On This Day: May 11

Historical Events 📜

• 2024: Start/Middle of the May 2024 Solar Storms, the most powerful set of Geomagnetic storms since the 2003 Halloween solar storms.
• 2024: The 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is held in Malmö, Sweden. Nemo from Switzerland wins with their song “The Code”, making them the contest’s first non-binary winner.
• 2022: The Burmese military executes at least 37 villagers during the Mon Taing Pin massacre in Sagaing, Myanmar.
• 2022: Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is killed while covering a raid in Jenin. Israel eventually admitted and apologized for the murder, after initial denials.
• 2016: One hundred and ten people are killed in an ISIL bombing in Baghdad.
• 2014: Fifteen people are killed and 46 injured in Kinshasa, DRC, in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into soccer stands by police officers.
• 2013: Fifty-two people are killed in a bombing in Reyhanlı, Turkey.
• 2011: An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Lorca, Spain.
• 2011: The Istanbul Convention is signed in Istanbul, Turkey.
• 2010: David Cameron takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form the country’s first coalition government since the Second World War.
• 2009: An American soldier in Iraq opens fire on a counseling center at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, killing five other US soldiers and wounding three.
• 2009: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
• 2000: Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.
• 1998: India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.
• 1997: Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.

Famous Births 👶

• 2006: Konsta Helenius, Finnish ice hockey player
• 2003: Fermín López, Spanish footballer
• 2000: Yūki Tsunoda, Japanese racing driver
• 2000: Wang Chuqin, Chinese table tennis player
• 1999: Sabrina Carpenter, American singer and actress
• 1998: Viktória Kužmová, Slovak tennis player
• 1997: Coi Leray, American rapper and singer
• 1997: Lana Condor, American actress
• 1996: Adin Hill, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1995: Gelson Martins, Portuguese footballer
• 1995: Sachia Vickery, American tennis player
• 1995: Shira Haas, Israeli actress
• 1994: Hagos Gebrhiwet, Ethiopian runner
• 1994: Nene Macdonald, Papua New Guinean rugby league player
• 1993: Maurice Harkless, American-Puerto Rican basketball player

Notable Deaths 🕊️

• 2024: Susan Backlinie, American actress and stuntwoman (born 1946)
• 2021: Colt Brennan, American quarterback (born 1983)
• 2021: Norman Lloyd, American actor, producer and director (born 1914)
• 2020: Jerry Stiller, American comedian, actor (born 1927)
• 2019: Peggy Lipton, American actress, model, and singer (born 1946)
• 2019: Thomas Silverstein, American murderer (born 1952)
• 2011: Robert Traylor, American basketball player (born 1977)
• 2010: Doris Eaton Travis, American dancer and vaudevillian (born 1904)
• 2009: Abel Goumba, Central African physician and politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (born 1926)
• 2009: Claudio Huepe, Chilean economist and politician, Chilean Minister Secretary-General of Government (born 1939)
• 2009: Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda, Indian admiral (born 1915)
• 2008: John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (born 1953)
• 2007: Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan ruler (born 1913)
• 2006: Floyd Patterson, American boxer and actor (born 1935)
• 2005: Léo Cadieux, Canadian politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (born 1908)

Holidays & Observances 🎉

• Christian feast day:
  Anthimus of Rome
• Christian feast day:
  Gangulphus of Burgundy
• Christian feast day:
  Majolus of Cluny
• Christian feast day:
  Mamertus, the first of the Ice Saints