History of Today in India – 10 May

Explore the history of today 10 May in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 10 May 2026, 04:26 AM

📜 Important Events on 10 May in World History

10 May 2024: Start of the May 2024 solar storms, the most powerful set of geomagnetic storms since the 2003 Halloween solar storms. Read more
10 May 2022: Queen Elizabeth II misses the State Opening of Parliament for the first time in 59 years. It was the first time that a new session of Parliament was opened by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge acting as Counsellors of State. Read more
10 May 2017: Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the last footholds of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Al-Tabqah, bringing the Battle of Tabqa to an end. Read more
10 May 2013: One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Read more
10 May 2012: The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people. Read more
10 May 2005: A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 20 m from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate. Read more
10 May 2002: FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds. Read more
10 May 1997: The 7.3 Mw Qayen earthquake strikes Iran's Khorasan Province killing 1,567 people. Read more
10 May 1996: A blizzard strikes Mount Everest, killing eight climbers by the next day. Read more
10 May 1994: Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president. Read more
10 May 1993: In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills over 200 workers. Read more
10 May 1975: Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder. Read more
10 May 1969: Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill. Read more
10 May 1967: The Northrop M2-F2 crashes on landing, becoming the inspiration for the novel Cyborg and TV series The Six Million Dollar Man. Read more
10 May 1962: Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk. Read more
10 May 1961: Air France Flight 406 is destroyed by a bomb over the Sahara, killing 78. Read more
10 May 1946: First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground. Read more
10 May 1942: World War II: The Thai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign. Read more
10 May 1941: World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid. Read more
10 May 1941: World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany. Read more
10 May 1940: World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg. Read more
10 May 1940: World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom occupies Iceland. Read more
10 May 1933: Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings. Read more
10 May 1924: J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972. Read more
10 May 1922: The United States annexes the Kingman Reef. Read more
10 May 1916: Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island. Read more
10 May 1908: Mother's Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia. Read more
10 May 1904: The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company. Read more
10 May 1899: Finnish farmworker Karl Emil Malmelin kills seven people with an axe at the Simola croft in the village of Klaukkala. Read more
10 May 1881: Carol I is crowned the King of the Romanian Kingdom. Read more
10 May 1876: The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia. Read more
10 May 1872: Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States. Read more
10 May 1869: The First transcontinental railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory with the golden spike. Read more
10 May 1865: American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6. Read more
10 May 1857: Indian Rebellion of 1857: In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers at Meerut. Read more
10 May 1849: Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120. Read more
10 May 1837: Panic of 1837: New York City banks suspend the payment of specie, triggering a national banking crisis and an economic depression whose severity was not surpassed until the Great Depression. Read more
10 May 1833: A revolt broke out in southern Vietnam against Emperor Minh Mang, who had desecrated the deceased mandarin Le Van Duyet. Read more
10 May 1824: The National Gallery in London opens to the public. Read more
10 May 1801: First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 10 May in World History

10 May 2000: Bae Jin-young, South Korean singer Bae Jin-young is a South Korean singer and actor. He is a former member of South Korean boy groups CIX and Wanna One, after finishing tenth in the final rankings of Produce 101 season 2. Following Wanna One's disbandment, Bae Jinyoung debuted in CIX in July 2019 and departed from the group after his contract expired in August 2024. Read more
10 May 1997: Brittany Broski, American comedian and singer Brittany Alexis Tomlinson, known professionally as Brittany Broski, is an American influencer, podcaster, YouTuber, singer and comedian. She initially gained fame after a video of her tasting kombucha for the first time went viral on TikTok in 2019. She signed to United Talent Agency later that year and has since hosted the TikTok-produced podcast For You (2021), the pop culture-focused podcasts Violating Community Guidelines (2022–2023) with Sarah Schauer and The Broski Report (2023–present), and the YouTube talk show Royal Court (2023–present). She has frequently been referred to as one of TikTok's biggest stars and noted for her meme-focused humor. Read more
10 May 1997: Richarlison, Brazilian footballer Richarlison de Andrade, known simply as Richarlison, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Brazil national team. Read more
10 May 1996: Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, Canadian ice hockey player Nicolas Aubé-Kubel is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He is a right winger for the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, and the New York Rangers. The Flyers selected him in the second round, 48th overall, of the 2014 NHL entry draft. Read more
10 May 1996: Tyus Jones, American basketball player Tyus Robert Jones is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils in his freshman season as part of the 2014–15 National Championship team. He is the older brother of NBA player Tre Jones. Read more
10 May 1996: Kateřina Siniaková, Czech tennis player Kateřina Siniaková is a Czech professional tennis player. She is the world No. 1 in women's doubles, and has a career-best best singles ranking of world No. 27 by the WTA, achieved in June 2024. Read more
10 May 1996: Alex Tuch, American ice hockey player Alex Daniel Tuch is an American professional ice hockey player who is a forward and alternate captain for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the first round, 18th overall, by the Minnesota Wild in the 2014 NHL entry draft. Tuch has also previously played for the Vegas Golden Knights. Read more
10 May 1995: Andrew Anderson, American bowler Andrew Anderson of Holly, Michigan is a right-handed American professional ten-pin bowler known for winning the 2018 USBC Masters. He competes in events on the PBA Tour, and also bowls in global events as a multi-year and current member of Team USA. In his second full season on the PBA Tour (2018), Anderson won the Chris Schenkel PBA Player of the Year Award. Read more
10 May 1995: Missy Franklin, American swimmer Melissa Franklin Johnson is an American former competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist. She held the world record in the 200-meter backstroke from 2012 to 2019. As a member of the U.S. national swim team, she also held the world records in the 4×100-meter medley relay. Read more
10 May 1995: Gabriella Papadakis, French ice dancer Gabriella Marie-Hélène Papadakis is a French retired ice dancer. With former partner Guillaume Cizeron, she is a 2022 Olympic champion, 2018 Olympic silver medalist, a five-time World champion, a five-time consecutive European champion (2015–2019), the 2017 and 2019 Grand Prix Final champion, and a seven-time French national champion. They have won ten gold medals on the Grand Prix series. Earlier in their career, they won silver at the 2012 Junior Grand Prix Final and at the 2013 World Junior Championships. Read more
10 May 1993: Jake Zyrus, Filipino singer Jake Zyrus, formerly known professionally as Charice Pempengco and under the mononym Charice, is a Filipino singer and television personality. Read more
10 May 1990: Salvador Pérez, Venezuelan baseball player Salvador Johan Perez Diaz, nicknamed "El Niño" and "Salvy", is a Venezuelan-American professional baseball catcher, designated hitter, and first baseman for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is a nine-time MLB All-Star, five-time Gold Glove Award winner, five-time Silver Slugger Award winner, three-time All-MLB selection, Roberto Clemente Award winner, and received the World Series Most Valuable Player Award when the Royals won the 2015 World Series. Perez has played his entire career with the Royals, and was named the teams' captain in 2023. Read more
