May 22

May 22 is the 142nd day of the year (143rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 223 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Wednesday or Thursday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Saturday (56).

Events

• 334 BC – The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus.
• 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
• 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys the undefended Damietta in Egypt.
• 1176 – The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to murder Saladin near Aleppo.
• 1200 – King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet.
• 1246 – Henry Raspe is elected anti-king of the Kingdom of Germany, in opposition to Conrad IV.
• 1254 – Serbian King Stefan Uroš I and the Republic of Venice sign a peace treaty.
• 1370 – The Brussels massacre: Several Jews are executed or killed and the rest of the Jewish community is banished from Brussels.
• 1377 – Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
• 1455 – Start of the Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
• 1629 – Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Danish King Christian IV sign the Treaty of Lübeck to end the Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War.
• 1762 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.
• 1762 – Trevi Fountain in Rome is officially completed and inaugurated by Pope Clemens XIII.
• 1799 – Napoleon makes a statement in support of re-establishing Jerusalem for the Jews.
• 1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially began as the Corps of Discovery departed from St. Charles, Missouri.
• 1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
• 1809 – On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna, Austria), Napoleon I is repelled by an enemy army for the first time.
• 1812 – Action of 22 May 1812: A small French two-frigate squadron comprising Ariane and Andromaque, returning from a commerce raiding campaign in the Atlantic, meets the 74-gun HMS Northumberland while trying the slip to Lorient through the British blockade.
• 1816 – A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs; the rioting spreads to Ely the next day.
• 1819 – The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The ship arrived at Liverpool, England, on June 20.
• 1826 – HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage.
• 1840 – The transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
• 1848 – Slavery is abolished in Martinique.
• 1849 – Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats over obstacles in a river, making him the only U.S. President to ever hold a patent.
• 1856 – Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina severely beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made regarding Southerners and slavery.
• 1858 – The Granadine Confederation (now Colombia and Panama) replaces the Republic of New Granada.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces begin the Siege of Port Hudson.
• 1864 – American Civil War: After ten weeks, the Union Army's Red River Campaign ends in failure.
• 1871 – The United States Army closes Fort Kearny soon after the First Transcontinental Railroad is completed.
• 1872 – Reconstruction Era: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act into law, restoring full civil and political rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
• 1885 – Prior to burial in the Panthéon, the body of Victor Hugo was exposed under the Arc de Triomphe during the night.
• 1897 – The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames is officially opened
• 1903 – Launch of the White Star Liner, SS Ionic.
• 1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".
• 1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain other than Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous US during the 20th century.
• 1915 – Three trains collide in the Quintinshill rail disaster near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246; the accident is found to be the result of non-standard operating practices during a shift change at a busy junction.
• 1926 – Chiang Kai-shek replaces communists in Kuomintang, China.
• 1927 – Near Xining, China a 8.3 quake caused 200,000 deaths in one of the world's most destructive earthquakes.
• 1939 – World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
• 1941 – During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah.
• 1942 – Mexico enters World War II on the side of the Allies.
• 1942 – The Steel Workers Organizing Committee disbands, and a new trade union, the United Steelworkers, is formed.
• 1943 – Joseph Stalin disbands the Comintern.
• 1945 – United States Army Major Robert B. Staver recommends that the U.S. evacuate German scientists and engineers, including those who could be considered war criminals, to help develop rocket technology.
• 1947 – Cold War: In an effort to fight the spread of Communism, the U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs an act into law that will later be called the Truman Doctrine. The act grants $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece, each battling an internal Communist movement.
• 1948 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 49 is adopted.
• 1958 – 1958 riots in Ceylon: This riot is a watershed event in the race relationship of the various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total number of deaths is estimated to be 300, mostly Tamils.
• 1960 – An earthquake measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, now known as the Great Chilean earthquake, hits southern Chile. It is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
• 1963 – Greek left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis is shot and dies five days later.
• 1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson launches the Great Society.
• 1967 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
• 1967 – The L'Innovation department store in the center of Brussels, Belgium, burns down. It is the most devastating fire in Belgian history, resulting in 323 dead and missing and 150 injured.
• 1968 – The nuclear-powered submarine the USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
• 1969 – Apollo 10's lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon's surface.
• 1972 – Ceylon adopts a new constitution, thus becoming a Republic, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1972 – Over 400 women in Derry attack the offices of Official Sinn Féin in Derry, North Ireland, following the shooting by the Official Irish Republican Army of a young British soldier on leave who happened to be a local Catholic, William Best.
