EVENTS
- 868 – The earliest surviving dated printed book is produced in China. The “Diamond Sutra” is one of the most important texts in Mahayana Buddhism. The British Library in London presently houses the copy.
- 1862 – To prevent its capture by Union forces advancing in Virginia, the Confederate Ironclad Merrimac was destroyed by the Confederate Navy. In March, the Merrimac had fought the Union Ironclad Monitor to a draw. Naval warfare was thus changed forever, making wooden ships obsolete.
- 1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded.
- 1949 – Israel joins the United Nations.
- 1969 – During the Vietnam War, the Battle of “Hamburger Hill” began. While attempting to seize the Dong Ap Bia Mountain, U.S. troops repeatedly scaled the hill over a 10-day period and engaged in bloody hand-to-hand combat with the North Vietnamese.
Battle of “Hamburger Hill” After finally securing the objective, American military staff decided to abandon the position, which the North Vietnamese retook shortly thereafter. The battle highlighted the futility of the overall American military strategy.
- 1981 – The musical “Cats” is premiered. The piece sparked a musical craze around the world and catapulted the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber to stardom.
- 1985 – 56 football fans die in a stadium fire. During a match against Lincoln City, the wooden stands at Valley Parade football ground went up in flames. The exits were locked. A burning cigarette thrown into a waste bin has been determined as the probable cause of the disaster.
- 1996 – ValuJet flight 592 crashes into the Florida Everglades shortly after takeoff. All 110 people on board lost their lives in the crash that was caused by a fire in the cargo compartment.
- 1997 – IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer defeats Garry Kasparov in chess, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player.
- 1998 – India executes a series of nuclear weapons tests. The detonations raised fears of a nuclear conflict in the area and sparked international protests. On May 13, 1998, India officially declared itself a nuclear power.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1838 – Walter Goodman (English painter, illustrator, author)
- 1861 – Frederick Russell Burnham (American soldier, adventurer)
- 1888 – Irving Berlin (Composer)
- 1893 – Modern dance pioneer Martha Graham (1893-1991) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Martha Graham - 1904 – Salvador Dali (Artist)
- 1918 – Richard Feynman (American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate)
- 1920 – Denver Pyle (Actor)
- 1932 – Valentino (Designer)
- 1963 – Natasha Richardson (Actress)
- 1989 – Cam Newton (Football player)
DEATHS
- 1760 – Alaungpaya (Burmese king)
- 1778 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
- 1981 – Bob Marley (Jamaican/American singer-songwriter, guitarist)
Bob Marley - 1988 – Kim Philby (British spy, Soviet double agent)
- 2001 – Douglas Adams (English/American author, playwright)
