On This Day: May 11

Today is Sunday, May 11, 2008. This is the 132nd day of the year, with 234 days remaining in 2008.

Fact of the Day: women's voting

The first countries to grant women's suffrage in national elections were New Zealand (1893), Australia (1902), Finland (1906), and Norway (1913).

Holidays

Feast day of St. Comgall, St. Credan, St. Maieul, St. Tudy, St. Ansfrid, St Walter of l'Esterp, St. Richard Reynolds, St. Francis di Girolamo, St. Ignatius of Laconi, St. Asaph, St. Gengulf, and Mamertus.

Jamaica: Bob Marley Day (memorializing his death in 1981).

Events

1647 - Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor.

1858 - Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.

1910 - Glacier National Park in Montana was established.

1946 - The first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Havre, France.

1947 - B.F. Goodrich Co. of Akron, Ohio, announced the development of a tubeless tire.

1949 - Israel was admitted to the United Nations.

1949 - Siam changed its named to Thailand.

1969 - The Monty Python comedy troupe is formed, with Monty Python's Flying Circus first airing on October 5, 1969.

1997 - "Deep Blue," an IBM computer, defeated Garry Kasparov in a six-game chess match, who lost the match 2.5 to 3.5.

1998 - A French mint produced the first Euro coins of the 12 European Union member countries, collectively known as the Eurozone/Euroland.

2004 - The Stockline Plastics factory explosion in Glasgow kills nine people and injures 37 others.

Births

1803 - Hector Berlioz, French composer.

1854 - Ottmar Mergenthaler, German-born American inventor of Linotype.

1888 - Irving Berlin, Russian-born American composer.

1894 - Martha Graham, American dancer, choreographer, pioneer of modern dance.

1904 - Salvador (Felipe Jacinto) Dalí (y Domenech), Spanish surrealist artist.

1912 - Phil Silvers (Silversmith), Emmy Award-winning American comedian, actor.

1927 - Mort Sahl, Canadian-born comedian.

1941 - Eric Burdon, English musician.

Deaths

1812 - British prime minister Spencer Perceval, assassinated in the House of Commons.

1960 - John D. Rockefeller, Jr., American philanthropist.

1981 - Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician.

1985 - Chester Gould, American cartoonist and the creator of the Dick Tracy comic strip.

2006 - Floyd Patterson, American heavyweight boxing champion.