What Happened on May 15

Significant Events

  • 1252 Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition
  • 1618 German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovers the third of his three planetary laws his "harmonics law"
  • 1869 National Woman Suffrage Association forms in New York, founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
  • 1940 McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California
  • 1951 AT&T becomes the 1st US corporation to have a million stockholders after young car salesman Brady Denton purchases 7 shares worth $1,078
  • 1988 USSR begins withdrawing its 115,000 troops from Afghanistan
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May 15 in Film & TV

  • 2002 "Bowling for Columbine", a documentary directed by Michael Moore has its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival

May 15 in Music

  • 1914 Henri Rabaud's opera "Marouf, savetier de Caire" premieres in Paris

May 15 in Sport

  • 2010 Jessica Watson at age 16 becomes the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world

Did You Know?

Mickey Mouse makes his 1st ever appearance in silent film "Plane Crazy"

On May 15, 1928

Famous Birthdays

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Would You Believe?

James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents world's 1st machine gun

On May 15, 1718

Famous Weddings

  • 1567 Mary, Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell
  • 1825 Author and scholar Wilhelm Grimm (39) weds Henriette Dorothea
  • 1948 Dancer and actress Cyd Charisse (26) weds singer Tony Martin (34)
  • 1965 Director Martin Scorsese (22) weds Laraine Brennan in New York
  • 1993 Actress Jane Seymour weds actor James Kesch
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Famous Deaths

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May in History