Who are famous people born on October 18?

Famous people born on October 18 include: Sophie Thatcher, Janalynn Castelino, Terance Mann.

What famous people died on October 18?

Notable historical figures who died on October 18 include: Sam Rivers, Yang Chen-Ning, Lia Smith.

October 18 in History

Q: What happened on October 18 in history?

On October 18, 2003: Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.

2003 — Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia

October 18 spans 50 recorded events across recorded history — from 33 – 2019. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.

By thisDay.info Editorial Team · October 18 — Wikipedia

Historical Events 50 events 33 – 2019

Did you know

In 2003, Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.

Did you know

The Bolivian Gas War or Bolivian gas conflict was a social confrontation in Bolivia reaching its peak in 2003, centering on the exploitation of the country's vast natural gas reserves. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.

Did you know

The expression can be extended to refer to the general conflict in Bolivia over the exploitation of gas resources, thus including the 2005 protests and the election of Evo Morales as president. This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.

Did you know

Before these protests, Bolivia had seen a series of similar earlier protests during the Cochabamba protests of 2000, which were against the privatization of the municipal water supply. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.

Did you know

In 2003, Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia had consequences that extended beyond the first headline. The key context is the institutions involved, the policy shift, and how the public response evolved afterward.

Heartbroken by the deaths of her sons Nero and Drusus, and banished to the island of Pandateria by Tiberius, Agrippina the Elder dies of self-inflicted starvation.

Calendar year

AD 33 (XXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in the Roman world as the Year of the Consulship of Ocella and Sulla. The denomination AD 33 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in the world for naming years.

Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the Sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest).

4th-century Greek mathematician (c. 290–350)

Pappus of Alexandria was a Greek mathematician of late antiquity known for his Synagoge (Συναγωγή) or Collection, and for Pappus's hexagon theorem in projective geometry. Almost nothing is known about his life except for what can be found in his own writings, many of which are lost. Pappus apparently lived in Alexandria, where he worked as a mathematics teacher to higher level students, one of whom was named Hermodorus.

320

King Chlothar II promulgates the Edict of Paris (Edictum Chlotacharii), a sort of Frankish Magna Carta that defends the rights of the Frankish nobles while it excludes Jews from all civil employment in the Frankish Kingdom.

Frankish king (584–629)

Chlothar II, sometimes called "the Young", was king of the Franks, ruling Neustria (584–629), Burgundy (613–629) and Austrasia (613–623).

614

Dagobert I is crowned King of the Franks.

King of the Franks in Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy

Dagobert I was King of the Franks. He ruled Austrasia (623–634) and Neustria and Burgundy (629–639). He has been described as the last king of the Merovingian dynasty to wield real royal power, after which the Mayor of the palace rose as the political and war leader. Dagobert was the first Frankish king to be buried in the royal tombs at the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

629

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.

Church in Jerusalem

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church is simultaneously the seat of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the Catholic Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. It is the holiest site in Christianity and it has been an important pilgrimage site for Christians since the fourth century.

1009

The Danes defeat the English in the Battle of Assandun.

Ethnic group native to Denmark

Danes, or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.

1016

The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.

European ethnic group

The Normans were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Francia followed a series of raids on the French northern coast mainly from what is now Denmark, although some also sailed from Norway and Sweden. These settlements were finally legitimized when Rollo, a Scandinavian Viking leader, agreed to swear fealty to King Charles III of West Francia following the siege of Chartres in 911, leading to the formation of the County of Rouen. This new fief, through kinship in the decades to come, would expand into what came to be known as the Duchy of Normandy. The Norse settlers, whom the region as well as its inhabitants were named after, adopted the language, religion, social customs and martial doctrine of the West Franks but their offspring nonetheless retained many of their traits, notably their mercenary tendencies and their fervour for adventures. The intermixing between Norse folk and native West Franks in Normandy produced an ethnic and cultural "Norman" identity in the first half of the 10th century, an identity which continued to evolve over the centuries.

