May 10 is the 130th day of the year (131st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 235 days remaining until the end of the year.
Up to 1900
- 28 BC - A sunspot is observed by Han Dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han.
- 70 - Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of Vespasian, opens a full-scale assault on Jerusalem and attacks the city's Third Wall to the northwest.
- 1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of King Edward I of England.
- 1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
- 1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous sea turtles there.
- 1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.
- 1612 – Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan marries Arjumand Banu Begum, who receives the name Mumtaz Mahal.
- 1655 - England annexes Jamaica from Spain.
- 1768 – John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for the North Briton severely criticizing King George III. This action provokes rioting in London.
- 1774 – Louis XVI becomes King of France.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Fort Ticonderoga is taken by a small force led by Colonel Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Representatives from the 13 colonies of the United States meet in Philadelphia and raise the Continental Army to defend the new republic. They place it under command of Cavalier George Washington of Virginia.
- 1796 – First Coalition: Napoleon I of France wins a decisive victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the River Adda in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
- 1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States.
- 1824 - The National Gallery in London opens to the public.
- 1837 – Panic of 1837: New York City banks fail, and unemployment reaches record levels.
- 1849 - The Astor Place riot occurs in Manhattan after a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing over 25 people.
- 1857 – Indian Mutiny: In India, the Sepoys revolt against the British Army.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Confederate general Stonewall Jackson dies of his injuries after the previous week's Battle of Chancellorsville.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill in Kentucky (he lingered until his death on June 6).
- 1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah).
- 1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
- 1877 – Romania declares itself independent from Turkey, recognized on March 26, 1881 after the end of the Romanian War of Independence.
- 1893 - The United States Supreme Court rules that a tomato is a vegetable instead of a fruit.
1901 – 2000
- 1908 – Mother's Day is observed for the first time (Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, United States).
- 1922 - The United States takes control of the Kingman Reef.
- 1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed the Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and remained so until his death in 1972.
- 1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
- 1940 – World War II: The first German bombs were dropped on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent.
- 1940 – World War II: Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
- 1940 – World War II: Winston Churchill appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1940 – World War II: UK forces land in Iceland.
- 1940 - World War II: The German Luftwaffe mistakenly bombs the city of Freiburg im Breisgau in the southwest of Germany, killing 57 people.
- 1941 – World War II: The House of Commons in London is destroyed by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
- 1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland in order to try and negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.
- 1946 - First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.
- 1954 – Bill Haley and the Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the charts.
- 1960 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.
- 1962 - Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.
- 1969 – The first rural outdoor rock concert at Zap, North Dakota, is ended prematurely as North Dakota National Guard is ordered to disperse the unruly crowd.
- 1979 – The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
- 1981 – François Mitterrand takes office as the first Socialist President of France.
- 1988 – Michel Rocard becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1993 – Kyrgyzstan replaces the ruble with the som as its national currency.
- 1994 – The U.S. state of Illinois executes serial killer John Wayne Gacy for the murder of 33 young men and boys.
- 1994 – Nelson Mandela becomes President of South Africa.
- 1994 – An annular eclipse of the sun is visible across much of North America.
- 1996 – A "rogue storm" near the summit of Mount Everest kills eight climbers, making this the deadliest day in the mountain's history. Among the dead are experienced climbers Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, both of whom were leading paid expeditions to the summit.
- 1997 – An earthquake near Ardekul in northeastern Iran kills at least 2,400 people.
- 1997 - Dutch storm surge barrier Maeslantkering is opened by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
- 1998 – National elections are held in Hungary.
From 2001
- 2001 – In Ghana, a stampede at a football game kills over 120 spectators.
- 2002 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is given a life sentence without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
- 2002 – Lynda Lyon Block is executed in Yellow Mama, the electric chair of Alabama.
- 2003 – May 2003 tornado outbreak ends.
- 2005 – A live hand grenade lands about 100 feet from US President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but malfunctions and does not detonate.
- 2005 – Designed by Peter Eisenman, a memorial to Jews killed in the Holocaust is unveiled in Berlin.
