Also on This Day in History May 21
Discover what happened on May 21 with HISTORY's summaries of major events, anniversaries,
famous births and notable deaths.
Births on This Day, May 21
-
1872
Henry E. Warren
American inventor (Telechon electric clock)
-
1898
Armand Hammer
American businessman who founded Occidental Petroleum
-
1878
Glenn Hammond Curtiss
American inventor (hydroplane) and founder of the US aviation industry
-
1903
Pedro Aramburu
Argentine army leader, President and Dictator of Argentina (1955-58)
-
1921
Andrei Sakharov
Russian nuclear physicist and an activist for disarmament, peace and human rights (Nobel 1975)
Deaths on This Day, May 21
-
2013
Leaonard Marsh
American businessman who co-founded Snapple
-
1929
Archibald Primrose (1847-1929)
5th Earl of Rosebery, British Prime Minister (Liberal: 1894-95)
-
1965
Geoffrey de Havilland
British aircraft designer
-
1991
Rajiv Gandhi
Prime Minister of India (1984-89)
-
1935
Hugo de Vries
Dutch botanist and geneticist who rediscovered Mendel's theory of heredity and for his work on genes (The Mutation Theory)
2014
The National September 11 Museum opens to the public
The 9/11 Memorial Museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014, in a ceremony led by U.S. President Barack Obama and 9/11 Memorial Chairman Michael R. Bloomberg. It opened to the public on May 21, 2014.
1934
Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes first US city to fingerprint its citizens
On May 21, 1934, the town of Oskaloosa, in Mahaska County in southeast Iowa, put a law on the books requiring all of its citizens to be fingerprinted.
1971
White Night Riots
White Night riots occur in San Francisco after Dan White is given a lenient sentence for assassinating Mayor George Moscone and the openly gay elected official Harvey Milk
1979
National Volksraad installed in Namibia
On May 21, 1979, the National Volksraad was installed in Namibia.