On this day: 15 May
Events, births and deaths on 15 May. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
Nothing recorded for that year.
100 years ago1926
- Births · Peter Shaffer
- Births · Anthony Shaffer
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1036 · Deaths · Go-Ichijō
- 947 · Deaths · Emperor Taizong of Liao
- 926 · Deaths · Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang
Events · 21
- 1855Great Gold Robbery — famous train heist
- 1864Battle of New Market — 1864 battle of the American Civil War
- 1905Las Vegas — seat of Clark County, and largest city in state of Nevada, United States
- 1916lynching of Jesse Washington — lynching in 1916, in Waco, Texas, United States
- 1919occupation of Smyrna — military control by Greece of the area around Smyrna/İzmir (1919–1922)
- 1919Winnipeg general strike — general strike
- 1932May 15 Incident — attempted coup d'état in Japan in 1932
- 19341934 Latvian coup d'état — self-coup by Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis
- 1940McDonald's — American fast food restaurant chain
- 1942Women's Army Corps — women's branch of the United States Army abolished in 1978 as a separate corps
- 1946Sicily — island in the Mediterranean, region of Italy
- 19481948 Arab–Israeli War — second and final stage of the 1947–1949 Palestine war
- 1970Jackson State killings — Incident during racial tensions between residents of Jackson, Mississippi and Jackson State students
- 1972
- 1974Ma'alot massacre — 1974 operation by Palestinian militants in Israel
- 1976Aeroflot Flight 1802 — aviation accident
- 1988Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan — final phase of the Soviet–Afghan War
- 1997
- 2001CSX 8888 incident — Runaway Train Incident
- 20222022 Laguna Woods shooting — shooting in Geneva Presbyterian Church, Laguna Hills, California
- 2024attempted assassination of Robert Fico — 2024 shooting in Handlová, Prievidza District, Trenčín Region, Slovakia
Births · 60
- 1397Sejong the Great — fourth king of Joseon (Korea), creator of Hangul
- 1567(Julian date)Claudio Monteverdi — Italian composer, string player, choirmaster, and priest (1567–1643)
- 1689Mary Wortley Montagu — noblewoman; writer and poet from England, editor (1689-1762)
- 1773Klemens von Metternich — Austrian diplomat, foreign minister and Chancellor (1773–1859)
- 1808Michael William Balfe — Irish composer (1808–1870)
- 1817Debendranath Tagore — Indian philosopher (1817–1905)
- 1845Élie Metchnikoff — Russian-French immunologist, embryologist, biologist
- 1856L. Frank Baum — American author of children's books (1856–1919)
- 1857Williamina Fleming — astronoma escocesa (1857-1911)
- 1859
- 1862Arthur Schnitzler — Austrian writer (1862–1931)
- 1890Katherine Anne Porter — American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist (1890–1980)
- 1891Mikhail Bulgakov — Russian author (1891–1940)
- 1895Prescott Bush — American politician and US Senator from Connecticut (1895-1972)
- 1898Arletty — French actress (1898–1992)
- 1901Luis Monti — Argentine and Italian footballer (1901-1983)
- 1903Maria Reiche — Peruvian archaeologist, mathematician and technical translator
- 1905Joseph Cotten — American actor (1905–1994)
- 1909James Mason — British actor (1909–1984)
- 1911Max Frisch — Swiss playwrighter and novelist (1911–1991)
- 1915Paul Samuelson — American economist (1915–2009)
- 1923Richard Avedon — American photographer (1923–2004)
- 1926Peter Shaffer — English playwright and screenwriter (1926-2016)
- 1930Jasper Johns — American painter and sculptor (1930)
- 1937Madeleine Albright — United States Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001
Deaths · 60
- 392(Julian date)Valentinian II — Roman emperor from 375 to 392
- 884(Julian date)Marinus I — pope
- 926(Julian date)Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang — Prince of Jin and then Emperor of Later Tang (885-926)
- 947Emperor Taizong of Liao — emperor of the Liao dynasty of China from 927 to 947
- 1036(Julian date)Go-Ichijō — Emperor of Japan
- 1157(Julian date)Yuri Dolgorukiy — Grand Prince of Kyiv (1095-1157)
- 1174(Julian date)Nur ad-Din — Emir of Aleppo (1146–1174) and Damascus (1154–1174)
- 1175Mleh — Prince of Armenia
- 1461(Julian date)Domenico Veneziano — Italian Renaissance painter (1410-1461)
- 1464(Julian date)Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset — Duke of Somerset
- 1470Karl Knutsson — King of Sweden and Norway (1409-1470)
- 1585Niwa Nagahide — daimyo (1535-1585)
- 1609Giovanni Croce — Italian composer (1557–1609)
- 1634Hendrick Avercamp — Dutch painter (1585–1634)
- 1740Ephraim Chambers — English writer and encyclopaedist
- 1773Alban Butler — English Roman Catholic priest and hagiographer (1710-1773)
- 1786Eva Ekeblad — Swedish scientist (1724-1786)
- 1845Braulio Carrillo Colina — Head of State of Costa Rica (1800-1845)
- 1879Gottfried Semper — German architect (1803–1879)
- 1886Emily Dickinson — American poet (1830-1886)
- 1914Ida Freund — Austrian-British chemist
- 1924Paul-Henri-Benjamin d'Estournelles de Constant — French politician (1852-1924)
- 1932Inukai Tsuyoshi — Japanese politician and Prime Minister of Japan (1855–1932)
- 1933Hermann von François — German general (1856–1933)
- 1935Kazimir Malevich — Russian avant-garde artist of Polish ancestry. Founder of the Suprematist movement (1879–1935)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.