/year

December 18 in history

198 sourced entries recorded on December 18, from 360 CE to 2024 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 1118Alfonso the Battler expels the Moors from Zaragoza. The Aragonese reconquer many of the valleys of the Jalón and the Jiloca.source
  • 1127Conrad III (with support of the imperial cities, Swabia and Austria) is elected and crowned as anti-king of Germany at Nuremberg.source
  • 1237December 16–21 – Siege of Ryazan: The Mongols under Batu Khan lay siege to Ryazan. The townspeople repel the first Mongol attacks but after 5 days the city walls are breached by Chinese catapults. On December 21, the Mongols storm the walls and plunder the capital, killing Yuri Igorevich and all inhabitants. Yuri II of Vladimir stands by and does nothing to intervene while Ryazan burns.source
  • 1271Kublai Khan renames his empire "Great Yuan" (大元; dà yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty in China.source
  • 1303Pope Benedict XI issues a mandate directing that the rights of Cardinal Jean Lemoine of France, to income from the dioceses of Bayeux and Amiens is to be protected while Lemoine is serving as papal legate.source
  • 1327Pope John XXII appoints 10 new Roman Catholic cardinals, the most during his papacy, including Jacques Fournier, who will succeed John as Pope Benedict XII in 1334.source
  • 1352Pope Innocent VI succeeds Pope Clement VI as the 199th pope.source
  • 1374Alexander Neville is installed in England as the new Roman Catholic Archbishop of York.source
  • 1412China's Emperor Cheng Zu orders the fourth of the Ming treasure voyages, to be led by Admiral Zheng He.source
  • 1413The betrothal ceremony of Prince Charles of France (age 10), son of King Charles VI, to Marie of Anjou (age 9), daughter of Louis, Duke of Anjou, takes place at the Palais du Louvre in Paris. The two will marry in 1422.source
  • 1415Jean de Touraine becomes the new Dauphin of France, heir to the throne, upon the death of his older brother Louis, Duke of Guyenne. Jean dies on April 5, 1417, five years before the death of his father, King Charles VI of France.source
  • 1422King Charles VII of France marries Marie of Anjou in a ceremony at Bourges.source
  • 1439Pope Eugene IV designates nine archbishops and six bishops to join the College of Cardinals and one cardinal and one priest, for 17 appointments in all.source
  • 1442In Italy Tomaso di Campofregoso, Doge of the Republic of Genoa, is removed from office by a group of armed men, led by Raffaele Adorno and Giovanni Antonio Fieschi, who invade the Ducal Palace and force him to leave.source
  • 1470Lê Thánh Tông leads the Đại Việt army into Champa, conquering the country in less than three months.source
  • 1486The Conspiracy of the Barons comes to an end when the Aragon troops and King Ferrante recapture the city of Venosa.source
  • 1487The second parliament of King Henry VII is dissolved in England after 39 days.source
  • 1499The Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) begins in the Kingdom of Granada (Crown of Castile) against the forced conversions of Muslims in Spain.source
  • 1514Ottoman General Dukaginzade Ahmed Pasha is appointed by the Sultan Selim I as the new Grand Vizier, but serves for less than three months before he is removed and executed.source
  • 1515King Francis I of France, victorious in the battle of Marignano in Italy and the new ruler of Milan, begins four days of meetings in Bologna with Pope Leo X. King Francis agrees to ensure the Pope's authority over the Catholic Church in France, and Leo promises to support Francis' claim to the throne of Naples.source
  • 1522The Ottomans finally break into Rhodes, but the Knights continue fierce resistance in the streets.source
  • 1546A truce is agreed to between the Kingdom of Scotland (led by the Regent Arran) and the "Catilians", a group of Scottish Protestants who have been holding St Andrews Castle since their May 29 assassination of Cardinal David Beaton. With England's King Henry VIII threatening an invasion to protect the Protestant Castilians, the parties agree that no action will be taken until the Pope can consider whether to absolve the Protestants of murder, and that if the Pope grants the absolution, the Protestants will be allowed to surrender on good terms.source
  • 1546Siege of St Andrews Castle: A truce is agreed to between the Kingdom of Scotland (led by the Regent Arran) and the "Catilians". With England's king Henry VIII threatening an invasion to protect the Castilians, the parties agree that no action will be taken until the Pope can consider whether to absolve the Protestants of murder, and that if the Pope grants the absolution, the Protestants will be allowed to surrender on good terms.source
