May 11

May 11 is the 131st day of the year (132nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 234 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events[]

• 330 – Byzantium is renamed Nova Roma during a dedication ceremony, but it is more popularly referred to as Constantinople.
• 868 – A copy of the Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it the oldest known dated printed book.
• 912 – Alexander becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
• 1310 – In France, fifty-four members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake as heretics.
• 1502 – Christopher Columbus departs Cádiz on his fourth and final voyage to the Americas.
• 1647 – Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam to replace Willem Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland, the Dutch colonial settlement in present-day New York City.
• 1672 – Franco-Dutch War: Louis XIV of France invades the Netherlands.
• 1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy: French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch–Hanoverian army.
• 1792 – Captain Robert Gray becomes the first documented white person to sail into the Columbia River.
• 1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, London.
• 1813 – In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth lead an expion to cross the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Their route opens up inland Australia for continued expansion throughout the 19th century.
• 1833 – The Aberdeen-built brig Lady of the Lake struck an iceberg and sank off the coast of Newfoundland with the loss of up to 265 passengers and crew.
• 1846 – President James K. Polk asked for a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War. It is approved on May 13.
• 1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
• 1858 – Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. State.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The ironclad CSS Virginia is scuttled in the James River northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.
• 1867 – Luxembourg gains its independence.
• 1880 – Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California.
• 1889 – An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort results in the theft of over $28,000 and the award of two Medals of Honor.
• 1891 – The Ōtsu incident: Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Imperial Russia (later Nicholas II) suffers a critical head injury during a sword attack by Japanese policeman Tsuda Sanzō. He is rescued by Prince George of Greece and Denmark.
• 1894 – Pullman Strike: Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike in Illinois.
• 1910 – An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.
• 1918 – The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus is officially established.
• 1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded.
• 1942 – William Faulkner's collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, is published.
• 1943 – World War II: American troops invade Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
• 1944 – World War II: The Allies begin a major offensive against the Axis powers on the Gustav Line.
• 1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill is hit by two kamikazes, killing 346 of its crew. Although badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under its own power.
• 1949 – Siam officially changes its name to Thailand for the second time. The name had been in use since 1939 but was reverted in 1945.
• 1953 – The 1953 Waco tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado hits downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114.
• 1960 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents capture fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who is living under the alias of Ricardo Klement.
• 1963 – Racist bombings in Birmingham, Alabama disrupt nonviolence in the Birmingham campaign and precipitate a crisis involving federal troops.
• 1970 – The Lubbock tornado, a F5 tornado, hits Lubbock, Texas, killing 26 and causing $250 million in damage.
• 1972 – The United States performs a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site, which was part of the series Operation Grommet and Operation Toggle.
• 1973 – Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg's charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times are dismissed.
• 1985 – Bradford City stadium fire: Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in a flash fire at Valley Parade football ground during a match against Lincoln City in Bradford, England.
• 1987 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
• 1995 – More than 170 countries extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.
• 1996 – After the aircraft's departure from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 on board.
• 1996 – The 1996 Mount Everest disaster: on a single day eight people die during summit attempts on Mount Everest.
• 1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
• 1998 – India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.
• 2000 – Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.
• 2011 – Earthquake of magnitude 5.1 attacks in Lorca, Spain.
• 2013 – Fifty-two people are killed in a bombing in Reyhanlı, Turkey.
• 2014 – Fifteen people are killed and 46 injured in Kinshasa in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into soccer stands by police officers attempting to defuse a hostile incident.
• 2016 – More than 110 people are killed in an ISIL bombing in Baghdad.

Births[]