1081

Michael the Syrian, one of the most important Syriac historians, is consecrated as Syriac Orthodox Patriarch at the Mor Bar Sauma Monastery.

79th patriarch and 12th-century saint & chronicler of the Syriac Orthodox Church

Michael the Syrian, also known as Michael the Great, was the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch from 1166 until his death in 1199. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church, remembered both as a saint and as a historian.

1166

Pope Martin IV excommunicates King Peter III of Aragon for usurping the crown of Sicily (a sentence renewed on 7 May and 18 November 1282).

Head of the Catholic Church from 1281 to 1285

Pope Martin IV, was the head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 22 February 1281 until his death on 22 March 1285. He was the last French pope to hold his court in Rome before the papacy moved to Avignon.

1281

Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroys the town of Basel, Switzerland.

6.0–7.1 MW earthquake in Switzerland

The 1356 Basel earthquake is the most significant seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history and had a moment magnitude in the range of 6.0–7.1. This earthquake, which occurred on 18 October 1356, is also known as the Sankt-Lukas-Tag Erdbeben, as 18 October is the feast day of Saint Luke the Evangelist.

1356

Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto's forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa.

Spanish explorer and conquistador (c.1479–1542)

Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador, who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, but is best known for leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States. He is the first European documented as having crossed the Mississippi River.

1540

In Japan the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima is fought between the forces of Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, resulting in a draw.

Country in East Asia

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered to the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. The Japanese archipelago consists of four major islands alongside 14,121 smaller islands. Japan is divided into 47 administrative prefectures and eight traditional regions, and around 75% of its terrain is mountainous and heavily forested, concentrating its agriculture and highly urbanized population along its eastern coastal plains. With a population of almost 123 million as of 2026, it is the world's 11th most populous country. Tokyo is the country's capital and largest city.

1561

Ships belonging to the Matsura clan of Japan fail to capture the Portuguese trading carrack in the Battle of Fukuda Bay, the first recorded naval battle between Japan and the West.

Japanese samurai family

The Matsura clan, also spelled Matsuura, was a medieval and early modern Japanese samurai family who ruled Hirado Domain in Hizen Province on the island of Kyushu. They started as a group of military families under the name Matsura-to. They were involved in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Kyushu campaign and the Japanese invasions of Korea. Around 1590, they built their seat, Hirado Castle. In 1871, the Meiji Restoration dissolved Japan's feudal lords, and the clan's final daimyo, Matsura Akira, was put into the kazoku class.

1565

King Philip II of Spain sends his third and final armada against England, but it ends in failure due to storms.

The remaining ships are captured or sunk by the English.

Philip II, sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent, was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He was also jure uxoris King of England and Ireland from his marriage to Queen Mary I in 1554 until her death in 1558. Further, he was Duke of Milan from 1540. From 1555, he was Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands.

1597

Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, defeats the Army of Andrew Báthory in the Battle of Șelimbăr, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanian people.

16th-century ruler of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania

Michael the Brave, born as Mihai Pătrașcu, was the Prince of Wallachia, Prince of Moldavia (1600) and de facto ruler of Transylvania (1599–1600). He is considered one of Romania's greatest national heroes. Since the 19th century, Michael the Brave has been regarded by Romanian nationalists as a symbol of Romanian unity, as his reign marked the first time in history all principalities inhabited by Romanians were under the same ruler.

1599

Frendraught Castle in Scotland, the home of James Crichton of Frendraught, burns down.

Mansion in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Frendraught Castle or House is a 17th-century house, about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Largue, on the site of a 13th-century castle.

1630

Boston shoemakers form the first American labor organization.

Organisation of workers with common goals

A trade union or labor union, often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages and benefits, improving working conditions and safety standards, establishing complaint procedures, developing rules governing the status of employees, and protecting and increasing the bargaining power of workers.

1648

Signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession.

Treaty ending the War of the Austrian Succession

The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, sometimes called the Treaty of Aachen, ended the War of the Austrian Succession, following a congress assembled on 24 April 1748 at the Free Imperial City of Aachen.

