Microsoft's CEO Bill Gates, left, takes delivery of a picture from Intel's CEO Andy Grove, right, at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, May 13, 1993. Gates bought the picture last month for $25,000, which was donated to the Software Education Foundation. The picture is called "Die Plot of Pentium Processor". The two were meeting at Microsoft. (AP Photo/Barry Sweet)

Today is Sunday, May 9, the 129th day of 2021. There are 236 days left in the year. This is Mother’s Day.

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Today’s Highlight in History

On May 9, 1994, South Africa’s newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country’s first Black president.

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U.S. Army nurses lay flowers on the grave of Florence Nightingale near Romsey, England, in an undated photo, in observance of the 125th anniversary of her birth. Left to right: 1st Lieutenant Doris M. Villerot, Detroit, Mich.; 2nd Lieutenant Adeline L. Berg, Blair, Wis.; 1st Lieutenant Helen C. Fossedal, Chicago, Ill. (AP Photo)

On this date

In 1712, the Carolina Colony was officially divided into two entities: North Carolina and South Carolina.

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson, acting on a joint congressional resolution, signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

In 1926, Americans Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett supposedly became the first men to fly over the North Pole. (However, U.S. scholars announced in 1996 that their examination of Byrd’s flight diary suggested he had turned back 150 miles short of his goal.)

In 1945, with World War II in Europe at an end, Soviet forces liberated Czechoslovakia from Nazi occupation. U.S. officials announced that a midnight entertainment curfew was being lifted immediately.

The first freight cars containing contaminated milkpowder came to Bremen harbour from Austria. 500 tons should be delivered to Venezuela in a few days. In this picture a specialist controlls the radioactivity, with a Geiger counter May 11, 1987. (AP Photo/Peter Meyer)

In 1951, the U.S. conducted its first thermonuclear experiment as part of Operation Greenhouse by detonating a 225-kiloton device on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific nicknamed “George.”

In 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton N. Minow decried the majority of television programming as a “vast wasteland.”

In 1962, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology succeeded in reflecting a laser beam off the surface of the moon.

In 1970, President Richard Nixon made a surprise and impromptu pre-dawn visit to the Lincoln Memorial, where he chatted with a group of protesters who’d been resting on the Memorial steps after protests against the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings.

In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee opened public hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. (The committee ended up adopting three articles of impeachment against the president, who resigned before the full House took up any of them.)

Veteran dancers and film stars Gene Kelly, left, Donald O'Connor, center, and Fred Astaire arrive at New York's Kennedy airport, May 9, 1976 to participate in the world premiere of film, "That's Entertainment, Part 2". (AP Photo)

In 1980, 35 people were killed when a freighter rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay in Florida, causing a 1,400-foot section of the southbound span to collapse.

In 2012, President Barack Obama declared his unequivocal support for same-sex marriage in a historic announcement that came three days after Vice President Joe Biden spoke in favor of such unions on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

In 2019, Pope Francis issued a groundbreaking new church law requiring all Catholic priests and nuns to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities.

Ten years ago: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced on social networking websites that he was running for the Republican presidential nomination. Dallas Wiens, the nation’s first full face transplant recipient, joined surgeons at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston in his first public appearance since the 15-hour procedure in March 2011. Belgian cyclist Wouter Weylandt lost control of his bike and tumbled down a mountain pass to his death during the third stage of the Giro d’Italia.

Five years ago: Filipinos went to the polls to elect Rodrigo Duterte, the controversial, tough-talking mayor of Davao city, to be their country’s next president.

One year ago: The Food and Drug Administration approved a coronavirus antigen test that could quickly detect virus proteins from swabs that were swiped inside the naval cavity. Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard, known for his piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour, died in Tennessee at the age of 87 after battling bone cancer; he had helped shatter the color line on the music charts while introducing Black R&B to white America.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor-writer Alan Bennett is 87. Actor and politician Glenda Jackson is 85. Producer-director James L. Brooks is 84. Musician Sonny Curtis (Buddy Holly and the Crickets) is 84. Singer Tommy Roe is 79. Singer-musician Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield and Poco) is 77. Actor Candice Bergen is 75. Pop singer Clint Holmes is 75. Actor Anthony Higgins is 74. Singer Billy Joel is 72. Blues singer-musician Bob Margolin is 72. Rock singer-musician Tom Petersson (Cheap Trick) is 71. Actor Alley Mills is 70. Actor Amy Hill is 68. Actor Wendy Crewson is 65. Actor John Corbett is 60. Singer Dave Gahan (GAHN) (Depeche Mode) is 59. Actor Sonja Sohn is 57. Rapper Ghostface Killah is 51. Actor Chris Diamantopoulos (dy-uh-MAN’-toh-POO’-lehs) is 46. R&B singer Tamia (tuh-MEE’-ah) is 46. Actor Daniel Franzese is 43. Rock singer Pierre Bouvier (Simple Plan) is 42. Actor Rosario Dawson is 42. Rock singer Andrew W.K. is 42. Actor Rachel Boston is 39. TV personality Audrina Patridge is 36. Actor Grace Gummer is 35.

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MAY 10

On May 10, 1869, a golden spike was driven in Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

In 1774, Louis XVI acceded to the throne of France.

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Union forces in Irwinville, Georgia.

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MAY 11

On May 11, 1935, the Rural Electrification Administration was created as one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs.

In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.

In 1973, the espionage trial of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo in the “Pentagon Papers” case came to an end as Judge William M. Byrne dismissed all charges, citing government misconduct.

In 1981, legendary reggae artist Bob Marley died in a Miami hospital at age 36.

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MAY 12

On May 12, 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, which the Western powers had succeeded in circumventing with their Berlin Airlift.

In 1937, Britain’s King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey; his wife, Elizabeth, was crowned as queen consort.

In 2002, Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba, becoming the first U.S. president in or out of office to visit since the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.

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MAY 13

On May 13, 1607, English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia (the colonists went ashore the next day).

In 1914, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis was born in Lafayette, Alabama.

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MAY 14

On May 14, 1955, representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, signed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. (The Pact was dissolved in 1991).

In 1787, delegates began gathering at the State House in Philadelphia to draw up the United States Constitution; the convention did not achieve a quorum of seven states until May 25.

In 1987, film star Rita Hayworth died in New York at age 68.

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MAY 15

On May 15, 1970, just after midnight, Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two Black students at Jackson State College in Mississippi, were killed as police opened fire during student protests.

In 1948, hours after declaring its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

In 1954, the Fender Stratocaster guitar, created by Leo Fender, was officially released.

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