Aurelia Cotta
120 BC Aurelia Cotta, Mother of Julius Caesar, born in Rome (d. 54 BC)
Aurelia Cotta
Alexander Pope
1688 Alexander Pope, English poet (Rape of the Lock, translation of Homer) (d. 1744), born in London, England
Alexander Pope
Elizabeth Fry
1780 Elizabeth Fry, English prison reformer, social reformer and Quaker Minister who is depicted on the British £5 note, born in Norwich, England (d. 1845)
Elizabeth Fry
- 1792 Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, French scientist (d. 1843)
- 1796 Reverdy Johnson, American politician and jurist (Dred Scott v. Sandford), born in Annapolis, (d. 1876)
- 1799 Mary Anning, Lyme Regis, Dorset, British fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist (Jurassic marine fossil beds of Lyme Regis in Dorset)
- 1821 John F Loudon, Dutch entrepreneur/colonial director
- 1822 Dabney Herndon Maury, Major General (Confederate Army), (d. 1900)
- 1822 Mosby Monroe Parsons, United States officer in the Mexican–American War and brigadier general of the Confederate States Army, born in Charlottesville, Virginia (d. 1865)
- 1825 George Lafayette Beal, American politician and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Norway, Maine (d. 1896)
- 1826 Danillo II, ruler of Montenegro
- 1827 William P. Sprague, American politician from Ohio (d. 1899)
- 1832 Elizabeth Storrs Mead, American educator (d. 1917)
- 1835 Newton Martin Curtis, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in De Peyster, New York (d. 1910)
- 1835 František Chvostek, Moravian physician (d. 1884)
- 1843 Charles-Albert Gobat, Swiss politician, recipient of the 1902 Nobel Peace Prize, born in Tramelan, Switzerland (d. 1914)
- 1843 Louis Renault, French lawyer, born in Autun, France (d. 1918)
- 1844 Henri Rousseau, French post-impressionist painter (The Dream, The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope), born in Laval, France (d. 1910)
- 1850 Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (d. 1914)
- 1851 Leon Bourgeois, French politician, internationalist (Nobel 1920)
- 1851 Léon-Victor-Auguste Bourgeois, French Prime Minister (1895-96, Nobel 1920), born in Paris (d. 1925)
- 1853 Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, French politician (d. 1905)
- 1855 Emile A G Verhaeren, Belgian poet/writer (Les Flammes Hautes)
- 1858 Jose Battle Ordonez, Uruguay, politician
- 1860 Willem Einthoven, Dutch physiologist and inventor of the electrocardiodiogram (Nobel Prize in Medicine 1924), born in Semarang, Dutch East Indies (d. 1927)
- 1864 Princess Stephanie of Belgium (d. 1945)
- 1872 Henry Warren, inventor (Telechon electric clock), born in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1873 Emil Ermatinger, Swiss literature historian, born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland (d. 1953)
- 1873 Everard Verachtert, Flemish translator (I speak beschaafd Dutch)
- 1873 Hans Berger, German neuroscientist (d. 1941)
- 1878 Glenn Hammond Curtiss, American inventor (hydroplane)
- 1878 Louis de Visser, Dutch politician (CPN)
- 1880 Tudor Arghezi, Romanian writer (d. 1967)
- 1884 Manuel Pérez y Curis, Uruguayan poet (d. 1920)
- 1885 Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg, wife of Prince William of Wied (d. 1936)
- 1892 John Peale Bishop, American poet (This Side of Paradise)
- 1898 Armand Hammer, American millionaire industrialist (Occidental Petroleum), born in NYC, New York
- 1901 Suzanne Lilar, [Verbist], France/Belgian writer (Le burlador)
- 1901 Sam Jaffe, American music and film producer (Born Free, The Fighting Sullivans), born in Harlem, New York (d. 2000)
- 1902 Marcel Lajos Breuer, Hungarian-born architect (d. 1981)
- 1903 Ali Sastroamidjojo, Indonesian attorney/minister/premier (1953..7)
- 1903 Manly Wade Wellman, Angola, sci-fi author (After Dark, Devil's Planet)
- 1903 Pedro Aramburu, president Argentina
- 1909 Guy de Rothschild, French banker
- 1909 François-Albert Angers, Quebec economist (d. 2003)