• 1014 – Anawrahta, king of Burma and founder of the Pagan Empire (d. 1077)
• 1366 – Anne of Bohemia (d. 1394)
• 1414 – Francis I, Duke of Brittany (d. 1450)
• 1571 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyo (d. 1637)
• 1625 – Elisabeth Marie, Duchess of Oels (d. 1686)
• 1694 – Princess Maria Theresia of Liechtenstein (d. 1772)
• 1715 – Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach, German organist (d. 1739)
• 1715 – Ignazio Fiorillo, Italian composer and educator (d. 1787)
• 1720 – Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen, Baron Munchausen (d. 1797)
• 1722 – Petrus Camper, Dutch physician, anatomist, and physiologist (d. 1789)
• 1752 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German physician, physiologist, and anthropologist (d. 1840)
• 1771 – Laskarina Bouboulina, Greek commander (d. 1825)
• 1799 – John Lowell, Jr., American businessman and philanthropist, founded Lowell Institute (d. 1836)
• 1801 – Henri Labrouste, French architect and academic, designed the Sainte-Geneviève Library (d. 1875)
• 1811 – Chang and Eng Bunker, Thai-American conjoined twins (d. 1874)
• 1811 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss politician (d. 1893)
• 1817 – Fanny Cerrito, Italian ballerina and choreographer (d. 1909)
• 1824 – Jean-Léon Gérôme, French painter and sculptor (d. 1904)
• 1827 – Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, French sculptor and painter (d. 1875)
• 1835 – Kārlis Baumanis, Latvian composer (d. 1905)
• 1838 – Isabelle Bogelot, French philanthropist (d. 1923)
• 1838 – Walter Goodman, English painter, illustrator, and author (d. 1912)
• 1852 – Charles W. Fairbanks, American journalist and politician, 26th United States Vice President (d. 1918)
• 1854 – Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (d. 1932)
• 1861 – Frederick Russell Burnham, American soldier and adventurer (d. 1947)
• 1869 – Archibald Warden, English tennis player (d. 1943)
• 1870 – Otto von Friesen, Swedish linguist and academic (d. 1942)
• 1871 – Frank Schlesinger, American astronomer and author (d. 1943)
• 1875 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (d. 1912)
• 1881 – Al Cabrera, Spanish-Cuban baseball player and manager (d. 1964)
• 1881 – Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1944)
• 1881 – Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and engineer (d. 1963)
• 1882 – Joseph Marx, Austrian composer, educator, and critic (d. 1964)
• 1888 – Irving Berlin, Belarusian-American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
• 1888 – Willis Augustus Lee, American admiral (d. 1945)
• 1889 – Paul Nash, British painter (d. 1946)
• 1890 – Willie Applegarth, English-American sprinter (d. 1958)
• 1890 – Helge Løvland, Norwegian decathlete (d. 1984)
• 1892 – Margaret Rutherford, English actress (d. 1972)
• 1894 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1991)
• 1895 – Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (d. 1978)
• 1895 – William Grant Still, American composer and conductor (d. 1978)
• 1896 – Josip Štolcer-Slavenski Croatian composer and academic (d. 1955)
• 1897 – Kurt Gerron, German actor and director (d. 1944)
• 1897 – Robert E. Gross, American businessman (d. 1961)
• 1899 – Paulino Masip, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1963)
• 1901 – Rose Ausländer, Ukrainian-English poet and author (d. 1988)
• 1901 – Gladys Rockmore Davis, American painter (d. 1967)
• 1902 – Karl Pärsimägi, Estonian painter (d. 1942)
• 1903 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player and manager (d. 1993)
• 1904 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter and illustrator (d. 1989)
• 1907 – Rip Sewell, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989)
• 1909 – Ellis R. Dungan, American director and producer (d. 2001)
• 1911 – Mitchell Sharp, Canadian economist and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Finance (d. 2004)
