What are the important events that happened on May 15? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
May 15: Facts & Myths About This Day
May 15 is the 136th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 230 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is May 2, 2024 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 28,595,520 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectatriacontahexagon’ day.
Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 259 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,163 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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May 15 Historical Events
- 1252 –Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
- 1602 –Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod.
- 1792 –War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.
- 1862 –President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
- 1891 –Pope Leo XIII defends workers’ rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum Novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.
- 1935 –The Moscow Metro is opened to public.
- 1945 –World War II: The final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
- 1997 –The United States government acknowledges the existence of the “Secret War” in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other “Secret War” veterans.
- 2008 –California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state’s own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
- 2010 –Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.
Who were born on May 15?
- 1854 –Ioannis Psycharis, Greek author and linguist (d. 1929)
- 1856 –Matthias Zurbriggen, Swiss mountaineer and guide (d. 1917)
- 1911 –Max Frisch, Swiss author (d. 1991)
- 1943 –David Cronenberg, Canadian screenwriter and film director
- 1952 –Chazz Palminteri, American actor, writer and director
- 1953 –George Brett, American baseball player
- 1953 –Mike Oldfield, British composer
- 1956 –Dan Patrick, American sportscaster
- 1958 –Ron Simmons, American professional wrestler
- 1995 –Ksenia Sitnik, Belarusian singer
Who died on May 15?
- 1634 –Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (b. 1585)
- 1698 –Marie Champmeslé, French actress (b. 1642)
- 1699 –Edward Petre, British Jesuit and privy councilor (b. 1631)
- 1740 –Ephraim Chambers, British encyclopaedist (b. 1680)
- 1886 –Emily Dickinson, American poet (b. 1830)
- 1928 –Umegatani Tōtarō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15th Yokozuna (b. 1845)
- 1935 –Kazimir Malevich, Polish/Ukrainian artist (b. 1878)
- 1971 –Tyrone Guthrie, British director, producer, and writer (b. 1900)
- 1986 –Theodore White, American writer (b. 1915)
- 1991 –Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Malian writer (b. c. 1900)
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