May
7
Events
May
7
351
– The Jewish revolt against Gallus breaks
out. After his arrival at Antioch, the Jews
begin a rebellion in Palestine.
558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia
Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately
orders that the dome be rebuilt.
1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyons
opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
1429 – Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans,
pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and
returning, wounded, to lead the final charge.
The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred
Years' War.
1664 – Louis XIV of France inaugurates the
Palace of Versailles.
1697 – Stockholm's royal castle (dating back
to medieval times) is destroyed by fire. It
is replaced by the current Royal Palace in
the eighteenth century.
1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded
by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville.
1763 – Indian Wars: Pontiac's Rebellion begins
– Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy
of Pontiac" by attacking British forces
at Fort Detroit.
1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces
the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National
Convention as the new state religion of the
French First Republic.
1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance
is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's
supervision.
1832 – The independence of Greece is recognized
by the Treaty of London. Otto of Wittelsbach,
Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.
1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez,
Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the
second deadliest tornado in United States
history.
1846 – The Cambridge Chronicle, America's
oldest surviving weekly newspaper, is published
for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts
1847 – The American Medical Association is
founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the
Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks
off from the Battle of the Wilderness and
moves southwards.
1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist
Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to
the Russian Physical and Chemical Society
his invention, the Popov lightning detector
— a primitive radio receiver. In some parts
of the former Soviet Union the anniversary
of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.
1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20
sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people
including 128 Americans. Public reaction to
the sinking turns many formerly pro-Germans
in the United States against the German Empire.
1920 – Kiev Offensive: Polish troops led by
Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and
assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture
Kiev only to be driven out by the Red Army
counter-offensive a month later.
1920 – Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes
the independence of the Democratic Republic
of Georgia only to invade the country six
months later.
1920 – The Art Gallery of Ontario, in Toronto,
opens the first exhibition by the Group of
Seven.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor
Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes,
arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's
forces.
1940 – The Norway Debate in the British House
of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement
of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with
Winston Churchill three days later.
1942 – During the Battle of the Coral Sea,
United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft
attack and sink the Japanese Imperial Navy
light aircraft carrier Shōhō. The battle marks
the first time in the naval history that two
enemy fleets fight without visual contact
between warring ships.
1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs
unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France,
ending Germany's participation in the war.
The document takes effect the next day.
1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering
(later renamed Sony) is founded with around
20 employees.
1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during
the Hague Congress.
1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit,
the basis for all modern computers, is first
published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.
1954 – Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien
Phu ends in a French defeat and a Vietnamese
victory (the battle began on March 13).
1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960 – Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his
nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary
Powers.
1964 – Pacific Air Lines Flight 773, a Fairchild
F-27 airliner, crashes near San Ramon, California,
killing all 44 aboard; the FBI later reports
that a cockpit recorder tape indicates that
the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a
suicidal passenger.
1974 – West German Chancellor Willy Brandt
resigns.
1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow became the
first person to climb each of the Seven Summits.
1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed
amendment to the United States Constitution
making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment
bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself
a mid-term pay raise.
1992 – The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched
on its first mission (STS-49).
1992 – Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant
in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally
murdered and a fourth permanently disabled
after a botched robbery. It is the first "fast-food
murder" in Canada.
1994 – Edvard Munch's iconic painting The
Scream is recovered undamaged after having
been stolen from the National Gallery of Norway
in February.
1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40
billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the
largest industrial merger in history.
1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania
becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly
Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism
in 1054.
1999 – Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens are killed
and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft bombs
the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo
Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
2000 – Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president
of Russia.
2002 – A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges
into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
2004 – American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded
by Islamic militants. The act is recorded
on videotape and released on the Internet.
2007 – Israeli archaeologists discover the
tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem.
2009 – Over 100 New Zealand Police officers
begin a 40-hour siege of a lone gunman in
Napier, New Zealand.
Holidays
and observances Christian
Feast Day:
Acacius of Byzantium
Flavia Domitilla
John of Beverley
Stanislaus (Roman martyrology)
May 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Radio Day, commemorating the work of Alexander
Popov (Russia, Bulgaria)
For details, contact Datacentre
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