• 1911 – Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian (d. 1985)
• 1912 – Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (d. 2001)
• 1912 – Saadat Hasan Manto, Indian-Pakistani author and screenwriter (d. 1955)
• 1913 – Robert Jungk, Austrian journalist and author (d. 1994)
• 1914 – Haroun Tazieff, French volcanologist and geologist (d. 1998)
• 1916 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
• 1918 – Richard Feynman, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
• 1920 – Denver Pyle, American actor and director (d. 1997)
• 1921 – Robin Barbour, Scottish minister and author (d. 2014)
• 1921 – Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician (d. 2016)
• 1922 – Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera, Filipino lawyer and jurist
• 1924 – Eugene Dynkin, Russian-American mathematician and theorist (d. 2014)
• 1924 – Antony Hewish, English astronomer and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1925 – Edward J. King, American football player and politician, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
• 1927 – Bernard Fox, British actor (d. 2016)
• 1927 – Mort Sahl, Canadian-American comedian and actor
• 1927 – Gene Savoy, American explorer, author, and scholar (d. 2007)
• 1928 – Yaacov Agam, Israeli sculptor
• 1928 – Andrew van der Bijl, Dutch missionary and author
• 1930 – Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist and academic, co-developed THE multiprogramming system (d. 2002)
• 1930 – Stanley Elkin, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1995)
• 1932 – Valentino Garavani, Italian fashion designer, founded Valentino SpA
• 1933 – Anna Marguerite McCann, first female American underwater archaeologist (d. 2017)
• 1933 – Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader
• 1933 – Mychal Judge, Franciscan friar, Catholic priest, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department (d. 2001)
• 1934 – Jim Jeffords, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2014)
• 1934 – Arthur Labatt, Canadian businessman and academic
• 1935 – Francisco Umbral, Spanish journalist and author (d. 2007)
• 1936 – Carla Bley, American pianist, composer, and bandleader
• 1937 – Cheng Yen, Taiwanese Buddhist nun and philanthropist
• 1938 – Johnny Devlin, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter
• 1938 – Jeanne Little, Australian television personality
• 1938 – Narendra Patel, Baron Patel, Tanzanian-English obstetrician, academic, and politician
• 1939 – Dante Tiñga, Filipino jurist and politician
• 1940 – Herbert Müller, Swiss race car driver (d. 1981)
• 1941 – Eric Burdon, English singer-songwriter, actor, and painter
• 1941 – Ian Redpath, Australian cricketer and coach
• 1943 – Nancy Greene, Canadian skier and politician
• 1943 – Clarence Ellis, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2014)
• 1944 – John Benaud, Australian cricketer
• 1945 – Floyd Adams Jr., American publisher and politician, 63rd Mayor of Savannah, Georgia (d. 2014)
• 1946 – Robert Jarvik, American cardiologist, developed the Artificial heart
• 1947 – Butch Trucks, American drummer (d. 2017)
• 1948 – Jack Cantoni, French rugby player (d. 2013)
• 1948 – Nirj Deva, Sri Lankan-English politician
• 1950 – Jeremy Paxman, English journalist and author
• 1950 – Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Indian actor (d. 2014)^[1]
• 1951 – Mike Slemen, English rugby player and educator
• 1951 – Ed Stelmach, Canadian farmer and politician, 13th Premier of Alberta
• 1952 – Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iranian-American actress
• 1952 – Frances Fisher, English-American actress
• 1952 – Warren Littlefield, American businessman
• 1952 – Mike Lupica, American sports journalist
• 1954 – John Clayton, American journalist
• 1954 – John Gregory, English footballer and manager
• 1954 – Judith Weir, English composer and educator
