May 11th in History

Michael Dobson | May 11

Photo: Chang and Eng Bunker, conjoined twins known as the “Siamese Twins,” born May 11, 1811.

Today in History

  • Fifty-four Knights Templar are burned at the stake as heretics (1310)
  • The US declares war on Mexico (1846)
  • Minnesota becomes a US state (1858)
  • Four thousand Pullman workers go on strike (1894)
  • The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded (1927)
  • Adolf Eichmann is captured by Mossad agents (1960)
  • Racist bombings take place in Birmingham, Alabama, destroying the Birmingham motel where Martin Luther King was staying and triggering riots in the city (1963)
  • Charges against Daniel Ellsberg for releasing the Pentagon Papers are dismissed because of government misconduct (1973)
  • The first heart-lung transplant takes place (1987)
  • Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess (1997)

Birthdays

 

  • Baron Münchhausen, storyteller (1720)
  • Chang and Eng Bunker, conjoined twins (1811)
  • Harriet Quimby, pilot (1875)
  • Irving Berlin, composer (1888)
  • Martha Graham, choreographer (1894)
  • Salvador Dalí, painter (1904)
  • Phil Silvers, comedian (1911)
  • Foster Brooks, comedian (1912)
  • Richard Feynman, physicist (1918)
  • Denver Pyle, actor (1920)
  • Mort Sahl, comedian (1927)
  • Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader (1933)
  • Doug McClure, actor (1935)
  • Robert Jarvik, artificial heart developer (1946)
  • Martha Quinn, veejay (1959)
  • Natasha Richardson, actress (1963)
  • Laetitia Casta, supermodel (1978)

Deaths

  • William Pitt the Elder, politician (1778)
  • John Cadbury, chocolatier (1889)
  • A. E. Becquerel, physicist (1891)
  • Karl Schwarzschild, astronomer (19196)
  • William Dean Howells, author (1920)
  • Juan Gris, painter and sculptor (1927)
  • Lex Barker, actor (1973)
  • Lester Flatt, bluegrass musician (1979)
  • Bob Marley, singer-songwriter (1981)
  • Chester Gould, cartoonist (1985)
  • Kim Philby, spy (1988)
  • Douglas Adams, author (2001)
  • Bill Peet, animator (2002)
  • Floyd Patterson, boxer (2006)
  • Tony DeZuniga, comics artist (2012)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Human Rights Day (Vietnam)
  • National Technology Day (India)
  • Nisga’a Day (Nisga’a Nation)
  • Statehood Day (Minnesota)
Informal and made-up holidays include Eat What You Want Day, Hostess CupCake Day, Root Canal Appreciation Day, and Twilight Zone Day.