What happened on May 2 ?

373 - Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria (b. 298)

756 - Emperor Shomu, Emperor of Japan (b. 701)

907 - Boris I of Bulgaria

1230 - William de Braose, Lord of Abergavenny (b. 1197)

1300 - Blanche of Artois, regent of Navarre (b. 1248)

1450 - William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English military leader (b. 1396)

1519 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian inventor and painter (b. 1452)

1564 - Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian humanist (b. 1500)

1627 - Lodovico Grossi da Viadana, Italian composer (b. 1560)

1667 - George Wither, English writer (b. 1588)

1683 - Stjepan Gradi?, Croatian philosopher and scientist (b. 1613)

1711 - Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English statesman (b. 1641)

1802 - Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman (b. 1762)

1819 - Mary Moser, English painter (b. 1744)

1857 - Alfred de Musset, French writer (b. 1810)

1864 - Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer (b. 1791)

1927 - Ernest Starling, British physiologist (b. 1866)

1945 - Martin Bormann, Nazi official (b. 1900)

1945 - Ludwig Stumpfegger, SS doctor (b. 1910)

1957 - Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1908)

1964 - Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-born politician (b. 1879)

1969 - Franz von Papen, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1879)

1972 - J. Edgar Hoover, American director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (b. 1895)

1979 - Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)

1980 - George Pál, Hungarian-born film director and producer (b. 1908)

1983 - Norm Van Brocklin, American football star (b. 1926)

1984 - Jack Barry, television game show producer and host (b. 1918)

1985 - Attilio Bettega, Italian rallydriver (b.1951)

1986 - Henri Toivonen, Finish rallydriver (b.1956)

1989 - Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, Roman Catholic Cardinal (b. 1906)

1989 - Veniamin Kaverin, Russian writer (b. 1902)

1990 - David Rappaport, English actor (b. 1951)

1992 - Wilbur Mills, American politician (b. 1909)

1995 - Michael Hordern, English actor (b. 1911)

1997 - John Carew Eccles, Australian neurophysiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)

1997 - Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator & writer, recipient of the 1986 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education (b. 1921)

1998 - Hideto "hide" Matsumoto, Japanese musician (b. 1964)

1998 - Kevin Lloyd, British actor (b. 1949)

1999 - Oliver Reed, English actor (b. 1938)

2001 - Ted Rogers, British comedian (b. 1935)

2001 - Gina Mastrogiacomo, American actress (b. 1961)

2002 - John Nathan-Turner, English television producer (b. 1947)

2002 - W. T. Tutte, English-born codebreaker and mathematician (b. 1917)

2005 - Kenneth B. Clark, American psychologist (b. 1914)

2005 - Wee Kim Wee, 4th President of Singapore (b. 1915)

2006 - Louis Rukeyser, U.S. business columnist, economic commentator, and newscaster (b. 1933)