• 1955 – John DeStefano, Jr., American politician, 49th Mayor of New Haven
• 1956 – Theresa Burke, Canadian journalist and producer
• 1956 – Alex Lester, English radio host
• 1957 – Mike Nesbitt, Northern Irish journalist and politician
• 1958 – Dan Ireland, American director and producer (d. 2016)
• 1958 – Nalliah Kumaraguruparan, Sri Lankan accountant and politician
• 1958 – Phil Smyth, Australian basketball player and coach
• 1958 – Walt Terrell, American baseball player
• 1959 – Martha Quinn, American radio and television host
• 1960 – Kike Santander, Colombian doctor and singer-songwriter
• 1961 – Luis Felipe, Cuban gang leader, founded the Latin Kings
• 1961 – Cecile Licad, Filipino classical pianist
• 1962 – Steve Bono, American football player
• 1963 – Gunilla Carlsson, Swedish politician, 10th Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation
• 1963 – Roark Critchlow, Canadian-American actor
• 1963 – Masatoshi Hamada, Japanese comedian and actor
• 1963 – Natasha Richardson, English-American actress (d. 2009)
• 1964 – Tim Blake Nelson, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1964 – John Parrott, English snooker player and sportscaster
• 1964 – Bobby Witt, American baseball player
• 1964 – Floyd Youmans, American baseball player, coach, and manager
• 1965 – Greg Dulli, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1966 – Christoph Schneider, German drummer
• 1967 – Alberto García Aspe, Mexican footballer and manager
• 1968 – Wenn V. Deramas, Filipino director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
• 1968 – Jeffrey Donovan, American actor
• 1969 – Mitch Healey, Australian rugby league player and coach
• 1969 – Simon Vroemen, Dutch runner
• 1970 – Harold Ford, Jr., American lawyer and politician
• 1970 – Jason Queally, English cyclist
• 1972 – Tomáš Dvořák, Czech decathlete and coach
• 1972 – Daniel Ornellas, South African bass player
• 1973 – Tsuyoshi Ogata, Japanese runner
• 1974 – Kevin Brown, English-Canadian ice hockey player
• 1974 – Stanley Gene, Papua New Guinean rugby league player and coach
• 1974 – Benoît Magimel, French actor
• 1974 – Darren Ward, English-Welsh footballer and coach
• 1975 – Francisco Cordero, Dominican-American baseball player
• 1977 – Janne Ahonen, Finnish ski jumper and race car driver
• 1977 – Pablo Gabriel García, Uruguayan footballer
• 1977 – Victor Matfield, South African rugby player, coach, and sportscaster
• 1978 – Laetitia Casta, French model and actress
• 1978 – Perttu Kivilaakso, Finnish cellist and composer
• 1978 – Richard B. Spencer, American white supremacist
• 1979 – Gonzalo Colsa, Spanish footballer
• 1979 – Erin Lang, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1980 – Ernest Vardanean, Armenian-Moldovan political scientist and journalist
• 1981 – Lauren Jackson, Australian basketball player
• 1982 – Cory Monteith, Canadian actor and singer (d. 2013)
• 1983 – Matt Leinart, American football player
• 1983 – Steven Sotloff, American-Israeli journalist (d. 2014)
• 1983 – Holly Valance, Australian actress, singer and model^[2]
• 1984 – Andrés Iniesta, Spanish footballer
• 1986 – Ronny Heberson Furtado de Araújo, Brazilian footballer
• 1986 – Abou Diaby, French footballer
• 1986 – Miguel Veloso, Portuguese footballer
• 1987 – Lim Seul-ong, South Korean singer and actor (2AM)
• 1987 – Monica Roșu, Romanian gymnast
• 1988 – Jeremy Maclin, American football player
• 1988 – Brad Marchand, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1988 – Ami Nakashima, Japanese singer and dancer
• 1989 – Giovani dos Santos, Mexican footballer
• 1989 – Cam Newton, American football player
• 1992 – Thibaut Courtois, Belgian footballer
• 1993 – Maurice Harkless, American-Puerto Rican basketball player
• 1994 – Hagos Gebrhiwet, Ethiopian runner
• 1995 – Gelson Martins, Portuguese footballer
• 1999 – Sabrina Carpenter, American actress

