May 10
28 B.C. - The
first recorded observation of a
sunspot, by Chinese Han Dynasty astronomers.
70 -
Siege of Jerusalem:
Titus, son of emperor
Vespasian, opens a full-scale assault on Jerusalem.
1291 Scottish nobles recognize the authority of
Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.
1497
Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cαdiz, Spain for his first voyage to the
New World.
1503
Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.
1773 The Parliament of Great Britain passes the
Tea Act, designed to save the
British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.
1774
Louis XVI and
Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.
1824 The
National Gallery in London opens to the public.
1865 American Civil War:
Jefferson Davis,
President of the Confederate States of America, is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.
American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound
Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.
1869 The
First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with
the golden spike.
1872
Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
1904 The
Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG
is founded. It would eventually become the
Audi company.
1916 Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird,
Ernest Shackleton arrives at
South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from
Elephant Island.
1954
Bill Haley & His Comets release "
Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts.
1960 The nuclear submarine
USS Triton completes
Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.
1962 Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of
The Incredible Hulk.
1972 First flight of the
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (a.k.a. "Warthog").
1994
Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.
2002 F.B.I. agent
Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for selling United States secrets to Moscow.
2005 A
hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 65 feet (20 meters) from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.
2013
One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Births
1838 John Wilkes Booth; 1899 Fred Astaire; 1902 David O. Selznick; 1909
Maybelle Carter "Mother Maybelle"; 1922
Nancy Walker; 1933 Barbara Taylor Bradford; 1940 Wayne Dyer; 1946 Donovan, Graham Gouldman, Dave Mason; 1955 Mark David Chapman; 1957 Sid Vicious; 1958 Rick Santorum; 1960 Bono; 1965 Linda Evangelista; 1975 Hιlio Castroneves; 1978 Kenan Thompson
Deaths
1774 Louis XV of France; 1798 George Vancouver (namesake of Vancouver Island, and Vancouver, British Columbia); 1818 Paul Revere; 1863
Stonewall Jackson; 1977 Joan Crawford; 1994 John Wayne Gacy; 1999 Shel Silverstein; 2010 Frank Frazetta; 2012 Carroll Shelby; 2015
Chris Burden