February 18
February 18 this yearin various calendars Akan Nkyiwukuo Armenian 3 Areg 1475 Aztec Etzalcualiztli 19, 1 Mazātl Babylonian 29 Tebetu, 2336 SE Balinese pawukon Menga, Kajeng, Jaya, Umanis, Urukung, Buda of Parangbakat, Guru, Dadi, Suka Bengali 5 Falgun , BS 1432 Chinese Yin Water Pig ・Wall Mansion Fire Horse Year, Month 1 , Day 2Yushui , 15 days until Jingzhe )Common Era 18 February 2026 CE Coptic 11 Meshir , AM 1742Egyptian 8 Epiphi , 2774 NE Ethiopian 11 Yakātit, 2018 Amätä Məhrät French Republican Décade III, Décadi de Pluviôse de l'Année 234 de la République Gregorian 18 February , AD 2026 Hebrew 1 Adar , AM 5786 Hindu Śatabhiṣaj ・Parigha Phālguna , 1947 SE Pratipada , Śukla pakṣa of Phālguna , 2082 VE Siddhārthin ・5126 KY ・1,872,624 Icelandic Miðvikudagur, 27 Þorri 2025 Islamic 1 Ramadan , AH 1447tabular method ) ISO week date 2026-W08-3 Japanese 2 Mutsuki , Reiwa 8Risshun , 1 day until Usui ) Julian 5 February , AD 2026 (AM 7534)Julian day 2461090 Korean 2 Horangidal , 4359 DE Maya 13.0.13.6.7 5 Kayab , 1 Manik Roman Nonis Februariis , MMDCCLXXIX AUC Solar Hijri 29 Bahman , SH 1404 Tibetan 1 mchu, me pho rta
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Day of the year
February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar ; 316 days remain until the end of the year (317 in leap years ).
Events
1637 – Eighty Years' War : Off the coast of Cornwall , England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an important Anglo -Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.1735 – The ballad opera called Flora, or Hob in the Well went down in history as the first opera of any kind to be produced in North America (Charleston, S.C.)1781 – Fourth Anglo-Dutch War : Captain Thomas Shirley opens his expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa (present-day Ghana ).1791 – Congress passes a law admitting the state of Vermont to the Union, effective 4 March, after that state had existed for 14 years as a de facto independent largely unrecognized state .1797 – French Revolutionary Wars : Sir Ralph Abercromby and a fleet of 18 British warships invade Trinidad .1814 – Napoleonic Wars : The Battle of Montereau .1861 – In Montgomery, Alabama , Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America .1861 – With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont , Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy .
1873 – Bulgarian revolutionary leader Vasil Levski is executed by hanging in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities.1878 – John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans , sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico .1885 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain is published in the United States.1900 – Second Boer War : Imperial forces suffer their worst single-day loss of life on Bloody Sunday , the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg .1906 – Édouard de Laveleye forms the Belgian Olympic Committee in Brussels .1911 – The first official flight with airmail takes place from Allahabad , United Provinces , British India (now India), when Henri Pequet , a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini , about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) away.1915 – U-boat Campaign : The Imperial German Navy institutes unrestricted submarine warfare in the waters around Great Britain and Ireland.1930 – While studying photographs taken in January , Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto .1930 – Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.
1932 – The Empire of Japan creates the independent state of Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria ) free from the Republic of China and installed former Chinese Emperor Puyi as Chief Executive of the State.1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War : During the Nanking Massacre , the Nanking Safety Zone International Committee is renamed "Nanking International Rescue Committee", and the safety zone in place for refugees falls apart.1942 – World War II : The Imperial Japanese Army begins the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore .1943 – World War II: The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.1943 – World War II: Joseph Goebbels delivers his Sportpalast speech
1945 – World War II: American and Brazilian troops kick off Operation Encore in Northern Italy, a successful limited action in the Northern Apennines that prepares for the western portion of the Allied Spring offensive .1946 – Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay harbour, from where the action spreads throughout the Provinces of British India , involving 78 ships, twenty shore establishments and 20,000 sailors1947 – First Indochina War : The French gain complete control of Hanoi after forcing the Viet Minh to withdraw to the mountains.1954 – The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles .1955 – Operation Teapot : Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons . Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series.1957 – Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.1957 – Walter James Bolton becomes the last person legally executed in New Zealand.
