May 22
1762
Trevi Fountain in Rome is officially completed and inaugurated by Pope Clemens XIII.
1804 The
Lewis and Clark Expedition officially began, as the
Corps of Discovery departed from St. Charles, Missouri.
1807 A grand jury indicts former
Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
1826
HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage.
1849 Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats over obstacles in a river, making him the only
U.S. President to ever hold a patent.
1885 Prior to burial in the
Panthιon, the body of
Victor Hugo was exposed under the Arc de Triomphe during the night.
1897 The
Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames is officially opened.
1915
Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, and is the only mountain other than
Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous US during the 20th century.
Three trains collide in the
Quintinshill rail disaster near
Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246; the accident is found to be the result of non-standard operating practices during a shift change at a busy junction.
1968 The nuclear-powered submarine the
USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard 400 miles southwest of
the Azores.
1969
Apollo 10's lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon's surface.
1980
Namco releases the highly influential arcade game
Pac-Man.
2004 The U.S. town of
Hallam, Nebraska is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado (part of the
May 2004 tornado outbreak sequence) which kills one resident, and becomes the widest tornado on record at 2.5 miles (4.0 km) wide.
2008 The
Late-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence unleashes 235 tornadoes, including an EF4 and an EF5 tornado, between May 22 and May 31, 2008. The tornadoes strike 19 states and one Canadian province.
2010
Air India Express Flight 812, a Boeing 737, goes over a cliff and crashes upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of the 166 people on board. It is the worst crash involving a Boeing 737.
2011
An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 162 people and wreaking $2.8 billion worth in damagethe costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.
2015 The
Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in a public referendum.
Births
1783 William Sturgeon (invented the
electromagnet and
electric motor); 1813 Richard Wagner; 1844 Mary Cassatt; 1859 Arthur Conan Doyle; 1907 Laurence Olivier; 1914 Sun Ra; 1922 Quinn Martin; 1928 T. Boone Pickens; 1930 Harvey Milk; 1939 Paul Winfield; 1940 Bernard Shaw; 1942 Ted Kaczynski (Unabomber); 1943 Tommy John; 1950 Bernie Taupin; 1959 Morrissey; 1970 Naomi Campbell; 1972 Max Brooks ("World War Z"); 1979 Maggie Q; 1980 Lucy Gordon; 1986 Julian Edelman; 1987 Novak Djokovic
Deaths
337 Constantine the Great; 1802 Martha Washington; 1885 Victor Hugo; 1967 Langston Hughes; 1990 Rocky Graziano; 1998 John Derek; 2005
Thurl Ravenscroft