What are the important events that happened on December 18? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
December 18: Facts & Myths About This Day
December 18 is the 352nd day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 13 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 5, 2025 – a Thursday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 490,560 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectapentacontadigon’ day.
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Sagittarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 61 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,745 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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December 18 Historical Events
- 1787 –New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
- 1878 –John Kehoe, the last of the Molly Maguires is executed in Pennsylvania.
- 1888 –Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the ancient Indian ruins of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde.
- 1912 –The Piltdown Man, later discovered to be a hoax, is announced by Charles Dawson.
- 1915 –U.S. President Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Bolling Galt Wilson while president of the United States.
- 1935 –The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Ceylon.
- 1956 –Japan joins the United Nations.
- 1969 –Capital punishment in the United Kingdom: Home Secretary James Callaghan’s motion to make permanent the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, which had temporarily suspended capital punishment in England, Wales and Scotland for murder (but not for all crimes) for a period of five years.
- 1973 –The Islamic Development Bank is founded.
- 1999 –NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
Who were born on December 18?
- 1620 –Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (d. 1668)
- 1931 –Alison Plowden, English historian (d. 2007)
- 1938 –Roger E. Mosley, American actor
- 1943 –Alan Rudolph, American film director and screenwriter
- 1953 –Elliot Easton, American guitarist (The Cars)
- 1970 –Miles Marshall Lewis, American author
- 1978 –Ali Curtis, American soccer player
- 1979 –Carlos, Portuguese footballer
- 1983 –Darren Carter, English footballer
- 1992 –Bridgit Mendler, American actress and singer
Who died on December 18?
- 1787 –Francis William Drake, British Admiral and territorial governor (b. 1724)
- 1848 –Bernard Bolzano, Bohemian mathematician and priest (b. 1781)
- 1995 –Brian Brockless, English organist (b. 1926)
- 1999 –Robert Bresson, French film director (b. 1907)
- 2001 –Dimitris Dragatakis, Greek composer (b. 1914)
- 2002 –Wayne Owens, American politician (b. 1937)
- 2004 –Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (b. 1926)
- 2005 –Alan Voorhees, American engineer and urban planner (b. 1922)
- 2006 –Joseph Barbera, American cartoonist (b. 1911)
- 2007 –Jack Linkletter, American television host; son of Art Linkletter (b. 1937)
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