May 1976 in History

Events in History

May 3 Pulitzer prize awarded to Saul Bellow (Humboldt's Gift)

May 5 Train collision at Schiedam, Netherlands, kills 24
May 6 An earthquake strikes Friuli in Northern Italy, causes 989 deaths and the destruction of entire villages
May 8 The rollercoaster Revolution (roller coaster), the first steel coaster with a vertical flip, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain
May 14 Lowell Thomas ends 46 years as radio network reporter
May 14 Oil tanker Urqui Ola explodes off Spanish coast
May 15 The Provisional Irish Republican Army kill 3 Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers in County Fermanagh and 1 in County Down
May 15 The Ulster Volunteer Force launch gun and bomb attacks on 2 pubs in County Armagh, killing 4 Catholic civilians and wounding many more; a British Army soldier is later convicted for taking part in the attacks
May 17 Earthquake in Uzbekistan: thousands killed
May 19 Gold ownership legalized in Australia
May 19 Senate establishes permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
May 19 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
May 20 USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan USSR
May 22 NASA launches space vehicle S-179
May 24 1st commercial SST flight to North America (Concorde to Washington, D.C.)
May 24 In the Judgment of Paris, wine testers rate wines from California higher than their French counterparts, challenging the notion of France being the foremost producer of the world's best wines

May 10 Rob Malda, American internet writer and editor who co-founded Slashdot, born in Holland, Michigan
May 24 Bob Maesen, Belgian flatwater canoer, born in Neerpelt, Pelt, Belgium
May 27 RJD2, American hip-hop producer

May 1 Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek poet who fought the military junta in Greece (b. 1939)
May 1 T.R.M. Howard, civil rights leader, entrepreneur, surgeon (b. 1908)
May 3 Ernie Nevers, American College, Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback, coach (Stanford, Chicago Cardinals), dies of heart & kidney ailments at 72
May 4 Henri Bosco, French author and poet (Gogol), dies at 87
May 5 Thomas Burnett Swann, American sci-fi author (Day of Minotaur), dies of cancer at 47
May 6 Karel Cruysberghs, Flemish religious writer (On the Pulpit), dies at 85
May 8 Ulrike Meinhof, German journalist who lead Germany Red Army Faction ("Baader-Meinhof gang"), dies in uncertain circumstances in prison at 41
May 9 Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian poet & writer (Dikt, Jonas), dies at 55
May 10 Elias Aslaksen, Leader of Smith's Friends (b. 1888)
May 10 George Curzon, dies at 77
May 11 Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (Finlandia House) and designer, dies at 78
May 15 Samuel Eliot Morison, American historian (Admiral of the Ocean Sea), dies at 88
May 20 Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan politician, member of the Christian-Democrat party, and Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz "disappeared"
May 24 Henk [Hendrik Johannes] Lankhorst, Dutch politician (PSP), dies at 62
May 24 Melle Oldeboerrigter, Dutch painter and cartoonist, dies at 65
May 26 Juan Maino, Chilean leader of MAPU, "disappeared"

May 26 German philosopher (Being & Time), dies at 86

May 28 Steffan Danielsen, Faroese painter, mostly of local landscapes, dies at 53
May 31 Jacques Monod, French biochemist (1966 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine - genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis), dies at 66
May 31 Martha Mitchell [nee Beall], American wife of US Attorney General John Mitchell (who was kidnapped so she wouldn't talk), dies of multiple myeloma at 57