• 1987 – Hashimpura massacre in Meerut, India.
• 1987 – First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.
• 1990 – North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen.
• 1990 – Microsoft releases the Windows 3.0 operating system.
• 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations.
• 1997 – In Italy the Grand Princess was launched at the Fincantieri Monfalcone shipyard. It was the world’s largest passenger cruise ship at 109,000 gross tons and was scheduled for interior completion in the spring of 1998.
• 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: A federal judge rules that United States Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal, involving President Bill Clinton.
• 2002 – African-American Civil Rights Movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.
• 2003 – In Fort Worth, Texas, Annika Sörenstam becomes the first woman to play the PGA Tour in 58 years.
• 2004 – The U.S. town of Hallam, Nebraska is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado (part of the May 2004 tornado outbreak sequence) which kills one resident, and becomes the widest tornado on record at 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide; a record that wouldn't be broken until the El Reno tornado on May 31, 2013.
• 2005 – A Presidential election is held in Mongolia; the result is a victory for Nambaryn Enkhbayar of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP).
• 2009 – The Credit CARD Act of 2009 was signed into law by President Barack Obama.
• 2010 – An Air India Express Boeing 737 goes over a cliff and crashes upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of the 166 people on board. It is the worst crash involving a Boeing 737.
• 2011 – An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 162 people and wreaking $2.8 billion worth in damage—the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.
• 2012 – Tokyo Skytree is opened to public. It is the tallest tower in the world (634 m), and the second tallest man-made structure on Earth, after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m).
• 2014 – General Prayut Chan-o-cha of the Royal Thai Armed Forces announces a military coup d'état, following six months of political turmoil.
• 2014 – An explosion occurs in the city of Ürümqi, the capital of China's far-western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, resulting in at least 43 deaths and 91 injuries.
• 2015 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in a public referendum.

Births

• 1408 – Annamacharya, Hindu saint (d. 1503)
• 1539 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, English earl, politician and diplomat (d. 1621)
• 1558 – Françoise de Cezelli, French soldier (d. 1615)
• 1581 – Archduchess Gregoria Maximiliana of Austria, Austrian noble from House of Hapsburgs (d. 1597)
• 1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, French soldier and governor (d. 1698)
• 1644 – Gabriël Grupello, Flemish Baroque sculptor (d. 1730)
• 1650 – Richard Brakenburgh, Dutch Golden Age painter (d. 1702)
• 1665 – Magnus Stenbock, Swedish military officer (d. 1717)
• 1694 – Daniel Gran, Austrian painter (d. 1757)
• 1700 – Michel-François Dandré-Bardon, French painter and illustrator (d. 1785)
• 1715 – François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and diplomat (d. 1794)
• 1733 – Hubert Robert, French painter and educator (d. 1808)
• 1743 – Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, Spanish navigator (d. 1794)
• 1752 – Louis Legendre, French butcher and politician (d. 1797)
• 1762 – Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, English politician (d. 1834)
• 1770 – Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (d. 1840)
• 1777 – Luis María de Borbón y Vallabriga, Grandee of Spain (d. 1823)
• 1772 – Ram Mohan Roy, Indian philosopher and reformer (d. 1833)
• 1782 – Hirose Tansō, Japanese neo-Confucian scholar, teacher, writer (d. 1856)
• 1783 – William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor, invented the electromagnet and electric motor (d. 1850)
• 1808 – Károly Brocky, Hungarian painter (d. 1855)
• 1808 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (d. 1855)
• 1811 – Giulia Grisi, Italian soprano (d. 1869)
• 1811 – Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle, English politician (d. 1864)
• 1813 – Richard Wagner, German composer (d. 1883)
• 1814 – Amalia Lindegren, Swedish painter (d. 1891)
• 1820 – Alexander Fesca, German pianist and composer (d. 1849)
• 1820 – Worthington Whittredge, American painter (d. 1910)
• 1828 – Albrecht von Graefe, German ophthalmologist and academic (d. 1870)
