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 353rd day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 13 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 5, 2024 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 28,908,000 minutes 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 ‘trihectapentacontatrigon’ day.
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 42 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 4,380 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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December 18 Historical Events
- 1642 –Abel Tasman becomes first European to land in New Zealand.
- 1787 –New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
- 1793 –Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French Royalists to Lord Hood; renamed HMS Lutine, she later becomes a famous treasure wreck.
- 1917 –The resolution containing the language of the Eighteenth Amendment to enact Prohibition is passed by the United States Congress.
- 1958 –Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched.
- 1966 –Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker.
- 1973 –Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
- 1973 –The Islamic Development Bank is founded.
- 2006 –The first of a series of floods strikes Malaysia. The death toll of all flooding is at least 118, with over 400,000 people displaced.
- 2006 –United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections.
Who were born on December 18?
- 1856 –Sir J. J. Thomson, English physicist and Nobel laureate (d. 1940)
- 1863 –Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (d. 1914)
- 1878 –Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)
- 1913 –Ray Meyer, American basketball coach (d. 2006)
- 1939 –Harold E. Varmus, American scientist and Nobel laureate
- 1942 –Harvey Atkin, Canadian actor
- 1958 –Julia Wolfe, American composer
- 1970 –Giannis Ploutarhos, Greek singer
- 1975 –Masaki Sumitani, Japanese comedian
- 1983 –Andy Fantuz, Canadian football player
Who died on December 18?
- 1787 –Francis William Drake, British Admiral and territorial governor (b. 1724)
- 1843 –Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, British statesman (b. 1748)
- 1950 –Johnny Hyde, Russian-born American talent agent (b. 1895)
- 1985 –Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese poet (b. 1916)
- 1987 –Konrad “Conny” Plank, German record producer and musician (b. 1940)
- 1995 –Brian Brockless, English organist (b. 1926)
- 1998 –Lev Demin, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1926)
- 2001 –Gilbert Bécaud, French singer (b. 1927)
- 2006 –Mike Dickin, British radio broadcaster (b. 1943)
- 2010 –Phil Cavarretta, American baseball player (b. 1916)
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