On this day in history

November 18

27 births · 14 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

5th Academy Awards

93 years ago

Born this day

1939

Margaret Atwood

Turns 86

Photo (modified): Collision Conf · CC BY 2.0

Oldest record

378th

Pierre Bayle

birth anniversary

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Famous births27

1647 · 378 yrs

Pierre Bayle

Pierre Bayle (French:; 18 November 1647 – 28 December 1706) was a French philosopher, author, and lexicographer. He is best known for his Historical and Critical Dictionary, whose publication began in 1697.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 59

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1786 · 239 yrs

Carl Maria von Weber

Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18/19 November 1786 – 5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic in the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Best known for his operas, he was a crucial figure in the development of German Romantische Oper (German Romantic opera).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 39

View profile Photo (modified): Caroline Bardua · Public domain

1832 · 193 yrs

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld

Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (18 November 1832 – 12 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the noble Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friherre (baron).

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ExplorationDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Appert, Ernest Charles (Châteauroux, 10–09–1831 - en 1890), photographe · CC0

1882 · 143 yrs

Jacques Maritain

Jacques Maritain (French:; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher and theologian. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas for modern times, and was influential in the development and drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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PhilosophyWould be 143

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1888 · 137 yrs

Frances Marion

Frances Marion (born Marion Benson Owens; November 18, 1888 – May 12, 1973) was an American screenwriter, director, journalist and author often cited as one of the most renowned female screenwriters of the 20th century alongside June Mathis and Anita Loos. During the course of her career, she wrote over 325 scripts.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 137

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1897 · 128 yrs

Patrick Blackett

Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Baron Blackett of Chelsea (18 November 1897 – 13 July 1974), was a British experimental physicist and life peer who received the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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ScienceWould be 128

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1906 · 119 yrs

George Wald

George Wald (November 18, 1906 – April 12, 1997) was an American scientist and activist who studied pigments in the retina. He won a share of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Haldan Keffer Hartline and Ragnar Granit.

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ScienceWould be 119

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1906 · 119 yrs

Klaus Mann

Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann (18 November 1906 – 21 May 1949) was a German writer and anti-fascist activist. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann (with whom he maintained a lifelong close relationship) and Golo Mann.

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LiteratureWould be 119

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1923 · 102 yrs

Alan Shepard

Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut.

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SpaceWould be 102

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1927 · 98 yrs

Eldar Ryazanov

Eldar Aleksandrovich Ryazanov (Russian: Эльдар Александрович Рязанов; 18 November 1927 – 30 November 2015) was a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter, poet, actor and pedagogue whose popular comedies, satirizing the daily life of the Soviet Union and Russia, are celebrated throughout the former Soviet Union…

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FilmWould be 98

View profile Photo (modified): Г. Ровенский / Главархив Москвы · CC BY 4.0

1939 · 86 yrs

John O'Keefe

John Michael O'Keefe (born November 18, 1939) is an American-British neuroscientist, psychologist and a professor at University College London. O'Keefe discovered place cells in the hippocampus, and that they show a specific kind of temporal coding in the form of theta phase precession.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceAge 86

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1939 · 86 yrs

Margaret Atwood

Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and inventor.

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LiteratureAge 86

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Showing 12 of 27

Famous deaths14

1827 · 198 yrs

Wilhelm Hauff

Wilhelm Hauff (29 November 1802 – 18 November 1827) was a German poet and novelist known for his stories and novels.

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LiteratureDied aged 24

View profile Photo (modified): Ernst Hader · Public domain

1830 · 195 yrs

Adam Weishaupt

Johann Adam Weishaupt (German:; 6 February 1748 – 18 November 1830) was a German philosopher, professor of civil law and later canon law, and founder of the Bavarian Illuminati.

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PhilosophyDied aged 82

View profile Photo (modified): Friedrich Rossmassler · Public domain

1886 · 139 yrs

Chester A. Arthur

Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was the 21st president of the United States, serving from 1881 to 1885. A Republican from New York, he served as the 20th vice president under President James A. Garfield in 1881, assuming the presidency after Garfield's assassination.