10 May 1990: Ivana Španović, Serbian long jumper Ivana Španović is a Serbian long jumper and triple jumper. She is the 2023 World champion, a two-time World indoor champion, a two-time European champion, a three-time European indoor champion and a five-time Diamond League Trophy Winner. Considering her achievements and longevity, Ivana Španović is regarded as one of the greatest female long jumpers of all time, with her indoor 7.24m jump ranked 3rd in all-time records. Read more
10 May 1988: Adam Lallana, English footballer Adam David Lallana is an English professional football coach and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He is currently manager of Southampton Under-21s. Read more
10 May 1985: Ryan Getzlaf, Canadian ice hockey player Ryan Getzlaf is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Getzlaf played his entire NHL career with the Anaheim Ducks and is the franchise's all-time leading scorer. A first-round selection, 19th overall, at the 2003 NHL entry draft, he played in three NHL All-Star Games and was a member of the Ducks' 2007 Stanley Cup championship team. A playmaker and power forward, Getzlaf is the Ducks' all-time leader in games played, assists, and points and the all-time playoff leader in goals, assists and points. He led the Ducks in assists twelve times, including a franchise record of 66 in 2008–09, and in points eight times. Getzlaf joined the NHL's Department of Player Safety in 2024. Read more
10 May 1985: Farah Jacquet, Belgian politician Farah Jacquet is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of the Workers' Party of Belgium, she has represented Namur since June 2024. Read more
10 May 1985: Jon Schofield, English canoe racer Jon Schofield is a British canoeist. He partnered with Liam Heath in the men's kayak double 200m sprint event, and they have won a bronze in K-2 200 at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and a silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the same event. They have also won gold at the European Championships three times as well as silver and bronze medals at the World Championships. Read more
10 May 1984: Edward Mujica, Venezuelan baseball player Edward José Mujica is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, Florida/Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics, and Detroit Tigers. Read more
10 May 1982: Adebayo Akinfenwa, English footballer Saheed Adebayo Akinfenwa is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed "The Beast", he was renowned for his huge physical prowess and goalscoring ability, in a career where he amassed more than 200 goals. Read more
10 May 1981: Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer Humberto Andrés Suazo Pontivo, nicknamed Chupete (Lollipop) or El hombre venido del planeta gol, is a Chilean football manager and former footballer who played as a striker. He is the head coach San Luis de Quillota. Read more
10 May 1978: Kenan Thompson, American actor and comedian Kenan Thompson is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the show's history. He was also the first regular cast member born after the show's premiere in 1975. Outside of SNL, Thompson starred on NBC's sitcom Kenan from 2021 to 2022. Read more
10 May 1977: Adrian Morley, English rugby league player Adrian Paul Morley is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a prop or second-row forward. With a reputation as a tough, uncompromising competitor, Morley was the first British player to become a Grand Final winner in both the National Rugby League (NRL) and Super League. Read more
10 May 1975: Hazem Emam, Egyptian footballer and politician Hazem Mohamed Yehia El Horria Mohamed Emam is an Egyptian retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He is member in House of Representatives and former board member of Egyptian Football Association and Zamalek SC. Read more
10 May 1975: Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver Hélio Castroneves is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He currently competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for Mercado Livre Racing and competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. Read more
10 May 1975: Ueli Kestenholz, Swiss snowboarder (died 2026) Ueli Kestenholz was a Swiss snowboarder and speed riding pioneer. Read more
10 May 1974: Sylvain Wiltord, French footballer Sylvain Claude Wiltord is a French former professional footballer. Mainly a right winger, he also played as a centre-forward, second striker and on the left wing. Read more
10 May 1970: David Weir, Scottish footballer David Gillespie Weir is a Scottish football coach and former professional player who was most recently the technical director of Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion. Read more
10 May 1969: Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer and manager Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker while still a teenager and then played as a deeper lying forward for the remainder of his career. Read more
10 May 1969: John Scalzi, American author and blogger John Michael Scalzi II is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He is best known for his Old Man's War series, three novels of which have been nominated for the Hugo Award, and for his blog Whatever, where he has written on a number of topics since 1998. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2008 based predominantly on that blog, which he has also used for several charity drives. He has written non-fiction books and columns on diverse topics such as finance, video games, films, astronomy, writing and politics, and served as a creative consultant for the TV series Stargate Universe. Read more
10 May 1968: Al Murray, English comedian and television host Alastair James Hay Murray is an English comedian. Read more
10 May 1968: William Regal, English wrestler Darren Kenneth Matthews, better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as the vice-president of Global Talent Development. He is also known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and All Elite Wrestling (AEW), having served as a manager in the latter promotion. Read more
10 May 1967: Eion Crossan, New Zealand rugby player Eion Crossan is a New Zealand former Rugby Footballer who played Rugby Union for Southland and Bay of Plenty between 1987 and 1996, and Rugby League for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks between 1992 and 1995. Read more
10 May 1966: Jonathan Edwards, English triple jumper Jonathan David Edwards is an English former triple jumper. He is an Olympic, double World, European, European indoor and Commonwealth champion, and has held the world record in the event since 1995. Edwards is widely regarded as the greatest triple-jumper in history. Read more
10 May 1965: Linda Evangelista, Canadian model Linda Evangelista is a Canadian fashion model. She is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential models of all time, and has been featured on over 700 magazine covers. Evangelista is primarily known for being the longtime muse of photographer Steven Meisel, as well as for the phrase: "We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day." Read more
10 May 1965: Greg Fasala, Australian swimmer Gregory John Fasala is an Australian former sprint freestyle swimmer of the 1980s, who won a silver medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Read more
10 May 1965: Paul Langmack, Australian rugby league player and coach Paul Langmack is an Australian former rugby league coach and representative and premiership-winning player. Langmack won three premierships with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the mid-eighties. He later joined the Western Suburbs Magpies to become just the fifth player to play 100 games with two different teams. He played 314 first grade games of NRL. Langmack is the younger brother of former Parramatta and Penrith footballer Peter Langmack. Read more
10 May 1963: Lisa Nowak, American commander and astronaut Lisa Marie Nowak is an American aeronautical engineer, former NASA astronaut, and retired United States Navy officer. Nowak served as naval flight officer and test pilot in the Navy, and was selected by NASA for NASA Astronaut Group 16 in 1996, qualifying as a mission specialist in robotics. She flew in space aboard Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-121 mission in July 2006, when she was responsible for operating the robotic arms of the shuttle and the International Space Station. In 2007, Nowak was involved in a highly publicized incident of criminal misconduct for which she eventually pleaded guilty to felony burglary and misdemeanor battery charges, resulting in her demotion from captain to commander, termination by NASA, and forced retirement from the Navy. Read more
