18 December

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

  1. Global Celebrations
  2. Historic Events
  3. Famous Birthdays
  4. Heartbreaking Deaths

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

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *