Events in History
Celluloid Photographic Film
May 2 Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film (used in Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope)
Birthdays in History
- May 1 Alan Cunningham, British general and last High Commissioner of Palestine (1945-48), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1983)
- May 5 Geoffrey Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth, Archbishop of Canterbury (1945-61), born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England (d. 1972)
- May 5 Mervyn S. Bennion, United States Navy officer (Captain of USS West Virginia), WWI veteran, and Medal of Honor recipient, born in Vernon, Utah Territory (d. 1941)
- May 7 Henri Pourrat, French writer (Gaspard of the Montagnes), born in Ambert, France (d. 1959)
- May 9 Jules Van de Leene, Belgian painter, born in Ixelles, Belgium (d. 1962)
- May 10 (Jacobus) "J.C." Bloem, Dutch poet (Sintels - Embers), born in 1887, Oudshoorn, South Holland, Netherlands (d. 1966)
- May 16 Jakob van Hoddis [Hans Davidsohn], German Jewish poet (d. 1942?)
- May 18 Ernst Wiechert, German writer (The Simple Life), born in Kleinort, East Prussia (d. 1950)
- May 23 Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1963)
- May 24 Edward "Mick" Mannock, British WWI flying ace (Victoria Cross), born in British Isles (d. 1918)
- May 25 Padre Pio, Roman Catholic saint, born in Pietrelcina, Benevento, Kingdom of Italy (d. 1968)
- May 27 Emiel van der Straeten, Flemish playwright (Sudanese legends) (d. 1918)
- May 27 Erich Kuttner, German journalist and historian (Vorwarts), born in Berlin (d. 1942)
- May 30 Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian-American sculptor and lithographer, born in Kyiv, Russian Empire (d. 1964)
- May 31 Saint-John Perse [Alexis Leger], French diplomat and poet (Nobel Prize for Literature 1960), born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe (d. 1975)
Deaths in History
- May 7 C. F. W. Walther, American Lutheran theologian (b. 1811)
- May 7 Samuel Cousins, English mezzotint engraver, dies at 85
- May 8 Alexander Ulyanov, Russian revolutionary and brother of Vladimir Lenin, hanged for the attempted assassination of tsar Alexander III at 21
- May 11 Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, French agricultural chemist (the nitrogen cycle), dies at 85
- May 14 Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (b. 1808)
- May 14 William Burnham Woods, American politician, judge, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), dies at 62
- May 27 Coenraad Johannes van Houten, Dutch chemist and cocoa manufacturer (Dutch process chocolate), dies at 86
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists