History of the Day for:
May 15
- 1602: Cape Cod was discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold.
- 1718: James Puckle, a London lawyer, patented the world's first machine gun.
- 1856: Author Frank L. Baum was born; he was best known for the "Wonderful Wizard of Oz."
- 1859: Chemist/physicist Pierre Curie was born.
- 1862: The U.S. Department Of Agriculture was formed.
- 1886: Poet Emily Dickinson died in Amherst, Mass. She wrote at least 800 poems, all but five of which remained unpublished until after her death.
- 1911: The Supreme Court ordered Standard Oil Co. to dissolve because it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
- 1918: The world's first airmail postal service began between New York, Philadelphia and Washington, using planes supplied by the U.S. War Department.
- 1926: The New York Rangers joined the National Hockey League.
- 1930: Ellen Church became the first airline flight attendant, flying on a United Airlines flight between San Francisco and Cheyenne, Wyo.
- 1940: Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the United States.
- 1941: Joe DiMaggio began his historic major-league hitting streak which ended after 56 games.
- 1948: Just hours after gaining its independence, Israel was attacked by Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
- 1957: Britain dropped its first hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific.
- 1970: Two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi were killed when police opened fire during student protests.
- 1972: Alabama governor George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer and left paralyzed while campaigning in Maryland for the Democratic presidential nomination.
- 1988: Moscow began withdrawing its 115,000 troops in Afghanistan.
- 1990: Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh is sold for a record $82.5 million, the most expensive painting at the time.
- 1991: Edith Cresson becomes France's first female prime minister.
- 1997: The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
- 2002: Real Madrid CF won the UEFA Champions League tournament for ninth time.
- 2008: California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.