May 30 is the 150th day of the year (151st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 215 days remaining until the end of the year.
Up to 1900
- 70 - Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the second wall of Jerusalem. The Jewish defenders retreat to the first wall.
- 1381 - Beginning of the Peasants' Revolt in England.
- 1431 - In Rouen, Normandy, France, Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal.
- 1510 - During the reign of Zhengde Emperor in China, Ming Dynasty leader Zhu Zhifan is defeated by commander Qiu Yue, ending the Anhua rebellion.
- 1536 - Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour.
- 1539 – In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.
- 1574 – Henry III becomes King of France.
- 1588 – The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
- 1635 - The Peace of Prague is signed during the Thirty Years' War.
- 1806 – Andrew Jackson kills a man in a duel after the man had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy.
- 1814 – The First Treaty of Paris is signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent. Napoleon I of France is exiled to Elba on the same day.
- 1815 - The East Indiaman ship Arniston is wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, present-day South Africa.
- 1832 - The Rideau Canal in Eastern Ontario, Canada, is opened.
- 1842 - John Francis attempts to kill Queen Victoria in London.
- 1854 – The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
- 1868 – Memorial Day (then known as "Decoration Day") is observed in the United States for the first time (it was proclaimed on May 5 by General John Logan).
- 1871 - The Paris Commune falls.
- 1876 – Ottoman sultan Abd-ul-Aziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murat V.
- 1879 – New York City's Gilmores Garden is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
- 1883 – In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes twelve people.
- 1898 - William Ramsay and Morris Williams Travers discover Krypton.
- 1899 - Pearl Hart, a female outlaw in the Old West, robs a stage coach 30 miles southeast of Globe, Arizona.
1901 – 2000
- 1911 – At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.
- 1913 – First Balkan War: A peace treaty is signed in London ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.
- 1914 - Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania leaves Liverpool, England, on its first voyage, to New York City.
- 1917 - Alexander I of Greece becomes King.
- 1922 – In Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated.
- 1925 - May Thirtieth Movement: Shanghai Municipal Police shoot and kill 13 protesting workers.
- 1935 – Babe Ruth plays in his last baseball game, in the uniform of the Boston Braves.
- 1937 - Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot and kill 13 protesting workers.
- 1941 – World War II: Germany captures Crete.
- 1942 – World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
- 1948 – A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
- 1958 – The bodies of several unidentified soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1959 - Auckland Harbor Bridge in New Zealand is opened.
- 1961 – Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo is assassinated.
- 1962 - The 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile begins.
- 1966 - NASA launches Surveyor 1 - the first US aircraft to land on a surface other than the Earth.
- 1967 – At the Ascot Speedway in Gardena, California, daredevil Evel Knievel jumps his motorcycle over 16 cars lined-up in a row.
- 1967 – The Nigerian state of Biafra secedes, sparking a civil war.
- 1971 – Mariner programme: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
- 1972 – The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout Britain.
- 1972 – Members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
- 1974 - The Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first enters service.
- 1975 - The European Space Agency is founded.
- 1981 – Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman is assassinated.
- 1982 – Spain becomes the 16th member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany's admission in 1955.
- 1982 - Baseball player Cal Ripken, Jr. plays the first of 2,632 consecutive games. His streak will end on September 20, 1998.
- 1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
- 1992 - ARTE, a joint German and French television channel, is broadcast for the first time.
- 1995 - Bulgaria agrees a deal with the International Monetary Fund to avoid bankruptcy.
- 1998 - Pakistan conducts an underground nuclear test in the Kharan Desert.
- 1998 – A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hits northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.
From 2001
- 2003 – The final flight of an Air France Concorde takes place.
- 2003 - The movie Finding Nemo is released in American cinemas.
- 2005 - The Allianz Arena in Munich opens.
- 2005 - Angela Merkel is nominated by the CDU/CSU as a candidate for Chancellor of Germany.
- 2012 - Former President of Liberia Charles Taylor is sentenced to prison for his role in crimes committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.
- 2016 - A court in Senegal sentences former President of Chad Hissène Habré to life in prison for crimes against humanity, committed during his time in office from 1982 to 1990. It is the first time an African Union-backed court convicts a former ruler of another country within its jurisdiction.
