May 18 is the 138th day of the year (139th in leap years ) in the Gregorian calendar . There are 227 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
Up to 1900
1901 – 2000
1910 – Earth passes through the tail of Halley's Comet .
1912 – The first Indian movie, Shree Mandalik , is released in Bombay .
1927 – Bath School disaster: 45 people are killed by bombs planted by Andrew Kehoe , who is also killed, at Bath School in Michigan .
1944 – World War II : German paratroopers abandon Monte Cassino after severe fighting.
1944 – Deporting of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Government begins.
1951 – In Lund , Sweden , Tetra Pak is introduced, developed by Erik Wallenberg , through an idea by Ruben Rausing .
1953 – Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
1955 - End of Operation Passage to Freedom: An evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians , soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French army from Communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam ends, following the end of the First Indochina War .
1956 – First ascent of Lhotse , in the Himalayas , at 8,516 metres above sea level , by a Swiss team.
1958 - An F-104 starfighter sets a world speed record at 1,404.19 miles per hour (2,259.82 kilometres per hour).
1969 – Apollo 10 is launched.
1974 – India tests nuclear weapons.
1974 – The Warsaw radio mast is completed. It collapses on August 8 , 1991 .
1980 – South Korean students in Gwangju begin pro-democracy protests, which are violently crushed, killing 297.
1980 – Mount St. Helens in Washington state erupts. A large amount of destruction is caused as many trees and wildlife die, and darkness falls over the nearby area. 57 people are killed, including Harry Randall Truman , who famously refused to leave the area prior to the eruption. It is the costliest volcanic disaster in US history.
1990 - In France , a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 kilometers per hour/320.2 miles per hour.
1991 – Northern Somalia declares independence as the Republic of Somaliland , which, to this day, remains unrecognised internationally.
1991 – Helen Sharman becomes the first Briton in space .
1993 - In Denmark , most voters support the Maastricht Treaty , after previously rejecting it in 1992 .
1995 – Former United States Army veteran Shawn Nelson goes on a tank rampage in San Diego , California .
1996 - Eimear Quinn , representing Ireland , wins the 41st Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo , Norway . It is Ireland's 4th win in 5 contests.
1999 - Carlo Azeglio Ciampi becomes President of Italy .
From 2001
Births
Up to 1900
1048 – Omar Khayyam , Persian mathematician , poet and philosopher (d. 1131 )
1186 – Konstantin of Rostov , Prince of Novgorod (d. 1218 )
1610 – Stefano della Bella , Italian printmaker (d. 1664 )
1692 - Joseph Butler , English philosopher and bishop (d. 1752 )
1778 - Andrew Ure , Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1857 )
1781 - David Hazzard , Governor of Delaware (d. 1864 )
1788 - Hugh Clapperton , Scottish naval officer and explorer (d. 1827 )
1797 – King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (d. 1854 )
1822 – Matthew Brady , American photographer (d. 1896 )
1848 – Hermann Alexander Diels , German philologist (d. 1922 )
1850 - Oliver Heavside , English physicist (d. 1925 )
1851 – James Budd , 19th Governor of California (d. 1908 )
1852 - Gertrud Kaesebier , American photographer (d. 1934 )
1854 - Bernard Zweers , Dutch composer and music teacher (d. 1924 )
