Historical Events
- May 17 John Hawkins and Richard French patent the Reaping Machine
- May 18 "Peace of Amiens" between French Republic and Great Britain ends as Britain declares war on France, due to France's imperialist policies in the West Indies, Italy, and Switzerland
- May 22 1st US public library opens in Connecticut
Beethoven and Bridgewater Perform
May 24 Ludwig van Beethoven and black violinist George Bridgewater perform a concert together at the Augarten, Vienna [1]
Famous Birthdays
- May 7 Johan Peter Cronhamm, Swedish composer, born in Östra Karup, Skåne, Sweden (d. 1875)
- May 8 Joseph Napoleon Ney, French politician, born in Paris (d. 1857)
- May 12 Justus von Liebig, German agricultural and biological chemist who is considered the founder of organic chemistry, born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany (d. 1873)
- May 17 Robert Smith Surtees, British novelist (Jorrocks’s Jaunts and Jollities), born in The Riding, England (d. 1864)
- May 24 Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish zoologist, born in Kotka, Finland (d. 1866)
- May 24 Charles Lucien Bonaparte, French prince of Canino and Musignano, born in Paris (d. 1857)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
May 25 American essayist and philosopher (Concord Hymn), born in Boston, Massachusetts
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies