May 2 is the 122nd day of the year (123rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 243 days remaining until the end of the year.
Holidays
- Birth Anniversary of Third Druk Gyalpo, also Teachers’ Day (Bhutan)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Flag Day (Poland)
- Holiday of the Region of Madrid (Community of Madrid)
- National Education Day (Indonesia)
- Teachers’ Day (Iran)
- The last day of the Festival of Ridván (Bahá’í Faith)
History
In 1194, King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter.
In 1230, William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.
In 1335, Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia.
In 1519, Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (b. 1452) dies. He was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of “unquenchable curiosity” and “feverishly inventive imagination”. According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and “his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote”. Marco Rosci states that while there is much speculation about Leonardo, his vision of the world is essentially logical rather than mysterious, and that the empirical methods he employed were unusual for his time.
Born out of wedlock to a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina, in Vinci in the region of Florence, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter Verrocchio. Much of his earlier working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice, and he spent his last years in France at the home awarded him by Francis I.
Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time, with their fame approached only by Michelangelo‘s The Creation of Adam. Leonardo’s drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings have survived, the small number because of his constant, and frequently disastrous, experimentation with new techniques. Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, compose a contribution to later generations of artists rivalled only by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo.
Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised flying machines, an armoured vehicle, concentrated solar power, an adding machine, and the double hull, also outlining a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics. Relatively few of his designs were constructed or were even feasible during his lifetime, but some of his smaller inventions, such as an automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire, entered the world of manufacturing unheralded. He made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics, but he did not publish his findings and they had no direct influence on later science
In 1536, Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.
In 1559, John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation.
In 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
In 1611, The King James Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.
In 1670, King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.
In 1672, John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
In 1808, Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.
In 1812, The Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ends with both sides claiming victory after Mexican rebels under José María Morelos y Pavón abandon the city after 72 days under siege by royalist Spanish troops under Félix María Calleja.
In 1816, Marriage of Léopold of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales.
In 1829, After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.
In 1863, American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.
In 1866, Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.
In 1876, The April Uprising breaks out in Bulgaria.
In 1879, The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party is founded in Casa Labra Pub (city of Madrid) by the historical Spanish workers’ leader Pablo Iglesias.
In 1885, Good Housekeeping magazine goes on sale for the first time.
In 1885, Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.
In 1885, The Congo Free State is established by King Léopold II of Belgium.
In 1889, Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, giving Italy control over Eritrea.
In 1906, Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.
In 1918, General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
In 1920, The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis.
In 1932, Comedian Jack Benny‘s radio show airs for the first time.
In 1933, Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.
In 1941, Following the coup d’état against Iraq Crown Prince ‘Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.
In 1945, World War II: Fall of Berlin: The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building.
In 1945, World War II: Italian Campaign: General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs the official instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy.
In 1945, World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.
In 1946, The “Battle of Alcatraz” takes place; two guards and three inmates are killed.
In 1952, The world’s first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.
In 1955, Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
In 1957, Joseph McCarthy, American politician (b. 1908) dies in Bethesda Naval Hospital on May 2, 1957, at the age of 48. The official cause of his death was listed as acute hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver. He was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, his tactics and inability to substantiate his claims led him to be censured by the United States Senate.
The term McCarthyism, coined in 1950 in reference to McCarthy’s practices, was soon applied to similar anti-communist activities. Today the term is used more generally in reference to demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents.
In 1963, Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
In 1964, Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while it is docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.
In 1964, First ascent of Shishapangma the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.
In 1969, The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
In 1972, In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, ID, killing 91 workers.
In 1972, J. Edgar Hoover, American 1st director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (b. 1895) dies from heart disease. He was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972 at age 77. Hoover is credited with building the FBI into a larger crime-fighting agency, and with instituting a number of modernizations to police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories.
In 1980, Referendum on system of government held in Nepal.
In 1982, Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
In 1986, The Chernobyl Disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster
In 1989, Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
In 1994, A bus crashes in Gdańsk, Poland killing 32 people.
In 1995, During the Croatian War of Independence, Serb forces fire cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.
In 1998, The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union‘s monetary policy.
In 1999, Panamanian election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
In 2004, Yelwa massacre ended. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims attacked the Christians of Yelwa killing more than 78 Christians including at least 48 who were worshipping inside a church compound. More than 630 nomad Muslims were killed by Christians in Nigeria.
In 2008, Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
In 2008, Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
In 2008, The House of Representatives passed a Senate-approved genetic discrimination ban that now heads to President Bush for his signature. The bill bars employers and health insurers from discriminating against individuals on the basis of their own or their family members’ genetic information. Health insurance companies would be prohibited from basing enrollment or premium decisions on the results of genetic tests and employers couldn’t rely on them to making hiring, assignment or promotion decisions.
Some Pro-life groups say the bill helps protect the disabled, who can easily become victims of discrimination. They also worry the use of genetic tests could lead to the abortion of unborn children diagnosed with physical or mental disabilities and point out that about 80 percent of babies with Down Syndrome become victims of abortion. The Senate approved the bill last week on a 95-0 vote and the House followed suit with a 414-1 vote.
In 2011, Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI‘s most wanted man is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
In 2011, An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak.
In 2012, A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.
In 2014, Odessa Clashes occur between supporters of a united Ukraine and supporters of Federalization; 48 casualties result.
In 2014, Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing.
In 2015, Madison County, TN has quietly proposed a tax increase. A “Privilege Tax” has been brought to the finance committee. It more than doubles litigation taxes.
In 2015, Lifetime Handgun-Carry Permits to Become Available in TN