1862 - Josephus Daniels , 41st United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1948 )
1868 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918 )
1872 – Bertrand Russell , British philosopher (d. 1970 )
1873 - Lucy Beaumont , British actress (d. 1937 )
1876 – Hermann Müller , Chancellor of Germany (d. 1931 )
1878 - Johannes Terwogt , Dutch rower (d. 1977 )
1882 - Babe Adams , American baseball player (d. 1968 )
1883 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra , President of Brazil (d. 1974 )
1883 – Walter Gropius , German architect (d. 1969 )
1887 - Jeanie MacPherson , American actress and screenwriter (d. 1946 )
1889 – Gunnar Gunnarsson , Icelandic writer (d. 1975 )
1889 – Thomas Midgley, Jr. , American chemist and inventor (d. 1944 )
1891 – Rudolf Carnap , German philosopher (d. 1970 )
1892 - Ezio Pinza , Italian bass (d. 1957 )
1895 - Augusto César Sandino , Nicaraguan rebel leader (d. 1934 )
1896 - Eric Backman , Swedish long-distance runner (d. 1965 )
1897 – Frank Capra , American movie director (d. 1991 )
1901 – 1950
1901 – Vincent du Vigneaud , American chemist (d. 1978 )
1902 - Meredith Wilson , American composer (d. 1984 )
1904 - Jacob K. Javits , American politician (d. 1986 )
1907 - Irene Hunt , American children's writer (d. 2001 )
1909 – Fred Perry , British tennis player (d. 1995 )
1911 – Big Joe Turner , American blues musician (d. 1985 )
1912 – Walter Sisulu , South African activist (d. 2003 )
1912 – Perry Como , American singer (d. 2001 )
1912 – Richard Brooks , American director (d. 1992 )
1913 – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy , President of India (d. 1996 )
1913 – Charles Trenet , French singer and songwriter (d. 2001 )
1914 - Georg von Tiesenhausen , German-American rocket scientist (d. 2018 )
1914 - Robert J. Wilke , American actor (d. 1989 )
1914 - Boris Christoff , Bulgarian opera singer (d. 1993 )
1917 - Bill Everett , American comic book writer and artist (d. 1973 )
1919 – Margot Fonteyn , British dancer (d. 1991 )
1920 – Pope John Paul II (d. 2005 )
1920 - Lucia Mannucci , Italian singer and actress (d. 2012 )
1922 - Mario Casalinuovo , Italian politician (d. 2018 )
1922 - Bill Macy , American actor
1922 - Kai Winding , Danish-American trombonist and composer (d. 1983 )
1923 – Hugh Shearer , Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004 )
1924 - Priscilla Pointer , American actress
1926 - Martin Bregman , American film producer (d. 2018 )
1928 - Pernell Roberts , American actor (d. 2010 )
1931 - Kalju Pitksaar , Estonian chess player (d. 1995 )
1933 - H. D. Deve Gowda , former Prime Minister of India
1933 – Bernadette Chirac , former First Lady of France
1934 - Dwayne Hickman , American actor and television presenter (d. 2022)
1936 - Rita Cadillac , French dancer, singer and actress (d. 1995 )
1937 – Jacques Santer , Luxembourg statesman
1938 - Joan Blackman , American actress
1939 – Giovanni Falcone , Italian magistrate and anti-Mafia judge (d. 1992 )
1939 - Peter Grünberg , German physicist (d. 2018 )
1941 – Miriam Margolyes , British actress
1942 – Albert Hammond , British musician
1942 – Nobby Stiles , English footballer
1946 – Frank Hsieh , Taiwanese Premier
1946 - Bruce Gilbert , English guitarist
1946 - Gerd Langguth , German political scientist and author (d. 2013 )
1946 - Ameril Umbra Kato , Filipino warlord (d. 2015 )
1947 – John Bruton , Irish Taoiseach
1948 - Tom Udall , American politician
1949 - Bill Wallace , Canadian bassist
1949 – Rick Wakeman , British musician
1950 – Thomas Gottschalk , German entertainer
1950 - Mark Mothersbaugh , American singer , musician and composer
1951 – 1975
