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 Cádiz, 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 – Hélio 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