On this day: 2 May
Events, births and deaths on 2 May. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · George Ryan
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Afeni Shakur
100 years ago1926
Within 10 years of that
- 1921 · Births · Satyajit Ray
- 1925 · Deaths · Johann Palisa
- 1929 · Births ·
1000 years ago1026
Nothing recorded for that year.
Events · 15
- 1670Hudson's Bay Company — Canadian retail business group, former fur trading business
- 1808Peninsular War — 1807–1814 conflict during the Napoleonic Wars
- 1808Dos de Mayo Uprising — 1808 rebellion during the Peninsular War
- 1813Battle of Lützen — 1813 battle during the War of the Sixth Coalition
- 1866Battle of Callao — 1866 naval battle between Spain and Peru
- 1885Battle of Cut Knife — 1885 battle
- 1889Treaty of Wuchale — Treaty of Wuchale 1889
- 1941Anglo-Iraqi War — British-led Allied military campaign against Iraq under Rashid Ali during World War II
- 1964Attack on the USNS Card — Battle of the Vietnam War
- 1970ALM Flight 980 — aviation accident in the Caribbean Sea on 2 May 1970
- 20082008 Bin Salman Mosque bombing — Bin Salman mosque bombing and casualties
- 2011killing of Osama bin Laden — U.S. military operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan
- 20112011 Canadian federal election — 41st federal election of Canada
- 20142014 Badakhshan mudslides — mudslides in Afghanistan
- 2018Starlux Airlines — Taiwanese airline based on Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
Births · 60
- 1360(Julian date)Yongle Emperor — emperor of Ming dynasty China from 1402 to 1424
- 1551(Julian date)William Camden — (1551–1623) English antiquarian
- 1579(Julian date)Tokugawa Hidetada — The second shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan (1579–1632)
- 1602Athanasius Kircher — German Jesuit scholar (1601 or 1602-1680)
- 1660Alessandro Scarlatti — Italian composer (1660–1725)
- 1729Catherine II of Russia — eighth Emperor of Russia, called the Great, r. 1762–1796 (lived 1729-1796)
- 1737William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne — British Prime Minister (1737-1805)
- 1772Novalis — German poet and writer (1772-1801)
- 1802Heinrich Gustav Magnus — German chemist and physicist (1802–1870)
- 1806Catherine Labouré — French Daughter of Charity and saint (1806–1876)
- 1859Jerome K. Jerome — English humorist (1859-1927)
- 1860Theodor Herzl — father of modern political Zionism (1860–1904)
- 1872Ichiyō Higuchi — Japanese writer
- 1879James F. Byrnes — American politician (1882–1972)
- 1885Hedda Hopper — American gossip columnist and actress (1885–1966)
- 1886Gottfried Benn — German physician, poet, and essayist (1886–1956)
- 1892Manfred von Richthofen — German fighter pilot (1892-1918)
- 1894Norma Talmadge — American actress and film producer (1894–1957)
- 1895Wilm Hosenfeld — German army officer (1895-1952)
- 1896Helen of Greece and Denmark — Greek and Romanian Royal (1896–1982)
- 1903Benjamin Spock — American pediatrician and author of Baby and Child Care (1903-1998)
- 1921Satyajit Ray — Indian filmmaker and writer (1921–1992)
- 1923Patrick Hillery — 6th president of Ireland (1923–2008)
- 1924Theodore Bikel — Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist and political activist (1924-2015)
- 1929
Deaths · 60
- 1203 BCE(Julian date)Merneptah — fourth pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty of Egypt
- 373(Julian date)Athanasius of Alexandria — Pope of Alexandria from 328 to 373 (296–373)
- 907(Julian date)Boris I of Bulgaria — Bulgarian ruler
- 1219Leo I, King of Armenia — first king of Cilician Armenia
- 1450(Julian date)William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk — 15th-century English noble
- 1519(Julian date)Leonardo da Vinci — Italian Renaissance polymath (1452−1519)
- 1564(Julian date)Rodolfo Pio da Carpi — Catholic cardinal
- 1627Lodovico Grossi da Viadana — Italian composer, teacher and Franciscan friar
- 1799Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo — Spanish general and viceroy of New Spain
- 1819Mary Moser — British artist (1744-1819)
- 1857Alfred de Musset — French writer (1810–1857)
- 1864Giacomo Meyerbeer — German-French composer
- 1915Clara Immerwahr — German chemist (1870-1915)
- 1925Johann Palisa — Austrian astronomist (1848–1925)
- 1925Antun Branko Šimić — Croatian poet (1898–1925)
- 1927Ernest Starling — British physiologist (1866–1927)
- 1940Ernest Joyce — Royal Naval seaman and explorer (1875–1940)
- 1941Penelope Delta — Greek children's writer (1874–1941)
- 1945Martin Bormann — German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery (1900–1945)
- 1947Dorothea Binz — German supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration (1920-1947)
- 1953Wallace Bryant — American archer (1863–1953)
- 1957Joseph McCarthy — American politician (1908–1957)
- 1964Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor — first female Member of Parliament to take her seat (1879-1964)
- 1967Robert Daniel Carmichael — American mathematician (1879-1967)
- 1969Franz von Papen — German general staff officer, politician, diplomat, nobleman and Chancellor of Germany (1879–1969)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.