1748

African-American poet Phillis Wheatley is freed from slavery.

Ethnic and cultural group in the United States

African Americans or Black Americans, also formerly called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group who, as defined by the United States census, consists of Americans who have ancestry from "any of the Black racial groups of Africa". African Americans constitute the third-largest racial and ethnic group in the U.S., following White Americans and Hispanic and Latino Americans. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States. According to annual estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2024, the overall Black population was estimated at 42,951,595, representing approximately 12.63% of the total U.S. population.

1775

American Revolutionary War: The Burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine).

1775–1783 conflict in North America

The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence or simply the American Revolution, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war, but Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war. In 1783, in the Treaty of Paris, the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.

1775

American Revolutionary War: The Franco-American Siege of Savannah is lifted.

1779 siege of the American Revolutionary War

The siege of Savannah or the second battle of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia, had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell. The siege itself consisted of a joint Franco-American attempt to retake Savannah, from September 16 to October 18, 1779. On October 9 a major assault against the British siege works failed. During the attack, Polish nobleman Count Casimir Pulaski, leading the combined cavalry forces on the American side, was mortally wounded. With the failure of the joint attack, the siege was abandoned, and the British remained in control of Savannah until July 1782, near the end of the war.

1779

Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.

American writer and poet (1819–1891)

Herman Melville was an American writer of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was not well known to the public, but 1919, the centennial of his birth, was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick would eventually be considered one of the Great American Novels.

1851

The Second Opium War finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin, an unequal treaty.

1856–1860 war between British–French forces and China

The Second Opium War, also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or Arrow War, was fought between the United Kingdom and France against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major conflict in the Opium Wars, which were fought over the right to import opium to China, and resulted in a second defeat for the Qing and the forced legalisation of the opium trade. It caused many Chinese officials to believe that conflicts with the Western powers were no longer traditional wars, but part of a looming national crisis.

1860

United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million.

Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.

The Alaska Purchase was the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States for a sum of $7.2 million in 1867. On May 15 of that year, the United States Senate ratified a bilateral treaty that had been signed on March 30, and American sovereignty became legally effective across the territory on October 18.

1867

Johannes Brahms conducts the premiere of his Double Concerto, composed for violinist Joseph Joachim and cellist Robert Hausmann.

German composer and pianist (1833–1897)

Johannes Brahms was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. His music features expressive counterpoint, freer dissonance, rhythmic vitality, and traditional forms. His works include four symphonies, four concertos, a Requiem, much chamber music, and hundreds of folk-song arrangements and Lieder.

1887

The United States takes possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.

U.S. territory in the Caribbean

Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a self-governing Caribbean archipelago and island organized as an unincorporated territory of the United States under the designation of commonwealth. Located about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida, between the Dominican Republic in the Greater Antilles and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Lesser Antilles, it consists of the eponymous main island and numerous smaller islands, including Vieques, Culebra, and Mona. With approximately 3.2 million people, it is divided into 78 municipalities, of which the most populous is the capital municipality of San Juan, followed by those within the San Juan metropolitan area. Spanish and English are the official languages of the government, though Spanish predominates.

1898

Count Bernhard von Bülow becomes chancellor of Germany.

Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909

Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin, Prince of Bülow was a German politician who served as the imperial chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia from 1900 to 1909. A fervent supporter of Weltpolitik, Bülow devoted his chancellorship to transforming Germany into a global power. Despite presiding over sustained economic growth and major scientific breakthroughs within his country, his government's bellicose foreign policy did much to antagonize France, Great Britain and Russia thereby significantly contributing to the outbreak of World War I.

1900

First Balkan War: King Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration "To the Serbian People", as his country joins the war.

1912–1913 war between the Balkan League and the Ottoman Empire

The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan states' combined armies overcame the initially numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies, achieving rapid success.

1912

The Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement is founded in Germany.