  • 1591Pope Innocent IX begins a tour of the seven pilgrimage churches around Rome, despite being unwell, and his illness worsens. He dies 12 days later.source
  • 1606Richelieu is nominated Bishop of Luçon.source
  • 1610(December 8 O.S.) English astronomer Thomas Harriot becomes the first person on Earth to observe sunspots through a telescope.source
  • 1615Francisco de Borja y Aragón becomes the new Viceroy of Peru, a colony of Spain encompassing all of Spanish language-speaking South America and what are now the nations of Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay.source
  • 1616A widely reported earthquake occurs in Leipzig, Germany (also dated December 22).source
  • 1622Portuguese forces with Imbangala allies score a military victory over the Kingdom of Kongo at the Battle of Mbumbi in modern-day Angola as part of the First Kongo-Portuguese War.source
  • 1627La selva sin amor (The Forest without Love), written by Lope de Vega and with music by Alessandro Piccinini, premieres as the first Spanish opera.source
  • 1638Cardinal Mazarin becomes the first adviser to French potentate Richelieu, on the death of Leclerc du Tremblay.source
  • 1638Cardinal Mazarin becomes premier adviser to Cardinal Richelieu on the death of François Leclerc du Tremblay (Père Joseph).source
  • 1640Archbishop Laud impeached for treason.source
  • 1645English Civil War: The Royalist stronghold of Hereford is seized in a swift attack by Parliamentary forces under John Birch.source
  • 1655The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there is no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.source
  • 1660the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa is chartered; it will come to have a monopoly over the English slave trade. It is led by Duke of York.source
  • 1660The Company of the Royal Adventurers into Africa, planned by Prince James, brother of King Charles II to capture persons along the coast of West Africa for resale as slaves, receives its charter. Prince James, later King James II, had started asking for investors (at 250 pounds sterling per share) starting on October 3, 1660.source
  • 1669The Battle of Cádiz begins off of the coast of the Spanish city as the English warship HMS Mary Rose encounters seven pirate ships from Algeria. Although none of the ships on either side are sunk, the Algerians are forced to retreat with an unknown number of casualties, and the Mary Rose loses 12 dead and 18 wounded.source
  • 1669the Battle of Cádiz begins off of the coast of the Spanish city as English warship HMS Mary Rose encounters seven pirate ships from Algeria. Although none of the ships on either side are sunk, the Algerines are forced to retreat with an unknown number of casualties, and the Mary Rose loses 12 dead and 18 wounded. See also Action of 28–29 December 1669.source
  • 1672Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp ends her regency of the Swedish Empire after more than 12 years, having exercised power in the name of her minor son, Charles XI, since the death of her husband Karl X Gustav in 1660. Hedwig Eleonora had served as the chair of the six-member Regency Council.source
  • 1672An English invasion force captures the Caribbean island of Tobago from Dutch colonists and destroys the settlement.source
  • 1672an English invasion force captures the Caribbean island of Tobago from Dutch colonists and destroys the settlement.source
  • 1688William of Orange, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic and the future King William III of the United Kingdom, enters London.source
  • 1744Queen Maria Theresa of Austria issues a proclamation to rid Bohemia of its Jewish residents, with the Jews to leave Prague over the next two weeks, and then to depart from Bohemia entirely in 1745.source
  • 1744Maria Theresa, Queen of Austria, orders the expulsion of Jews from Bohemia.source
  • 1745Jacobite rising of 1745: Clifton Moor Skirmish – The Jacobites are victorious in the last action between two military forces on English soil.source
  • 1748Niels Eigtved's new theatre of Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen opens with a repertoire of Danish plays and Italian operas.source
