EVENTS:
- 1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain.
- 1776 – Establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt.
- 1844 – Hong Kong Police Force, the world’s second modern police force and Asia’s first, is established.
- 1851 – Queen Victoria opens The Great Exhibition in London.
- 1900 – The Scofield Mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.
- 1925 – The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.
- 1927 – The Union Labor Life Insurance Company is founded by the American Federation of Labor.
- 1930 – The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named.
- 1960 – Formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Also known as “Maharashtra Day“.
- 2011 – Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks has been killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.
- 2019 – Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli district: 16 army soldiers, including a driver, killed in an IED blast. Naxals targeted an anti-Naxal operations team.
- 2024 – The 2024 Loblaw boycott, a Canadian boycott against retail corporation and grocer Loblaw Companies, begins.
BIRTHS:
- 1825 – Johann Jakob Balmer, Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1898)
- 1852 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish neuroscientist and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1934)
- 1864 – Anna Jarvis, American founder of Mother’s Day (d. 1948)
- 1919 – Manna Dey, Indian singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1919 – Lewis Hill, American broadcaster, co-founded Pacifica Radio (d. 1957)
- 1925 – Chuck Bednarik, American lieutenant and football player (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Sonny Ramadhin, Trinidadian cricketer
- 1959 – Lawrence Seeff, South African cricketer and basket weaver
- 1971 – Ajith Kumar, Indian actor
- 1973 – Curtis Martin, American football player
- 1984 – Mark Seaby, Australian footballer
- 1986 – Brent Stanton, Australian footballer
- 1988 – Anushka Sharma, Indian model, actress, and producer
- 1990 – Diego Contento, German footballer
- 2002 – Chet Holmgren, American basketball player
- 2005 – Linda Fruhvirtová, Czech tennis player
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