- 1912 John Curtis Gowan, American psychologist (d. 1986)
- 1916 Harold Robbins, American author (Moneychangers, Carpetbaggers, Betsy), born in NYC, New York
- 1916 Joseph Janni, producer
- 1916 Leonard Manasseh, British architect (Rutherford School), born in Singapore (d. 2017)
- 1917 Heather Swift, local councillor
- 1917 Ronald John Bilsland Colville, businessman
- 1918 Leonard Mullens, rubber physicist
- 1919 Lord Maxwell, senator/prof (college of Justice Scotland)
- 1919 Mark Wood, bishop (Ludlow)
Andrei Sakharov
1921 Andrei Sakharov, Russian nuclear physicist and an activist for disarmament, peace and human rights (1975 Nobel), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1989)
Andrei Sakharov
Malcolm Fraser
1930 Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister of Australia (Liberal, 1975-83), born in Toorak, Victoria
Malcolm Fraser
- 1930 Stanley Wells, English scholar of Shakespeare (Shakespeare Institute U of Birmingham), born in Hull, England
- 1931 George Vassiliou, president of Cyprus (1988-93)
- 1932 Gabriele Wohmann, German writer, born in Darmstadt (d. 2015)
- 1932 John Armitage, principal (College of St Hilda & St Bede Durham)
- 1934 Phillip King, British sculptor
- 1934 Bengt I. Samuelsson, Swedish biochemist, Nobel laureate
- 1936 Ama Samy, Burma, Jesuit priest/Zen teacher/disciple of Yamada Koun
- 1936 Dipak Nandy, founder (Runnymead Trust)
- 1936 Abdul Taib Mahmud, 4th Chief Minister of Sarawak (1981-2014) and 7th Governor of Sarawak (2014-), born in Miri, Kingdom of Sarawak
- 1938 Urs Widmer, Swiss writer, born in Basel (d. 2014)
- 1941 Anatoli Semyonovich Levchenko, USSR, cosmonaut (TM-4)
- 1942 David Hunt, British Conservative politician, born in Glyn Ceiriog, Wales
- 1942 Robert C Springer, Col USMC/astronaut (STS-29, STS-38), born in St. Louis, Missouri
- 1944 Janet Dailey, American author
- 1944 Manual Pina, fashion designer
- 1944 Mary Robinson, President of Republic of Ireland (Labour, 1990- )
- 1945 Ernst Willi Messerschmid, Reutlingen Germany, astronaut (STS 22)
- 1947 Jiggs Kalra, Indian food writer "Czar of Indian cuisine", born in Punjab region, India (d. 2019)
- 1949 Andrew Neil, Scottish newspaper editor, (Sunday Times), born in Paisley, Scotland
- 1957 Bruce Buffer, American Mixed Martial Arts Announcer
- 1957 Nadine Dorries, British politician
- 1958 Jefery Levy, American television director
- 1959 Brisn Lenihan, Jnr, Irish politician and minister, born in Dublin (d. 2011)
Jeffrey Dahmer
1960 Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (Milwaukee Cannibal), born in West Allis, Wisconsin (d. 1994)
Jeffrey Dahmer
- 1963 Richard Appel, American writer
- 1968 Matthias Ungemach, German rower
- 1974 Fairuza Balk (The Craft, Gas Food Lodging)
- 1979 James Clancy Phelan, Australian novelist
- 1979 Jamie Hepburn, Member of the Scottish Parliament
- 1979 Scott Smith, mixed martial arts fighter
- 1984 Brandon Fields, National Football League punter
- 1985 Frustaci Septuplets, California, Patricia Frustaci gives birth to 7
- 1991 Kayla Itsines, Australian fitness entrepreneur (Bikini Body Guides), born in Adelaide, Australia
May in History
![My Fair Lady's Special Day]()
My Fair Lady's Special Day
This was a day to remember for Eliza Doolittle, the 'My Fair Lady' of the stage and film musical that won and broke hearts.
May 20, 1956![Memories of Elvis]()
Memories of Elvis
Only one actor has appeared on film with both the Beatles and Elvis Presley: the little-known Norman Rossington.
May 21, 1999![President Falls From Grace]()
President Falls From Grace
Paul Deschanel had the makings of a fine President of France – until a series of bizarre incidents culminated in him falling out the window of a moving train.
May 23, 1920![Westminster Bridge Defies a King and the Church]()
Westminster Bridge Defies a King and the Church
London's present Westminster Bridge was opened on this day, bringing to an end years of conflict which even involved the payment of a big bribe to the King.
May 24, 1862