Up to 1900
- 1010 – Emperor Renzong of China (d. 1063)
- 1220 - Alexander Nevsky, Russian saint (d. 1263)
- 1423 - Georg von Peuerbach, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1461)
- 1623 – John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, English politician (d. 1686)
- 1653 - Claudia Felicitas of Austria, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1676)
- 1672 – Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia (d. 1725) (June 9 in Gregorian calendar)
- 1757 - Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1844)
- 1778 - Richard Skinner, American politician, 9th Governor of Vermont (d. 1833)
- 1814 – Mikhail Bakunin, Russian anarchist (d. 1876)
- 1814 - Pierre Charles Catalan, Belgian-French mathematician (d. 1894)
- 1820 - Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, 1st Premier of Quebec (d. 1890)
- 1845 – Amadeo I of Spain (d. 1890)
- 1846 – Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian goldsmith and jeweller (d. 1920)
- 1859 - Pierre Janet, French psychologist and neurologist (d. 1947)
- 1862 - Mirza Abakbar Sabir, Azerbaijani philosopher and poet (d. 1811)
- 1875 - Giovanni Gentile, Italian philosopher (d. 1944)
- 1878 - Raymond Smith Dugan, American astronomer (d. 1940)
- 1878 - Mike Donlin, American baseball player and actor (d. 1933)
- 1879 - Vanessa Bell, English painter and interior designer (d. 1961)
- 1879 – Colin Blythe, English cricketer (d. 1917)
- 1882 - Wyndham Halswelle, British runner (d. 1915)
- 1886 - Randolph Bourne, American theorist (d. 1918)
- 1887 - Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian sculptor (d. 1964)
- 1890 - Roger Salengro, French politician (d. 1936)
- 1894 - Hubertus van Mook, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1965)
- 1895 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (d. 1956)
- 1896 – Howard Hawks, American movie director (d. 1977)
- 1897 - Frank Wise, Australian politician, 16th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1986)
- 1899 – Irving Thalberg, American movie producer (d. 1936)
1901 – 1950
- 1901 – Cornelia Otis Skinner, Broadway producer, writer, director, and actress (d. 1979)
- 1902 – Stepin Fetchit, American dancer and actor (d. 1985)
- 1907 – Elly Beinhorn, German pilot (d. 2007)
- 1907 - Germaine Tillion, French anthropologist (d. 2008)
- 1907 - Sao San Tun, Burmese martyr (d. 1947)
- 1908 – Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize winner (d. 1995)
- 1908 – Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)
- 1909 – Benny Goodman, American clarinet player and bandleader (d. 1986)
- 1910 – Inge Meysel, German actress (b. 2004)
- 1910 – Ralph Metcalfe, American athlete and politician (d. 1978)
- 1912 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist (d. 2004)
- 1912 – Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (d. 1980)
- 1912 – Erich Bagge, German physicist
- 1914 - Akinoumi Setsuo, Japanese-American director and producer (d. 1979)
- 1919 – René Barrientos, President of Bolivia (d. 1969)
- 1920 – Franklin Schaffner, American movie director (d. 1989)
- 1920 – Godfrey Binaisa, 5th President of Uganda (d. 2010)
- 1922 – Hal Clement, American science fiction writer (d. 2003)
- 1923 - Anna Proclemer, Italian actress (d. 2013)
- 1924 - Armando Peraza, Cuban-American drummer (d. 2014)
- 1925 - John Cocke, American computer scientist (d. 2002)
- 1926 - Johnny Gimble, American singer-songwriter and fiddler (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Christine Jorgensen, American transsexual activist (d. 1989)
- 1927 - Clint Walker, American actor (d. 2018)
- 1928 – Pro Hart, Australian artist (d. 2006)
- 1928 - Gustav Leonhardt, Dutch musicologist and conductor (d. 2012)
- 1928 - Agnes Varda, Belgian-French director, producer and screenwriter
- 1930 - Dave McKenna, American jazz pianist (d. 2008)
- 1932 - Ivor Richard, Baron Richard, Welsh politician and diplomat, former UK Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2018)
- 1932 - Solomon W. Golomb, American mathematician (d. 2016)
- 1934 – Alexey Leonov, Soviet cosmonaut and first person to walk in space
- 1937 - Deanna Lund, American actress (d. 2018)
- 1937 - Armando Valladares, Cuban-American writer
- 1939 – Michael J. Pollard, American actor
- 1939 - Tim Waterstone, British bookseller and businessman (Waterstones)
- 1940 - Gilles Villemure, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1942 - Carole Stone, British radio producer, journalist and businesswoman