Roman Catholic Marian movement based in Germany

The Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt is a Catholic Marian movement founded in Germany in 1914 by Fr Joseph Kentenich, who saw the movement as a means of spiritual renewal for the Catholic Church. The movement is named after the small locality of Schönstatt which is part of the town of Vallendar near Koblenz, in Germany.

1914

The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is formed as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

History of Crimea ((1921-1991)

Several different governments controlled the Crimean Peninsula during the period of the Soviet Union, from the 1921 to 1991. The government of Crimea from 1921 to 1936 was the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic, which was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR); the name was altered slightly to the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic from 1936 to 1945.

1921

The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.

British commercial radio broadcaster; predecessor to the BBC (1922–1926)

The British Broadcasting Company Limited (BBC) was the commercial forerunner to the public British Broadcasting Corporation and formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom. Licensed by the UK's General Post Office, its original office was located on the second floor of Magnet House, a GEC building in London, and consisted of a room and a small antechamber.

1922

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overrules the Supreme Court of Canada in Edwards v.

Canada when it declares that women are considered "Persons" under Canadian law.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 August 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King-in-Council, the Privy Council formerly acted as the court of last resort for the entire British Empire, except for the United Kingdom itself.

1929

World War II: Soviet Union begins the liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany.

1939–1945 global conflict

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

1944

World War II: The state funeral of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel takes place in Ulm, Germany.

German field marshal (1891–1944)

Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel, known as The Desert Fox, was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. He served in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany, as well as in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, and Imperial German Army of the German Empire.

1944

The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Country in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, the largest by area, and bordered twelve countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, with the largest and most populous being the Russian SFSR. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

1945

A group of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, led by Mario Vargas, Marcos Pérez Jiménez and Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, stages a coup d'état against president Isaías Medina Angarita, who is overthrown by the end of the day.

Country in South America

Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and various islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It comprises an area of 912,050 km2 (352,140 sq mi), with a population estimated at 31.8 million in 2025. The capital and largest urban agglomeration is Caracas. The continental territory is bordered on the north by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Colombia, Brazil on the south, Trinidad and Tobago to the north-east, and on the east by Guyana. Venezuela consists of 23 states, the Capital District, and federal dependencies covering Venezuela's offshore islands. Venezuela is among the most urbanized countries in Latin America; the vast majority of Venezuelans live in the cities of the north, including in the capital.

1945

Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva Duarte.

Country in South America

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern cone of South America. It covers an area of 2,780,085 km2 (1,073,397 mi2), making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourth-largest country in the Americas, and the eighth-largest country in the world. Argentina shares the bulk of the Southern Cone with Chile to the west, and is also bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast, Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. Argentina is a federal state subdivided into twenty-three provinces, and one autonomous city, which is the federal capital and largest city of the nation, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system. Argentina claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, and a part of Antarctica.

1945

Texas Instruments announces the Regency TR-1, the first mass-produced transistor radio.

1954 commercial transistor radio

The Regency TR-1 was the first commercially manufactured transistor radio, introduced in 1954. About 150,000 units were sold, due to the novelty of its small size and portability. Previously, transistors had only been used in military or industrial applications, and the TR-1 was the first to demonstrate their utility in consumer electronics. As a pioneering product of its time, surviving specimens are highly sought after by collectors.

1954

Félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat, becomes the first cat launched into space.

Only cat launched into space

Félicette was a Parisian cat that became the first feline launched into space on 18 October 1963 as part of the French space program. She was one of 14 female cats trained for spaceflight. The cats had electrodes implanted into their skulls to monitor their neurological activity throughout the flight. During the flight, electrical impulses were applied to the brain and a leg to stimulate responses. The capsule was recovered 13 minutes after the rocket was ignited. Most of the data from the mission was of good quality, and Félicette survived the flight but was euthanised two months later for the examination of her brain.

1963

The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.

Country in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991

1967

German Autumn: A set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight by the Red Army Faction (RAF) comes to an end when Schleyer is murdered and various RAF members allegedly commit suicide.