- 2008 - A tornado on the Oklahoma-Kansas state line kills 21 people.
- 2012 - A car bombing in Damascus kills 55 people.
- 2013 - One World Trade Center in New York City becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
- 2014 - Conchita Wurst (Tom Neuwirth) of Austria wins the 59th Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, Denmark, with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix".
- 2017 - Moon Jae-in becomes President of South Korea.
- 2018 - Mahathir Mohamad, at age 92, becomes Prime minister of Malaysia for a second time. This makes him the world's oldest elected leader.
- 2019 - The United States' 25% tariff increase on 200 million United States dollars of Chinese imports takes effect.
Up to 1800
- 213 – Claudius II, Roman Emperor (d. 270)
- 850 - Emperor Seiwa of Japan (d. 881)
- 1265 - Emperor Fushimi of Japan (d. 1317)
- 1548 - Antonio Priuli, Doge (ruler) of Venice (d. 1623)
- 1604 – Jean Mairet, French dramatist (d. 1686)
- 1641 – Dudley North, English economist (d. 1691)
- 1697 - Jean-Marie Leclair, French violinist and composer (d. 1764)
- 1714 - Sophie Charlotte Ackermann, German actress (d. 1792)
- 1725 - John Hope, Scottish physician and botanist (d. 1786)
- 1727 - Anne-Robert-Jacques, Baron de Laune, French statesman (d. 1781)
- 1746 – Gaspard Monge, French mathematician, physicist and chemist (d. 1818)
- 1755 – Robert Gray, American sea captain (d. 1806)
- 1756 – Singu Min, King of Burma (d. 1782)
- 1760 – Johann Peter Hebel, German poet (d. 1782)
- 1760 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French army officer and composer (d. 1836)
- 1770 – Louis-Nicolas Davout, French general (d. 1823)
- 1775 - Antoine Charles Louise Lasalle, French general (d. 1809)
- 1788 - Catherine Pavlovna of Russia (d. 1819)
- 1788 - Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist and engineer (d. 1827)
1801 – 1900
- 1801 - Hugh J. Anderson, Governor of Maine (d. 1881)
- 1812 - William Henry Barlow, British railway engineer (d. 1902)
- 1813 - Montgomery Blair, American politician (d. 1883)
- 1823 - John Sherman, American politician (d. 1900)
- 1827 - William Windom, American politician (d. 1891)
- 1830 - Henry Calderwood, Scottish minister and philosopher (d. 1897)
- 1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor who killed Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
- 1840 - Hadzhi Dimitar, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1868)
- 1843 - Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish writer (d. 1920)
- 1848 - Thomas Lipton, Scottish merchant and yachtsman (d. 1931)
- 1855 – Sri Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru (d. 1936)
- 1874 - Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, senator, historian and orientalist (d. 1941)
- 1876 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian writer (d. 1918)
- 1878 – Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
- 1886 – Karl Barth, Swiss Protestant theologian (d. 1968)
- 1886 - Olaf Stapledon, English writer and philosopher (d. 1950)
- 1888 – Max Steiner, Austrian composer (d. 1971)
- 1888 - Lucy Wills, English physician and researcher (d. 1964)
- 1890 – Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
- 1894 - Dimitri Tiomkin, Russian-born movie composer and conductor (d. 1979)
- 1895 – Kama Chinen, Japanese supercentenarian (d. 2010)
- 1897 – Einar Gerhardsen, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1987)
- 1899 – Fred Astaire, American dancer and actor (d. 1987).
