History of 18 February
1564 – The artist Michelangelo died in Rome.
1685 – Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle established Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay, and thus formed the basis for France’s claim to Texas.
1735 – The first opera performed in America. The work was “Flora” (or “Hob in the Well”) and was presented in Charleston, SC.
1841 – The first continuous filibuster in the U.S. Senate began. It lasted until March 11th.
1861 – In Montgomery, AL, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the President of the Confederate States.
1885 – Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published in the U.S. for the first time.
1913 – The famous French painting “Nude Descending a Staircase”, by the French artist, Marcel Duchamp, was displayed at an “Armory Show” in New York City.
1930 – Elm Farm Ollie became the first cow to fly in an airplane.
1930 – The planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. The discovery was made as a result of photographs taken in January 1930.
1932 – Sonja Henie won her 6th world women’s figure skating title in Montreal, Canada.
1949 – “Yours Truly Johnny Dollar” debuted on CBS radio.
1952 – Greece and Turkey became members of NATO.
1953 – “Bwana Devil” opened. It was the first three-dimensional feature.
1953 – Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed a contract worth $8,000,000 to continue the “I Love Lucy” TV show through 1955.
1964 – “Any Wednesday” opened at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. The play established Gene Hackman as an actor.
1970 – The Chicago Seven defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention.
1972 – The California Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty.
1977 – The space shuttle Enterprise went on its maiden “flight” sitting on top of a Boeing 747.
1984 – Reed Larson (Detroit Red Wings) got two assists to become the highest scoring, American-born player in the history of the National Hockey League. Larson broke the record by scoring his 432nd point.
1987 – The executives of the Girl Scout movement decided to change the color of the scout uniform from the traditional Girl Scout green to the newer Girl Scout blue.
1998 – In Russia, money shortages resulted in the shutting down of three plants that produced nuclear weapons.
1998 – In Nevada, two white separatists were arrested and accused of plotting a bacterial attack on subways in New York City.
2000 – The U.S. Commerce Department reported a deficit in trade goods and services of $271.3 billion for 1999. It was the largest calendar-year trade gap in U.S. history.
2001 – NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the Daytona 500 race.
2001 – FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested and accused of spying for Russia for more than 15 years. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
2003 – In South Korea, at least 120 people were killed when a man lit a fire on a subway train.
2006 – American Shani Davis won the men’s 1,000-meter speedskating in Turin. He was the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player
- 1981 – Alex Ríos, American baseball player
- 1981 – Ivan Sproule, Northern Irish footballer
- 1981 – Larry Sweeney, American wrestler, and manager (d. 2011)
- 1982 – Juelz Santana, American rapper and actor
- 1982 – Christian Tiffert, German footballer
- 1983 – Jermaine Jenas, English footballer
- 1983 – Jason Maxiell, American basketball player
- 1984 – Carlos Kameni, Cameroonian footballer
- 1985 – Anton Ferdinand, English footballer
- 1985 – Lee Boyd Malvo, Jamaican-American murderer
- 1985 – Jos van Emden, Dutch cyclist
- 1986 – Robert DeLong, American singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Marc Torrejón, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Cristian Tănase, Romanian footballer
- 1988 – Changmin, South Korean singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
- 1990 – Didi Gregorius, Dutch baseball player
- 1990 – Cody Hodgson, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1991 – Sebastian Neumann, German footballer
- 1991 – Henry Surtees, English race car driver (d. 2009)
- 1994 – Jake Trbojevic, Australian rugby league player
- 1994 – J-Hope, South Korean rapper, dancer, singer-songwriter