• 1831 – Henry Vandyke Carter, English anatomist and surgeon (d. 1897)
• 1833 – Félix Bracquemond, French painter and etcher (d. 1914)
• 1833 – Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, Spanish politician; served as Prime Minister of Spain in 1871 and 1872-73 (d. 1895)
• 1837 – Guillaume Fouace, French painter (d. 1895)
• 1841 – Hamilton Macallum, Scottish painter (d. 1896)
• 1841 – Catulle Mendès, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1909)
• 1844 – Mary Cassatt, American painter and educator (d. 1926)
• 1846 – Rita Cetina Gutiérrez, Mexican poet, educator, and activist (d. 1908)
• 1848 – Fritz von Uhde, German painter and educator (d. 1911)
• 1849 – Aston Webb, English architect and academic (d. 1930)
• 1850 – Johann Schrammel, Austrian composer (d. 1893)
• 1850 – Hildegard Thorell, Swedish painter (d. 1930)
• 1852 – Émile Sauret, French violinist and composer (d. 1920)
• 1858 – Belmiro de Almeida, Brazilian painter, illustrator, sculptor (d. 1935)
• 1859 – Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (d. 1930)
• 1859 – Tsubouchi Shōyō, Japanese author, playwright, and educator (d. 1935)
• 1864 – Willy Stöwer, German author and illustrator (d. 1931)
• 1865 – Enric Morera i Viura, Spanish trumpet player, violinist, composer (d. 1942)
• 1867 – Julio Nakpil, Filipino composer and general (d. 1960)
• 1867 – Augusto Valli, Italian realist painter (d. 1945)
• 1868 – Augusto Pestana, Brazilian engineer and politician (d. 1934)
• 1874 – Daniel François Malan, South African clergyman and politician, 5th Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1959)
• 1876 – Julius Klinger, Austrian painter and illustrator (d. 1942)
• 1879 – Warwick Armstrong, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 1947)
• 1879 – Jean Cras, French admiral and composer (d. 1932)
• 1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian statesman and independence leader (d. 1926)
• 1879 – Jack White, Irish trade unionist and army organizer (d. 1946)
• 1880 – Francis de Miomandre, French author and translator (d. 1959)
• 1885 – Giacomo Matteotti, Italian lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
• 1885 – Kansuke Naka, Japanese novelist (d. 1965)
• 1885 – Soemu Toyoda, Japanese admiral (d. 1957)
• 1887 – Arthur Cravan, Swiss-born pugilist and poet (d. 1918)
• 1887 – Wilhelm Kaisen, German politician (d. 1979)
• 1891 – Johannes R. Becher, German politician, novelist, and poet (d. 1958)
• 1891 – Eddie Edwards, American baseball player and trombonist (d. 1963)
• 1892 – William Roy Hodgson, Australian soldier, politician, diplomat (d. 1958)
• 1894 – Friedrich Pollock, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1970)
• 1897 – Marcelle Meyer, French pianist (d. 1958)
• 1897 – Robert Neumann, German and English-speaking author (d. 1975)
• 1898 – Rito Selvaggi, Italian pianist, composer, conductor, poet (d. 1972)
• 1900 – Herbert A. Wagner, Austrian scientist (d. 1982)
• 1901 – Maurice J. Tobin, American politician, 6th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 1953)
• 1902 – Al Simmons, American baseball player and coach (d. 1956)
• 1903 – Yves Rocard, French physicist and academic (d. 1992)
• 1903 – P. J. Wolfson, American writer and screenwriter (d. 1979)
• 1904 – Uno Lamm, Swedish electrical engineer and inventor (d. 1989)
• 1905 – Bodo von Borries, German physicist and academic, co-invented the electron microscope (d. 1956)
• 1905 – Tom Driberg, British politician (d. 1976)
• 1907 – Hergé, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1983)
• 1907 – Eugène Claudius-Petit, French politician (d. 1989)
• 1907 – Laurence Olivier, English actor, director, producer (d. 1989)
• 1908 – Rattana Pestonji, Thai director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer (d. 1970)
• 1908 – Horton Smith. American golfer and captain (d. 1963)
• 1909 – Margaret Mee, English illustrator and educator (d. 1988)
• 1911 – Anatol Rapoport, Russian-American psychologist and academic (d. 2007)
• 1912 – Herbert C. Brown, English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
• 1913 – Rafael Gil, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 1986)
• 1913 – William Hawthorne, English engineer and academic (d. 2011)
• 1913 – Dominique Rolin, Belgian author (d. 2012)
• 1914 – Max Kohnstamm, Dutch historian and diplomat (d. 2010)
• 1914 – Vance Packard, American journalist and author (d. 1996)
• 1914 – Sun Ra, American pianist, composer, bandleader, poet (d. 1993)
• 1914 – Edward Arthur Thompson, Irish historian and author (d. 1994)
• 1916 – William C. Brown, American engineer (d. 1999)
