U.S. President Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant group Al-Qaeda, has been killed during an American military operation in Pakistan.
The largest expansion to date of the European Union takes place, extending the Union by 10 member-states: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus.
Thursday, May 1, 2003
President Bush safely lands in an S-3B Viking jet on the deck of the USS "Abraham Lincoln" returning from operations in Iraq while 100 miles off the coast of San Diego, California. It is the first time a sitting president has arrived on the deck of an aircraft carrier by plane. Bush makes a primetime address, surrounded by hundreds of sailors, in which he declares major combat operations in Iraq over while standing in front of a banner reading Mission Accomplished.
After originating in the Philippines, the ILOVEYOU computer virus spreads quickly throughout the world.
A new class of composite material is fabricated, which has a combination of physical properties never before seen in a natural or man-made material.ref name=compref name=UCSD-press-release{{cite web|author=McDonald, Kim|title= UCSD Physicists Develop a New Class of Composite Material with 'Reverse' Physical Properties Never Before Seen
U.S. President Bush is hospitalized after experiencing irregular heartbeat. He is released from hospital the next day.
Tuesday, May 1, 1990
The former Episcopal Church in the Philippines (supervised by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America) is granted full autonomy and raised to the states of an Autocephalous Anglican Province and renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines.
A crowd of over 100,000 attends the first day of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. The fair is kicked off with an address by President Ronald Reagan. Over 11 million people attend the fair during its 6-month run.
A crowd of over 100,000 attends the first day of the 1982 World\\'s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. The fair is kicked off with an address by PresidentRonald Reagan. Over 11 million people attend the fair during its 6-month run.
Falklands War: The nuclear submarine HMS "Conqueror" sinks the Argentine cruiser "General Belgrano", killing 323 sailors.
A train crash in Schiedam, the Netherlands, kills 24 people.
Neville Wran becomes Premier of New South Wales.
The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched.
Tuesday, May 1, 1973
An estimated 1,600,000 workers in the United Kingdom stop work in support of a Trade Union Congress day of national protest and stoppage against the Government's anti-inflation policy.
Friday, May 1, 1970
Demonstrations against the trial of the New Haven Nine, Bobby Seale, and Ericka Huggins draw 12,000. President Richard Nixon orders U.S. forces to cross into neutral Cambodia, threatening to widen the Vietnam War, sparking nationwide riots and leading to the Kent State Shootings.
Sunday, May 1, 1966
Floods occur on the Finnish coast.
Friday, May 1, 1964
Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, hitchhiking in Meadville, Mississippi, are kidnapped and beaten by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Their badly decomposed bodies are found by chance 2 months later in July, during the search for 3 civil rights workers – Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.
Some 400–1,000 students march through Times Square, New York and another 700 in San Francisco, in the first major student demonstration against the Vietnam War. Smaller marches also occur in Boston, Seattle, and Madison, Wisconsin.
Senator Barry Goldwater receives more than 75% of the votes in the Texas Republican Presidential primary.
At 4:00 a.m., John George Kemeny and Thomas Eugene Kurtz run the first program written in BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), an easy to learn high level programming language which they have created. BASIC is eventually included on many computers and even some games consoles.
Wednesday, May 1, 1963
Thousands of African Americans, many of them children, are arrested while protesting segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Public Safety Commissioner Eugene Bull Connor later unleashes fire hoses and police dogs on the demonstrators.
Berthold Seliger launches near Cuxhaven a 3 stage rocket with a maximum flight altitude of more than 62 miles (the only sounding rocket developed in Germany).
Sunday, May 1, 1955
Warsaw Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance signed (Warsaw Treaty Organization) (effective June 6).
Robert Schuman presents his proposal for the creation of a pan-European organisation, which he believes to be indispensable to the maintenance of permanently peaceful relations between the different nations of the continent. This proposal, known as the Schuman declaration, is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.
Southeastern Michigan receives a record of snow after temperatures plummeted from 62 to 34 degrees between 1 and 6 pm on the previous day.//www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/talesmay.php National Weather Service
Rahula College is established in Ceylon with the name of Parakramabhahu Vidyalaya.
Dundela Football, Sports Association Club were formed
Monday, May 1, 1893
The 1893 World's Fair, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition, opens to the public in Chicago, USA. The first United States commemorative postage sts are issued for the Exposition.
The 1893 World\\'s Fair, also known as the World's Columbian Exposition, opens to the public in Chicago, USA. The first United States commemorative postage sts are issued for the Exposition.
Friday, May 1, 1891
Troops fire on a workers' May Day demonstration in support of the 8-hour workday in Fourmies, France, killing 9 and wounding 30.
