What happened on 13 May?

7 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1897 Marconi sends first wireless transmission over open sea Guglielmo Marconi transmits the first long-distance radio signal across the Bristol Channel; the birth of radio communication.
2. 1888 Abolition of slavery in Brazil Lei Áurea makes Brazil the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery.
3. 1940 The panzers cross the Meuse at Sedan The impossible happens where the French least expect it: Guderian's armour comes through the 'impassable' Ardennes and is across the Meuse at Sedan in three days, then races for th
4. 1882 Born: Georges Braque Co-founder of Cubism with Picasso.
5. 1950 Born: Stevie Wonder American singer-songwriter and Motown legend.
6. 1939 The voyage of the St. Louis A liner carrying 937 Jewish refugees from Hamburg is turned away by Cuba, then by the United States — sailing close enough to see the lights of Miami — and returns to Europe. Brita
7. 1981 Assassination attempt on John Paul II Mehmet Ali Ağca shoots the pope twice in St Peter's Square; John Paul II survives, credits Our Lady of Fátima, and visits his would-be killer in prison to forgive him.