On This Day

16th May

1770 – 14-year old Marie Antoinette married 15-year-old Louis-Auguste who later became king of France.

1836 – Edgar Allan Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia.

1920 – Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan of Arc as a saint.

1960 - The first working laser was demonstrated by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories. (But we still don't have proper light sabers.)

1966 – The Communist Party of China issued the 'May 16 Notice', marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

1975 – Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1990 – Jim Henson died.