On this day: May 16

Events on May 16

• 946 Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan. Wikipedia
• 1527 The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic. Wikipedia
• 1584 Santiago de Vera becomes sixth governor-general of the Spanish colony of the Philippines. Wikipedia
• 1812 The Conference of Dresden began, an attempt by Napoleon to secure support for his planned invasion of Russia. Wikipedia
• 1812 Imperial Russia signs the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War. The Ottoman Empire cedes Bessarabia to Russia. Wikipedia
• 1822 Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, the decisive Union victory by Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Champion Hill drives the Confederate army under John C. Pemberton back towards Vicksburg, Mississippi. Wikipedia
• 1874 A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people. Wikipedia
• 1888 Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances. Wikipedia
• 1891 The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, featuring the world's first long-distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current (the most common form today). Wikipedia
• 1916 The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria. Wikipedia
• 1918 The victory military parade by the Finnish White Guard is held in Helsinki celebrating their decisive victory in the Finnish Civil War. The day also begin to be celebrated on the Defence Forces Flag Day before it is moved in 1942 to the June 4th. Wikipedia
• 1919 A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight. Wikipedia
• 1929 In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place. Wikipedia
• 1943 Second World War: The Royal Air Force's "Dambusters" squadron embarked on an attack on German dams using bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. Wikipedia
• 1943 The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends. Wikipedia
• 1959 The Tritons' Fountain in Valletta, one of Malta's most important Modernist landmarks, was turned on for the first time. Wikipedia
• 1959 The Tritons' Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time. Wikipedia
• 1969 Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus. Wikipedia
• 1975 Junko Tabei from Japan becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Wikipedia
• 1975 Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Wikipedia
• 1991 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress. Wikipedia
• 2003 In Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks. Wikipedia
• 2005 Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote. Wikipedia
• 2014 At least 12 people were killed and 70 others injured when two bombs exploded in a market in Nairobi, Kenya. Wikipedia
• 2014 Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya. Wikipedia

Born on May 16

• 1611 Pope Innocent XI (died 1689) Wikipedia
• 1718 Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician and philosopher (died 1799) Wikipedia
• 1788 Friedrich Rückert, German poet and translator (died 1866) Wikipedia
• 1801 William H. Seward, American lawyer and politician, 24th United States Secretary of State (died 1872) Wikipedia
• 1824 Levi P. Morton, American banker and politician, 22nd United States Vice President (died 1920) Wikipedia
• 1827 Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect, designed the Amsterdam Centraal railway station and Rijksmuseum (died 1921) Wikipedia
• 1831 David Edward Hughes, Welsh-American physicist, co-invented the microphone (died 1900) Wikipedia
• 1883 Celâl Bayar, Turkish politician, 3rd President of Turkey (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1905 Henry Fonda, American actor (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1917 Juan Rulfo, Mexican author and photographer (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1923 Merton Miller, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2000) Wikipedia
• 1950 Georg Bednorz, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1953 Pierce Brosnan, Irish-American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1955 Olga Korbut, Soviet gymnast Wikipedia
• 1965 Krist Novoselic, American bass player, songwriter, author, and activist Wikipedia
• 1966 Janet Jackson, American singer-songwriter and actress Wikipedia
• 1969 Tucker Carlson, American journalist, co-founded The Daily Caller Wikipedia
• 1970 Gabriela Sabatini, Argentinian tennis player Wikipedia
• 1974 Laura Pausini, Italian singer-songwriter and producer Wikipedia
• 1978 Lionel Scaloni, Argentinian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1986 Megan Fox, American actress Wikipedia
• 1993 IU, Korean singer-songwriter and actress Wikipedia

Died on May 16

• 1703 Charles Perrault, French author and academic (born 1628) Wikipedia
• 1830 Joseph Fourier, French mathematician and physicist (born 1768) Wikipedia
• 1861 John Stevens Henslow, British priest, geologist and doctoral advisor to Charles Darwin (born 1796) Wikipedia
• 1920 Levi P. Morton, American politician, 22nd United States Vice President (born 1824) Wikipedia
• 1926 Mehmed VI, the 36th and last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (born 1861) Wikipedia
• 1938 Joseph Strauss, American engineer, co designed The Golden Gate Bridge (born 1870) Wikipedia
• 1947 Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1861) Wikipedia
• 1953 Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist and composer (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 1977 Modibo Keïta, Malian politician, 1st President of Mali (born 1915) Wikipedia
• 1990 Jim Henson, American puppeteer, director, producer, and screenwriter, creator of The Muppets (born 1936) Wikipedia
• 2010 Ronnie James Dio, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1942) Wikipedia
• 2013 Heinrich Rohrer, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1933) Wikipedia
• 2019 I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 2019 Bob Hawke, Australian politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Australia (born 1929) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Aaron (Coptic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Abda and Abdjesus, and companions: Abdas of Susa Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Andrew Bobola Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Brendan the Navigator (Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Caroline Chisholm (Church of England) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gemma Galgani (Passionists Calendar) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Germerius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Honoratus of Amiens Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peregrine of Auxerre Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Possidius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Simon Stock Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ubald (see Saint Ubaldo Day) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Martyrs of Sudan (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Mass Graves Day (Iraq) Wikipedia
• National Day, declared by Salva Kiir (South Sudan) Wikipedia
• Teachers' Day (Malaysia) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 16” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.