1977 West German murders, hostage crisis

The German Autumn refers to the period and political atmosphere in the Federal Republic of Germany during September and October 1977. This period was marked by a series of attacks by the Red Army Faction (RAF), a far-left militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the West German government. The German Autumn included the kidnapping and murder of German industrialist and former Nazi SS officer Hanns Martin Schleyer, the hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181, and the suicides of the imprisoned leading members of the first generation of the RAF. These events represented the final act of the RAF's so-called "Offensive 77". The German Autumn is considered one of the most serious crises in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany.

1977

Based on the world's first children's art museum, the Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics opened in Yerevan.

Center of aesthetic education for children

Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics (NCA) is a gallery and museum in Yerevan, Armenia. It was based on, and as of 2024 includes, the Children's Art Museum, which was founded in 1970 by Henrik Igityan and Zhanna Aghamiryan.

1978

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) begins allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license.

U.S. government agency

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, Wi-Fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction over the areas of broadband access, fair competition, radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security.

1979

The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-34 to deploy the Jupiter-bound Galileo space probe.

Space Shuttle orbiter (1985–2011)

Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985.

1989

The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

Country in Eastern Europe and West Asia

Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a transcontinental landlocked country at the boundary of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia's republic of Dagestan to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Turkey, via the exclave of Nakhchivan, and Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. Baku is the capital and largest city.

1991

Merpati Nustantara Airlines Flight 5601 crashes into Mount Papandayan near the town of Garut in West Java, Indonesia, killing 31.

1992 aviation accident in Indonesia

Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 5601 (MNA5601/MZ5601) was a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Semarang to Bandung, Indonesia. On 18 October 1992, the two-year-old CASA/IPTN CN-235-10 was on approach to Bandung when it crashed into Mount Puntang, near Mount Papandayan, West Java, Indonesia at 1:30 pm in bad weather. The aircraft exploded on impact, killing all twenty-seven passengers and four crew on board.

1992

Karachi bombing: A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto kills 139 and wounds 450 more.

Bhutto herself is uninjured.

A bombing attack on a motorcade carrying former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto occurred on 18 October 2007 in Karachi, Pakistan. The bombing occurred two months before she was assassinated.

2007

NASA Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch take part in the first all-female spacewalk when they venture out of the International Space Station to replace a power controller.

Division of NASA which trains astronauts

The NASA Astronaut Corps is a unit of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members for U.S. and international space missions. It is based at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

2019

Riots in Chile's capital Santiago escalate into open battles, with attacks reported at nearly all of the city's 164 Metro stations.

President Sebastián Piñera later announces a 15-day state of emergency in the capital.

A series of massive demonstrations and severe riots, known in Chile as the Social Outburst, originated in Santiago and took place in all regions of Chile, with greater effect in the regional capitals. The protests mainly occurred between October 2019 and March 2020, in response to a rise in the Santiago Metro's subway fare, a probity crisis, cost of living, university graduate unemployment, privatisation, and inequality prevalent in the country.

2019

Born on October 18

20 people 1987 – 2000

Sophie Thatcher

American actress

Sophie Bathsheba Thatcher is an American actress and musician. Born and raised in Illinois, she began her career as a child actress in local stage plays and minor television roles before making her feature film debut in…

2000

Janalynn Castelino

Italian-Indian singer-songwriter

Janalynn Castelino is an Italian-Indian pop singer-songwriter and doctor. She made her international crossover debut in 2024, with the Spanish-language single "Drama". Her music has been described as pop with R&B…

1998

Terance Mann

American basketball player

Terance Stanley Mann is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Florida State Seminoles. Mann was drafted by…

1996

Enhō Akira

Japanese sumo wrestler

Enhō Yūya is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Ishikawa Prefecture. He made his debut in March 2017 and was a member of Miyagino stable, under the guidance of former yokozuna Hakuhō, until his transfer to…

1994

Pascal Wehrlein

German-Mauritian race car driver

Pascal Konrad Wehrlein is a German and Mauritian racing driver, who competes in Formula E for Porsche. In formula racing, Wehrlein competed under the German flag in Formula One from 2016 to 2017, and won the 2023–24…

1994

Ivan Cavaleiro

Portuguese footballer

Ivan Ricardo Neves Abreu Cavaleiro is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Swiss Super League club Zürich. Mainly a winger, he can also play as a forward.