- 1943 – James Chaney, American civil rights activist (d. 1964)
- 1943 – Gale Sayers, American football player
- 1944 - Lenny Davidson, British guitarist
- 1947 - Erik Spiekermann, German typographer and designer
- 1949 - P. J. Carlesimo, American basketball player and coach
- 1949 - Bob Willis, English cricketer
- 1950 - Bertrand Delanoe, French politician, former Mayor of Paris
1951 – 1975
- 1951 – Fernando Lugo, former President of Paraguay
- 1953 – Colm Meaney, Irish actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine)
- 1955 – Topper Headon, British musician, drummer with The Clash
- 1955 - Colm Toibin, Irish writer
- 1955 - Brian Kobilka, American biochemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner
- 1958 - Marie Fredriksson, Swedish singer-songwriter and pianist (Roxette)
- 1958 - Michael Lopez Alegria, Spanish-American captain, pilot and astronaut
- 1958 - Ted McGinley, American actor
- 1959 - Phil Brown, English footballer and coach
- 1960 - Stephen Duffy, English singer
- 1961 - Harry Enfield, English actor, screenwriter and director
- 1962 - Kevin Eastman, American writer and illustrator, co-created Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- 1963 - Tracey Childs, British actress
- 1963 - Helen Sharman, British chemist and astronaut
- 1963 - Shauna Grant, American pornographic actress and model (d. 1984)
- 1964 – Wynonna Judd, American country music singer
- 1964 - Tom Morello, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist
- 1964 - Mark Sheppard, British actor
- 1964 - Sally Dynevor, British actress
- 1965 - Billy Donovan, American basketball player and coach
- 1966 - Thomas Haessler, German footballer
- 1966 - Stephen Malkmus, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1967 - Tim Burgess, English singer-songwriter (The Charlatans and The Chavs)
- 1968 – Zacarias Moussaoui, French terrorist
- 1969 - Naomi Kawase, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter
- 1969 - Ryuhei Kitamura, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter
- 1971 - Paul Grayson, English rugby player
- 1971 - Duncan Jones, English movie director
- 1971 - Idina Menzel, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1972 – Manny Ramirez, Dominican Boston Red Sox baseball player
- 1973 – Keith Lemon, British comedian and actor
- 1974 – CeeLo Green, American musician
- 1974 - Big L, American rapper (d. 1999)
- 1974 - Kostas Chalkias, Greek footballer
- 1974 - David Wilkie, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1975 - Andy Farrell, English rugby player and coach
From 1976
- 1976 - Leonel Grave de Peralta, Cuban-American activist
- 1976 - Margaret Okayo, Kenyan runner
- 1977 - Akwa, Angolan footballer
- 1977 - Marc Dos Santos, Canadian soccer player and coach
- 1977 - Nathan Robertson, English badminton player
- 1977 – Rachael Stirling, British actress
- 1977 - Federico Vilar, Argentine-Italian footballer
- 1979 - Rie Kugimiya, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1980 – Steven Gerrard, English footballer
- 1981 - Hisanori Takada, Japanese footballer
- 1982 - Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (d. 2007)
- 1982 - James Simpson-Daniel, English rugby player
- 1983 - Jennifer Ellison, English actress
- 1984 - Alexander Sulzer, German ice hockey player
- 1985 - Igor Kurnosov, Russian chess player (d. 2013)
- 1985 - Aaron Volpatti, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 - Jennifer Winget, Indian actress
- 1988 - Kelvin Etuhu, Nigerian-English footballer
- 1988 - Stephanie Beckert, German speed skater
- 1989 - Ailee, American-South Korean actress, singer and dancer
- 1989 - Hyomin, South Korean actress and singer
- 1990 – Im Yoona, South Korean singer
- 1990 - Dean Collins, American actor
- 1990 - Andrei Laktionov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1992 - Harrison Barnes, American basketball player
- 1992 - Jeremy Lamb, American basketball player
- 1994 - Madeon, French DJ and producer
- 1997 - Jake Short, American actor
- 2000 - Jared S. Gilmore, American actor
Up to 1950
- 1252 - Ferdinand III of Castile (b. 1199)
- 1416 – Jerome of Prague, religious reformer (b. 1379) (burned as a heretic by the Catholic Church)
- 1431 – Joan of Arc, French heroine (b. 1412) (burned at the stake)
- 1434 - Prokop the Great, Czech general (b. 1380)
- 1574 – King Charles IX of France (b. 1550)
