On this day in history

September 18

30 births · 11 deaths · 5 events

Prev Virgo Next

Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

2014 Scottish independence referendum

12 years ago

Born this day

1971

Anna Netrebko

Turns 55

Photo (modified): Manfred Werner ( Tsui ) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Oldest record

1973rd

Trajan

birth anniversary

View profile

Famous births30

AD 53 · 1973 yrs

Trajan

Trajan ( TRAY-jən; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53 – c. 9 August 117) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 63

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown artist · Public domain

1709 · 317 yrs

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer and polymath who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer (creator of dictionaries).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 75

View profile Photo (modified): Joshua Reynolds · Public domain

1752 · 274 yrs

Adrien-Marie Legendre

Adrien-Marie Legendre (French:; 18 September 1752 – 9 January 1833) was a French mathematician who made numerous contributions to mathematics. Well-known and important concepts such as the Legendre polynomials and Legendre transformation are named after him.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Julien-Léopold Boilly · Public domain

1765 · 261 yrs

Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI (Latin: Gregorius PP. XVI; Italian: Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in June 1846.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Paul Delaroche · Public domain

1786 · 240 yrs

Christian VIII of Denmark

Christian VIII (18 September 1786 – 20 January 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick, a younger son of King Frederick V of Denmark and Norway.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 61

View profile Photo (modified): Louis Aumont · Public domain

1819 · 207 yrs

Léon Foucault

Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (UK:, US:; French:; 18 September 1819 – 11 February 1868) was a French physicist who invented the Foucault pendulum, a device demonstrating the effect of Earth's rotation.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 48

View profile Photo (modified): Bertall & Cie. Fizped · Public domain

1895 · 131 yrs

Aleksandr Vasilevsky

Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky (30 September 1895 – 5 December 1977) was a Soviet general who served as a top commander during World War II and achieved the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 131

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · CC BY 4.0

1903 · 123 yrs

Vladimir Horowitz

Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz (October 1, 1903 – November 5, 1989) was a Russian and American pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, timbre, and the public excitement engendered by his playing.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 123

View profile Photo (modified): President (1981-1989 : Reagan). White House Photographic Office. 1981-1989 (Most Recent) · Public domain

1905 · 121 yrs

Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish and American film actress. She was a leading star during Hollywood's silent and early golden eras.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 121

View profile Photo (modified): Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (work for hire) · Public domain

1907 · 119 yrs

Edwin McMillan

Edwin Mattison McMillan (September 18, 1907 – September 7, 1991) was an American physicist credited with being the first to produce a transuranium element, neptunium. For this, he shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Glenn Seaborg.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 119

View profile Photo (modified): Nobel Foundation · Public domain

1912 · 114 yrs

Lev Gumilev

Lev Nikolayevich Gumilev (also Gumilyov; Russian: Лев Николаевич Гумилёв; 1 October 1912 – 15 June 1992) was a Soviet and Russian historian, ethnologist, anthropologist, and translator. He had a reputation for his highly unorthodox theories of ethnogenesis and historiosophy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 114

View profile Photo (modified): unknown author · Public domain

1939 · 87 yrs

Jorge Sampaio

Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio (European Portuguese:; 18 September 1939 – 10 September 2021) was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who was the president of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. Sampaio was a member of the Socialist Party, a party which he led between 1989 and 1992.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 87

View profile Photo (modified): Wilson Dias/ABr · CC BY 3.0 br

Showing 12 of 30

Famous deaths11

AD 96 · 1930 yrs

Domitian

Domitian ( də-MISH-ən, -⁠ee-ən; Latin: Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. As the son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 44

View profile Photo (modified): Castro Pretorio · CC BY-SA 4.0

1598 · 428 yrs

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉; Japanese pronunciation:, 16 February 1537 – 18 September 1598), otherwise known as Kinoshita Tōkichirō (木下藤吉郎) and Hashiba Hideyoshi (羽柴秀吉), was a Japanese samurai and daimyō (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods, regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 62

View profile Photo (modified): Kanō Mitsunobu · Public domain

1896 · 130 yrs

Hippolyte Fizeau

Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau (French:; 23 September 1819 – 18 September 1896) was a French physicist who, in 1849, measured the speed of light to within 5% accuracy. In 1851, he measured the speed of light in moving water in an experiment known as the Fizeau experiment.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 76

View profile Photo (modified): Charles Reutlinger, b.1816 · Public domain

1905 · 121 yrs

George MacDonald

George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carroll.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1961 · 65 yrs

Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( HAM-ər-shuuld; Swedish:; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 121

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1964 · 62 yrs

Seán O'Casey

Seán O'Casey (Irish: Seán Ó Cathasaigh; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the struggles and experiences of the working class in Dublin.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 146

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1967 · 59 yrs

John Cockcroft

Sir John Douglas Cockcroft (27 May 1897 – 18 September 1967) was a British experimental physicist who shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ernest Walton for their splitting of the atomic nucleus, which led to the development of nuclear power and weapons.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 129

View profile Photo (modified): Nobel foundation · Public domain

1970 · 56 yrs

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 83

View profile Photo (modified): Original photographer unknown · Public domain

2020 · 6 yrs

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( BAY-dər GHINZ-burg; née Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LawWould be 93

View profile Photo (modified): Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States · Public domain

2024 · 2 yrs

Salvatore Schillaci

Salvatore Schillaci (Italian:; 1 December 1964 – 18 September 2024), also known as Totò Schillaci, was an Italian professional footballer who played as a striker. During his club career, he played for Messina (1982–1989), Juventus (1989–1992), Internazionale (1992–1994) and Júbilo Iwata (1994–1997).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsWould be 61

View profile Photo (modified): Користувач:Thevolodymyr на основі оригінального зображення авторства Fcbello з commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

2025 · 1 yrs

George F. Smoot

George Fitzgerald Smoot III (February 20, 1945 – September 18, 2025) was an American astrophysicist and cosmologist. He shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics with John C. Mather "for their discovery of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 81

View profile Photo (modified): Nomo michael hoefner http://www.zwo5.de · CC BY 3.0

Events5

1898 · 128 yrs

Fashoda Incident

The Fashoda Incident, also known as the Fashoda Crisis (French: Crise de Fachoda), was the climax of imperialist territorial disputes between Britain and France in East Africa, occurring between 10 July and 3 November 1898.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

1931 · 95 yrs

Mukden incident

The Mukden incident was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1931 · 95 yrs

Japanese invasion of Manchuria

The Empire of Japan's Kwantung Army invaded the Manchuria region of China on 18 September 1931, immediately following the Mukden incident, a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext to invade. At the war's end in February 1932, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1960 · 66 yrs

1960 Summer Paralympics

The 9th Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games, retroactively designated as the 1960 Summer Paralympics, were the first international Paralympic Games, following on from the Stoke Mandeville Games of 1948 and 1952. They were organised under the aegis of the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

2014 · 12 yrs

2014 Scottish independence referendum

A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

Nearby dates

Born on September 18? Find your birthday matches →

Share September 18

Living room with framed Who Shares My Birthday poster

Close-up

FrameShown to scale · framed 34 × 46 cmThis is the frame we'll deliver, with a white mount

Printable keepsake

Your birthday matches poster

A personalised A3 framed print of everyone famous born on September 18, what happened on your birthday in history and your zodiac sign. We print and frame it for you and deliver it to your door (UK only).

Name on poster

Your photo

Kept private and only used to make your poster.