This Day In History — Alan Shepard becomes first American in space

May 05

1809
Mary Kies of South Killingly, Conn., became the first woman to be granted a patent. The patent was for the rights to a technique for weaving straw with silk and thread.

1821
Napoleon Bonaparte died on the island of St. Helena.

1891
Carnegie Hall (then known as Music Hall) opened in New York City. Peter Tchaikovsky was the guest conductor.

1925
John Scopes was arrested in Tennessee for teaching Darwinism.

1961
Alan Shepard became the first American in space.

1981
Bobby Sands of the Irish Republican Army died in a prison hospital on the 66th day of his hunger strike.

2004
Pablo Picasso’s “Boy with a Pipe” became the most expensive painting ever sold.

Birthdays

Karl Marx
1818–83, German social philosopher, the chief theorist of modern socialism and communism.

Soren Kierkegaard
philosopher and religious thinker (1813)

Nellie Bly
journalist (1867)

Tyrone Power
actor (1914)

Arthur L Schawlow
physicist (1921)

Tammy Wynette
country singer (1942)

Adele
singer (1988)