri Dixit Nene, an Indian actress, producer, television personality, and music artist.
1987: Andy Murray, a British professional tennis player from Scotland.
1988: Ram Pothineni, an Indian film actor.
Death Anniversaries - May 15.
1993: Field Marshal K. M. Cariappa, the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.
1994: Omprakash Agrawal, an Indian professional snooker player.
1994: P Sardar, an Indian painter, and calendar maker.
1796: James Philip, an eight-year-old boy from Berkeley, Gloucester, England, vaccinated against the world’s first goddess.
1940: WWII – Holland surrendered to Germany.
1955: A 20-year Warsaw Pact was signed in Warsaw, Poland by the communist nations of Soviet Russia, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and East Germany.
1960: Air India launched the Mumbai-New York service.
1963: Kuwait joined the United Nations.
2012: Agni Air Flight CHT crashed in Nepal after a failed go-around, killing 15 people.
Famous Birthdays – May 14.
1657: Sambhaji Bhosale, the second ruler of the Maratha kingdom.
1883: Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, an Indian lawyer and member of the Constituent Assembly of India.
1907: Muhammad Ayub Khan, the second President of Pakistan.
1923: Mrinal Sen, an Indian film director.
1965: Sachin Khedekar, an Indian actor and director.
1981: Pranav Mistry, an Indian computer scientist, and inventor.
1984: Mark Zuckerberg, an American internet entrepreneur. He is a co-founder and CEO of Facebook.
1997: Manushi Chhillar, an Indian actress, model, and the winner of Miss World 2017.
Death Anniversaries - May 14.
1601: Louis XIII, King of France.
1978: Jagdish Chandra Mathur, a Hindi playwright, and writer.
1998: Frank Sinatra, an American singer, actor, and producer.
2013: Asghar Ali Engineer, an Indian reformist-writer and social activist.
1880: Thomas Alva Edison tested the electric train at Menlo Park, New Jersey.
1939: The first commercial FM radio station in the United States launched.
1950: The first race of the Formula One World Championship took place at Silverstone.
1952: The first session of the Rajya Sabha of India convened.
1962: Bharat Ratna to Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India.
1967: Zakir Hussain became first muslim president of India.
1970: Choreographer Sitaradevi set a world record for dancing for 11 hours and 45 minutes at the Birla Matoshri Hall in Mumbai.
1995: Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to climb Mount Everest without the help of Oxygen or Sherpa.
1998: India carried out two nuclear weapons tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11.
2000: A bill to restructure Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh to form Uttaranchal, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh, respectively, was approved by the Union Cabinet.
2000: Lara Dutta of India won the title of Miss Universe.
Famous Birthdays – May 13.
1857: Sir Ronald Ross, a British medical doctor who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology.
1905: Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, the fifth President of India.
1916: Sachidananda Routray, an Indian poet, novelist, and short-story writer who wrote in Odia.
1918: Tanjore Balasaraswati, an Indian Bharatnatyam dancer.
1956: Shri Shri Ravi Shankar, an Indian spiritual leader.
1969: Asaduddin Owaisi, an Indian politician, who is the President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
1979: Amruta Subhash, an Indian actress.
1984: Benny Dayal, an Indian playback singer.
Death Anniversaries - May 13.
1903: Apolinario Mabini, the first Prime Minister of the Philippines.
