Local
2018: Salt Lake gets its first solar trees — Sourasree — on May 25 with state power minister Sovandeb Chatterjee inaugurating two such structures in front of the West Bengal Power Development Corporation office in LA Block. The structures are akin to trees, with solar panels fixed at various points to receive maximum sunshine and generate electricity.
National
1577: Nur Jahan is born on May 31 to a minister who served under emperor Akbar. She marries a Persian soldier but after he dies, agrees to marry Akbar’s son, who is now emperor Jahangir. The union is considered scandalous as she is a widow but Nur Jahan soon becomes the most powerful and influential Mughal empresses ever, holding court, advising Jahangir on decisions etc.
1866: Gopal Krishna Gokhale is born on May 9 in Bombay Presidency. Despite a modest background, his family ensures a sound education, with which he becomes a professor, social reformer and senior leader of the Indian National Congress, fighting for Indian independence. He founds the Servants of India Society to promote literacy through schools, mobile libraries and night classes for factory workers.
1991: A member of the Sri Lankan separatist organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam approaches to greet Rajiv Gandhi at a public meeting in Tamil Nadu on 21 May. Thenmozhi Rajaratnam bends to touch his feet but instead, detonates a belt laden with explosives tucked under her clothes. The 17-year-old is a suicide bomber and assassinates former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in an explosion that also kills 14 other people.
Global
1918: Richard Feynman is born on May 11. The American theoretical physicist works in fields such as quantum mechanics, nanotechnology, quantum electrodynamics and receives the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. One of the best-known scientists in the world, Feynman assists to build the atomic bomb and joins a team to investigate the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. His lectures and books remain popular decades after his demise.
1960: An earthquake measuring between 9.4 and 9.6 on the moment magnitude scale takes place in Chile on May 22. Lasting about 10 minutes, the calamity induces waves as high as 82ft and devastates the region. Tsunamis affect Hawaii, Australia, Japan and the death toll is several thousand people. The Great Chilean earthquake proves to be the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
1994: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, one of the most popular former American First Ladies, dies on May 19 at the age of 64. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, “Jacky” had married a Greek shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis. Also a writer and photographer, Jackie is best remembered as a fashion icon and the pink Chanel suit and pillbox hat she wore on the day of the assassination becomes a symbol of the president’s death.
Sports & entertainment
1974: Cricketers Ian Botham, 18, and Viv Richards, 22, make their county championship debut playing for Somerset County Cricket Club between May 8 and 10. The match at the County Ground in Taunton is against Lancashire, a team that boasts of formidable players like Clive Lloyd. The match is a draw but both Botham and Richards go on to become legendary players.
1988: Veteran film actor, director and producer Raj Kapoor collapses at the ceremony to honour him with the highest award in Indian cinema - the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Kapoor is hospitalised after the May 2 incident but fails to recover. The man behind classics like Awara and Shree 420 dies the next month, at the age of 63.
