Calendar for May 15th, 2012

International Day of Families

2001: Shavuot

2001: Whitsunday-Pentecost

2001: Armed Forces Day

1602: English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold arrived at Shoal Hope in what is now Massachusetts. They caught so many cod there they renamed it Cape Cod

1618: Johannes Kepler verified his Third Law of Planetary Motion

1718: James Puckle was granted a patent for his "Defence Gun," the world's first rapid-fire gun

Born 1856: L. Frank Baum (author)

Born 1857: Williamina Fleming (astronomer)

Born 1859: Pierre Curie (chemist)

Died 1886: Emily Dickinson (poet)

Born 1890: Katherine Anne Porter (novelist)

1900: Rain and fish fell from the sky in Olneyville, Rhode Island. Most of the fish measured 2- to 4-inches long.

1963: First live TV pictures received from a U.S. spacecraft, (Faith 7)

Born 1969: Emmitt Smith (football player)

Born 1970: Rod Smith (football player)

1972: Governor George Wallace of Alabama was shot

Born 1980: Josh Beckett (baseball player)

Died 2003: June Carter Cash (singer)

2005: Boston Red Sox player Manny Ramirez hit his 400th home run

Died 2007: Jerry Falwell

Died 2011: Barbara Stuart (actress)