1965 – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.1970 – The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention .1972 – The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.1977 – The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignited memorial wreaths of the late Mao Zedong , killing 694 personnel. It remains the deadliest fireworks accident in the world.1977 – A thousand armed soldiers raid Kalakuta Republic , the commune of Nigerian singer Fela Kuti , leading to the death of Funmilayo Anikulapo Kuti .1977 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden "flight" on top of a Boeing 747 .1979 – Richard Petty wins a then-record sixth Daytona 500 after leaders Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough crash on the final lap of the first NASCAR race televised live flag-to-flag.1983 – Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle . It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.1991 – The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at Paddington station and Victoria station in London.2001 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union . He is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.2001 – Sampit conflict : Inter-ethnic violence between Dayaks and Madurese breaks out in Sampit , Central Kalimantan , Indonesia, ultimately resulting in more than 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.
2003 – 192 people die when an arsonist sets fire to a subway train in Daegu, South Korea.2004 – Up to 295 people, 182 of which being rescue workers, die near Nishapur, Iran , when a runaway freight train carrying sulfur , petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes .2010 – WikiLeaks publishes the first of hundreds of thousands of classified documents disclosed by the soldier now known as Chelsea Manning .2013 – Armed robbers steal a haul of diamonds worth $50 million during a raid at Brussels Airport in Belgium .2014 – Revolution of Dignity : At least 76 people are killed and hundreds are injured in clashes between riot police and demonstrators in Kyiv, Ukraine .2018 – Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 3704 crashes in the Dena sub-range in the Zagros Mountains of Iran, Resulting in 66 Deaths2021 – Perseverance , a Mars rover designed to explore Jezero crater on Mars , as part of NASA 's Mars 2020 mission, lands successfully.Births
Pre-1600
1201 – Nasir al-Din al-Tusi , Persian scientist and writer (died 1274)1372 – Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani , Egyptian jurist and scholar (died 1448)1486 – Chaitanya Mahaprabhu , Indian monk and saint (died 1534)1516 – Mary I , Queen of England (died 1558)1530 – Uesugi Kenshin , Japanese daimyō (died 1578)1543 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (died 1608)1547 – Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī , founder of Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy (died 1621)1559 – Isaac Casaubon , Swiss philologist and scholar (died 1614)1589 – Henry Vane the Elder , English politician (died 1655)1589 – Maarten Gerritsz Vries , Dutch explorer (died 1646) 1602 – Per Brahe the Younger , Swedish soldier and politician, Governor-General of Finland (died 1680)1602 – Michelangelo Cerquozzi , Italian painter (died 1660)
1609 – Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon , English historian and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (died 1674)1626 – Francesco Redi , Italian physician (died 1697)1632 – Giovanni Battista Vitali , Italian violinist and composer (died 1692)1642 – Marie Champmeslé , French actress (died 1698)1658 – Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre , French philosopher and author (died 1743)1732 – Johann Christian Kittel , German organist and composer (died 1809)1745 – Alessandro Volta , Italian physicist, invented the battery (died 1827)1754 – Emanuel Granberg , Finnish church painter (died 1797)1817 – Lewis Armistead , American general (died 1863)1818 – John O'Shanassy , Irish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Victoria (died 1883)1818 – Konstanty Schmidt-Ciążyński , Polish collector and art connoisseur who donated a large collection to the National Museum in Kraków (died 1889)1836 – Ramakrishna Paramahamsa , Indian mystic and yogi (died 1886)1838 – Ernst Mach , Austrian physicist and philosopher (died 1916)1848 – Louis Comfort Tiffany , American stained glass artist (died 1933)1849 – Alexander Kielland , Norwegian author, playwright, and politician (died 1906)1850 – George Henschel , German-English singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (died 1934)1855 – Jean Jules Jusserand , French historian, author, and diplomat, French Ambassador to the United States (died 1932)1860 – Anders Zorn , Swedish artist (died 1920)1862 – Charles M. Schwab , American businessman, co-founded Bethlehem Steel (died 1939)1867 – Hedwig Courths-Mahler , German writer (died 1950)1871 – Harry Brearley , English inventor (died 1948)1883 – Nikos Kazantzakis , Greek philosopher, author, and playwright (died 1957)1885 – Henri Laurens , French sculptor and illustrator (died 1954)1893 – Maksim Haretski , Belarusian prose writer, journalist and activist (died 1938)1890 – Edward Arnold , American actor (died 1956)1890 – Adolphe Menjou , American actor (died 1963)
1892 – Wendell Willkie , American captain, lawyer, and politician (died 1944)1896 – Li Linsi , Chinese educator and diplomat (died 1970)1898 – Luis Muñoz Marín , Puerto Rican poet and politician, 1st Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (died 1980)1899 – Arthur Bryant , English historian and journalist (died 1985)1903 – Nikolai Podgorny , Ukrainian engineer and politician (died 1983)1906 – Hans Asperger , Austrian pediatrician and academic (died 1980)1909 – Wallace Stegner , American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (died 1993)1914 – Pee Wee King , American singer-songwriter and fiddler (died 2000)1915 – Phyllis Calvert , English actress (died 2002)1915 – Joe Gordon , American baseball player and manager (died 1978)
1919 – Jack Palance , American boxer and actor (died 2006)1920 – Rolande Falcinelli , French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue (died 2006)1921 – Mary Amdur , American toxicologist and public health researcher (died 1998)1921 – Oscar Feltsman , Ukrainian-Russian pianist and composer (died 2013)
1922 – Eric Gairy , Grenadan politician, 1st Prime Minister of Grenada (died 1997)1922 – Helen Gurley Brown , American journalist and author (died 2012)
1922 – Connie Wisniewski , American baseball player (died 1995)
1925 – George Kennedy , American actor (died 2016)1926 – Wallace Berman , American painter and illustrator (died 1976)1927 – Fazal Mahmood , Pakistani cricketer (died 2005)1929 – Len Deighton , English historian and author (died 2026)1929 – André Mathieu , Canadian pianist and composer (died 1968)
1931 – Johnny Hart , American cartoonist, co-created The Wizard of Id 1931 – Toni Morrison , American novelist and editor, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2019).