• 1917 – George Aratani, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
• 1917 – Jean-Louis Curtis, French author (d. 1995)
• 1919 – Paul Vanden Boeynants, Belgian businessman and politician, 55th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2001)
• 1920 – Thomas Gold, Austrian-American astrophysicist and academic (d. 2004)
• 1922 – Quinn Martin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1987)
• 1924 – Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer-songwriter and actor
• 1925 – Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1991)
• 1926 – Ramanlal Joshi, Indian literary critic (d. 2006)
• 1927 – Michael Constantine, American actor
• 1927 – Peter Matthiessen, American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review (d. 2014)
• 1927 – George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1928 – Serge Doubrovsky, French theorist and author
• 1928 – John Mackenzie, Scottish director and producer (d. 2011)
• 1928 – T. Boone Pickens, American businessman
• 1928 – Hiroshi Sano, Japanese novelist (d. 2013)
• 1929 – Ahmed Fouad Negm, Egyptian poet (d. 2013)
• 1930 – Kenny Ball, English trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2013)
• 1930 – Marisol Escobar, French-American sculptor
• 1930 – Harvey Milk, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1978)
• 1932 – Robert Spitzer, American psychiatrist and academic (d. 2015)
• 1933 – Chen Jingrun, Chinese mathematician and academic (d. 1996)
• 1933 – Gamaliel Onosode, Nigerian businessman and politician (d. 2015)
• 1934 – Don Cupitt, English priest, philosopher, and theologian
• 1934 – Peter Nero, American pianist and conductor
• 1935 – Desmond Seward, English historian and author
• 1936 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (d. 2014)
• 1936 – M. Scott Peck, American psychiatrist and author (d. 2005)
• 1937 – Facundo Cabral, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
• 1937 – Guy Marchand, French actor
• 1938 – Richard Benjamin, American actor and director
• 1938 – Dieter Dengler, German-American aviator
• 1938 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (d. 1999)
• 1939 – Paul Winfield, American actor (d. 2004)
• 1940 – Kieth Merrill, American filmmaker
• 1940 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (d. 2011)
• 1940 – Bernard Shaw, American journalist
• 1941 – Menzies Campbell, Scottish sprinter and politician
• 1942 – Ted Kaczynski, American academic and mathematician turned anarchist and serial murderer (Unabomber)
• 1942 – Barbara Parkins, Canadian actress
• 1943 – David Bernstein, English businessman
• 1943 – Tommy John, American baseball player and manager
• 1943 – Gesine Schwan, German politician
• 1943 – Betty Williams, Northern Irish peace activist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1944 – John Flanagan, Australian fantasy author
• 1946 – George Best, Northern Irish footballer and manager (d. 2005)
• 1946 – Michael Green, English physicist and academic
• 1946 – Howard Kendall, English footballer and manager (d. 2015)
• 1946 – Andrei Marga, Romanian philosopher, political scientist, politician
• 1947 – Mohamed Hashish, Egyptian-born research scientist
• 1948 – Tomás Sánchez, Cuban painter and engraver
• 1948 – Nedumudi Venu, Indian actor and screenwriter
• 1949 – Cheryl Campbell, English actress
• 1949 – Valentin Inzko, Austrian diplomat
• 1950 – Alekos Alavanos, Greek lawyer and politician
• 1950 – Irène Frain, French novelist and journalist
• 1950 – Bernie Taupin, English singer-songwriter and poet
• 1953 – Peter Bazalgette, English television producer
• 1953 – Roger Bellon, French composer
• 1953 – François Bon, French writer
• 1953 – Cha Bum-kun, South Korean footballer and manager
• 1953 – Paul Mariner, English footballer, coach, and manager
• 1954 – Shuji Nakamura, Japanese-American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1955 – Iva Davies, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer
• 1957 – Lisa Murkowski, American lawyer and politician
• 1959 – David Blatt, American-Israeli basketball player and coach
• 1959 – Morrissey, English singer-songwriter and performer
• 1959 – Kwak Jae-yong, South Korean director and screenwriter
• 1959 – Mehbooba Mufti, Indian politician
• 1960 – Hideaki Anno, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter
• 1962 – Brian Pillman, American football player and wrestler (d. 1997)
• 1962 – Andrew Raftery, American printer and engraver
• 1964 – Mark Christopher Lawrence, American actor and producer
• 1964 – Maya Usova, Russian figure skater
