May 18
From Wikinfo
(Redirected from 18 May)
May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (139th in leap years). There are 227 days remaining.
Contents |
Events
- 1593 - Playwright Thomas Kyd's accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
- 1652 - Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.
- 1631 - In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
- 1765 - Fire destroys one quarter of town of Montreal, Quebec.
- 1783 - Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada- First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown.
- 1803 - Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
- 1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of France by the French Senate.
- 1863 - American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins (ends July 4).
- 1896 - The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" is constitutional.
- 1900 - The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
- 1910 - The earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.
- 1917 - World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the United States Congress giving the President the power to draft soldiers.
- 1926 - Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California beach.
- 1933 - New Deal: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
- 1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Germans evacuate Monte Cassino and Allied forces take the stronghold after a struggle that claimed 20,000 lives.
- 1953 - Rogers Dry Lake, California Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier (she flew in a F-86 Sabrejet at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per-hour).
- 1958 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph.
- 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 launches.
- 1974 - Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
- 1980 - Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington killing 57 and causing US$ 3 billion in damage.
- 1995 - [[Alain Jupp�]] becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1998 - Microsoft antitrust case: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.
- 2003 - Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut released in the USA on Nintendo GameCube by Sega.
Births
- 1048 - Omar Khayyam, mathematician and poet (+ 1123)
- 1711 - Rudjer Josip Boscovich, atomic theorist (+ 1787)
- 1785 - John Wilson, Scottish writer (+ 1854)
- 1797 - Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, (+ 1854)
- 1850 - Oliver Heaviside, physicist
- 1872 - Lord Bertrand Russell, mathematician and philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1950 (+ 1970)
- 1883 - Walter Gropius, architect, founder of Bauhaus (+ 1969)
- 1889 - Thomas Midgley, chemist and inventor (+ 1944)
- 1891 - Rudolf Carnap, German philosopher (+ 1970)
- 1897 - Frank Capra, producer, director, writer (+ 1991)
- 1902 - Meredith Willson, composer (+ 1984)
- 1911 - Big Joe Turner, blues singer (+ 1985)
- 1912 - Walter Sisulu, anti-apartheid activist (+ 2003)
- 1912 - Perry Como, singer (+ 2001)
- 1919 - Dame Margot Fonteyn, ballet dancer (+ 1991)
- 1920 - Pope John Paul II
- 1922 - Kai Winding, jazz musician (+ 1983)
- 1928 - Pernell Roberts, actor
- 1931 - Robert Morse, actor
- 1937 - Brooks Robinson, Baseball Hall of Famer
- 1937 - Jacques Santer
- 1939 - Hark Bohm, film director
- 1942 - Albert Hammond, musician, composer
- 1944 - Justus Frantz, pianist
- 1946 - Reggie Jackson, Baseball Hall of Famer
- 1949 - Rick Wakeman, musician ("Yes"), composer
- 1949 - Bill Wallace, musician The Guess Who, Winnipeg
- 1950 - Thomas Gottschalk, show master
- 1950 - Mark Mothersbaugh, composer, musician
- 1952 - George Strait, country musician
- 1955 - Chow Yun-Fat, actor
- 1960 - Yannick Noah, tennis player
- 1969 - Martika, Cuban-American singer
- 1970 - Tina Fey, writer, comedienne, actress
Deaths
- 1807 - John Douglas, Anglican bishop
- 1808 - Elijah Craig, important to the invention of bourbon whiskey
- 1900 - Jean Gaspard Felix Ravaisson-Mollien, French philosopher
- 1910 - Pauline Garcia-Viardot, singer, composer
- 1911 - Gustav Mahler, composer
- 1935 - T. E. Lawrence, soldier ("Lawrence of Arabia")
- 1973 - Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives
- 1980 - Ian Curtis, band member of Joy Division
- 1981 - William Saroyan, author
- 1988 - Daws Butler, voice actor
- 1995 - Elizabeth Montgomery, actress
- 1995 - Alexander Godunov, ballet dancer, actor
- 1995 - Elisha Cook Jr., actor
- 1999 - Augustus Pablo, Jamaican reggae singer
- 1999 - Betty Robinson, winner of the first Olympic 100 m for women
- 1999 - Gene Sarazen, golfer, aged 97
- 2003 - Barb Tarbox, anti-smoking crusader, 41
Holidays and Observances
See Also:
May 17 - May 19 - April 18 - June 18 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "May 18" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_18 December 27, 2003