1932 – Miloš Forman , Czech-American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2018)1933 – Yoko Ono , Japanese-American multimedia artist and musician1933 – Bobby Robson , English footballer and manager (died 2009)
1933 – Mary Ure , Scottish-English actress (died 1975)
1934 – Audre Lorde , American writer and activist (died 1992)1936 – Jean M. Auel , American author1939 – Claude Ake , Nigerian political scientist and academic (died 1996)1940 – Fabrizio De André , Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1999)1941 – Irma Thomas , American singer-songwriter1944 – Elizabeth Nunez , American novelist (died 2024)1946 – Michael Buerk , English journalist1946 – Jess Walton , American actress
1947 – Dennis DeYoung , American musician, singer, and songwriter1947 – Eliot Engel , American politician (died 2026)
1950 – Nana Amba Eyiaba I , Ghanaian queen mother and advocate1950 – John Hughes , American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2009)
1950 – Cybill Shepherd , American actress
1951 – Queen Komal of Nepal 1951 – Isabel Preysler , Filipino-Spanish journalist
1952 – Randy Crawford , American jazz and R&B singer1952 – Maurice Lucas , American basketball player (died 2010)
1952 – Juice Newton , American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – John Travolta , American actor, singer and producer1955 – Lisa See , American writer and novelist1957 – Marita Koch , German sprinter1957 – Vanna White , American television personality
1959 – Jayne Atkinson , English-American actress1960 – Andy Moog , Canadian ice hockey player1960 – Greta Scacchi , Italian-Australian actress
1961 – Douglas Rushkoff , American media and cultural theorist, author, and documentarian1964 – Matt Dillon , American actor1965 – Dr. Dre , American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur1966 – Phillip DeFreitas , Dominican-English cricketer1966 – Ryan Wesley Routh , American attempted assassin of Donald Trump
1967 – Roberto Baggio , Italian footballer1967 – Colin Jackson , Welsh sprinter and hurdler
1968 – Molly Ringwald , American actress1968 – Tommy Tallarico , American video game music composer
1969 – Alexander Mogilny , Russian ice hockey player1971 – Thomas Bjørn , Danish golfer1974 – Carrie Ann Baade , American painter and academic1974 – Radek Černý , Czech footballer
1974 – Julia Butterfly Hill , American environmentalist and author
1974 – Jillian Michaels , American personal trainer and television personality
1975 – Gary Neville , English footballer1977 – Ike Barinholtz , American actor and comedian1977 – Kristoffer Polaha , American actor
1980 – Nik Antropov , Kazakhstani-Canadian ice hockey player1980 – Regina Spektor , Russian-American musician and songwriter
1981 – Andrei Kirilenko , Russian-American basketball player1981 – Alex Ríos , American baseball player
1982 – Christian Tiffert , German footballer1983 – Kara Braxton , American basketball player (died 2026)1983 – Jermaine Jenas , English footballer
1983 – Jason Maxiell , American basketball player
1984 – Carlos Kameni , Cameroonian footballer1986 – Kyle Weaver , American basketball player1988 – Roman Neustädter , German-Russian footballer1988 – Sarah Sutherland , American actress
1988 – Maiara Walsh , American-Brazilian actress
1989 – Sonja Vasić , Serbian basketball player1990 – Monica Aksamit , American saber fencer1990 – Didi Gregorius , Dutch baseball player
1990 – Cody Hodgson , Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Bryan Oviedo , Costa Rican footballer
1991 – Sebastian Neumann , German footballer1992 – Le'Veon Bell , American football player1992 – Martin Marinčin , Slovak ice hockey player
1992 – Logan Miller , American actor
1993 – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope , American basketball player1994 – J-Hope , South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, dancer, and record producer1994 – Paul Zipser , German basketball player
1995 – Nathan Aké , Dutch footballer1996 – Tyler Dorsey , American-Greek basketball player1997 – DK , South Korean singer1997 – Odysseas Adam , Greek volleyball player
1997 – Brandon Jones , American racing driver
1998 – Vernon , South Korean and American rapper, singer and songwriter2000 – Zakaria Aboukhlal , Moroccan footballer2000 – Giacomo Raspadori , Italian footballer
