May 4 in history — What Happened Today in History

Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.

Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The South African Defence Force attacks a SWAPO base at Cassinga in southern Angola, killing about 600 people.

The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet (442 m) as the world's tallest building.

The Don't Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to Greenpeace Foundation.

Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the United States and South Vietnam.

American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.

Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km).

The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.

Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.

The entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Tomà, due to an injury and Renato Gandolfi, because of coach request) is killed in a plane crash.

In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Five people are killed in the riot.

World War II: Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.

World War II: The German surrender at Lüneburg Heath is signed, coming into effect the following day. It encompasses all Wehrmacht units in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany.

World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had invaded Tulagi the day before.

Having been incarcerated at the Cook County Jail since his sentencing on October 24, 1931, mobster Al Capone is transferred to the federal penitentiary in Atlanta after the U.S. Supreme Court denies his appeal for conviction of tax evasion.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is incorporated.

The United Kingdom general strike begins.

May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.

Italy begins the invasion and occupation of the Ottoman island of Rhodes.

The Royal Canadian Navy is created.

The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.

Haymarket affair: In Chicago, United States, a homemade bomb is thrown at police officers trying to break up a labor rally, killing one officer. Ensuing gunfire leads to the deaths of a further seven officers and four civilians.

The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The four-day Naval Battle of Hakodate begins. The newly formed Imperial Japanese Navy defeats the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate navy in the Sea of Japan off the city of Hakodate, leading to the surrender of the Ezo Republic on May 17.

The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking Devon and Cornwall in England.

Formation of Ancient Order of Hibernians.

Brazilian War of Independence: A Brazilian squadron led by Lord Cochrane engages a Portuguese squadron under João de Campos off Salvador, Bahia.

Jorge Lorenzo, Spanish motorcycle racer

Devan Dubnyk, Canadian ice hockey player

George Hill, American basketball player

Ravi Bopara, English cricketer

Fernandinho, Brazilian footballer

Jamie Adenuga, English MC and rapper

Brad Maddox, American wrestler and referee

Derek Roy, Canadian ice hockey player

Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer

Ruth Negga, Ethiopian-Irish actress

Dallon Weekes, American singer-songwriter and musician

Andrew Raycroft, Canadian ice hockey player

Lance Bass, American singer, dancer, and producer

Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian-Scottish tennis player (born 1983)

Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (born 1923)

Helga Königsdorf, German physicist and author (born 1938)

Ross Lonsberry, Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1947)

Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, Central African politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (born 1948)

Otis Bowen, American physician and politician, 44th Governor of Indiana (born 1918)

Christian de Duve, English-Belgian cytologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)

Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (born 1948)

Mario Machado, Chinese-American journalist and actor (born 1935)

Morgan Morgan-Giles, English admiral and politician (born 1914)

César Portillo de la Luz, Cuban guitarist and composer (born 1922)

Mort Lindsey, American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1923)

Bob Stewart, American television producer, founded Stewart Tele Enterprises (born 1920)