16 May in Indian and World History is celebrated, observed, and remembered for various reasons. 16 May is the birth anniversary of Bhimbor Deori, K. Natwar Singh, Ramakrishna V. Hosu, Anoop Mishra, and Vicky Kaushal.
16 May is also observed as the death anniversary of Kamala Purnaiya Taylor,Russi Mody, and Bob Hawke.
Birth Anniversary
16 May in Indian history is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the following personalities:
Bhimbor Deori (16 May 1903 – 30 November 1947), an Indian freedom fighter and a lawyer from the state of Assam. He was one of the main architects of the “Khasi Darbar Hall Resolutions”. In these resolutions, indigenous leaders of different ethnic identities resolved to restore their independent homelands against what they termed Indian occupation. He was born on 16 May 1903.
K. Natwar Singh, an Indian politician, a former senior bureaucrat, a former Union cabinet minister, and a writer. In August 2014, His autobiography, “One Life is Not Enough’’ was released. He was selected into the Indian Foreign Service, one of the most competitive and prestigious government services. He resigned from the service to contest elections as a member of the “Indian National Congress’’ party. He won the election and served as a union minister of state until 1989. He was born on 16 May 1931, in Rajasthan, India.
Ramakrishna V. Hosu, an Indian biophysical scientist, is known for his expertise in the areas of nuclear magnetic resonance and molecular biophysics. The Government of India honored him, by awarding him the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for his contributions to the fields of science and technology. He was born on 16 May 1953, in Karnataka, India.
Anoop Mishra, an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was elected as a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Morena, Madhya Pradesh.[1][2] He was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh State. He last represented the Gwalior East constituency from 2008 to 2013. Mishra is the nephew of the former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was born on 16 May 1956, in Gwalior, Madhya Bharat, India.
Vicky Kaushal, an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. He is the recipient of the National Film Award for best actor and a Filmfare Award and has appeared in Forbes India‘s Celebrity 100 list of 2019. He was born on 16 May 1988, in Maharashtra, India.
Read More: 15 May in Indian and World History
Death Anniversary
16 May in Indian history is observed as the death anniversary of the following personalities:
Kamala Purnaiya Taylor (1 January 1924 – 16 May 2004) was an Indian novelist and journalist. She has been called “one of the most important Indian novelists writing in English” Her first novel, “Nectar in a Sieve’’, an Indian peasant’s narrative of her difficult life remains Markandaya’s most popular work. She died on 16 May 2004, in London, England.
Russi Mody (17 January 1918 – 16 May 2014), a chairman and managing director of Tata Steel and a leading member of the Tata Group. The Government of India honored him, by awarding him the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India. He died on 16 May 2014, in Kolkata, India.
Bob Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019), an Australian politician who served as Prime Minister of Australia and Leader of the Labor Party from 1983 to 1991. He was the Member of Parliament for Wills from 1980 to 1992. He died on 16 May 2019, in Northbridge, New South Wales, Australia.
Read More: 14 May in Indian and World History
Notable events on 16 May in Indian and World History
16 May 1703 – Charles Perrault, an iconic French author who introduced the fairy-tale genre, died.
16 May 1923 – Merton Miller, an American economist, and Nobel Prize Laureate, was born.
16 May 1943 – The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
16 May 1947 – Frederick Gowland Hopkins, a British biochemist, and Nobel Prize Laureate, died.
16 May 1948 – Manglesh Dabral, an Indian Hindi poet and journalist, was born.
16 May 1950 – Georg Bednorz, a German physicist, and Nobel Prize Laureate, was born.
16 May 1951 – The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
16 May 1953 – Django Reinhard, a Romani-Belgian jazz guitarist, died.
16 May 1959 – The Triton Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time.[12]
16 May 1960 – Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
16 May 1961 – Park Chung-hee leads a coup d’état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.
16 May 1995 – Lola Flores, a Spanish actress, bailaora, and singer, died.
16 May 2013 – Heinrich Rohrer, a Swiss physicist, and Nobel Prize Laureate, died.
16 May – International Day of Light
The International Day of Light is celebrated on 16 May each year, the anniversary of the first successful operation of the laser in 1960 by physicist and engineer, Theodore Maiman. This day is a call to strengthen scientific cooperation and harness its potential to foster peace and sustainable development.