  • 1760In the wake of Tacky's War by African-born rebels, the Assembly of the British colony of Jamaica outlaws the African religious practice of obeah, with penalties ranging from banishment from the colony to execution. The legislation specifically bans use of contraband associated with obeah, including "animal blood, feathers, parrots' beaks, dogs' teeth, alligators' teeth, broken bottles, grave dirt, rum, and eggshells".source
  • 1777The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking October's victory by the American rebels over British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga.source
  • 1781Troops sent from New York, to coerce New Hampshire grantees, learn that they will defend their rights.source
  • 1787New Jersey becomes the third U.S. state.source
  • 1792the trial of Thomas Paine in absentia for treason begins. He is outlawed.source
  • 1793French forces under Dugommier capture Toulon from royalists and British forces under Vice Admiral Lord Hood. The British fire the dockyards and take 16 ships, one of which, the Lutine, becomes a famous treasure ship.source
  • 1793Magdalena Rudenschöld is the first to be arrested when the Armfelt Conspiracy of the Gustavian Party against the guardian government is exposed.source
  • 1796British Royal Navy ship HMS Courageux is wrecked on the Barbary Coast with the loss of 464 of the 593 onboard.source
  • 1796HMS Courageux is wrecked on the Barbary Coast with the loss of 464 of the 593 on board.source
  • 1800Annexation of Kingdom of Kartli-Kakhetisource
  • 1812The first Spanish Christmas Lottery is drawn, in Cádiz; it will be continuing more than two centuries later. The first Lotería Nacional was drawn on March 4.source
  • 1813December 18–19 – War of 1812: British soldiers and native allies invade the United States, and are successful in the Capture of Fort Niagara, and attack Lewiston, New York.source
  • 1816December 9–21 – The American Colonization Society is established, to support the emigration of free African Americans to Africa.source
  • 1833The national anthem of the Russian Empire, God Save the Tsar!, is first performed.source
  • 1834Tithe War: "Rathcormac massacre": At Gortroe, near Rathcormac, County Cork, armed Constabulary reinforced by the regular British Army kill at least nine and wound thirty protesters.source
  • 1834Tithe War in Ireland: "Rathcormac massacre": At Gortroe, near Rathcormac, County Cork, armed Constabulary reinforced by the regular British Army kill at least nine and wound thirty protesters against tithes.source
  • 1848Punta Arenas, the first major settlement in the Strait of Magellan, is founded.source
  • 1860Senator John J. Crittenden proposes the so-called Crittenden Compromise hoping to resolve the U.S. secession crisis.source
  • 1862"Day of the Great Drowning": 31 men, the entire crews of five fishing boats from Ness, Lewis, are drowned in a storm.source
  • 1865Secretary of State William H. Seward declares the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ratified by three-quarters of the states, including those in secession. As of December 6, slavery is legally outlawed in the last two slave states of Kentucky and Delaware, and the remaining 45,000 slaves are freed.source
  • 1865The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime) is declared ratified by three-quarters of the states of the United States.source
  • 1866The College of Wooster is founded in Ohio.source
  • 1878Joseph Swan of Newcastle announces his invention of an incandescent light bulb.source
  • 1878French passenger steamer Byzantin founders in the Dardanelles during a gale after collision with British SS Rinaldo, killing around 210 people, with only 14 crew of the Byzantin saved.source
  • 1878French passenger steamer Byzantin founders in the Dardanelles during a gale after collision with British SS Rinaldo, killing around 210 people, with only 14 crew of the Byzantin saved.source
  • 1884The Territory of Nayarit is formed once its territorial limits with Jalisco were established.source
  • 1888Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law, Charlie Mason, discover the Indian ruins of Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado.source
  • 1892The Nutcracker ballet, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, is premiered at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.source
  • 1894Women in South Australia become the first in Australia to gain the right to vote and the first in the world with the right to be elected to Parliament, taking effect from 1895, after decades of activism.source
  • 1894South Australia is the first colony to legislate women equal franchise with men, taking effect in 1895.source