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PoliticsDied aged 57

View profile Photo (modified): Abraham Bogardus / Adam Cuerden · Public domain

1887 · 138 yrs

Gustav Fechner

Gustav Theodor Fechner (German:; 19 April 1801 – 18 November 1887) was a German physicist, philosopher, and experimental psychologist. A pioneer in experimental psychology and founder of psychophysics (techniques for measuring the mind), he inspired many 20th-century scientists and philosophers.

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ScienceDied aged 86

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1922 · 103 yrs

Marcel Proust

Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust ( PROOST; French:; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, literary critic, and essayist best known for his novel À la recherche du temps perdu (translated into English as In Search of Lost Time, earlier Remembrance of Things Past), which was published in…

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LiteratureDied aged 51

View profile Photo (modified): Otto Wegener · Public domain

1941 · 84 yrs

Walther Hermann Nernst

Walther Hermann Nernst (German pronunciation:; 25 June 1864 – 18 November 1941) was a German physical chemist known for his work in thermodynamics, physical chemistry, electrochemistry, and solid-state physics.

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ScienceDied aged 77

View profile Photo (modified): Smithsonian Institution · No restrictions

1952 · 73 yrs

Paul Éluard

Paul Éluard (French:), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal grandmother.

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LiteratureWould be 130

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1962 · 63 yrs

Niels Bohr

Niels Henrik David Bohr (Danish:; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. He was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.

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ScienceWould be 141

View profile Photo (modified): The American Institute of Physics credits the photo [1] to AB Lagrelius & Westphal , which is the Swedish company us · Public domain

1965 · 60 yrs

Henry A. Wallace

Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was the 33rd vice president of the United States, serving from 1941 to 1945, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served as the 11th U.S. secretary of agriculture and the 10th U.S. secretary of commerce.

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PoliticsWould be 138

View profile Photo (modified): Photo copyrighted by D.N. Townsend; no renewal in the U.S. Copyright Office · Public domain

1976 · 49 yrs

Man Ray

Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American-born, French-naturalized visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal.

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ArtWould be 136

View profile Photo (modified): Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964, photographer · Public domain

1977 · 48 yrs

Kurt Schuschnigg

Kurt Alois Josef Johann von Schuschnigg (German:; 14 December 1897 – 18 November 1977) was a Slovene-Austrian politician who was the Chancellor of the Federal State of Austria from the 1934 assassination of his predecessor Engelbert Dollfuss until the 1938 Anschluss with Nazi Germany.

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PoliticsWould be 128

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1987 · 38 yrs

Jacques Anquetil

Jacques Anquetil (pronounced; 8 January 1934 – 18 November 1987) was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964.

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SportsWould be 92

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Showing 12 of 14

Events5

1738 · 287 yrs

Treaty of Vienna

The Treaty of Vienna or Peace of Vienna of 1738 ended the War of the Polish Succession. By the terms of the treaty, Stanisław Leszczyński renounced his claim on the Polish throne and recognized Augustus III, Duke of Saxony.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1932 · 93 yrs

5th Academy Awards

The 5th Academy Awards were held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on November 18, 1932, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, hosted by Conrad Nagel. Films screened in Los Angeles between August 1, 1931, and July 31, 1932, were eligible to receive awards.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

1941 · 84 yrs

Operation Crusader

Operation Crusader (18 November – 30 December 1941) was a military operation of the Western Desert campaign during World War II by the British Eighth Army (with Commonwealth, Indian and Allied contingents) against the Axis forces (German and Italian) in North Africa commanded by Generalleutnant (Lieutenant-General)…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1984 · 41 yrs

26th Chess Olympiad

The 26th Chess Olympiad (Greek: Η 26η Σκακιστική Ολυμπιάδα, I 26i Skakistikí Olympiáda), organized by FIDE and comprising an open and a women's tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of chess, took place between November 18 and December 5, 1984, in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

1991 · 34 yrs

Vukovar massacre

The Vukovar massacre, also known as the Vukovar hospital massacre or the Ovčara massacre, was the killing of at least 200 Croatian prisoners of war and civilians by Serb paramilitaries, to whom they had been turned over by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), at the Ovčara farm southeast of Vukovar on 20 November 1991,…

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Tragedy

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