10 May 1962: Robby Thompson, American baseball player and coach Robert Randall Thompson is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball (1986–1996) with the San Francisco Giants where he was their starting second baseman for eleven straight years. Although he was often overshadowed by his contemporary, Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg, Thompson was a two-time All-Star player who served as a catalyst for the powerful Giants offense led by Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell during the team's resurgence in the late 1980s. Read more
10 May 1960: Bono, Irish singer-songwriter, musician and activist Paul David Hewson, known by the nickname Bono, is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned vocal style as well as his grandiose songwriting and performance style. His lyrics frequently include social and political themes, and religious imagery inspired by his Christian faith. Read more
10 May 1960: Dean Heller, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Nevada Dean Arthur Heller is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator representing Nevada from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 15th secretary of state of Nevada from 1995 to 2007 and U.S. representative for Nevada's 2nd congressional district from 2007 to 2011. He was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Governor Brian Sandoval and elected to a full term in the 2012 election. Heller was defeated in the 2018 election, losing to Democrat Jacky Rosen, and was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Nevada in 2022. As of 2025, he is the last Republican to have won a U.S. Senate race in Nevada. Read more
10 May 1960: Kerry Hemsley, Australian rugby league player Kerry Hemsley is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played for the
Balmain Tigers in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition, primarily as a prop. Read more
10 May 1960: Merlene Ottey, Jamaican-Slovenian runner Merlene Joyce Ottey is a Jamaican-Slovenian former track and field sprinter. She began her career representing Jamaica in 1978 and continued to do so for 24 years before representing Slovenia from 2002 to 2012. She is ranked sixth on the all-time list over 60 metres (indoor), eleventh on the all-time list over 100 metres and seventh on the all-time list over 200 metres. She is the current world indoor record holder for 200 metres with 21.87 seconds, set in 1993. She was named Jamaican Sportswoman of the Year 13 times between 1979 and 1995. Read more
10 May 1959: Victoria Rowell, American actress Victoria Lynn Rowell is an American actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. She began her career as a ballet dancer and model before making her acting debut in the 1987 comedy film Leonard Part 6. In 1990, Rowell joined the cast of the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless as Drucilla Winters, her signature and longest role on television, for which she was nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards. She departed from the show in 2007. Rowell is also well known for her role as Dr. Amanda Bentley in the CBS medical crime drama Diagnosis: Murder (1993–2001). From 1993 to 2000, she appeared on both series simultaneously. Read more
10 May 1959: Cindy Hyde-Smith, American politician, United States Senator from Mississippi Cindy Hyde-Smith is an American politician and lobbyist serving since 2018 as the junior United States senator from Mississippi. A member of the Republican Party, she served from 2012 to 2018 as the Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce and from 2000 to 2012 in the Mississippi State Senate. Read more
10 May 1958: Rick Santorum, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Pennsylvania Richard John Santorum is an American politician, attorney, author, and former CNN political commentator, who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1995 to 2007. He was the Senate's third-ranking Republican during the final six years of his tenure. He also ran unsuccessfully for president of the United States in the 2012 Republican primaries, finishing second to Mitt Romney. Read more
10 May 1957: Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (died 1979) John Simon Ritchie, better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the second bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. After his death in 1979 at the age of 21, he remained an icon of the punk subculture; one of his friends noted that he embodied "everything in punk that was dark, decadent and nihilistic". Read more
10 May 1956: Mickey Faerch, Danish-Canadian burlesque dancer and actress Mickey Mae Faerch, also known as Mickey Mae and Yung Mae, is a Danish-Canadian burlesque dancer, actress, and rapper who appeared in the films Sincerely Saul (2024), Josie (2018), Run! Bitch Run! (2009), and was inducted into the Burlesque Hall of Fame. Read more
10 May 1956: Vladislav Listyev, Russian journalist (died 1995) Vladislav Nikolayevich Listyev was a Soviet, later Russian journalist and head of the ORT TV Channel. Read more
10 May 1955: Chris Berman, American sportscaster Christopher James Berman, nicknamed "Boomer", is an American sportscaster. He haa been an anchor for SportsCenter on ESPN for decades starting a month after its initial launch in 1979 and joined ABC in 2020. He hosted ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown program from 1985 to 2016 and NFL Primetime from 1987 to 2005 and since 2019. He has also anchored Monday Night Countdown, U.S. Open golf, the Stanley Cup Final, and other programming on ESPN and ABC Sports. Berman calls play-by-play of select Major League Baseball games for ESPN, which included the Home Run Derby until 2016. Read more
10 May 1955: Mark David Chapman, American murderer Mark David Chapman is an American man who murdered musician John Lennon in New York City on December 8, 1980. As Lennon walked into the archway of the Dakota, his apartment building on the Upper West Side, Chapman fired five shots at him from a few yards away with a Charter Arms Undercover .38 Special revolver; Lennon was hit four times from the back. He was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. Chapman remained at the scene following the shooting and made no attempt to flee or resist arrest. Read more
10 May 1954: Mike Hagerty, American actor (died 2022) Michael Gerard Hagerty was an American actor. He was known for playing comedic blue-collar workers, including his recurring roles as Mr. Treeger, the building superintendent, on Friends and the manager of a muffler shop on HBO's Lucky Louie. Read more
10 May 1952: Sly Dunbar, Jamaican musician (died 2026) Lowell Fillmore "Sly" Dunbar was a Jamaican drummer, best known as one half of the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and reggae production duo Sly and Robbie. Read more
10 May 1949: Miuccia Prada, Italian fashion designer Miuccia Bianchi Prada is an Italian billionaire fashion designer and businesswoman. She is the head designer of Prada and the founder of its subsidiary Miu Miu. As of October 2021, Forbes estimated her net worth at US$4.8 billion. In August 2021, Bloomberg estimated her net worth to be $6.6 billion, ranking 430th in the world. Read more
10 May 1946: Donovan, Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan Phillips Leitch is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored numerous international hit singles and albums during the late 1960s. His work became emblematic of the flower power era with its blend of folk, pop, psychedelia and jazz stylings. Read more
10 May 1946: Biruté Galdikas, Canadian primatologist and conservationist (died 2026) Birutė Marija Filomena Galdikas or Biruté Mary Galdikas was a Canadian anthropologist, primatologist, conservationist, ethologist and author. She was a professor at Simon Fraser University. In the field of primatology, Galdikas was recognized as a leading authority on orangutans. Prior to her field study of orangutans, scientists knew little about the species. Read more
10 May 1946: Graham Gouldman, English guitarist and songwriter Graham Keith Gouldman is an English musician. He is best known as the co-lead singer and bassist of the art rock band 10cc. He has been the band's only constant member since its formation in 1972. Before 10cc, Gouldman worked as a freelance songwriter and penned many hits for major rock and pop groups, including the Yardbirds, the Hollies, Herman's Hermits and Ohio Express. Read more
10 May 1946: Dave Mason, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2026) David Thomas Mason was an English singer-songwriter and guitarist who came to prominence in 1967 as a founding member of the rock band Traffic. He wrote and sang lead vocals on two of the band's best known songs, "Hole in My Shoe" and "Feelin' Alright?" His song "Only You Know and I Know" became a signature song for Delaney & Bonnie, and his 1977 solo hit, "We Just Disagree", has become a staple of U.S. classic hits and adult contemporary radio playlists. Read more
10 May 1944: Marie-France Pisier, French actress, director, and screenwriter (died 2011) Marie-France Pisier was a French actress, screenwriter, and director. She appeared in numerous films of the French New Wave, and twice earned the national César Award for Best Supporting Actress. Read more
10 May 1943: Raquel Blandón, Guatemalan lawyer and activist, First Lady of Guatemala (died 2024) Haydee Raquel Blandón Sandoval was a Guatemalan lawyer, activist, and political leader who served as the first lady of Guatemala from 1986 to 1991, as the wife of President Vinicio Cerezo. She was the nominee for the Renewed Democratic Liberty party for vice president of Guatemala in the 2011 election as Manuel Baldizón's running mate. Read more
10 May 1943: Judith Jamison, American dancer and choreographer (died 2024) Judith Ann Jamison was an American dancer and choreographer. She danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1965 to 1980 and was Ailey's muse. She later returned to be the company's artistic director from 1989 until 2011, and then its artistic director emerita. She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, and the Handel Medallion, New York City's highest cultural honor, in 2010. Read more
10 May 1942: Jim Calhoun, American basketball player and coach James A. Calhoun is an American former college basketball coach. He is best known for his tenure as head coach of the University of Connecticut (UConn) men's basketball team. His teams won three NCAA national championships, played in four Final Fours, won the 1988 NIT title, and won seventeen Big East Championships, which include 7 Big East tournament championships and 10 Big East regular season. With his team's 2011 NCAA title win, the 68-year-old Calhoun became the oldest coach to win a Division I men's basketball title. He won his 800th game in 2009 and finished his NCAA Division I career with 873 victories, ranking 11th all time as of February 2019. From 2018 to 2021, he served as head coach of the University of Saint Joseph men's basketball team. Calhoun is one of only six coaches in NCAA Division I history to win three or more championships, and he is widely considered one of the greatest coaches of all time. In 2005, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Read more
10 May 1940: Arthur Alexander, American country-soul singer-songwriter (died 1993) Arthur Alexander was an American country-soul songwriter and singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic for AllMusic, said Alexander was a "country-soul pioneer" and that, though largely unknown, "his music is the stuff of genius, a poignant and deeply intimate body of work on par with the best of his contemporaries." Alexander's songs were covered by such stars as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Otis Redding, Tina Turner, Pearl Jam, Rick Nelson and Jerry Lee Lewis. Read more
10 May 1938: Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player (died 2021) Manuel Santana Martínez, also known as Manolo Santana, was a Spanish tennis player. He was ranked as amateur world No. 1 in 1965 by Ned Potter and in 1966 by Lance Tingay and Sport In The USSR. Read more
10 May 1935: Larry Williams, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (died 1980) Lawrence Eugene Williams was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, and pianist from New Orleans. He is best known for writing and recording some rock and roll classics from 1957 to 1959 for Specialty Records, including "Bony Moronie", "Short Fat Fannie", "Slow Down", "Dizzy, Miss Lizzy" (1958), "Bad Boy" and "She Said Yeah" (1959). John Lennon was an admirer, and the Beatles and several other British Invasion groups recorded several of his songs. Read more
10 May 1933: Barbara Taylor Bradford, British novelist (died 2024) Barbara Taylor Bradford was a British-American best-selling novelist. Her debut novel, A Woman of Substance, was published in 1979 and sold over 30 million copies worldwide. She wrote 40 novels, often about young women of humble beginnings who rise through their hard work in business. Her books were translated into 40 languages and sold more than 90 million copies; ten of her books were also adapted as television miniseries and television movies. Her commercial success amassed a large fortune and she was awarded several honorary degrees and made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her literary contributions. Read more
10 May 1931: Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (died 2016) Ettore Scola was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He received a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1978 for his film A Special Day and over the course of his film career was nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. Read more
10 May 1930: George E. Smith, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2025) George Elwood Smith was an American applied physicist and a co-inventor of the charge-coupled device (CCD). Smith shared one half of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics with Willard Boyle "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor." Read more
10 May 1929: George Coe, American actor and producer (died 2015) George Coe was an American actor, known for Saturday Night Live. Read more
10 May 1928: Arnold Rüütel, Estonian agronomist and politician, President of Estonia (died 2024) Arnold Rüütel was an Estonian politician. He was the third President of Estonia from 8 October 2001 to 9 October 2006. Rüütel was the second president of the country after the end of the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation, and the restoration of the independent Republic of Estonia on 20 August 1991. Read more
10 May 1928: Lothar Schmid, German chess player (died 2013) Lothar Maximilian Lorenz Schmid was a German chess grandmaster. He was born in Radebeul in Saxony into a family who were the co-owners of the
Karl May Press, which published the German Karl May adventure novels. Read more
10 May 1926: Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, President of Bolivia (died 2002) Hugo Banzer Suárez was a Bolivian politician and military officer who served as the 51st president of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from 1971 to 1978 as a military dictator; and then again from 1997 to 2001, as a democratically elected president. Read more
10 May 1923: Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan general and politician, President of Azerbaijan (died 2003) Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev was an Azerbaijani politician who was a Soviet party boss in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic from 1969 to 1982, and the third president of Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2003. Read more
10 May 1922: David Azrieli, Polish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (died 2014) David Joshua Azrieli was an Israeli-Canadian tycoon, real estate developer, architect, and philanthropist. With an estimated net worth of US$3.1 billion in March 2013, he was ranked by Forbes as the ninth-wealthiest Canadian and the 401st wealthiest person overall. Read more
10 May 1922: Nancy Walker, American actress, singer, and director (died 1992) Nancy Walker was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She was also an occasional film and television director. During her five-decade-long career, she had long-running roles as Mildred on McMillan & Wife and as Ida Morgenstern on several episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and on the spinoff series Rhoda as a prominent recurring character. Read more
10 May 1920: Bert Weedon, English guitarist (died 2012) Herbert Maurice William Weedon was an English guitarist whose style of playing was popular and influential during the 1950s and 1960s. He was the first British guitarist to have a hit record in the UK singles chart, in 1959, and his best-selling tutorial, Play in a Day, was a major influence on many leading British musicians, such as Eric Clapton, Brian May and Paul McCartney. He was awarded an OBE in 2001 for services to music. Read more
10 May 1919: Ella T. Grasso, Governor of Connecticut (died 1981) Ella Rosa Giovianna Oliva Grasso was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 83rd governor of Connecticut from January 8, 1975, to December 31, 1980, after rejecting past offers of candidacies for Senate and governor. She was the first woman elected governor in Connecticut and the fourth woman to be elected governor of a U.S. state. She is also the first female governor to not be the spouse or widow of a former governor. She resigned as governor due to her battle with ovarian cancer. Read more
10 May 1915: Denis Thatcher, English businessman, Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 2003) Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, was an English businessman and the husband of Margaret Thatcher, who served as the first female British prime minister from 1979 to 1990; thus, he became the first male prime ministerial spouse. Read more
10 May 1909: Maybelle Carter, American autoharp player (died 1978) "Mother" Maybelle Carter was an American country musician and "among the first" to use the Carter scratch, with which she "helped to turn the guitar into a lead instrument." It was named after her. She was a member of the original Carter Family act from the late 1920s until the early 1940s and a member of the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle group. Read more
10 May 1908: Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (died 2000) Carl Bert Albert was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 46th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 and represented Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district as a Democrat from 1947 to 1977. Read more
10 May 1905: Alex Schomburg, Puerto Rican artist and illustrator (died 1998) Alexander A. Schomburg, born Alejandro Schomburg y Rosa, was a Puerto Rican commercial artist and comic-book artist and painter whose career lasted over 70 years. Read more
10 May 1904: Frieda Belinfante, Dutch musician and LGBT member of the Dutch resistance (died 1995) Frieda Belinfante was a Dutch cellist, philharmonic conductor, a prominent lesbian, and a member of the Dutch resistance during World War II. After the war, Belinfante emigrated to the United States and continued her career in music. She was the founding artistic director and conductor of the Orange County Philharmonic. Read more
10 May 1903: Otto Bradfisch, German economist, jurist, and SS officer (died 1994) Otto Bradfisch was an economist, a jurist, an SS-Obersturmbannführer, leader of Einsatzkommando 8 of Einsatzgruppe B of the Security Police and the SD, and Commander of the Security Police in Litzmannstadt (Łódź) and Potsdam. Read more
10 May 1902: David O. Selznick, American producer and screenwriter (died 1965) David O. Selznick was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced Gone with the Wind (1939) and Rebecca (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture. He also won the Irving Thalberg Award at the 12th Academy Awards, Hollywood's top honor for a producer, in recognition of his shepherding Gone with the Wind through a long and troubled production and into a record-breaking blockbuster. Read more
10 May 1901: John Desmond Bernal, Irish-English crystallographer and physicist (died 1971) John Desmond Bernal was an Irish scientist who pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography in molecular biology. He published extensively on the history of science. In addition, Bernal wrote popular books on science and society. He was a communist activist and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Read more
10 May 1900: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, English-American astronomer and astrophysicist (died 1979) Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was a British-born American astronomer and astrophysicist. Her work on the cosmic makeup of the universe and the nature of variable stars was foundational to modern astrophysics. Read more
10 May 1899: Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, and dancer (died 1987) Fred Astaire was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "greatest popular-music dancer of all time". He received an Honorary Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award. Read more
10 May 1898: Ariel Durant, American historian and author (died 1981) Ariel Durant was a Ukrainian-born American researcher and writer. She was the coauthor of The Story of Civilization with her husband, Will Durant. They were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Read more
10 May 1897: Einar Gerhardsen, Norwegian politician, Prime Minister of Norway (died 1987) Einar Henry Gerhardsen was a Norwegian politician who served as the prime minister of Norway from 1945 to 1951, 1955 to 1963 and 1963 to 1965. With a total of 17 years in office, he is the longest-serving prime minister in Norway since the introduction of parliamentarism. He was the leader of the Labour Party from 1945 to 1965. Read more
10 May 1895: Joe Murphy, (Irish-American), died during the 1920 Cork hunger strike (died 1920) Joseph Patrick Murphy was an Irish militant and Republican activist who was one of 22 Irish Republicans who died on hunger strike in the 20th century. He was an officer in the Irish Republican Army who died as a result of his participation in the 1920 Cork hunger strike at Cork Gaol. Read more
10 May 1894: Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-American composer and conductor (died 1979) Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin was a Russian and American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in Saint Petersburg before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York City after the Russian Revolution. In 1929, after the stock market crash, he moved to Hollywood, where he became best known for his scores for Western films, including Duel in the Sun, Red River, High Noon, The Big Sky, 55 Days at Peking, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Rio Bravo, and Last Train from Gun Hill. Read more
10 May 1893: Tonita Peña, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) artist (died 1949) Tonita Peña born as Quah Ah and also known as Tonita Vigil Peña and María Antonia Tonita Peña, was a renowned Pueblo artist, specializing in pen and ink on paper embellished with watercolor. She was a well-known and influential Native American artist and art teacher of the early 1920s and 1930s. Read more
10 May 1891: Mahmoud Mokhtar, Egyptian sculptor and academic (died 1934) Mahmoud Mukhtar was an Egyptian sculptor. He attended the College of Fine Arts in Cairo upon its opening in 1908 by Prince Yusuf Kamal, and was part of the original "Pioneers" of the Egyptian Art movement. Despite his early death, he greatly impacted the realization and formation of contemporary Egyptian art. His work is credited with signaling the beginning of the Egyptian modernist movement, and he is often referred to as the father of modern Egyptian sculpture. Read more
10 May 1890: Alfred Jodl, German general (died 1946) Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl was a German military officer and convicted war criminal who served as the Chief of the Operations Staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht – the German Armed Forces High Command – throughout World War II. Read more
10 May 1888: Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer and conductor (died 1971) Maximilian Raoul Steiner was an Austrian composer and conductor who emigrated to America and became one of Hollywood's greatest musical composers. Read more
10 May 1886: Karl Barth, Swiss theologian and author (died 1968) Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian. Barth is best known for his commentary The Epistle to the Romans, his involvement in the Confessing Church, including his authorship of the Barmen Declaration, and especially his unfinished multi-volume theological summa the Church Dogmatics. Barth's influence expanded well beyond the academic realm to mainstream culture, leading him to be featured on the cover of Time on 20 April 1962. Read more
10 May 1879: Symon Petliura, Ukrainian journalist and politician (died 1926) Symon Vasyliovych Petliura was a Ukrainian revolutionary, politician and journalist. He was the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian People's Army (UNA) and led the Ukrainian People's Republic during the Ukrainian War of Independence, a part of the wider Russian Civil War. Read more
10 May 1878: Konstantinos Parthenis, Greek painter (died 1967) Konstantinos Parthenis was a Greek painter. Born in Alexandria, part of the Greek community in Egypt, Parthenis broke with the Greek academic tradition of the 19th century and introduced modern elements together with traditional themes, like the figure of Christ, in his art. Read more
10 May 1878: Gustav Stresemann, German journalist and politician, Chancellor of Germany, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1929) Gustav Ernst Stresemann was a German statesman during the Weimar Republic who served as chancellor of Germany from August to November 1923 and as foreign minister from 1923 to 1929. His most notable achievement was the reconciliation between Germany and France, for which he and French Prime Minister Aristide Briand received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926. During a period of political instability and fragile, short-lived governments, Stresemann was seen at his death as "the person who maintained the precarious balance of the political system." Read more
10 May 1876: Ivan Cankar, Slovenian poet and playwright (died 1918) Ivan Cankar was a Slovene writer, playwright, essayist, poet, and political activist. Together with Oton Župančič, Dragotin Kette, and Josip Murn, he is considered as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature. He is regarded as the greatest writer in Slovene, and has sometimes been compared to Franz Kafka and James Joyce. Read more
10 May 1872: Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (died 1950) Marcel Israël Mauss was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the "father of French ethnology". The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss, in his academic work, crossed the boundaries between sociology and anthropology. Today, he is perhaps better recognised for his influence on the latter discipline, particularly with respect to his analyses of topics such as magic, sacrifice and gift exchange in different cultures around the world. Mauss had a significant influence upon Claude Lévi-Strauss, the founder of structural anthropology. His most famous work is The Gift (1925). Read more
10 May 1855: Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru and educator (died 1936) Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri is the monastic name of Priya Nath Karar, an Indian monk and yogi, and the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda and Swami Satyananda Giri. Born in Serampore, West Bengal, Sri Yukteswar was a Kriya yogi, a Jyotishi, a scholar of the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, an educator, author, and astronomer. He was a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya of Varanasi and a member of the Giri branch of the Swami order. As a guru, he had two ashrams, one in Serampore and another in Puri, Odisha, between which he alternated his residence throughout the year as he trained disciples. Read more
10 May 1847: Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician and academic (died 1923) Wilhelm Karl Joseph Killing was a German mathematician who made important contributions to the theories of Lie algebras, Lie groups, and non-Euclidean geometry. Read more
10 May 1843: Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish author and playwright (died 1920) Benito María de los Dolores Pérez Galdós was a Spanish realist novelist and politician. He was a leading literary figure in 19th-century Spain, and some scholars consider him second only to Miguel de Cervantes in stature as a Spanish novelist. Read more
10 May 1841: James Gordon Bennett Jr., American publisher and broadcaster (died 1918) James Gordon Bennett Jr. was an American publisher. He was the publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett Sr. (1795–1872), who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father. Among his many sports-related accomplishments he organized both the first polo match and the first tennis match in the United States, and he won the first trans-oceanic yacht race. He sponsored explorers including Henry Morton Stanley's trip to Africa to find David Livingstone, and the ill-fated USS Jeannette attempt on the North Pole. Read more
10 May 1838: John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (died 1865) John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth theatrical family from Maryland, he was a noted actor who was also a Confederate sympathizer; denouncing Lincoln, he lamented the then-recent abolition of slavery in the United States. Read more
10 May 1813: Montgomery Blair, American lieutenant and politician, 20th United States Postmaster General (died 1883) Montgomery Blair was an American politician and lawyer from Maryland. He served in the Lincoln administration cabinet as Postmaster-General from 1861 to 1864, during the Civil War. He was the son of Francis Preston Blair, elder brother of Francis Preston Blair Jr. and cousin of B. Gratz Brown. Read more
10 May 1812: William Henry Barlow, English engineer (died 1902) William Henry Barlow was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with railway engineering projects. Barlow was involved in many engineering enterprises. He was engineer for the Midland Railway on its London extension and designed the company's London terminus at St Pancras. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 10 May in World History

10 May 2024: Sam Rubin, American journalist (born 1960) Sam Rubin was an American journalist who served as the entertainment reporter for the KTLA Morning News and as a television host of entertainment talk shows and specials. He reported on the entertainment industry for over thirty years and interviewed many Hollywood stars. He was also the co-author of two biographies, one on the former first lady Jacqueline Onassis and another about actress Mia Farrow. Read more
10 May 2024: Jim Simons, American hedge fund manager, mathematician, and philanthropist (born 1938) James Harris Simons was an American hedge fund manager, investor, mathematician, and philanthropist. At the time of his death, Simons's net worth was estimated to be $31.4 billion, making him the 55th-richest person in the world. He was the founder of Renaissance Technologies, a quantitative hedge fund based in East Setauket, New York. He and his fund are known to be quantitative investors, using mathematical models and algorithms to make investment gains from market inefficiencies. Due to the long-term aggregate investment returns of Renaissance and its Medallion Fund, Simons was called the "greatest investor on Wall Street" and more specifically "the most successful hedge fund manager of all time". Read more
10 May 2022: Bob Lanier, American professional basketball player (born 1948) Robert Jerry Lanier Jr. was an American professional basketball player. He played center for the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lanier was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. Read more
10 May 2022: Leonid Kravchuk, Ukrainian politician (born 1934) Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk was a Ukrainian politician who served as the first president of Ukraine from 5 December 1991 to 19 July 1994. Kravchuk's presidency was marked by Ukraine achieving independence from the Soviet Union, the handover of its post-Soviet nuclear arsenal and an economic crisis that ultimately resulted in him losing re-election. Prior to his presidency, he was Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada. After leaving office, he served as a People's Deputy of Ukraine for the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united). Read more
10 May 2021: Pauline Tinsley, British soprano (born 1928) Pauline Cecilia Tinsley was a British soprano, notable for her performances for the Welsh National Opera and the English National Opera (1963–1974). Read more
10 May 2020: Betty Wright, American soul singer (born 1953) Bessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name Betty Wright, was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter and background vocalist. Beginning her professional career in the late 1960s as a teenager, Wright rose to fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night". Wright was also prominent in her use of whistle register. Read more
10 May 2019: Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spanish politician and chemist (born 1951) Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba was a Spanish statesman, politician and chemist who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain from 2010 to 2011, and previously as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993, as Minister of the Presidency from 1993 to 1996, as Minister of the Interior from 2006 to 2011 and as acting Minister of Defence between May and June 2008. Read more
10 May 2018: David Goodall, Australian botanist and ecologist (born 1914) David William Goodall was an English-born Australian botanist and ecologist. He was influential in the early development of statistical methods in plant communities. He worked as researcher and professor in England, Australia, Ghana and the United States. He was editor-in-chief of the 30-volume Ecosystems of the World series of books, and author of over 100 publications. He was known as Australia's oldest working scientist, still editing ecology papers at age 103. Long an advocate of voluntary euthanasia legalisation, he ended his own life in Switzerland via physician-assisted suicide aged 104. Read more
10 May 2015: Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (born 1946) Christopher Lee Burden was an American artist working in performance art, sculpture, and installation art. Burden became known in the 1970s for his performance art works, including Shoot (1971), where he arranged for a friend to shoot him in the arm with a small-caliber rifle. A prolific artist, Burden created many well-known installations, public artworks, and sculptures before his death in 2015. Read more
10 May 2012: Horst Faas, German photographer and journalist (born 1933) Horst Faas was a German photo-journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He is best known for his images of the Vietnam War. Read more
10 May 2012: Carroll Shelby, American race car driver and designer (born 1923) Carroll Hall Shelby was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur. Read more
10 May 2012: Gunnar Sønsteby, Norwegian captain and author (born 1918) Gunnar Fridtjof Thurmann Sønsteby DSO was a member of the Norwegian resistance movement during the German occupation of Norway in World War II. Known by the nickname "Kjakan" and as "Agent No. 24", he was the most highly decorated citizen in Norway, including being the only person to have been awarded the War Cross with three swords, Norway's highest military decoration. Read more
10 May 2010: Frank Frazetta, American illustrator and painter (born 1928) Frank Frazetta was an American artist known for themes of fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of fantasy art", and one of the most renowned illustrators of the 20th century. He was also the subject of a 2003 documentary Painting with Fire. Read more
10 May 2008: Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (born 1928) Leyla Gencer also known as La Diva Turca was a Turkish operatic soprano. Read more
10 May 2006: Soraya, Colombian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1969) Soraya Raquel Lamilla Cuevas was a Colombian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, arranger and record producer. Read more
10 May 2003: Milan Vukcevich, Serbian-American chemist and chess player (born 1937) Milan R. Vukcevich was a Serbian-American chemist, a grandmaster of chess problem composition and writer. Read more
10 May 2002: Kaifi Azmi, Indian poet and songwriter (born 1919) Kaifi Azmi was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others he participated in many memorable Mushaira gatherings of the twentieth century. He was also a communist who wanted to see India one day become a socialist state. His wife was theatre and film actress Shaukat Kaifi. Read more
10 May 2002: Yves Robert, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1920) Yves Robert was a French actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. Read more
10 May 2001: Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian politician, Governor of Himachal Pradesh (born 1934) Sudhakarrao Rajusing Naik was an Indian politician from Indian National Congress party who served as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 25 June 1991 until 22 February 1993 following the communal riots. He also served as Governor of Himachal Pradesh from 1994 to 1995 He had given the new shape to the Panchayat Raj, started the continuous election process in Panchayat Raj systems all over the state, as desired by the former Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi, decentralisation of power and faster decision making process being motive of bringing back the Panchayat Raj in full-fledged functioning. He is called as the hero of Jalkranti, who started the irrigation revolution in the State of Maharashtra. Read more
10 May 2000: Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (born 1923) Jules Deschênes, was a Canadian Quebec Superior Court judge. Read more
10 May 2000: Dick Sprang, American illustrator (born 1915) Richard W. Sprang was an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on the superhero Batman during the period fans and historians call Golden Age of Comic Books. Sprang was responsible for the 1950 redesign of the Batmobile and the original design of the Riddler, who has appeared in film, television and other media adaptations. Sprang's Batman was notable for his square chin, expressive face and barrel chest. Read more
10 May 1999: Shel Silverstein, American poet, author, and illustrator (born 1930) Sheldon Allan Silverstein was an American writer, cartoonist, songwriter, and musician. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended college before being drafted into the United States Army. During his rise to prominence in the 1950s, his illustrations were published in various newspapers and magazines, including the adult-oriented Playboy. He also wrote a satirical, adult-oriented alphabet book, Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book. Read more
10 May 1994: John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (born 1942) John Wayne Gacy was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured and murdered at least thirty-three young men and boys between 1972 and 1978 in Norwood Park Township, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He became known as the "Killer Clown" due to his public performances as a clown prior to the discovery of his crimes. Read more
10 May 1990: Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (born 1916) Walker Percy, OblSB was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award for Fiction. Read more
10 May 1989: Dominik Tatarka, Slovak writer (born 1913) Dominik Tatarka was a Slovak writer famous for his 1956 satirical text The Demon of Consent condemning Stalinism. Read more
10 May 1988: Shen Congwen, Chinese author and academic (born 1902) Shen Congwen, formerly romanized as Shen Ts'ung-wen, was a Chinese writer who is considered one of the greatest modern Chinese writers, on par with Lu Xun. Regional culture and identity plays a much bigger role in his writing than that of other major early modern Chinese writers. He was known for combining the vernacular style with classical Chinese writing techniques. Shen is the most important of the "native soil" writers in modern Chinese literature. Shen Congwen published many excellent compositions in his life, the most famous of which is the novella Border Town. This story is about the old ferryman and his granddaughter Cuicui's love story. Shen Congwen and his wife Zhang Zhaohe were married in 1933, Shen Congwen and Zhang Zhaohe had two sons and one daughter after their marriage. Read more
10 May 1982: Peter Weiss, German playwright and painter (born 1916) Peter Ulrich Weiss was a German writer, painter, graphic artist, and experimental filmmaker of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays Marat/Sade and The Investigation and his novel The Aesthetics of Resistance. Read more
10 May 1977: Joan Crawford, American actress (year of birth disputed) Joan Crawford was an American actress. She began her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her roles, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who manage to find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she was labeled "box office poison". Read more
10 May 1974: Hal Mohr, American director and cinematographer (born 1894) Harold Leon "Hal" Mohr, A.S.C. was a famed movie cinematographer, noted for shooting The Jazz Singer, Hollywood's landmark semi-talkie. Mohr won an Oscar for his work on the 1935 film, A Midsummer Night's Dream, another for the 1943 version of The Phantom of the Opera, and received an Oscar nomination for lensing the 1952 film of Jan de Hartog's The Fourposter. Read more
10 May 1968: Scotty Beckett, American actor and singer (born 1929) Scott Hastings Beckett was an American actor. He began his career as a child actor in the Our Gang shorts and later costarred on Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. Read more
10 May 1965: Hubertus van Mook, Dutch politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (born 1894) Hubertus Johannes "Huib" van Mook was a Dutch administrator in the East Indies. During the Indonesian National Revolution, he served as the lieutenant governor-general of the Dutch East Indies from 1942 to 1948. Van Mook also had a son named Cornelius van Mook who studied marine engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also wrote about Java – and his work on Kota Gede is a good example of a colonial bureaucrat capable of examining and writing about local folklore. Read more
10 May 1964: Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter, illustrator, and set designer (born 1881) Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov was a Russian avant-garde painter who worked with radical exhibitors and pioneered the first approach to abstract Russian art. He was founding member of two important artistic groups Knave of Diamonds and the more radical Donkey's Tail. His lifelong partner was fellow avant-garde artist, Natalia Goncharova, with whom they worked on Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in France and Switzerland. Read more
