On May 7
On May 7, the Human Saga records one pivotal event: Premiere of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (1824).
On this day
On 7 May 1824 Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, received its first performance at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna.
Also this week in history (May 4 – May 10)
On 8 May 1980 the World Health Assembly officially declared that smallpox had been eradicated, the first and so far only human disease to be eliminated worldwide through deliberate effort.
On 6 May 1682 King Louis XIV formally established the seat of the French monarchy at the Palace of Versailles, transforming his father's hunting lodge into the most magnificent royal residence in Europe and the operational centre of the…
On 4 May 1799 a British East India Company army and its allies stormed the island fortress of Seringapatam (Srirangapatna), capital of the Kingdom of Mysore, ending the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore War.
On 4 May 1919, around three thousand students gathered in Tiananmen Square in Beijing to protest the decision at the Paris Peace Conference to transfer Germany's former concessions in Shandong to Japan rather than return them to China.
On 9 May 1960 the US Food and Drug Administration approved Enovid, manufactured by G.D. Searle, as the first oral contraceptive, and it reached the market in June 1960.