Today in History May 1

1006 – Supernova observed by Chinese and Egyptians in constellation Lupus

1704 – Boston Newsletter publishes first newspaper advertisement

1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

1756 – France and Austria sign alliance

1757 – Austria and France divide Prussia

1759 – British fleet occupies Guadeloupe, West Indies, capturing it from France

1776 – Adam Weishaupt founds secret society of Illuminati

1777 – RB Sheridan’s “School for Scandal” premieres in London

1781 – Emperor Jozef II decrees protection of population

1841 – First emigrant wagontrain leaves Independence, Missouri, for California

1851 – Great Exhibition opens in the Crystal Palace, London

1873 – Emperor Franz Jozef opens fifth World’s Exposition in Vienna

1883 – Amsterdam World’s Fair opens

1884 – Construction begins on Chicago first skyscraper (10 stories)

1886 – US general strike for 8-hour working day begins

1893 – World Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago

1927 – First British airliner, Imperial Airways served cooked meals (But it was British Cuisine)

1931 – Empire State Building opens in NYC

1941 – “Citizen Kane”, directed and starring Orson Welles, premieres in NY

1941 – General Mills introduces Cheerios

1943 – Food rationing begins in US

1950 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Rodgers & Hammerstein (South Pacific)

1951 – Mickey Mantle’s first HomeRun

1956 – A doctor in Japan reports an “epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system”, marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.

1960 – Russia shoots down Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk

1961 – First US airplane hijacked to Cuba

1961 – Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba

1961 – Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird)

1981 – Radio Shack releases Model III TRSDOS 1.3

1986 – Bill Elliott sets stock car speed record of 212.229 mph

1986 – Tass reports Chernobyl nuclear power plant mishap

2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the “Mission Accomplished” speech, U.S. President George W. Bush declares that

“major combat operations in Iraq have ended” on board the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of California. Or so he thought.

2010 – Car bomb fails to go off in Times Square

2013 – A digital camera is created that can mimic insect compound eyes

Birthdays

1825 – George Inness, US landscape painter (Delaware Water Gap)

1839 – Chardonnet, inventor (rayon)

1881 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, France, philosopher/paleontologist

1907 – Kate Smith, American singer (d. 1986)

1923 – Joseph Heller, Brooklyn American novelist (Catch-22)

1939 – Judy Collins, Seattle Wash, singer (Send in the Clowns,)

1940 – Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer

Anniversaries

1929 – American poet e.e (Edward Estlin) Cummings marries 2nd wife Anne Minnerly Barton

1967 – King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley (32) weds actress Priscilla Beaulieu (21) at Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada

1978 – Actress and model Bianca Jagger files for divorce from Rolling Stone rocker Mick Jagger after 7 years of marriage on the grounds of

his adultery with model Jerry Hall, who is now married to Rupert Murdoch

1873 – David Livingstone, British physician/explorer (Africa), dies at 60

1904 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (b. 1841)

1965 – Spike Jones, composer (Spike Jones Show), dies at 53