1951 - Angela Voigt , German long jumper (d. 2013 )
1951 - Ben Feringa , Dutch chemist, Nobel laureate
1952 - Jeana Yeager , American pilot
1953 - Alan Kupperberg , American comic book artist (d. 2015 )
1955 – Chow Yun-Fat , Hong Kong actor
1956 - Catherine Corsini , French movie director and screenwriter
1957 - Michael Cretu , German-Romanian musician
1958 – Toyah Willcox , British actress and singer
1958 - Ruben Omar Romano , Argentine football manager
1959 - Ranga Yogeshwar , Luxembourgish science journalist, physicist and presenter
1960 - Brent Ashton , Canadian ice hockey player
1960 - Jari Kurri , Finnish ice hockey player, coach and manager
1960 – Yannick Noah , French tennis player and singer
1962 – Nanne Grönvall , Swedish singer
1962 - Sandra , German singer
1963 - Marty McSorley , Canadian ice hockey player, coach and actor
1964 - Ignasi Guardans , Catalan politician
1966 - Michael Tait , American singer-songwriter and producer
1967 - Heinz-Harald Frentzen , German racing driver
1968 - Sergey Martynov , Belarusian target shooter
1969 - Martika , Cuban-American singer-songwriter , producer and actress
1970 – Tina Fey , American actress and comedienne
1971 – Brad Friedel , American soccer player
1971 - Mark Menzies , Scottish politician
1974 - Nelson Figueroa , American baseball player
1975 – Flozell Adams , American football player
1975 – John Higgins , Scottish snooker player
1975 – Jem , Welsh singer
1975 – Jack Johnson , American singer, songwriter and surfer
1975 - Just Jack , English singer
1975 - Princessa , Spanish singer and songwriter
From 1976
1976 - Oleg Tverdovsky , Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
1976 - Ron Mercer , American basketball player
1977 – Danny Mills , English footballer
1978 – Ricardo Carvalho , Portuguese footballer
1978 - Charles Kamathi , Kenyan long-distance runner
1979 – Mariusz Lewandowski , Polish footballer
1979 – Milivoje Novakovic , Slovenian footballer
1980 – Michael Llodra , French tennis player
1980 – Diego Pérez , Uruguayan footballer
1981 – Mahamadou Diarra , Malian footballer
1984 - Ivet Lalova , Bulgarian sprinter
1985 - Joseph Roisman , American former navy sailor
1985 - Francesca Battistelli , American singer-songwriter
1986 - Kevin Anderson , South African tennis player
1987 – Luisana Lopilato , Argentine actress, singer and model
1988 – Taeyang , South Korean singer
1989 - Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri , Iranian footballer
1990 - Gayoon , South Korean singer and dancer
1990 - Yuya Osako , Japanese footballer
1992 – Spencer Breslin , American actor
1993 – Jessica Watson , Australian sailor
1998 - Polina Edmunds , American figure skater
1999 – Laura Omloop , Belgian singer
Deaths
Up to 1900
526 - Pope John I
1401 – Wladyslaw Opolczyk , Central European politician (b. 1332 )
1550 - Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine , French cardinal (b. 1498 )
1551 - Domenico di Pace Beccafumi , Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1486 )
1584 – Ikeda Motosuke , Japanese samurai commander (b. 1559 )
1675 - Jacques Marinette , French-American missionary and explorer (b. 1637 )
1675 - Stanislaw Lubieniecki , Polish astronomer , theologian and historian (b. 1623 )
1721 – Dawit III of Ethiopia (b. 1695 )
1781 – Tupac Amaru II , Peruvian Indian revolutionary (b. 1742 )
1799 – Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais , French playwright (b. 1732 )
1800 - Alexander Suvorov , Russian general (b. 1729 )
1807 – John Douglas , Anglican bishop (b. 1721 )
1808 – Elijah Craig , important to the invention of bourbon (b. 1738 ?)