- 1899 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-born composer (d. 1979)
- 1900 – Ernst Ising, German mathematician (d. 1998)
1901 – 1950
- 1902 – David O. Selznick, American movie producer (d. 1965)
- 1902 – Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-born movie director (d. 1974)
- 1908 - Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician (d. 2000)
- 1909 – Maybelle Carter, American musician (d. 1978)
- 1911 - Bel Kaufman, German-born American teacher and author (d. 2014)
- 1912 – Olga Bancic, Romanian resistance activist (d. 1944)
- 1912 - Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, Scottish-born mother of Donald Trump (d. 2000)
- 1915 – Monica Dickens, English writer (d. 1992)
- 1915 – Denis Thatcher, husband of Margaret Thatcher (d. 2003)
- 1916 – Milton Babbitt, American composer (d. 2011)
- 1918 - George Welch, American pilot (d. 1954)
- 1922 - David Azrieli, Canadian-Israeli tycoon, developer, designer, architect and philanthropist (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Heydar Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan (d. 2003)
- 1925 – Néstor Rossi, Argentine footballer (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Hugo Banzer, President of Bolivia (d. 2002)
- 1928 - Marcel Rigout, French politician (d. 2014)
- 1928 – Arnold Rüütel, former President of Estonia
- 1929 – Antonine Maillet, French-Canadian novelist and playwright
- 1929 - George Coe, American actor (d. 2015)
- 1930 - Pat Summerall, American football player and broadcaster (d. 2013)
- 1930 - George E. Smith, American Nobel Prize-winning physicist
- 1931 - Ettore Scola, Italian moviemaker (d. 2016)
- 1932 - Christiane Kubrick, German actress, dancer, painter and singer
- 1933 – Barbara Taylor Bradford, English writer
- 1934 - Cliff Wilson, Welsh snooker player (d. 1994)
- 1934 - Gary Owens, American DJ and voice actor (d. 2015)
- 1935 - William Duborgh Jensen, Norwegian fashion designer (d. 2017)
- 1935 - Larry Williams, American singer-songwriter, pianist and producer (d. 1980)
- 1937 - Tamara Press, Soviet-Ukrainian athlete
- 1938 – Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player
- 1940 - Wayne Dyer, American psychologist and author (d. 2015)
- 1941 - Ken Kennedy, Irish rugby player
- 1942 - Peter Prince, British novelist
- 1942 - Jim Calhoun, American basketball player
- 1944 – Jim Abrahams, American movie producer and screenwriter
- 1944 - Marie France-Pisier, French actress (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Donovan, Scottish musician
- 1946 – Dave Mason, English musician
- 1946 – Maureen Lipman, English actress
- 1946 - Diderik Wagenaar, Dutch composer and theorist
- 1947 - Colin Stein, Scottish footballer
- 1950 - Natalya Bondarchuk, Russian actress and movie director
1951 – 1975
- 1952 – Manuel Mora Morales, Spanish director and writer
- 1952 - Kikki Danielsson, Swedish singer
- 1952 - Roland Kaiser, German Schlager singer
- 1952 - Vanderlei Luxemburgo, Brazilian footballer and manager
- 1953 – Tito Santana, Mexican-American professional wrestler
- 1954 - Mike Hagerty, American actor
- 1955 – Mark David Chapman, American murderer of John Lennon
- 1956 - Vladislav Listyev, Russian journalist (d. 1995)
- 1957 – Sid Vicious, English musician (d. 1979)
- 1958 – Rick Santorum, American politician
- 1960 – Bono (Paul Hewson), Irish singer, lead vocalist of U2
- 1960 - Dean Heller, United States Senator from Nevada
- 1960 - Victoria Rowell, American actress and writer
- 1961 - Blyth Tait, New Zealand equestrian
- 1961 - Johanna ter Steege, Dutch actress
- 1962 - John Ngugi, Kenyan long-distance runner
- 1963 - Anatoly Lebed, Estonian-Russian lieutenant (d. 2012)
- 1963 – Lisa Nowak, American astronaut
- 1965 – Linda Evangelista, Canadian supermodel