• 1965 – Jay Carney, American journalist, 29th White House Press Secretary
• 1966 – Johnny Gill, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1966 – Wang Xiaoshuai, Chinese director and screenwriter
• 1968 – Ma Jun, Chinese environmentalist and journalist
• 1968 – Graham Linehan, Irish comedian, actor, and author
• 1968 – Karen Lord, Barbadian author
• 1968 – Simon Rumley, English director and screenwriter
• 1969 – Cathy McMorris Rodgers, American lawyer and politician
• 1970 – Naomi Campbell, English model
• 1970 – Pedro Diniz, Brazilian race car driver
• 1972 – Max Brooks, American author and screenwriter
• 1972 – Jaouad Gharib, Moroccan runner
• 1972 – Joana Preiss, French actress
• 1973 – Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Danish actor
• 1973 – Danny Tiatto, Australian footballer
• 1974 – Garba Lawal, Nigerian footballer
• 1974 – Henrietta Ónodi, Hungarian Olympic gymnast
• 1974 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian politician
• 1975 – Salva Ballesta, Spanish footballer and manager
• 1975 – Cole Hauser, American actor
• 1976 – Cheyenne Carron, French film director, screenwriter, producer
• 1976 – Daniel Erlandsson, Swedish drummer
• 1976 – Christian Vande Velde, American cyclist
• 1977 – Dré Bly, American football player
• 1977 – Pat Smullen, Irish jockey
• 1978 – Ginnifer Goodwin, American actress
• 1978 – Katie Price, English model, businesswoman, and author
• 1979 – Delfine Bafort, Belgian fashion model and actress
• 1979 – Vivian Green, American R&B singer-songwriter
• 1979 – Maggie Q, American actress
• 1980 – Nazanin Boniadi, Iranian-American actress
• 1980 – Lucy Gordon, British actress and model
• 1981 – Daniel Bryan, American wrestler
• 1981 – Eric Butorac, American tennis player
• 1981 – Bassel Khartabil, Syrian computer programmer and engineer
• 1981 – Jürgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player
• 1982 – Apolo Ohno, American speed skater
• 1982 – Hong Yong-jo, North Korean footballer
• 1983 – John Hopkins, American motorcycle racer
• 1983 – Natasha Kai, American soccer player and Olympic medalist
• 1984 – Karoline Herfurth, German actress
• 1984 – Didier Ya Konan, Ivorian footballer
• 1984 – Dustin Moskovitz, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Facebook
• 1984 – Keita Nakamura, Japanese mixed martial artist
• 1985 – Tranquillo Barnetta, Swiss footballer
• 1985 – Mauro Boselli, Argentinian footballer
• 1985 – Tao Okamoto, Japanese model and actress
• 1986 – Matt Jarvis, English footballer
• 1986 – Thanduyise Khuboni, South African footballer
• 1986 – Tatiana Volosozhar, Russian figure skater
• 1987 – Mikhail Aleshin, Russian racing driver
• 1987 – Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player
• 1987 – Vladimir Granat, Russian footballer
• 1987 – Arturo Vidal, Chilean footballer
• 1988 – Chase Budinger, American basketball player
• 1988 – Heida Reed, Icelandic-British actress
• 1990 – Wyatt Roy, Australian politician
• 1991 – Kyle Bartley, English footballer
• 1991 – Joel Obi, Nigerian footballer
• 1999 – Camren Bicondova, American actress

Deaths

• 192 – Dong Zhuo, Chinese warlord and politician (b. 138)
• 337 – Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (b. 272)
• 748 – Empress Genshō of Japan (b. 683)
• 1068 – Emperor Go-Reizei of Japan (b. 1025)
• 1455 – Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1406)
• 1455 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English commander (b. 1393)
• 1457 – Rita of Cascia, Italian nun and saint (b. 1381)
• 1490 – Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent, English administrator, nobleman and magnate (b. 1416)
• 1538 – John Forest, English friar and martyr (b. 1471)
• 1540 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and politician (b. 1483)
• 1553 – Giovanni Bernardi, Italian sculptor and engraver (b. 1495)
• 1602 – Renata of Lorraine (b. 1544)
• 1609 – Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff, Dutch captain (b. 1573)
• 1666 – Gaspar Schott, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1608)
• 1667 – Pope Alexander VII (b. 1599)
• 1745 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French general (b. 1671)
• 1760 – Baal Shem Tov, Polish rabbi and author (b. 1700)
• 1772 – Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian and academic (b. 1687)
• 1795 – Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg, Prussian politician, Foreign Minister of Prussia (b. 1725)
• 1851 – Mordecai Manuel Noah, American journalist and diplomat (b. 1755)
• 1859 – Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (b. 1810)
• 1861 – Thornsbury Bailey Brown, American soldier (b. 1829)
