May 18th, 1820

Born on May 18th, 1820

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 74,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 514 days, exactly on September 20th, 2025, people who were born on May 18th, 1820 will be 75,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on May 18th?

May 18th, 2005

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion publicly debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

May 18th, 2009

The Sri Lanka Army killed Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader and founder of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to bring an end to the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War.

May 18th, 2006

The Parliament of Nepal unanimously voted to strip King Gyanendra of many of his powers.

May 18th, 1996

Ireland won the Eurovision song contest for the seventh time, the highest number of wins for any country before Sweden tied it in 2023.

May 18th, 1974

India conducted its first nuclear test explosion at Pokhran, the first confirmed nuclear test by a nation outside the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

May 18th, 1965

Eli Cohen, a spy who is credited with gathering significant intelligence used by Israel during the Six-Day War, was publicly hanged in Syria.

May 18th, 1955

Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ended.

May 18th, 1952

First Indochina War: Viet Minh forces overran a French and Laotian garrison at Muong Khoua, leaving only four survivors.

May 18th, 1944

The Soviet Union forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars to the Uzbek SSR and elsewhere in the country.

May 18th, 1933

U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority to stimulate the economic development of the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly impacted by the Great Depression.

May 18th, 1927

Disgruntled school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe set off explosives with timers and a rifle (aftermath pictured), causing the Bath School disaster in the Bath Consolidated School in Michigan, killing 44 people in the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history.

May 18th, 1863

American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant led his Army of the Tennessee across the Big Black River in preparation for the Siege of Vicksburg.

May 18th, 1695

An earthquake measuring .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Ms7.8 struck Shanxi Province in northern China, resulting in at least 52,600 deaths.

May 18th, 1302

Armed insurrectionists massacred the occupying French garrison in Bruges, Flanders, killing approximately 2,000 people.

May 18th, 1993

Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on May 18th

Born on May 18th, 1820

83

Emil Rittmeyer

Swiss painter and illustrator (1820-1904)

*May 18th, 1820, Lindau †April 21st, 1904, Freudenstadt

Same Day
Who's birthday is on May 18th?

84

Massimo Girotti

Italian actor (1918-2003)

*May 18th, 1918, Mogliano †January 5th, 2003, Rome

74

Hermann Diels

German classical scholar (1848–1922)

*May 18th, 1848, Biebrich †June 4th, 1922, Dahlem

84

John Paul II

264th pope of the Catholic Church

*May 18th, 1920, Wadowice †April 2nd, 2005, Apostolic Palace

97

Bertrand Russell

British philosopher and logician (1872–1970)

*May 18th, 1872, Trellech †February 2nd, 1970, Plas Penrhyn

35

Megumi Taruno

Badminton player

*May 18th, 1988, Fukuoka Prefecture

56

Heinz-Harald Frentzen

German racing driver

*May 18th, 1967, Mönchengladbach

71

Rigobert Günther

German historian of classical antiquity (1928-2000)

*May 18th, 1928, Magdeburg †April 2nd, 2000, Leipzig

31

Luke Black

Serbian singer-songwriter (born 1992)

*May 18th, 1992, Čačak

52

Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow

Prussian lieutenant-general

*May 18th, 1782, Berlin †December 6th, 1834, Berlin

78

Peter Grünberg

German physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (1939-2018)

*May 18th, 1939, Plzeň †April 7th, 2018, Jülich

72

Ben Feringa

Dutch Nobel laureate in chemistry

*May 18th, 1951, Barger-Compascuum

65

Francesco Maria Piave

Italian librettist

*May 18th, 1810, Murano †March 5th, 1876, Milan

86

Walter Gropius

German-American architect (1883–1969)

*May 18th, 1883, Berlin †July 5th, 1969, Boston

90

Robert Morse

American actor

*May 18th, 1931, Newton †April 20th, 2022, Los Angeles

61

Nathaniel Parker

British actor

*May 18th, 1962, London

94

Frank Capra

Italian-born American film director (1897–1991)

*May 18th, 1897, Bisacquino †September 3rd, 1991, La Quinta

66

Julius Hopp

Austrian composer (1819-1885)

*May 18th, 1819, Graz †August 28th, 1885, Vienna

73

Mathew Benjamin Brady

American photographer (c. 1823 – 1896)

*May 18th, 1822, Warren County †January 15th, 1896, Manhattan

68

Chow Yun-fat

Hong Kong actor

*May 18th, 1955, Hong Kong

18

Alexandria Villaseñor

American climate activist

*May 18th, 2005, Davis

Same year
Born in 1820

65

Georg Curtius

German classical scholar and philologist (1820-1885)

*April 16th, 1820, Lübeck †August 12th, 1885, Jelenia Góra

74

Friedrich Engels

German philosopher, sociologist and economist (1820–1895)

*November 28th, 1820, Barmen †August 5th, 1895, London

90

Florence Nightingale

English social reformer, statistician, and founder of modern nursing (1820-1910)

*May 12th, 1820, Florence †August 13th, 1910, London

63

Gustave Le Gray

French photographer

*August 30th, 1820, Villiers-le-Bel †July 29th, 1884, Cairo

49

Henry Jarvis Raymond

American journalist and politician (1820–1869)

*January 24th, 1820, Livingston County †June 18th, 1869, New York City

83

Herbert Spencer

English philosopher and political theorist (1820–1903)

*April 27th, 1820, Derby †December 8th, 1903, Brighton

52

David Kalisch

German writer (1820-1872)

*February 23rd, 1820, Wrocław †August 21st, 1872, Berlin

84

Charles Moore

Australian botanist (1820-1905)

*May 10th, 1820, Dundee †April 30th, 1905, Sydney

61

Edmond Membrée

French composer (1820-1882)

*November 14th, 1820, Valenciennes †September 10th, 1882, Domont

67

Jenny Lind

Swedish classical singer

*October 6th, 1820, Stockholm †November 2nd, 1887, Malvern

56

Donald McLean

New Zealand politician and government official (1820–1877)

*October 27th, 1820, Tiree †January 5th, 1877, Napier

86

Susan B. Anthony

American women's rights activist

*February 15th, 1820, Adams †March 13th, 1906, Rochester

81

Cornelius Gurlitt

German composer (1820-1901)

*February 10th, 1820, Altona †June 17th, 1901, Altona

89

Nadar

French photographer and balloonist (1820–1910)

*April 6th, 1820, rue Saint-Honoré †March 20th, 1910, avenue Franklin-D.-Roosevelt

94

Fanny Crosby

19th century Christian hymnist

*March 24th, 1820, Brewster †February 12th, 1915, Bridgeport

52

William John Macquorn Rankine

Civil engineer

*July 5th, 1820, Edinburgh †December 24th, 1872, Glasgow

69

Émile Augier

French writer (1820-1889)

*September 17th, 1820, Valence †October 25th, 1889, Villa Augier

69

Dion Boucicault

Irish actor and dramatist

*December 26th, 1820, Dublin †September 18th, 1890, New York City

57

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

King of Sardinia-Piemont and Italy (1849-1878)

*March 14th, 1820, Turin †January 9th, 1878, Rome

29

Anne Brontë

British novelist and poet (1820-1849)

*January 17th, 1820, Thornton †May 28th, 1849, Scarborough

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on May 18th

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day) which are celebrated on May 18th.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Leap year

Yes: 1820 is a leap year, therefore has a 29th of February with an additional leap day and a total of 366 days (instead of the usual 365 days in a normal year).

Calendar
May 1820