Deaths[]

• 912 – Leo VI the Wise, Byzantine emperor (b. 866)
• 976 – Henry I (the Bald), German nobleman
• 1138 – William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey
• 1304 – Ghazan, Mongolian ruler (b. 1271)
• 1313 – Robert Winchelsey, archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1245)
• 1474 – John Stanberry, Bishop of Hereford
• 1572 – Moses Isserles, rabbi and talmudist (b. 1530)
• 1610 – Matteo Ricci, Italian priest and mathematician (b. 1552)
• 1672 – Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline, Scottish politician (b. 1615)
• 1686 – Otto von Guericke, German physicist and politician (b. 1602)
• 1696 – Jean de La Bruyère, French philosopher and author (b. 1645)
• 1708 – Jules Hardouin-Mansart, French architect, designed the Château de Dampierre and Grand Trianon (b. 1646)
• 1723 – Jean Galbert de Campistron, French playwright and author (b. 1656)
• 1760 – Alaungpaya, Burmese king (b. 1714)
• 1777 – George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, English politician (b. 1719)
• 1778 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708)
• 1779 – John Hart, American lawyer and politician (b. 1711)
• 1812 – Spencer Perceval, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1762)
• 1848 – Tom Cribb, English boxer (b. 1781)
• 1849 – Juliette Récamier, French businesswoman (b. 1777)
• 1871 – John Herschel, English mathematician, astronomer, and chemist (b. 1792)
• 1878 – Henry Norris, English civil engineer (b. 1816)
• 1882 – Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1816)
• 1887 – Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist and academic (b. 1802)
• 1889 – John Cadbury, English businessman and philanthropist, founded the Cadbury Company (b. 1801)
• 1891 – Edmond Becquerel, French physicist and academic (b. 1820)
• 1908 – Charles Kingston, Australian politician, 20th Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
• 1916 – Max Reger, German pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1873)
• 1916 – Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer and physicist (b. 1873)
• 1918 – George Elmslie, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Victoria (b. 1861)
• 1920 – James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1878)
• 1920 – William Dean Howells, American novelist, literary critic, and playwright (b. 1837)
• 1927 – Juan Gris, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
• 1929 – Jozef Murgaš, Slovak-American priest, architect, botanist, and painter (b. 1864)
• 1934 – Blaise Diagne, Senegalese-French soldier and politician (b. 1872)
• 1934 – Orest Khvolson, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1852)
• 1938 – George Lyon, Canadian golfer and cricketer (b. 1858)
• 1939 – Yevgeny Miller, Latvian-Russian general and politician (b. 1867)
• 1940 – Chujiro Hayashi, Japanese physician (b. 1880)
• 1954 – Sait Faik Abasıyanık, Turkish author and poet (b. 1906)
• 1955 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
• 1960 – John D. Rockefeller Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1874)
• 1961 – Yves Simon, French philosopher, taught at the University of Notre Dame and the Committee on Social Thought (b. 1903)
• 1963 – Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
• 1966 – Alfred Wintle, English lieutenant and author (b. 1897)
• 1967 – James E. Brewton, American painter (b. 1930)
• 1976 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect, designed Finlandia Hall and Paimio Sanatorium (b. 1898)
• 1979 – Lester Flatt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914)
• 1981 – Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
• 1981 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (Bob Marley and the Wailers) (b. 1945)
• 1983 – Zenna Henderson, American writer (b. 1917)^[3]
• 1985 – Chester Gould, American cartoonist, created Dick Tracy (b. 1900)
• 1986 – Fritz Pollard, American football player and coach (b. 1894)
• 1988 – Kim Philby, British-Soviet double agent (b. 1912)
• 1994 – Timothy Carey, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1928)
• 1996 – Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigerian journalist and politician, 1st President of Nigeria (b. 1904)
• 1996 – Ademir Marques de Menezes, Brazilian footballer, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1922)
• 2000 – René Muñoz, Cuban-Mexican actor and screenwriter (b. 1938)
• 2001 – Douglas Adams, English novelist and screenwriter (b. 1952)
• 2002 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1905)
• 2002 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1912)
• 2002 – Bill Peet, American animator and screenwriter (b. 1915)
• 2003 – Noel Redding, English bass player (b. 1945)
• 2005 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (b. 1908)
• 2005 – Michalis Genitsaris, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1917)
• 2006 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer and actor (b. 1935)
• 2007 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan ruler (b. 1913)
• 2008 – John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (b. 1953)
• 2009 – Abel Goumba, Central African physician and politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1926)
• 2009 – Claudio Huepe, Chilean economist and politician, Chilean Minister Secretary-General of Government (b. 1939)
• 2009 – Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda, Indian admiral (b. 1915)
• 2010 – Doris Eaton Travis, American dancer and vaudevillian (b. 1904)
• 2010 – Emmanuel Ngobese, South African footballer (b. 1980)
• 2011 – Maurice Goldhaber, Ukrainian-American physicist and academic (b. 1911)
• 2011 – Robert Traylor, American basketball player (b. 1977)
• 2012 – Jack Benaroya, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1921)
• 2012 – Tony DeZuniga, Filipino author and illustrator (b. 1932)
• 2014 – Reg Gasnier, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1939)
• 2014 – Martin Špegelj, Croatian general and politician, 2nd Croatian Minister of Defence (b. 1927)
• 2015 – Jef Geeraerts, Belgian author and playwright (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances[]

• Christian feast day:
  • Abgar V of Edessa (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • Anthimus of Rome
  • Anthony de Sant'Ana Galvão
  • Cyril and Methodius (Eastern Orthodox Church, Lutheranism, Anglicanism [commemoration])
  • Estelle of Saintes
  • Francis de Geronimo
  • Gangulphus of Burgundy
  • Majolus of Cluny
  • Mamertus, the first of the Ice Saints
  • Odilo of Cluny
  • May 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of the Military Police of the National Armed Forces (Indonesia)
• Earliest day on which Whit Monday can fall, while June 14 is the latest; celebrated on the day after Pentecost (Christianity), and its related observances:
• Azores Day (Azores)
• Nisga'a Day, celebration of the effective date of the Nisga'a Final Agreement. (Nisga'a Nation)
• National Technology Day (India)
• Statehood Day (Minnesota)
• Vietnam Human Rights Day (Vietnam)

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to May 11.

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada