May 15th, 1916

Born on May 15th, 1916

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 39,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 580 days, exactly on November 19th, 2025, people who were born on May 15th, 1916 will be 40,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on May 15th, 1916?

May 15th, 1916

Jesse Washington, a teenage African-American farmhand, was lynched in Waco, Texas.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_Jesse_Washington

What else happened on May 15th?

May 15th, 2010

Three days before her seventeenth birthday, Jessica Watson arrived in Sydney after sailing non-stop and unassisted around the world.

May 15th, 2004

Arsenal became the first football team in England's top flight to finish a season undefeated since Preston North End did so in 1888–1889.

May 15th, 1990

Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold at auction at Christie's in New York for US$82.5 million, making it the world's most expensive painting at the time.

May 15th, 1972

The Ryukyu Islands were returned to Japan by the United States, and the U.S. occupation government was abolished.

May 15th, 1966

Disapproving of General Tôn Thất Đính's handling of the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese prime minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ ordered an attack on his forces and ousted Đính from his post.

May 15th, 1957

The United Kingdom tested its first hydrogen bomb over Malden Island in Operation Grapple.

May 15th, 1953

Don Murphy organized the first pinewood derby, an event for Cub Scouts of the Boy Scouts of America where wooden cars built by the scouts are raced.

May 15th, 1945

The British Army directed fleeing Croatian soldiers to surrender to the Yugoslav Partisans, beginning the Bleiburg repatriations.

May 15th, 1911

Mexican Revolution: A force of Maderistas captured Torreón and proceeded to massacre 303 of the city's Chinese residents.

May 15th, 1904

Russo-Japanese War: The Japanese battleships Hatsuse and Yashima sank after striking several mines off Port Arthur, China.

May 15th, 1869

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, breaking away from the American Equal Rights Association which they had also previously founded.

May 15th, 1864

American Civil War: A small Confederate force, which included cadets from the Virginia Military Institute, forced the Union Army out of the Shenandoah Valley.

May 15th, 1855

Thieves stole 224 pounds (102 kg) of gold from a train travelling from London to Folkestone, England.

May 15th, 1836

English astronomer Francis Baily observed Baily's beads (example pictured), a phenomenon during a solar eclipse in which the rugged topography of the lunar limb allows sunlight to shine through.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on May 15th

Born on May 15th, 1916

98

Vera Gebuhr

Danish actress (1916-2014)

*May 15th, 1916, Odense †December 22nd, 2014, Gentofte

Same Day
Who's birthday is on May 15th?

58

Martin Sonneborn

German satirist, journalist and politician

*May 15th, 1965, Göttingen

94

Paul Samuelson

American economist

*May 15th, 1915, Gary †December 13th, 2009, Belmont

64

Andrew Eldritch

British singer

*May 15th, 1959, Ely

65

Michel Audiard

French screenwriter and film director (1920–1985)

*May 15th, 1920, 14th arrondissement of Paris †July 28th, 1985, Dourdan

28

Victoria Williams

Badminton player

*May 15th, 1995, Sheffield

78

Inga Ålenius

Swedish actress (1938-2017)

*May 15th, 1938, Stockholm †April 24th, 2017, Helsingborg

53

Mika Vainio

Finnish electronic musician

*May 15th, 1963, Helsinki †April 12th, 2017, Trouville-sur-Mer

46

Pierre Curie

French physicist (1859-1906)

*May 15th, 1859, Paris †April 19th, 1906, Paris

75

Brian Eno

British musician, music producer, music theorist and visual artist (born 1948)

*May 15th, 1948, Melton

75

Anthony Shaffer

Writer, barrister and advertising executive from England

*May 15th, 1926, Liverpool †November 6th, 2001, London

71

Tenzing Norgay

Nepalese Indian Sherpa mountaineer (1914-1986)

*May 15th, 1914, Tengboche †May 9th, 1986, Darjeeling

60

Grete Mogensen

Badminton player

*May 15th, 1963, Skive

79

Max Frisch

Swiss playwrighter and novelist (1911–1991)

*May 15th, 1911, Zürich †April 4th, 1991, Zürich

23

Carolina Ponce

Argentinian Beach handball player

*May 15th, 2000, Ensenada

23

Caterina Benedetti

Argentinian handball player

*May 15th, 2000, Buenos Aires

33

Sannatasah Saniru

Malaysian badminton player

*May 15th, 1990, Sabah

25

Sun Feixiang

Chinese badminton player

*May 15th, 1998, Yichang

87

Anna Maria Alberghetti

Italian-born operatic singer and actress

*May 15th, 1936, Pesaro

28

Yu Igarashi

Japanese badminton player

*May 15th, 1995, Yamagata Prefecture

84

Madeleine Albright

United States Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001

*May 15th, 1937, Prague †March 23rd, 2022, Washington, D.C.

Same year
Born in 1916

89

Phil Brown

American actor (1916–2006)

*April 30th, 1916, Cambridge †February 9th, 2006, Woodland Hills

100

Jean Rouverol

American actress and screenwriter

*July 8th, 1916, St. Louis †March 24th, 2017, Dover

89

Geoffrey Keen

English actor (1916–2005)

*August 21st, 1916, Wallingford †November 3rd, 2005, Northwood

101

Harry Huskey

American computer design pioneer (1916-2017)

*January 19th, 1916, Whittier †April 9th, 2017, Santa Cruz

79

François Mitterrand

21st President of the French Republic from 1981 to 1995

*October 26th, 1916, Jarnac †January 8th, 1996, 7th arrondissement of Paris

71

Jackie Gleason

American comedian and actor (1916-1987)

*February 26th, 1916, Brooklyn †June 24th, 1987, Fort Lauderdale

103

Kirk Douglas

American stage and film actor (1916–2020)

*December 9th, 1916, Amsterdam †February 5th, 2020, Beverly Hills

101

Jacque Fresco

American futurist and self-described social engineer

*March 13th, 1916, Brooklyn †May 18th, 2017, Sebring

88

Francis Crick

British molecular biologist, biophysicist, neuroscientist; co-discoverer of the structure of DNA

*June 8th, 1916, Northampton †July 28th, 2004, La Jolla

107

Friedrich Grade

German engineer and naval officer

*March 29th, 1916, Büdelsdorf †October 13th, 2023, Bornheim

101

Bernard Lewis

British-American historian (1916–2018)

*May 31st, 1916, London †May 19th, 2018, Voorhees Township

79

Harold Wilson

British politician

*March 11th, 1916, Huddersfield †May 24th, 1995, London

104

Olivia de Havilland

English and American actress (1916–2020)

*July 1st, 1916, Tokyo †July 26th, 2020, 16th arrondissement of Paris

93

Vitaly Ginzburg

Russian physicist

*September 21st, 1916, Moscow †November 8th, 2009, Moscow

84

Sirimavo Bandaranaike

Prime Minister of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) from 1960–65, 1970–77, 1994–2000

*April 17th, 1916, Baḷangoḍa †October 10th, 2000, Colombo

87

Maurice Wilkins

New Zealand-born English physicist and biologist

*December 15th, 1916, Pongaroa †October 5th, 2004, Blackheath

101

Sam Beazley

British actor

*March 29th, 1916, Kensington †June 12th, 2017, London

100

João Havelange

Brazilian businessman and athlete (1916-2016)

*May 8th, 1916, Rio de Janeiro †August 16th, 2016, Rio de Janeiro

89

Edward Heath

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974

*July 9th, 1916, Broadstairs †July 17th, 2005, Salisbury

77

Mark Stevens

American actor (1916–1994)

*December 13th, 1916, Cleveland †September 15th, 1994, Spain

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on May 15th

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day) which are celebrated on May 15th.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Leap year

Yes: 1916 is a leap year, therefore has a 29th of February with an additional leap day and a total of 366 days (instead of the usual 365 days in a normal year).

Calendar
May 1916