1993

John John Florence

American surfer

John "John John" Alexander Florence is an American professional surfer. He is considered one of the most dominant pipe surfers of his era and won back-to-back world titles on the 2016 World Surf League and 2017 World…

1992

Barry Keoghan

Irish actor

Barry Keoghan is an Irish actor. His accolades include a BAFTA Award, along with nominations for an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, he was listed at number 27 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's…

1992

Roly Bonevacia

Dutch footballer

Rolieny Nonato Luis Bonevacia is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for I-League club Sreenidi Deccan. He has played international football at youth level for the Netherlands, while at senior level he…

1991

Tyler Posey

American actor and musician

Tyler Garcia-Posey is an American actor and musician. He began his career as a child actor and received recognition for his role as Raul Garcia in Doc (2001–2004) and Ty Ventura in Maid in Manhattan (2002). As an adult,…

1991

Toby Regbo

English actor

Toby Finn Regbo is an English actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre. He is known for his role as young Nemo Nobody in the science fiction drama Mr. Nobody (2009), as Francis II of France in Reign…

1991

Zohran Mamdani

American politician, mayor of New York City

Zohran Kwame Mamdani is an American politician who has served since January 2026 as the 112th mayor of New York City. A member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani served from 2021…

1991

Drew Crawford

American basketball player

Andrew Eugene Crawford is an American professional basketball player for Maccabi Ramat Gan of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for the Northwestern Wildcats. He was the 2009–10 Big Ten…

1990

Brittney Griner

American basketball player

Brittney Yvette Griner is an American professional basketball player for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for the Vinyl of Unrivaled. She is a three-time Olympic gold…

1990

Bristol Palin

American public speaker and reality television personality

Bristol Sheeran Marie Palin is an American real estate agent who is a former public speaker and reality television personality. She is the oldest daughter and second of five children of Todd and Sarah Palin.

1990

Laci Green

American YouTube personality, video blogger, sex educator, and activist

Valacia Nusheen Cyrus better known as Laci Green is an American clinical mental health counselor and former YouTuber. Her content focuses on sex education; Green also hosted Braless, the first MTV YouTube channel, as…

1989

Joy Lauren

American actress, director, and producer

Lauren Joy Jorgensen, is an American producer, director, writer and former actress. She is known for playing Danielle Van de Kamp on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives and, as an adult, for creating…

1989

Riisa Naka

Japanese model and actress

Riisa Naka is a Japanese actress. She was given a Best New Talent award at the 2009 Yokohama Film Festival. Naka became famous by appearing in Hachi One Diver (2008) and played the lead, Hana Adachi, in Yankee-kun to…

1989

Tessa Schram

Dutch director and actress

Tessa Schram is a Dutch actress and director. She is the daughter of film producer and director Dave Schram and Maria Peters and the sister of actor Quinten Schram.

1988

Zac Efron

American actor and singer

Zachary David Alexander Efron is an American actor. Efron began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence as a teen idol for his leading role as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical film series…

1987

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Died on October 18

20 people 2014 – 2025

Sam Rivers

American bassist (born 1977)

Samuel Robert Rivers was an American musician. He was the bassist, backing vocalist and was one of the founding members of the nu metal band Limp Bizkit.

2025

Yang Chen-Ning

Chinese theoretical physicist (born 1922)

Yang Chen-Ning also known as C.N. Yang and Franklin Yang, was a Chinese-American theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to statistical mechanics, integrable systems, gauge theory, particle physics and…

2025

Lia Smith

American diver and transgender rights advocate.