2001 – Tanguy Coulibaly , French footballer2001 – Jaime Jaquez Jr. , American basketball player
2002 – Manu Bhaker , Indian sports shooterDeaths
Pre-1600
675 – Colmán , bishop of Lindisfarne814 – Angilbert , Frankish monk and diplomat (born 760)901 – Thābit ibn Qurra , Arab astronomer and physician (born 826)999 – Gregory V , pope of the Catholic Church (born 972)1139 – Yaropolk II , Grand Prince of Kiev (born 1082)1218 – Berthold V , duke of Zähringen (born 1160)1225 – Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk , Norman nobleman1294 – Kublai Khan , Mongol emperor (born 1215)1379 – Albert II , duke of Mecklenburg (born 1318)1397 – Enguerrand VII , French nobleman (born 1340)1455 – Fra Angelico , Italian priest and painter (born 1395)1478 – George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence , English nobleman (born 1449; executed)1502 – Hedwig Jagiellon , duchess of Bavaria (born 1457)1535 – Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa , German magician, astrologer, and theologian (born 1486)1546 – Martin Luther , German priest and theologian, leader of the Protestant Reformation (born 1483)1564 – Michelangelo , Italian sculptor and painter (born 1475)1654 – Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac , French author (born 1594)1658 – John Villiers, Viscount Purbeck , English courtier (born c. 1591)1683 – Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem , Dutch painter (born 1620)1695 – William Phips , governor of Massachusetts (born 1650)1712 – Louis, Dauphin of France , (born 1682)1743 – Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici , Italian noble (born 1667)1748 – Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun , Austrian field marshal (born 1677)1772 – Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff , Danish politician (born 1712)1778 – Joseph Marie Terray , French economist and politician, Controller-General of Finances (born 1715)1780 – Kristijonas Donelaitis , Lithuanian pastor and poet (born 1714)1788 – John Whitehurst , English geologist and clockmaker (born 1713)1803 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim , German poet and educator (born 1719)1851 – Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi , German mathematician and academic (born 1804)1873 – Vasil Levski , Bulgarian activist, founded the Internal Revolutionary Organization (born 1837)1880 – Nikolay Zinin , Russian organic chemist (born 1812)1893 – Serranus Clinton Hastings , American lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Justice of California (born 1814)1902 – Charles Lewis Tiffany , American businessman, founded Tiffany & Co. (born 1812)1910 – Lucy Stanton , American activist (born 1831)1915 – Frank James , American soldier and criminal (born 1843)1933 – James J. Corbett , American boxer and actor (born 1866)1938 – David King Udall , American missionary and politician (born 1851)1956 – Gustave Charpentier , French composer (born 1860)1960 – Gertrude Vanderbilt , American stage actress (born c. 18851966 – Grigory Nelyubov , Soviet pilot and military officer (born 1934)1967 – J. Robert Oppenheimer , American physicist and academic (born 1904)1969 – Dragiša Cvetković , Serbian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (born 1893)1977 – Andy Devine , American actor (born 1905)1981 – Jack Northrop , American engineer and businessman, founded the Northrop Corporation (born 1895)1982 – Ngaio Marsh , New Zealand author (born 1895)2001 – Balthus , Polish-Swiss painter and illustrator (born 1908)2001 – Dale Earnhardt , American racer and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (born 1951)
2014 – Mavis Gallant , Canadian-French author and playwright (born 1922)2014 – Maria Franziska von Trapp , Austrian-American singer (born 1914)
2015 – Elchanan Heilprin , Slovak-born English rabbi (born 1920 or 1922)2019 – Alessandro Mendini , Italian designer and architect (born 1931)2020 – Flavio Bucci , Italian actor and voice actor (born 1947)2025 – Gene Hackman , award-winning American actor (born 1930)2025 – Gerald Ridsdale , Australian laicised Catholic priest and sex offender (born 1934)
2025 – Hurricane , American secret service canine (born 2009)
2026 – Borislav Paravac , Bosnian Serb politician, 8th Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (born 1943)