- 1966 – Jonathan Edwards, British athlete
- 1966 - Deborah Criddle, British paralympic equestrian
- 1966 - David Mackenzie, Scottish film director
- 1967 – Nobuhiro Takeda, Japanese footballer and sportscaster
- 1967 – Young MC, American rapper
- 1967 - Jon Ronson, English journalist and writer
- 1968 – Al Murray, British comedian
- 1969 – Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer
- 1970 – Gabriela Montero, Venezuelan pianist
- 1970 – David Weir, Scottish footballer
- 1970 - Sally Phillips, English actress
- 1971 - Adriano Giannini, Italian actor
- 1971 - Monisha Kaltenborn, Austrian Formula One team principal
- 1971 - Kim Jong-nam, North Korean political figure (d. 2017)
- 1971 - Linda Papadopoulos, Canadian psychologist
- 1972 – Christian Wörns, German footballer
- 1974 – Sylvain Wiltord, French footballer
From 1976
- 1976 – Rachel Gordon, Australian actress
- 1977 – Henri Camara, Senegalese footballer
- 1977 - David Menkin, American voice actor
- 1977 – Nick Heidfeld, German racing driver
- 1977 - Anna Maxwell Martin, English actress
- 1980 – Namitha Kapoor, Indian actress
- 1981 – Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer
- 1983 – Gustav Fridolin, Swedish politician
- 1983 - Natalia Zabala, Spanish model
- 1985 – Ryan Getzlaf, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 - Emilio Izaguirre, Honduran footballer
- 1986 - Pendyana Harikrishna, Indian chess player
- 1987 - Wilson Chandler, American basketball player
- 1987 - Emmanuel Emenike, Nigerian footballer
- 1988 - Adam Lallana, English footballer
- 1989 - Lindsey Shaw, American actress
- 1990 – Lauren Potter, American actress
- 1992 - Jake Zyrus, Filipino singer and actor
- 1993 – Mirai Shida, Japanese actress
- 1994 - Yuki Ito, Japanese ski jumper
- 1995 - Missy Franklin, American swimmer
- 2013 - Prince Taufa'ahau Manumataongo of Tonga
Up to 1900
- 689 - Kasakabe, Japanese prince (b. 662)
- 1034 – Mieszko II Lambert, King of Poland (b. 990)
- 1290 – Duke Rudolph II of Austria
- 1424 – Go-Kameyama, Emperor of Japan
- 1482 – Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1397)
- 1493 - Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician (b. 1433)
- 1521 - Sebastian Brant, German humanist (b. 1457)
- 1566 - Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (b. 1501)
- 1641 - Johan Banér, Swedish field marshal (b. 1596)
- 1657 – Gustaf Horn, Swedish soldier and politician (b. 1592)
- 1696 – Jean de La Bruyere, French writer (b. 1645)
- 1717 – John Hathorne, magistrate (b. 1641)
- 1737 – Emperor Nakamikado of Japan (b. 1702)
- 1774 – King Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
- 1775 - Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Queen Consort of Denmark-Norway (b. 1751)
- 1787 – William Watson, English physician and scientist (b. 1715)
- 1794 - Princess Elisabeth of France (executed) (b. 1764)
- 1798 – George Vancouver, English naval officer and explorer (b. 1757)
- 1807 - Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French soldier (b. 1725)
- 1818 – Paul Revere, engraver, American patriot (b. 1735)
- 1829 – Thomas Young, decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphics
- 1863 – Stonewall Jackson, Confederate general (b. 1824)
- 1889 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian satirist (b. 1826)
- 1897 - Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino soldier and politician (b. 1863)
1901 – 2000
- 1904 – Andrei Ryabushkin, Russian painter (b. 1861)
- 1904 – Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh explorer (b. 1841)
- 1910 - Stanislao Cannizzaro, Italian chemist (b. 1826)
- 1911 - La Fayette Grover, American politician, Governor of Oregon (b. 1823)
- 1916 - Heinrich Rosenthal, Estonian nationalist leader, doctor and author (b. 1846)
- 1944 – Olga Bancic, Romanian resistance activist (b. 1912)
- 1955 – Tommy Burns, Canadian World Heavyweight Boxing Champion (b. 1881)
- 1967 – Lorenzo Bandini, Italian racing driver (b. 1935)
- 1977 – Joan Crawford, American actress (b. 1904)
- 1982 – Peter Weiss, German writer and artist (b. 1916)
- 1984 - Joaquim Agostinho, Portuguese cyclist (b. 1943)
- 1988 – Shen Congwen, Chinese writer (b. 1902)
- 1989 - Woody Shaw, American jazz musician, composer and bandleader (b. 1944)
- 1990 – Walker Percy, American writer (b. 1916)
- 1992 – Sylvia Syms, American jazz singer (b. 1917)
- 1994 – John Wayne Gacy, serial killer (executed) (b. 1942)
- 1999 – Shel Silverstein, poet, composer (b. 1930)
From 2001
- 2001 - Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian politician, 16th Governor of Himachal Pradesh (b. 1934)
- 2002 - Yves Robert, French actor, screenwriter and director (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Lynda Lyon Block, American murderer (b. 1948)
- 2003 – Milan Vukcevich, Yugoslavian chemist and chess problem composer (b. 1937)
- 2005 – David Wayne, singer for the heavy metal group Metal Church (b. 1958)
- 2006 – Soraya, Colombian-American singer and musician (b. 1969)
- 2010 – Frank Frazetta, American artist (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Gunnar Sonsteby, Norwegian resistance activist (b. 1918)
- 2012 - Carroll Shelby, American racing driver and auto designer (b. 1923)
- 2012 - Günther Kaufmann, German actor (b. 1947)
- 2014 - Patrick Lucey, 38th Governor of Wisconsin and former US Ambassador to Mexico (b. 1918)
- 2014 - Lem Johns, American secret service agent (b. 1925)
- 2014 - Andres Carrasco, Argentine neurologist (b. 1946)
- 2015 - Ninad Bedekar, Indian historian and writer (b. 1949)
- 2015 - Luiz Henrique da Silveira, Brazilian politician (b. 1940)
- 2015 - Kim Kyok-sik, North Korean military officer (b. 1938)
- 2015 - Chris Burden, American artist (b. 1946)
- 2016 - Louis van Gasteren, Dutch movie director (b. 1922)
- 2016 - Ilkka Hanski, Finnish ecologist (b. 1953)
- 2016 - Kang Young-hoon, Prime Minister of South Korea (b. 1922)
- 2016 - Riki Sorsa, Finnish singer (b. 1952)
- 2016 - Gene Gutowski, American film producer (b. 1925)
- 2016 - Mark Lane, American lawyer and author (b. 1927)
- 2017 - Geoffrey Bayldon, English actor (b. 1924)
- 2017 - Greg Forristall, American politician (b. 1950)
- 2017 - Nelson Xavier, Brazilian actor (b. 1941)
- 2017 - Silvano Basagni, Italian sport shooter (b. 1938)
- 2017 - Emmanuèle Bernheim, French author and screenwriter (b. 1955)
- 2017 - Ted Hibberd, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
- 2018 - David Goodall, English-Australian botanist (b. 1914)
- 2018 - Alfonso Lovo Cordero, Nicaraguan politician (b. 1927)
- 2018 - Evgeni Vasiukov, Russian chess player (b. 1933)
- 2018 - Ken Hodgkisson, English footballer (b. 1933)
- 2018 - Kevin Kamenetz, American politician (b. 1957)
- 2018 - Graham Lovett, English footballer (b. 1947)
- 2018 - Adam Parfrey, American novelist, editor and publisher (b. 1957)
- 2019 - Frederick Brownell, South African vexillologist (b. 1940)
- 2019 - Hector Busby, New Zealand Maori navigator (b. 1932)
- 2019 - Bert Cooper, American boxer (b. 1966)
- 2019 - Gordon Neate, English footballer (b. 1941)
- 2019 - Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spanish politician (b. 1951)
- 2019 - Paul-Werner Scheele, German Roman Catholic theologian and bishop (b. 1928)
- 2019 - Dick Tomey, American football coach (b. 1938)
- Confederate Memorial Day (North Carolina and South Carolina)
- Constitution Day (Federated States of Micronesia)
- Mother's Day (El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico)
- Western Christianity: Earliest day on which Pentecost can fall
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