Lia Purcell Smith was an American student at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, who died by suicide on October 18, 2025, at the age of 21. She was reported missing by her father on October 19, 2025, and her body…

2025

Yehuda Bauer

Israeli historian of the Holocaust (born 1926)

Yehuda Bauer was a Czech-born Israeli historian and scholar of the Holocaust. He was a professor of Holocaust studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

2024

Ginés González García

Argentine politician and physician (born 1945)

Ginés González García was an Argentine politician and physician who served twice as the country's Minister of Health under the successive presidencies of Eduardo Duhalde and Néstor Kirchner, from 2002 to 2007, and under…

2024

Harvey Wollman

American politician, 26th Governor of South Dakota (born 1935)

Harvey Lowell Wollman was an American politician who served as the 26th governor of South Dakota from 1978 to 1979. He was the first lieutenant governor in the history of South Dakota to succeed to the governorship. To…

2022

Colin Powell

American military leader and statesman, 65th Secretary of State (born 1937)

Colin Luther Powell was an American Army general, diplomat, and statesman who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005, being the first Black American to hold the office, and was the…

2021

René Felber

81st President of the Swiss Confederation (born 1933)

René Felber was a Swiss politician. He was a member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1987 to 1993. In 1992, he served as the president of Switzerland.

2020

Rui Jordão

Angolan-born Portuguese footballer (born 1952)

Rui Manuel Trindade Jordão was a Portuguese footballer.

2019

Lisbeth Palme

Swedish child psychologist, former chairwoman of UNICEF (born 1931)

Anna Lisbeth Christina Palme was a Swedish children's psychologist, UNICEF chairwoman and the wife of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, until his assassination in 1986.

2018

Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab

5th President of the Sudan (born 1934)

Abdel Rahman Suwar al-Dahab was a Sudanese military officer who served as the Head of State of Sudan from 6 April 1985, to 6 May 1986.

2018

Marino Perani

Italian football player and manager (born 1939)

Marino Perani was an Italian football manager and player, who played as a forward, usually as a winger.

2017

Robert Dickerson

Australian painter (born 1924)

Robert Henry Dickerson was an Australian figurative painter and former member of the Antipodeans group of artists. Dickerson is one of Australia's most recognised figurative artists and one of a generation of…

2015

Gamal El-Ghitani

Egyptian journalist and author (born 1945)

Gamal al-Ghitani was an Egyptian author of historical and political novels and cultural and political commentaries and was the editor-in-chief of the literary periodical Akhbar Al-Adab till 2011.

2015

Robert W. Farquhar

American engineer (born 1932)

Robert Willard Farquhar was an American mission design specialist who worked for NASA. He designed halo orbits and was involved in a number of spaceflight missions.

2015

Frank Watkins

American bass player (born 1968)

Frank Watkins was an American heavy metal musician best known as a former, long-time bass player for the death metal band Obituary; he played with them from 1989 to 1997 and then from 2003 until 2010. He had been the…

2015

Paul West

English-American author, poet, and academic (born 1930)

Paul Noden West was a British-born American novelist, poet, and essayist. He was born in Eckington, Derbyshire in England to Alfred and Mildred (Noden) West. Before his death, he resided in Ithaca, New York, with his…

2015

Mariano Lebrón Saviñón

Dominican author and academic (born 1922)

Mariano Lebrón Saviñón was a Dominican author of the 20th century. One of the founders of the second private university in the Dominican Republic, he named it the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña, also writing…

2014

Edward Regan

American academic and politician (born 1930)

Edward Van Buren Regan was an American politician and public figure from New York State. He was a member of the Republican Party.

2014

Sidney Shapiro

American-Chinese author and translator (born 1915)

Sidney Shapiro was an American-born Chinese actor, translator, and writer who lived in China from 1947 to 2014. He lived in Beijing for more than 50 years and became a member of the National Committee of the Chinese…

2014

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What happened on October 18 in history?

On October 18, one notable event in history was 2003: Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia..

This date currently highlights 50 recorded events on thisDay.info, spanning 33 – 2019.

DateOctober 18

Featured year2003

LocationHistorical Location

Events listed50

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October 18 in History

2003 — Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia

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October 18 in History

2003 — Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia

Born on October 18

Died on October 18

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