  • 1895The Laurin & Klement automobile brand, predecessor of Škoda Auto, is founded as a bicycle manufacturer in central Bohemia (modern-day Czech Republic).source
  • 1896Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi arrives back in Durban with his wife and two sons, but the ship is placed under a 5-day quarantine because Bombay was declared a plague-infected port. Quarantine will later be extended to 13 January 1897.source
  • 1898Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first official land speed record in an automobile, averaging 63.15 km/h over 1 km in France.source
  • 1903The first train runs from Rockhampton to Brisbane.source
  • 1905December 7–18 – Moscow Uprising: A Bolshevik-led revolt is suppressed by the army.source
  • 1905Free State – Marseilles to Maseru in Basutoland, 16 mi 32 ch.source
  • 1907Ouachita National Forest is established.source
  • 1910A storm causes substantial damage to the promenade at Aberystwyth.source
  • 1911The first exhibition by Der Blaue Reiter group of painters opens in Munich.source
  • 1911The Marburg railway line opens in South west Queenslandsource
  • 1912Piltdown Man, thought to be the fossilized skull of a hitherto unknown form of early human, is presented to the Geological Society of London (it is revealed to be a hoax in 1953).source
  • 1915December 4–18 – The 'Peace Ship' Oscar II chartered by industrialist Henry Ford sails from Hoboken, New Jersey to Oslo on an independent and eventually unsuccessful mission to broker a peace conference.source
  • 1915United States president Woodrow Wilson marries Edith B. Galt, in Washington, D.C.source
  • 1916WWI: The Battle of Verdun ends in France with German troops defeated.source
  • 1918Armenpress, the oldest news agency in Armenia, is founded.source
  • 1920December 15–22 – The Brussels Conference establishes a timetable for German war reparations, intended to extend for over 42 years.source
  • 1923The King Ferdinand I National Military Museum (Muzeul Militar Național "Regele Ferdinand I") is founded.source
  • 1926Raadio Ringhääling starts regular broadcastssource
  • 1932inauguration of Littoria.source
  • 1935The socialist party of Sri Lanka, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, is founded.source
  • 1935Samuel Hoare resigns as British foreign secretary, and is replaced by Anthony Eden.source
  • 1939WWII: Battle of the Heligoland Bight – RAF Bomber Command, on a daylight mission to attack Kriegsmarine ships in the Heligoland Bight, is repulsed by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft.source
  • 1942the Quinta Normal Fire Department is founded in the Commune of Quinta Normal in Santiago.source
  • 1949In the American National Football League, the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Los Angeles Rams 14–0, to win the championship.source
  • 1957A violent F5 tornado wipes out the entire community of Sunfield, Illinois.source
  • 1958The Bell XV-3 Tiltrotor makes the first true mid-air transition from vertical helicopter-type flight to fully level fixed-wing flight.source
  • 1958The United States launches SCORE, the world's first communications satellite.source
  • 19611961 Indian annexation of Goa: India opens hostilities in its annexation of Portuguese India, the colonies of Goa, Damao and Diu.source
  • 1963Ghanaian students protest in Red Square during the 1963 Moscow protestsource
  • 1963Luxembourg is knocked out at the final stage of qualifying for the 1964 European Nations' Cup, losing a play-off against Denmark 1–0, having drawn 5–5 with the Danes on aggregate.source
  • 1964The Christmas flood of 1964 begins in the United States, affecting the Pacific Northwest and some of Northern California. It will continue until January 7, resulting in 19 deaths, serious damage to buildings, roads and bridges, and the loss of 4,000 head of livestock.source
  • 1966How the Grinch Stole Christmas, narrated by Boris Karloff, is shown for the first time on CBS in the United States. It becomes a Christmas tradition.source
  • 1968ABS-CBN opens its present-day headquarters, the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center on Bohol Avenue (renamed as Sgt. Esguerra Avenue in 1989), Quezon City, the most advanced broadcast facility in the country during that time.source
  • 1969The battleship TCG Yavuz sold for scrapping.source
  • 1971The U.S. dollar is devalued for the second time in history.source
  • 1971The world's largest hydroelectric plant in Krasnoyarsk, Soviet Union, begins operations.source
  • 1973The Islamic Development Bank is created as a specialized agency of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) (effective August 12, 1974).source