1812 – John Bellingham , assassin of Spencer Perceval
1829 – Maria Josepha of Saxony , Queen Consort of Spain (b. 1803 )
1844 - Richard McCarty , American politician (b. 1780 )
1853 - Lionel Kieseritzky , Baltic-German/French chess player (b. 1806 )
1896 - Daniel Pollen , Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1813 )
1900 – Jean Gaspard Félix Ravaisson-Mollien , French philosopher (b. 1813 )
1901 – 2000
1909 – George Meredith , English novelist and poet (b. 1828 )
1909 - Isaac Albéniz , Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860 )
1910 – Pauline Garcia-Viardot , singer, composer (b. 1821 )
1911 – Gustav Mahler , Austrian composer (b. 1860 )
1922 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran , French doctor , won the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845 )
1927 – Andrew Kehoe , perpetrator of Bath School disaster
1943 - Onishiki Daigoro , Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1883 )
1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune , American educator and activist (b. 1875 )
1956 – Maurice Tate , English cricketer (b. 1895 )
1969 - Prentice Cooper , American politician , 43rd Governor of Tennessee (b. 1895 )
1971 - Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh , Russian mathematician (b. 1908 )
1973 – Jeannette Rankin , first woman elected to the United States House of Representatives (b. 1880 )
1975 – Leroy Anderson , American composer (b. 1908 )
1978 - Selwyn Lloyd , British politician (b. 1904 )
1980 - Deaths in the Mt. St. Helens eruption:
1980 – Ian Curtis , British musician, singer/lyricist with Joy Division (b. July 15 , 1956 )
1981 – William Saroyan , American writer (b. 1908 )
1988 – Daws Butler , voice actor (b. 1916 )
1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery , American actress (b. 1933 )
1995 – Alexander Godunov , ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949 )
1995 – Elisha Cook Jr. , actor (b. 1903 )
1995 – Shawn Nelson , US Army veteran (b. 1959 )
1999 – Augustus Pablo , Jamaican singer (b. 1954 )
1999 – Betty Robinson , Olympic runner (b. 1911 )
2000 – Stephen M. Wolownik , Russian musician and arranger (b. 1946 )
From 2001
2001 - Irene Hunt , American children's writer (b. 1907 )
2003 – Anna Santisteban , organizer of the Miss Universe contest (b. 1914 )
2003 – Barb Tarbox , anti-smoking crusader (b. 1961 )
2004 – Elvin Jones , jazz drummer (b. 1927 )
2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes , French physicist (b. 1932 )
2009 – Velupillai Prabhakaran , Sri Lankan leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (b. 1954 )
2009 – Wayne Allwine , American actor (b. 1947 )
2009 – Dolla , American rapper (b. 1987 )
2010 – Edoardo Sanguineti , Italian writer (b. 1930 )
2012 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau , German baritone and conductor (b. 1925 )
2013 - Jo Benkow , Norwegian politician (b. 1924 )
2013 - Nam Duck-woo , 12th Prime Minister of South Korea (b. 1924 )
2013 - Steve Forrest , American actor (b. 1925 )
2014 - Wubbo Ockels , Dutch physicist and astronaut (b. 1946 )
2014 - Dobrica Cosic , Serbian writer and politician , President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (b. 1921 )
2014 - Jerry Vale , American singer and actor (b. 1930 )
2014 - Gordon Willis , American cinematographer (b. 1931 )
2014 - Hans-Peter Dürr , German physicist (b. 1929 )
2014 - Per Almar Aas , Norwegian politician (b. 1929 )
2014 - Kaiketsu Masateru , Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1946 )
2014 - Morris Weiss , American cartoonist (b. 1915 )
2015 - Halldor Asgrimsson , Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1947 )
2015 - Raymond Gosling , British scientist (b. 1926 )
2015 - Aruna Shanbaug , Indian nurse (b. 1948 )
2016 - Fritz Stern , German-American historian (b. 1926 )
2016 - Boris Schnaiderman , Ukrainian-born Brazilian translator, writer and essayist (b. 1917 )
2017 - Reema Lagoo , Indian actress (b. 1958 )
2017 - Anil Madhav Dave , Indian politician (b. 1956 )
2017 - Roger Ailes , American television executive (Fox News ) (b. 1940 )
2017 - Jacque Fresco , American futurist (b. 1916 )
2017 - Daniele Piombi , Italian television and radio presenter (b. 1934 )
2018 - Stephanie Adams , American model and author (b. 1947 )
2018 - Billy Cannon , American football player (b. 1937 )
2018 - John Carrick , Australian politician (b. 1918 )
2018 - Ayad Futayyih Al-Rawi , Iraqi military officer (b. 1942 )
2018 - Sir Des Champs , Irish racehorse (b. 2006 )
2018 - Darío Castrillón Hoyos , Colombian cardinal (b. 1929 )
2018 - Eric McLuhan , Canadian communications theorist and media ecologist (b. 1942 )
2018 - Yrsa Stenius , Finnish-Swedish journalist (b. 1945 )
2019 - Analia Gade , Argentine actress (b. 1931 )
2019 - Jürgen Kissner , German cyclist (b. 1942 )
2019 - Quentin Pongia , New Zealand rugby league player (b. 1970 )
Observances