May 22 birthdays & history

Famous people born on May 22

• 1813Richard Wagner, German composer
• 1859Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer
• 1987Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player
• 1924Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer-songwriter and actor
• 1907Laurence Olivier, English actor, director, and producer
• 1844Mary Cassatt, American painter and educator
• 1946George Best, Northern Irish footballer
• 1970Naomi Campbell, English model
• 1943Betty Williams, Northern Irish peace activist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1987Arturo Vidal, Chilean footballer

What happened on May 22

• 1762The Trevi Fountain in Rome was officially inaugurated by Pope Clement XIII.
• 1819SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1844In Shiraz, Iran, the Báb declared himself to be a messenger of God to Mullá Husayn, leading to the foundation of Bábism, considered to be a precursor to the Baháʼí Faith.
• 1846The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative.
• 1849Abraham Lincoln was issued a patent for an invention to lift boats over obstacles in a river, making him the only U.S. president ever to hold a patent.
• 1866Oliver Winchester founds the Winchester Repeating Arms.
• 1897The first Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames was opened to improve commerce and trade in the East End of London.
• 1905Sultan Abdul Hamid II established the Ullah millet, a separate millet for the Aromanians within the Ottoman Empire.
• 1906The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".
• 1926Chiang Kai-shek replaces the communists in Kuomintang China.[vague]
• 1972The Dominion of Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka, adopted a new constitution, and officially became a republic within the Commonwealth.
• 1980Location testing for Pac-Man, a Japanese arcade game that became an icon of 1980s popular culture, began in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Also observed on May 22

• Abolition Day (Martinique)
• Aromanian National Day (marginal, celebration on May 23 is more common)
• Harvey Milk Day (California)
• International Day for Biological Diversity (International)
• United States National Maritime Day
• National Sovereignty Day (Haiti)