• 1868 – Julius Plücker, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)
• 1885 – Victor Hugo, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1802)
• 1901 – Gaetano Bresci, Italian-American anarchist, assassin of Umberto I of Italy (b. 1869)
• 1910 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (b. 1864)
• 1932 – Augusta, Lady Gregory, Anglo-Irish activist, landlord, and playwright, co-founded the Abbey Theatre (b. 1852)
• 1933 – Tsengeltiin Jigjidjav, Mongolian politician, 10th Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1894)
• 1938 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (b. 1870)
• 1939 – Ernst Toller, German playwright and author (b. 1893)
• 1939 – Jiří Mahen, Czech author and playwright (b. 1882)
• 1954 – Chief Bender, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1884)
• 1965 – Christopher Stone, English radio host (b. 1882)
• 1966 – Tom Goddard, English cricketer (b. 1900)
• 1967 – Langston Hughes, American poet, novelist, playwright (b. 1902)
• 1972 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Anglo-Irish poet and author (b. 1904)
• 1972 – Margaret Rutherford, English actress (b. 1892)
• 1975 – Lefty Grove, American baseball player (b. 1900)
• 1975 – Torben Meyer, Danish actor (b. 1884)
• 1982 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (b. 1899)
• 1983 – Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
• 1985 – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator, director, and producer (b. 1909)
• 1986 – Umar al-Tilmisani, Egyptian religious leader
• 1988 – Giorgio Almirante, Italian journalist and politician (b. 1914)
• 1989 – Steven De Groote, South African pianist and educator (b. 1953)
• 1990 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer and actor (b. 1922)
• 1991 – Shripad Amrit Dange, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1899)
• 1991 – Stan Mortensen, English footballer and manager (b. 1921)
• 1992 – Zellig Harris, American linguist and academic (b. 1909)
• 1993 – Mieczysław Horszowski, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1892)
• 1997 – Alfred Hershey, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
• 1998 – John Derek, American actor, director, and photographer (b. 1926)
• 1998 – José Enrique Moyal, Israeli physicist and engineer (b. 1910)
• 2000 – Davie Fulton, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1916)
• 2004 – Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (b. 1945)
• 2005 – Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (b. 1914)
• 2005 – Julia Randall, American poet and academic (b. 1924)
• 2005 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (b. 1914)
• 2006 – Lee Jong-wook, South Korean physician and diplomat (b. 1945)
• 2007 – Pemba Doma Sherpa, Nepalese mountaineer (b. 1970)
• 2008 – Robert Asprin, American soldier and author (b. 1946)
• 2010 – Martin Gardner, American mathematician, cryptographer, and author (b. 1914)
• 2011 – Joseph Brooks, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (b. 1938)
• 2012 – Muzafar Bhutto, Pakistani politician (b. 1970)
• 2012 – Wesley A. Brown, American lieutenant and engineer (b. 1927)
• 2012 – Flinder Anderson Khonglam, Indian physician and politician, 18th Chief Minister of Meghalaya (b. 1945)
• 2012 – Dave Mann, American-Canadian football player (b. 1932)
• 2013 – Bill Austin, American football player and coach (b. 1928)
• 2013 – Mick McManus, English wrestler (b. 1920)
• 2013 – Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt, Russian historian and ethnographer (b. 1922)
• 2015 – Marques Haynes, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
• 2015 – Vladimir Katriuk, Ukrainian-Canadian SS officer (b. 1921)
• 2016 – Velimir "Bata" Živojinović, Serbian actor and politician (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances

• Abolition Day (Martinique)
• Christian feast day:
  • Castus and Emilius
  • Fulk
  • Humilita
  • Michael Hồ Đình Hy (one of Vietnamese Martyrs)
  • Quiteria
  • Rita of Cascia
  • Romanus of Subiaco
  • May 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Harvey Milk Day (California)
• International Day for Biological Diversity (International)
• United States National Maritime Day
• National Sovereignty Day (Haiti)
• Republic Day (Sri Lanka)
• Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari (Ukraine)
• Unity Day (Yemen), celebrates the unification of North and South Yemen into the Republic of Yemen in 1990.
• World Goth Day

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to May 22.

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day