  • 1973Soviet space program: Soyuz 13 (Pyotr Klimuk, Valentin Lebedev) is launched.source
  • 1974According to Japanese government official confirmed report, A petroleum tank broken in Mizushima refinery, Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, in affective 80,000 litter crude oil spill and contamination tide was widely Seto Inland Sea area, these place recoveries spend for more two years.source
  • 1975The Algerian president Houari Boumediene orders the expulsion of all Moroccans from Algeria.source
  • 197610,000 public sector workers go on strike.source
  • 1977SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730, an international charter service from Zurich to Funchal Airport (Madeira), hits the sea during a landing attempt. Many of the 36 who die drown, trapped inside the sinking aircraft. Twenty-one people survive with the help of rescuers and by swimming to the shore.source
  • 1980Hunger striker Sean McKenna critically ill. Belief that settlement is imminent brings an end to the hunger strike.source
  • 1999NASA launches the Terra platform into orbit, carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.source
  • 2005Chad descends into civil war after various rebel forces, with support from Sudan, attack the capital, N'Djamena.source
  • 2007US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice makes an unscheduled visit to Kirkuk before proceeding to Baghdad, where she calls on Iraqi leaders to urgently implement a national reconciliation roadmap.source
  • 2008The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Théoneste Bagosora and two other senior Rwandan army officers guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentences them to life imprisonment for their role in the Rwandan genocide.source
  • 2008The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Théoneste Bagosora guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentences him to life imprisonment.source
  • 2009December 7–18 – The UNFCCC's 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark.source
  • 2011The United States withdraws the last forces which effectively ends the Iraq War. While this ends the insurgency, it begins another.source
  • 2012At least 55 people drown after an overcrowded boat capsizes off the coast of Somalia.source
  • 2014A former US intelligence officer identifies Rolando "Rollie" Sarraff Trujillo as the Cuban Interior Ministry spy for the US Central Intelligence Agency, who was swapped in exchange for members of the Cuban Five.source
  • 2019The U.S. House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Trump, making him the third president to be impeached in the nation's history.source
  • 2019The CHEOPS space telescope, whose mission is to study the formation of extrasolar planets and determine their precise radius, likely density and internal structure, is launched.source
  • 2020Media outlets report that astronomers have detected a radio signal, BLC1, apparently from the direction of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun. Astronomers have stated that this and other, yet unpublished, signals, are thought to likely be "interference that we cannot fully explain" and that it appears to be among the two strongest candidates for a radio signal humanity received from extraterrestrial intelligence so far.source
  • 2022Argentina wins the 2022 FIFA World Cup against defending champions France.source
  • 2023A number of shipping companies announce a temporary suspension of their operations in the Red Sea due to continued attacks on vessels by Houthi rebels.source
  • 2024Eruptive activity begins at Home Reef with thermal anomalies, visible white and gray emissions, and lava covering approximately 75,000 m².source

Births

  • 1392John VIII Palaiologos, penultimate Byzantine emperor (died 1448)source
  • 1481Sophie of Mecklenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg, Duchess of Saxony (died 1503)source
  • 1505Philipp von Hutten, German explorer (died 1546)source
  • 1507Ōuchi Yoshitaka, Japanese warlord (died 1551)source
  • 1567Tachibana Muneshige, Japanese samurai and soldier (died 1643)source
  • 1624John Hull, American colonial merchant and politician (died 1683)source
  • 1639Gottfried Kirch, German astronomer, first 'Astronomer Royal' in Berlin (died 1710)source
  • 1661Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (died 1751)source
  • 1707Charles Wesley, English Methodist leader, brother of John Wesley (died 1788)source
