February 18
February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 316 days remaining (317 in
leap years).
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Events
\n* 1685 - Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas. \n* 1841 - The first ongoing filibuster in the United States Senate begins and lasts until March 11. \n* 1848 - Battle of Montereau occurs.\n* 1856 - The American Party (Know-Nothings) convene in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to nominate their first Presidential candidate, former President (Millard Fillmore).\n* 1861 - In Montgomery, Alabama Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America. \n* 1861 - Victor Emmanuel of Savoy becomes King of Italy.\n* 1865 - In the U.S., Delaware voters reject the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and vote to continue the practice of slavery. (Delaware finally ratified the amendment on February 12, 1901.) \n* 1878 - The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico.\n* 1885 - Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.\n* 1913 - Raymond Poincaré becomes President of France.\n* 1929 - First Academy Awards are announced.\n* 1930 - While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.\n* 1930 - Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in an airplane and also the first cow to be milked in an airplane. \n* 1932 - Japan declares Manzhouguo (Japanese name for Manchuria) independent from China.\n* 1943 - The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.\n* 1948 - Eamon de Valera resigns as Taoiseach of Ireland.\n* 1953 - The first 3D film, Bwana Devil opens. \n* 1953 - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz sign an $8,000,000 contract to continue the I Love Lucy television series through 1955. \n* 1965 - The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.\n* 1970 - The Chicago Eight are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic Party national convention. \n* 1972 - The California Supreme Court invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison. \n* 1977 - The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a Boeing 747. \n* 1983 - 13 people lose their lives and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee Massacre in Seattle, Washington, said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in American history.\n* 1998 - Two white separatistss were arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a biological attack on New York City subwayss. \n* 2001 - During the Daytona 500 race, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, known as "The Intimidator" for his aggressive driving style, is killed in a crash.\n* 2004 - Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Neyshabur in Iran when a run-away freight train carrying sulphur, petrol and fertiliser catches fire and explodes.
Births
\n* 1516 - Queen Mary I of England (d. 1558)\n* 1626 - February 18/19 - Francesco Redi, physician, refuted abiogenesis (d. 1697)\n* 1745 - Alessandro Volta, physicist, eponym for the unit of the electric potential (d. 1827)\n* 1838 - Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1916)\n* 1846 - Wilson Barrett, actor and playwright (d. 1904)\n* 1848 - Louis Comfort Tiffany, American glass artist (d. 1933)\n* 1858 - Louise-Marie Amélie, daughter of Leopold II of Belgium, wife of Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1924)\n* 1859 - Sholom Aleichem, humorist, author (d. 1916)\n* 1867 - Hedwig Courths-Mahler, novelist (d. 1950)\n* 1887 - Nikos Kazantzakis, poet (d. 1957)\n* 1890 - Adolphe Menjou, actor (d. 1963)\n* 1892 - Wendell Wilkie, politician, Presidential candidate (d. 1944)\n* 1896 - Andre Breton, poet and principal theorist of surrealism (d. 1966)\n* 1898 - Enzo Ferrari, auto racer, manufacturer (d. 1988)\n* 1912 - Heinz Kühn, politician (d. 1992)\n* 1920 - Bill Cullen, game show host (d. 1990)\n* 1920 - Jack Palance, actor\n* 1922 - Helen Gurley Brown, editor, publisher\n* 1925 - George Kennedy, actor\n* 1929 - Hayden Fry, college football coach\n* 1929 - Len Deighton, author\n* 1931 - Johnny Hart, cartoonist\n* 1931 - Toni Morrison, writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1993\n* 1931 - Bob St. Clair, American football star\n* 1932 - Milos Forman, film director\n* 1933 - Yoko Ono, singer, artist, wife of John Lennon\n* 1934 - Paco Rabanne, fashion designer\n* 1938 - Istvan Szabo, director\n* 1943 - Graeme Garden, writer, comedian, actor\n* 1947 - Princess Christina of the Netherlands\n* 1947 - Dennis DeYoung, musician ("Styx")\n* 1949 - Gary Ridgway, accused of being the Green River Killer\n* 1950 - John Hughes, director, producer, writer\n* 1952 - Juice Newton, country music entertainer\n* 1954 - John Travolta, actor\n* 1957 - Vanna White, game show presenter\n* 1964 - Matt Dillon, actor\n* 1965 - Dr. Dre, rap music performer, music producer\n* 1967 - Roberto Baggio, Italian football player\n* 1970 - Michael (Raine) Maida, frontman for Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace.\n* 1981 - Andrei Kirilenko, Russian NBA star\n* 1985 - Lee Boyd Malvo, convicted Beltway sniper
Deaths
\n* 814 - Angilbert, Frankish monk and confidant of Charlemagne\n* 901 - Thabit ibn Qurra, Arab astronomer and mathematician (b. 826)\n* 999 - Pope Gregory V (b. ca. 972)\n* 1478 - Duke of Clarence, drowned in wine by Richard III (b. 1449)\n* 1546 - Martin Luther, religious reformer (b. 1483)\n* 1564 - Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian artist (b. 1475)\n* 1931 - Milan Sufflay, Croatian politician (b. 1879)\n* 1933 - James J. Corbett, boxer\n* 1942 - Payson Terhune, author\n* 1957 - Henry Norris Russell, American astronomer (b. 1877)\n* 1967 - J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (b. 1904)\n* 1982 - Ngaio Marsh, mystery fiction author (b. 1895)\n* 1997 - Emily Hahn, writer (b. 1905)\n* 1998 - Haray Caray, baseball broadcaster (b. 1920)\n* 2001 - Balthus, French painter\n* 2001 - Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR race car driver (b. 1951)\n* 2001 - Eddie Mathews, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1931)\n* 2003 - Isser Harel, Mossad leader
Holidays and observances
\n*Gambia - National Day
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February 17 -
February 19 -
January 18 -
March 18 --
listing of all days
February 18 recordings of popular music
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