May 14, 1483 – Coronation of Charles VIII of France (“Charles l’Affable”) at age 13. Charles died in 1498 after accidentally striking his head on the lintel of a door.
1610 – Assassination of Henri IV of France, bringing Louis XIII to the throne at age 8.
1643 – Louis XIV becomes King of France aged 4.
Anniversary of the baptism of Thomas Gainsborough (May 14, 1727), English portrait and landscape painter famous for the “Blue Boy”.
1796 – First smallpox inoculation administered, by Edward Jenner. The World Health Organization (WHO) certified the eradication of smallpox in 1979.
Lewis & Clark set out from St. Louis for Pacific Coast in 1804.
Gail Borden patents her process for condensed milk in 1853.
In 1862 Adolphe Nicole of Switzerland patents chronograph A chronograph is a watch that may be used as a stopwatch.
1878 – Vaseline is first sold (registered trademark for petroleum jelly). Invented by Robert Chesebrough from “rod wax”, a residue found in oil rig pumps. Vaseline.com publishes a list of 101 uses for Vaseline. We recently used it to prevent scarring from an injury similar to road rash. Worked great!
1918 – Sunday baseball is made legal in Wash DC in 1918. Due to blue laws, it was considered offensive to work on Sunday, which was expected to be a day of worship and rest. In 1794, the Pennsylvania Assembly restricted activities on Sunday by passing what they called “an Act for the prevention of vice and immorality, and of unlawful gaming, and to restrain disorderly sports and dissipation” (Wikipedia)
May 14, 1939 – Lina Medina becomes the world’s youngest confirmed mother in medical history when she gave birth to a son at the age of five years, seven months, seventeen days. She had precocious puberty and was found to have fully mature sexual organs. The boy was delivered by Cesarean Section. The father of the baby was never named. Lina’s father was arrested and released due to lack of evidence.
May 14, 1948: Israel is proclaimed a Jewish state. Israel’s first prime minister, reads a “Declaration of Independence,” which proclaims the existence of a Jewish state called Israel beginning on May 15, 1948, at 12:00 midnight.
Last Chevrolet Corvair built in 1969.
1973 – US Supreme court approved equal rights to females in military.
In 1995, Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima 11th reincarnation of Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second most senior spiritual leader.
On May 14, 2005, the USS America (CV-66), a decommissioned supercarrier of the United States Navy, (commissioned in 1965) is deliberately sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after four weeks of live-fire exercises. She is the largest ship ever to be disposed of as a target in a military exercise. She was the last supercarrier not named after a person.