- 1593 – Christopher Marlowe, English playwright (b. 1564)
- 1640 – Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish painter (b. 1577)
- 1712 - Andrea Lanzani, Italian painter (b. 1645)
- 1730 - Arabella Churchill, English mistress to James II of England (b. 1648)
- 1744 – Alexander Pope, English writer (b. 1688)
- 1778 – Voltaire, French philosopher (b. 1694)
- 1832 - James Mackintosh, Scottish jurist, politician and historian (b. 1765)
- 1901 - Victor D'Hondt, Belgian lawyer, jurist and mathematician (b. 1841)
- 1911 - Milton Bradley, American businessman (b. 1836)
- 1912 – Wilbur Wright of the Wright brothers, American aviator (b. 1867)
- 1918 - Georgi Plekhanov, Russian philosopher (b. 1856)
- 1926 - Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician and physicist (b. 1864)
- 1927 - Vincenzo Cerulli, Italian astronomer (b. 1859)
- 1941 – Prajadhipok, King of Siam (now Thailand) (b. 1893)
- 1947 - Georg Johannes von Trapp, Croatian-Austrian captain (b. 1880)
1951 – 2000
- 1957 - Piero Carini, Italian racing driver (b. 1921)
- 1960 – Boris Pasternak, Russian writer (b. 1890)
- 1961 – Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
- 1964 – Leó Szilárd, Hungarian nuclear physicist (b. 1898)
- 1967 - Claude Rains, English-American actor (b. 1889)
- 1967 - Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Austrian director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1885)
- 1971 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (b. 1886)
- 1975 - Steve Prefontaine, American runner (b. 1951)
- 1975 - Tatsuo Shimabuku, Japanese martial artist (b. 1908)
- 1975 - Michel Simon, Swiss-French actor (b. 1895)
- 1978 - Jean Deslauriers, Canadian violinist, conductor and composer (b. 1909)
- 1980 - Carl Radle, American bass guitarist (b. 1942)
- 1981 – Ziaur Rahman, President of Bangladesh (b. 1936)
- 1981 - Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955)
- 1986 - James Rainwater, American physicist (b. 1917)
- 1989 - Claude Pepper, American politician (b. 1899)
- 1993 – Sun Ra, American musician (b. 1914)
- 1994 - Ezra Taft Benson, American Mormon Church leader (b. 1899)
- 1994 - Agostino Di Bartolomei, Italian footballer (b. 1955)
- 2000 - Tex Beneke, American saxophonist, singer and bandleader (b. 1914)
From 2001
- 2006 - Shohei Amamura, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 2007 - Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director (b. 1933)
- 2009 – Luis Cabral, 1st President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1931)
- 2009 – Ephraim Katzir, Israeli scientist and politician, President of Israel (b. 1916)
- 2009 – Gaafar Nimeiry, President of Sudan (b. 1930)
- 2010 - Peter Orlovsky, American writer and actor (b. 1933)
- 2010 - Dufferin Roblin, Canadian politician, 14th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1917)
- 2011 – Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist (b. 1921)
- 2012 - Andrew Huxley, English physiologist and biophysicist (b. 1917)
- 2012 - Jack Twyman, American basketball player (b. 1934)
- 2013 - Andrew Greeley, American priest, sociologist, journalist and novelist (b. 1928)
- 2013 - Dean Brooks, American physician and actor (b. 1916)
- 2014 - Hanna Maron, German-Israeli actress (b. 1923)
- 2014 - Hienadz Buraukin, Belarussian poet, journalist and diplomat (b. 1936)
- 2014 - Henning Carlsen, Danish director (b. 1927)
- 2014 - Joan Lorring, American actress (b. 1926)
- 2015 - Beau Biden, American politician (b. 1969)
- 2015 - Lennie Merullo, American baseball player (b. 1917)
- 2015 - L. Tom Perry, American apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1922)
- 2015 - Julie Harris, English costume designer (b. 1921)
- 2015 - Tony McNamara, English footballer (b. 1929)
- 2016 - Kenne Fant, Swedish actor (b. 1923)
- 2016 - Tom Lysiak, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1953)
- 2016 - Rick MacLeish, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1950)
- 2017 - Molly Peters, British actress and model (b. 1942)
- 2017 - Dasari Narayana Rao, Indian film director and politician (b. 1942)
- 2017 - Elena Verdugo, American actress (b. 1925)
- 2017 - Gordon Brunton, British businessman (b. 1921)
- 2018 - Madiha Yousri, Egyptian actress (b. 1921)
- 2020 - Michael Angelis, English actor (b. 1952)
- Anguilla Day
- Canary Islands Day
- Mother's Day (Nicaragua)
- Traditional date for Memorial Day (United States)
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