The eight-hour workday is first proclaimed by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States. May 1, called "May Day" or "Labour Day", is now a holiday recognized in almost every industrialized country.
Wednesday, May 1, 1872
Yellowstone becomes the world's first national park.
Monday, May 1, 1865
The Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay against Paraguay is formally signed the Paraguayan War has already begun.
Friday, May 1, 1863
4 ndash American Civil War ndash The Battle of Chancellorsville: General Robert E. Lee defeats Union forces with 13,000 Confederate casualties, among them Stonewall Jackson (lost to friendly fire), and 17,500 Union casualties.
Tuesday, May 1, 1860
A Chondrite type meteorite falls to earth in Muskingum County, Ohio near the town of New Concord.
Van Dieman's Land separated from New South Wales and granted self-government
Walt Whitman registers the title "Leaves of Grass" with the clerk of the United States District Court, Southern District of New Jersey, and receives its copyright.
Mid-May to mid-July ndash The Great Flood of 1851: extensive flooding across Midwest U.S., town of Des Moines virtually washed away, many rainfall records hold for 160 years.
"Species Plantarum" is published by Linnaeus (adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature as the formal start date of the scientific classification of plants).
Wednesday, May 1, 1726
Voltaire begins exile in England.
Sunday, May 1, 1707
The Acts of Union become law, uniting the Parliaments of the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Thursday, May 1, 1704
The Boston News-Letter first successful newspaper in the US is published
Friday, May 1, 1699
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville founds the first European settlement in the Mississippi River Valley, at Fort Maurepas (Ocean Springs, Mississippi).
Jean Ribault, French navigator, lands in Florida and later establishes a Huguenot colony at Charlesfort on Parris Island, off the coast of South Carolina.
The brightest supernova ever recorded, SN 1006, occurs in the constellation of Lupus. It is observed and described in China, Japan, the Middle East, Europe, and elsewhere.
Wednesday, April 27, 880 (Julianian calendar)
The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.
Pope John VIII issues the bull "Industriae Tuae", creating an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop Saint Methodius as its head. The Old Church Slavonic is recognized as the fourth liturgical language, besides Latin, Greek and Hebrew.
King Sigismund is executed at Orléans after an 8-year reign and is succeeded by his brother Godomar. He rallies the Burgundian army and begins plundering Frankish territory.
Thursday, April 30, 408 (Julianian calendar)
Summer ndash Emperor Honorius marries Thermantia, second daughter of Stilicho, his famous general ("magister militum").
Emperor Arcadius dies in his palace at Constantinople after a weak 13-year reign. He is succeeded by his 7-year-old son, Theodosius II, who rules under the domination of his devout Christian sister Pulcheria and Anthemius, who acts as regent.
The Roman usurper Constantine III established his headquarters at Arles (Southern Gaul) and elevates his eldest son, Constans, to the rank of "Caesar". He sends him with a expeditionary force under Gerontius to Hispania, in order to suppress the revolt of some members of the House of Theodosius who are loyal to Honorius.
The Council of Illiberis decrees that priests must be celibate. Additionally, it condemns visiting the homes of Jews and prohibits Christian women from marrying Jews, unless they have converted.
Catherine makes public confession of Christian gospel at a sacrificial feast ordered by Maximinus II at Alexandria. A virgin of royal descent, she is tortured on a spiked wheel (later called Catherine Wheel) and beheaded her remains are spirited to Mount Sinai.
Emperor Diocletian abdicates at age 60 and retires to his palace at Salona (modern Split) on the Adriatic coast after a reign of nearly 21 years in which the last vestiges of republican government have disappeared.
Landowners dominate the Roman Empire and enjoy the title of senator, which exempts them from the crushing taxes imposed on the rest of the population. The Senate has lost all its power and the landowners almost never attend Senate sessions. Members of municipal senates ("curiales" or "decuriones") are charged with the responsibility of collecting taxes and paying arrears smaller landowners are held responsible for providing recruits for the Roman army and with keeping wastelands under cultivation.
In the Western Empire, the capital is moved from Rome to Milan. Constantius Chlorus requests leave for his son Constantine I who remains at Galerius's court in Nicomedia, as a virtual hostage.
Summer ndash Constantine I joins his father in Gaul, from Bononia (Boulogne) they cross the Channel to Britain and make their way to Eboracum (York), capital of Britannia Secunda and home to a large military base in order to deal with a rebellion by the Picts.
Maximinus II (305–313) persecutes the Christians of Egypt, many of whom take refuge in the desert. In time, this refuge leads to the monastic life. In these monasteries Coptic writing develops, supporting the propagation of Christian texts.