10 May 1960: Yury Olesha, Russian author, poet, and playwright (born 1899) Yury Karlovich Olesha was a Russian and Soviet novelist. He is considered one of the greatest Russian novelists of the 20th century, one of the few to have succeeded in writing works of lasting artistic value despite the stifling censorship of the era. His works are delicate balancing acts that superficially send pro-Communist messages but reveal far greater subtlety and richness upon a deeper reading. Sometimes, he is grouped with his friends Ilf and Petrov, Isaac Babel, and Sigismund Krzhizhanovsky into the Odessa School of Writers. Read more
10 May 1950: Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian and bibliographer (born 1883) Belle da Costa Greene was an American librarian who managed and developed the personal library of J. P. Morgan. After Morgan died in 1913, Greene continued as librarian for his son, Jack Morgan, and in 1924 was named the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library. Despite being born to black parents, Greene spent her professional career passing for white. Read more
10 May 1945: Richard Glücks, German SS officer (born 1889) Richard Glücks was a high-ranking German SS functionary during the Nazi era. From November 1939 until the end of World War II, he commanded the Concentration Camps Inspectorate, later integrated into the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office as "Amt D". Reporting first to Theodor Eicke, then to SS chief Heinrich Himmler and finally to Oswald Pohl, he became Inspector of Concentration Camps. He retained this position despite Himmler, in whose presence Glücks would panic, having little confidence in him. Glücks was responsible for the forced labour of camp inmates and was the supervisor for the medical practices in the camps, ranging from Nazi human experimentation to the implementation of the "Final Solution", in particular the mass murder of inmates with Zyklon B gas. After Germany capitulated, Glücks committed suicide by swallowing a potassium cyanide capsule. Read more
10 May 1945: Konrad Henlein, Czech soldier and politician (born 1898) Konrad Ernst Eduard Henlein was a Sudeten German politician in Czechoslovakia, before World War II. After Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Czechoslovakia, he became the Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Reichsgau Sudetenland. Read more
10 May 1910: Stanislao Cannizzaro, Italian chemist and academic (born 1826) Stanislao Cannizzaro was an Italian chemist. He is famous for the Cannizzaro reaction and for his influential role in the atomic-weight deliberations of the Karlsruhe Congress in 1860. Read more
10 May 1897: Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino soldier and politician, President of the Philippines (born 1863) Andrés Bonifacio was a Filipino revolutionary leader. He is often called "The Father of the Philippine Revolution", considered a national hero of the Philippines. Read more
10 May 1891: Carl Nägeli, Swiss botanist and mycologist (born 1817) Carl Wilhelm von Nägeli was a Swiss botanist. He studied cell division and pollination but became known as the man who discouraged Gregor Mendel from further work on genetics. He rejected natural selection as a mechanism of evolution, favouring orthogenesis, though the term was only coined in 1893, two years after his death, driven by a supposed "inner perfecting principle". Read more
10 May 1891: Peter Ward, New York politician (born 1827) Peter Ward was a New York businessman and politician. From 1851–1859, Ward was the superintendent of the Newburgh Branch of the Erie Railroad. He also worked for the New York, Ontario and Western Railway and the New Jersey Southern Railroad. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the mayor of Newburgh, New York, from March 13, 1882, to March 11, 1884. In 1889, Ward was elected in a special election to represent the 13th district in the New York State Senate following the death of Senator Henry R. Low. He was sworn in on February 11, 1889, and served until the completion of the 112th New York State Legislature on December 31, 1889. Ward died on May 10, 1891, aged 63, just months after having his tongue removed in surgery. Read more
10 May 1889: Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian journalist, author, and playwright (born 1826) Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin, born Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov and known during his lifetime by the pen name Nikolai Shchedrin, was a major Russian writer and satirist of the 19th century. He spent most of his life working as a civil servant in various capacities. After the death of poet Nikolay Nekrasov, he acted as editor of a Russian literary magazine Otechestvenniye Zapiski until the Tsarist government banned it in 1884. In his works Saltykov mastered both stark realism and satirical grotesque merged with fantasy. His most famous works, the family chronicle novel The Golovlyov Family (1880) and the novel The History of a Town (1870), also translated as Foolsburg, became important works of 19th-century fiction, and Saltykov is regarded as a major figure of Russian literary Realism. Read more
10 May 1868: Henry Bennett, American lawyer and politician (born 1808) Henry Bennett was an American lawyer and politician who served five terms as a United States representative from New York from 1849 to 1859. Read more
10 May 1865: William Armstrong, American lawyer, civil servant, politician, and businessperson (born 1782) William Armstrong was an American lawyer, civil servant, politician, and businessperson. He represented Hampshire County in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1818 to 1820, and Virginia's 16th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1825 to 1833. Read more
10 May 1863: Stonewall Jackson, American general (born 1824) Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was a Confederate general and military officer who served during the American Civil War. He played a prominent role in nearly all military engagements in the eastern theater of the war until his death. Military historians regard him as one of the most gifted tactical commanders in U.S. history. Read more
10 May 1849: Hokusai, Japanese painter and illustrator (born 1760) Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. His woodblock print series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji includes the iconic print The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Hokusai was instrumental in developing ukiyo-e from a style of portraiture largely focused on courtesans and actors into a much broader style of art that focused on landscapes, plants, and animals. His works had a significant influence on Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet during the wave of Japonisme that spread across Europe in the late 19th century. Read more
10 May 1829: Thomas Young, English physician and linguist (born 1773) Thomas Young was a British polymath who made notable contributions to the fields of vision, light, solid mechanics, energy, physiology, language, musical harmony, and Egyptology. He was instrumental in the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs, specifically the Rosetta Stone. Read more
10 May 1818: Paul Revere, American engraver and soldier (born 1735) Paul Revere was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, engaging in a midnight ride in 1775 to alert nearby minutemen of the approach of British troops prior to the battles of Lexington and Concord. Read more
10 May 1807: Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French general (born 1725) Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau was a French Royal Army officer who played a critical role in the American victory at the siege of Yorktown in 1781 during the American Revolutionary War. He was commander-in-chief of the Expédition Particulière, the French expeditionary force sent to North America during the conflict. He worked closely and well with George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. Read more

Why is 10 May Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 10 May, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

👉 View complete History of Today archive

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on 10 May in World history?

On 10 May, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

Is History of Today important for competitive exams?

Yes, History of Today is frequently asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, and State PSC exams as part of static GK and current awareness sections.