May 9, 1927 (Monday)
- The Parliament of Australia first convened in Canberra, following relocation of the capital from Melbourne. The Duke of York (and future King George VI) opened Parliament after being introduced by Prime Minister Stanley Bruce. The opening would be described in later years as the Duke's "first real test" of public speaking after working with therapist Lionel Logue to overcome stammering.
- Tornadoes swept through the south central U.S., killing 230 people, and over 800 other people in six states. Hardest hit were the towns of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where 93 people died, and Nevada, Texas.
- A jury in New York convicted Mrs. Ruth Snyder and her accomplice, Henry Judd Gray, of the murder of her husband, Albert Snyder. The two were electrocuted separately in 1928.
- Born: Manfred Eigen, German biophysicist, recipient of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, in Bochum; and Leonard Mandel, German-born American physicist and pioneer in the field of quantum optics, in Berlin (d. 2001)
- Died: Peggy Porter, daughter of William Sidney "O. Henry" Porter, who had written stories under the pen name of "Miss O. Henry"
Read more about this topic: May 1927