Historical Events
Delambre Measures a Metre
May 5 Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre commissioned to measure the meridian between Dunkerque to Rodez to calculate accurate length of the metre
- May 7 Captain Robert Gray is the first European to discover Grays Harbor (Washington state)
- May 8 British Captain George Vancouver sights and names Mt Rainier, Washington
- May 8 US establishes the military draft
- May 11 Columbia River discovered & named by US Captain Robert Gray
- May 16 Denmark abolishes slave trade
- May 17 24 merchants form the New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street
- May 19 Russian army enters Poland
- May 21 Mount Unzen on Japan's Shimabara Peninsula, erupts creating a tsunami, killing about 15,000; Japan's deadliest volcanic eruption
Famous Birthdays
- May 13 Pius IX "Pio Nono" [Giovanni-Maria Mastai-Ferretti], Italian Pope (1846-78) held First Vatican Council, lost control of Papal States, born in Senigallia, Papal States (d. 1878)
- May 18 Margaret Ann Neve, British 1st recorded female Supercentenarian, who lived in three centuries, born in St. Peter Port, Guernsey (d. 1903)
- May 21 Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, French scientist (Coriolis effect), born in Paris, France (d. 1843)
Famous Deaths
- May 3 Carlo Zuccari, Italian composer and violinist, dies at 87
- May 7 Aert Schouman, Dutch bird and portrait painter, dies at 82
- May 10 John Stevens, American delegate to the Continental Congress
- May 12 Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist, dies at 81
- May 24 George Brydges, 1st baron Rodney/admiral, dies
- May 24 Jacob Michael Reinhold Lenz, Baltic German poet and dramatist (The Soldiers), dies at 41
