18 October
Notable Births
Sophie Thatcher
b. 2000
American actress (born 2000)
Janalynn Castelino
b. 1998
Indian-Italian singer and songwriter (born 1998)
Terance Mann
b. 1996
American basketball player (born 1996)
Enhō Yūya
b. 1994
Japanese sumo wrestler
Pascal Wehrlein
b. 1994
German and Mauritian racing driver (born 1994)
Ivan Cavaleiro
b. 1993
Portuguese footballer (born 1993)
John John Florence
b. 1992
American professional surfer (born 1992)
Barry Keoghan
b. 1992
Irish actor (born 1992)
Roly Bonevacia
b. 1991
Curaçao footballer (born 1991)
Tyler Posey
b. 1991
American actor and musician (born 1991)
Toby Regbo
b. 1991
English actor
Zohran Mamdani
b. 1991
Mayor of New York City since January 2026
Brittney Griner
b. 1990
American basketball player (born 1990)
Bristol Palin
b. 1990
American public speaker (born 1990)
Laci Green
b. 1989
American YouTuber
Joy Jorgensen
b. 1989
American actress
Tessa Schram
b. 1988
Dutch actress and director (born 1988)
Zac Efron
b. 1987
American actor (born 1987)
Freja Beha Erichsen
b. 1987
Danish fashion model (born 1987)
Wilma Elles
b. 1986
German actress, model and fashion designer
Notable Deaths
Sam Rivers (bassist)
d. 2025
American bassist (1977–2025)
Yang Chen-Ning
d. 2025
Chinese-American physicist (1922–2025)
Suicide of Lia Smith
d. 2025
2025 suicide of transgender college student
Yehuda Bauer
d. 2024
Israeli Holocaust historian (1926–2024)
Ginés González García
d. 2024
Argentine politician and physician (1945–2024)
Harvey Wollman
d. 2022
American politician (1935–2022)
Colin Powell
d. 2021
American general, diplomat and statesman (1937–2021)
René Felber
d. 2020
Swiss politician (1933–2020)
Rui Jordão
d. 2019
Portuguese footballer (1952–2019)
Lisbeth Palme
d. 2018
Swedish psychologist and wife of Olof Palme
Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab
d. 2018
President of Sudan from 1985 to 1986
Marino Perani
d. 2017
Italian footballer and manager
Gamal al-Ghitani
d. 2015
Egyptian author, literary editor and commentator
Robert W. Farquhar
d. 2015
Frank Watkins (musician)
d. 2015
Musical artist (1968–2015)
Paul West (writer, born 1930)
d. 2015
British-born American novelist, poet, and essayist (1930–2015)
Edward Regan
d. 2014
American politician
Sidney Shapiro
d. 2014
American-born Chinese translator (1915–2014)
Tom Foley
d. 2013
American politician (1929–2013)
Alfred Binet
d. 1911
French psychologist, IQ test developer (1857–1911)
On This Day in History
All 50 ›
2019
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.
NASA Astronaut Corps
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.
Social Outburst (Chile)
2007
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.
2007 Karsaz bombing
2003
Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.
Bolivian gas conflict
1992
Merpati Nustantara Airlines Flight 5601 crashes into Mount Papandayan near the town of Garut in West Java, Indonesia, killing 31.
Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 5601
1991
The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
Azerbaijan
1989
The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-34 to deploy the Jupiter-bound Galileo space probe.
Space Shuttle Atlantis
1979
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) begins allowing people to have home satellite earth stations without a federal government license.
Federal Communications Commission
1978
Based on the world's first children's art museum, the Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics opened in Yerevan.
Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics
1977
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.
German Autumn
1967
The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet.
Soviet Union
1963
Félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat, becomes the first cat launched into space.
Félicette
1954
Texas Instruments announces the Regency TR-1, the first mass-produced transistor radio.
Regency TR-1
1945
The USSR's nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Soviet Union
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.
Venezuela
1945
Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón marries actress Eva Duarte.
Argentina
1944
World War II: Soviet Union begins the liberation of Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany.
World War II
1944
World War II: The state funeral of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel takes place in Ulm, Germany.
Erwin Rommel
1929
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.
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
1922
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 Broadcasting Company