  • 1707Charles Wesley, Methodist leader, brother of John Wesley (died 1788)source
  • 1709Elizabeth of Russia, empress regnant of Russia (died 1762)source
  • 1714Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy, Hungarian prince (died 1790)source
  • 1718Anna Leopoldovna, briefly regent of Russia (died 1746)source
  • 1724Louise of Great Britain, queen of Frederick V of Denmark (died 1751)source
  • 1778Joseph Grimaldi, English actor and comedian (died 1837)source
  • 1856J. J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1940)source
  • 1863Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (k. 1914)source
  • 1878Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (died 1953)source
  • 1879Paul Klee, German-Swiss artist (died 1940)source
  • 1886Ty Cobb, American baseball player and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame (died 1961)source
  • 1888Robert Moses, American civil engineer, public works director, highway and bridge builder (died 1981)source
  • 1904George Stevens, American film director (died 1975)source
  • 1911Jules Dassin, American director (died 2008)source
  • 1913Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 1992)source
  • 1946Steven Spielberg, American filmmakersource
  • 1960Yoon Suk Yeol, lawyer and politician, president of South Korea.source
  • 1964Stone Cold Steve Austin, American professional wrestler and actorsource
  • 1970Rob Van Dam, American professional wrestlersource

Deaths

  • 360Auxentius of Mopsuestia, Byzantine Orthodox priest and saintsource
  • 821Theodulf, bishop of Orléanssource
  • 919Lady Wu, wife of Qian Liu (born 858)source
  • 933Yaonian Yanmujin, Chinese empress dowagersource
  • 972December 18 (or 973) – Eberhard IV, Frankish nobleman (or 973)source
  • 973December 18 (or 972) – Eberhard IV, Frankish nobleman (or 972)source
  • 1075Edith of Wessex, English queensource
  • 1133Hildebert, French hagiographer (born 1055)source
  • 1249Conrad II of Reifenberg, German bishopsource
  • 1272Philip Türje, Hungarian archbishop (born 1218)source
  • 1290Magnus Birgersson, king of Sweden (born 1240)source
  • 1290King Magnus Birgersson of Sweden dies after a 15-year reign. He is succeeded by his 10-year-old son Birger Magnusson.source
  • 1309In Spain, three months after the September 19 death of Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Fernando Ponce de León is made the new ruler of Marchena, as well as Bornos, Espera, Rota and Chipiona by King Ferdinand IV of Castile.source
  • 1442Pierre Cauchon, French Catholic bishop (born 1371)source
  • 1442Pierre Cauchon, bishop (born 1371)source
  • 1452John VII, Count of Harcourt, nobleman (born 1369)source
  • 1495King Alfonso II of Naples (born 1448)source
  • 1577Anna of Saxony, princess consort of Orange (born 1544)source
  • 1682Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English politician (born 1621)source
  • 1700Edward Harley, English politician (born 1624)source
  • 1737Antonio Stradivari, Italian luthier (born 1644)source
  • 1803Johann Gottfried Herder, German philosopher, writer (born 1744)source
  • 1803Johann Gottfried Herder, philosopher and writer (born 1744)source
  • 1843Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch, British Governor-General of India (born 1748)source
  • 1846Emilie Högquist, Swedish dramatic star (born 1812)source
  • 1848Bernard Bolzano, Bohemian mathematician, logician, philosopher and theologian (born 1781)source
  • 1862Barbara Fritchie, American Civil War patriot (born 1766)source
  • 1867Angola Horror (Buffalo, New York-area train wreck): The fiery death of 49 people leads John D. Rockefeller to develop and sell his Mineral Seal 300 °F Fire-Tested Burning Oil, and George Westinghouse to invent the railway air brake, which is mandated in the United States in 1893.source
  • 1869Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American composer, pianist (born 1829)source
  • 1892Sir Richard Owen, English paleontologist (born 1804)source
  • 1917Nicolae Xenopol – Politician, diplomat, economist, writer and first Romanian ambassador to Japan. Died in Tokyo, only months after taking the position.source
  • 1932Eduard Bernstein, German socialist (born 1850)source
  • 1936Leonardo Torres Quevedo, Spanish engineer, a pioneer of computing and radio control, inventor of El Ajedrecista (The Chess Player) (born 1852)source
  • 1936Andrija Mohorovičić, meteorologist and seismologist (born 1857)source
  • 2011Václav Havel, 75, Czech playwright and politician, President of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992) and the Czech Republic (1993–2003).source