On this day: May 16

Events on May 16

• 1003 Patrician John II Crescentius, who has seized control of Rome, selects Pope John XVII as the new pope. Wikipedia
• 1426 Mohnyin Thado captured Sagaing to become the king of Ava, in present-day Myanmar. Wikipedia
• 1532 Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England. Wikipedia
• 1605 After a scuffle in which one cardinal had several bones broken, a papal conclave convened in Rome elected Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V. Wikipedia
• 1777 Button Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, is wounded in a duel with Continental Army officer Lachlan McIntosh, dying of his injuries several days later. Wikipedia
• 1811 Peninsular War: Allied British, Spanish, and Portuguese forces clashed with French troops at the Battle of Albuera fought south of Badajoz, Spain. Wikipedia
• 1812 The Conference of Dresden began, an attempt by Napoleon to secure support for his planned invasion of Russia. Wikipedia
• 1832 Prospector Juan Godoy discovered a silver outcrop in Chañarcillo, sparking the Chilean silver rush. Wikipedia
• 1866 The United States Congress authorized the minting of the Shield nickel, the country's first five-cent piece to be made of a copper–nickel alloy. Wikipedia
• 1868 The United States Senate fails to convict President Andrew Johnson by one vote. Wikipedia
• 1881 John Richard Clark Hall, a barrister who would go on to write a widely used Anglo-Saxon dictionary and translation of Beowulf, was admitted to Gray's Inn. 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 Sedition Act was passed in the United States, forbidding Americans from using "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the government, flag, or armed forces during the ongoing World War I. Wikipedia
• 1925 The first modern performance of Claudio Monteverdi's opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria occurred in Paris. Wikipedia
• 1929 The first Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California. 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
• 1958 The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, a supersonic interceptor aircraft, set a world flight airspeed record of 1,404.012 mph (2,259.538 km/h). Wikipedia
• 1959 The Tritons' Fountain in Valletta, one of Malta's most important Modernist landmarks, was turned on for the first time. Wikipedia
• 1960 American physicist Theodore Maiman operated the first working laser at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu. Wikipedia
• 1961 Led by Park Chung Hee, the Military Revolution Committee carried out a bloodless coup against the government of Yun Po-sun in Seoul, ending the Second Republic of Korea. Wikipedia
• 1966 The Chinese Communist Party issues the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. Wikipedia
• 1968 A gas explosion in Ronan Point causes a corner of the building to collapse, leading to a loss of public confidence in high-rise residential buildings. Wikipedia
• 1975 Based on the results of a referendum held about one month earlier, the Kingdom of Sikkim abolished its monarchy and was annexed to become the 22nd state of India. Wikipedia
• 1975 Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Wikipedia
• 1977 The first Chuck E. Cheese location, the first family restaurant to integrate food, animated entertainment, and an indoor arcade, opened in San Jose, California. Wikipedia
• 2014 At least 12 people were killed and 70 others injured when two bombs exploded in a market in 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
• 1883 Celâl Bayar, Turkish politician, 3rd President of Turkey (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1898 Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-American painter (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1905 Henry Fonda, American actor (died 1982) Wikipedia
• 1917 Juan Rulfo, Mexican author and photographer (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1929 Adrienne Rich, American poet, essayist, and feminist (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1944 Danny Trejo, American actor 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
• 1955 Debra Winger, American actress 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
• 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
• 1947 Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1861) Wikipedia
• 1953 Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist and composer (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 1955 James Agee, American novelist, screenwriter, and critic(born 1909) 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
• 1990 Sammy Davis Jr., American singer, dancer, and actor (born 1925) 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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “May 16” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/May 16” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

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 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for May 16 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.