December 18 is the 352nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 13 days remain until the end of the year.
We have some interesting facts & historic events all about December 18th, including areas in religion, crime, health and more.
Keep reading for more interesting facts about December 18th in history!
Table of Contents
Global Celebrations
- International Migrants Day
- National Bake Cookies Day
- UN Arabic Language Day
- National Roast Suckling Pig Day
Historic Events
What Happened On This Day – December 18
1966: Saturn’s Moon, Epimetheus, discovered
One of Saturn’s 150 natural satellites or moons, Epimetheus shares its orbit with another moon, Janus. Saturn’s largest moon is Titan, which is the only natural satellite in the Solar System with an atmosphere.
1958: World’s first communication satellite launched
A product of a highly secretive project, SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was launched aboard the Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Once in orbit, it relayed the first message sent to Earth from space – a short statement by American President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
1912: Piltdown Man Hoax
The announcement by British archeologist Charles Dawson at a conference of the Geological Society of London was received with very little skepticism in the field of paleoanthropology. The discovery of fossilized remains of an unidentified human ancestor in Piltdown, East Sussex, England, was thought to have provided valuable clues about human evolution. It wasn’t until 1953 that the Piltdown Man was discovered to be a hoax – with the skull consisting of the jawbones of an orangutan and the cranium of an adult human being.
1892: The Nutcracker makes it debut in St. Petersburg, Russia
The two-part ballet was inspired by German author Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann’s novella The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Even though the ballet’s score was composed by the famous Russian composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, it did not get good reviews. It was only in the mid-20th century, that The Nutcracker gained popularity among theater goers, especially during Christmas time in the United States.
1865: Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution adopted
The first of the 3 Reconstruction Amendments, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. The other two Reconstruction Amendments – the Fourteenth and the Fifteenth Amendments – extended citizenship rights, equal protection of the law, and the right to vote to all Americans irrespective of their “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Famous Birthdays
Births On This Day, December 18
1980: Christina Aguilera, American singer-songwriter, producer, actress
1964: Stone Cold Steve Austin, American wrestler, actor, producer
1963: Brad Pitt, American actor, producer
1946: Steven Spielberg, American director
1878: Joseph Stalin, Soviet marshal, politician, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union
Heartbreaking Deaths
Deaths On This Day, December 18
2011: Václav Havel, Czech politician, 1st President of the Czech Republic
2008: Mark Felt, American agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
2006: Joseph Barbera, American animator, director, producer, co-founded Hanna-Barbera
1980: Alexei Kosygin, Soviet politician
1892: Richard Owen, English biologist
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