May 18th, 1842

Born on May 18th, 1842

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 66,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 546 days, exactly on October 25th, 2025, people who were born on May 18th, 1842 will be 67,000 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, 1936

In a crime that captivated Japan, Sada Abe (pictured) strangled her lover, cut off his genitals, and carried them around with her for several days until her arrest.

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.

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

Born on May 18th, 1842

61

Alix Payen

French communard

*May 18th, 1842, Le Mans †December 24th, 1903, Paris

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

74

Hermann Diels

German classical scholar (1848–1922)

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

84

Massimo Girotti

Italian actor (1918-2003)

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

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

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

86

Walter Gropius

German-American architect (1883–1969)

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

52

Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow

Prussian lieutenant-general

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

90

Robert Morse

American actor

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

94

Frank Capra

Italian-born American film director (1897–1991)

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

61

Nathaniel Parker

British actor

*May 18th, 1962, London

74

Oliver Heaviside

Electrical engineer, mathematician and physicist (*1850 – †1925)

*May 18th, 1850, London †February 3rd, 1925, Torquay

68

Chow Yun-fat

Hong Kong actor

*May 18th, 1955, Hong Kong

65

Francesco Maria Piave

Italian librettist

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

18

Alexandria Villaseñor

American climate activist

*May 18th, 2005, Davis

68

Pierre Balmain

French fashion designer (1914–1982)

*May 18th, 1914, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne †June 29th, 1982, Neuilly-sur-Seine

Same year
Born in 1842

70

Karl May

German author (1842-1912)

*February 25th, 1842, Hohenstein-Ernstthal †March 30th, 1912, Radebeul

56

Stéphane Mallarmé

French Symbolist poet (1842–1898)

*March 18th, 1842, Paris †September 9th, 1898, Fontainebleau

81

Alfred Marshall

British economist

*July 26th, 1842, Bermondsey †July 13th, 1924, Cambridge

68

William James

American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist (1842–1910)

*January 11th, 1842, Astor House †August 26th, 1910, Tamworth

48

Heinrich Heydemann

German classical archaeologist

*August 28th, 1842, Greifswald †September 10th, 1890, Halle (Saale)

75

Abdul Hamid II

34th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1909

*September 21st, 1842, Istanbul †February 10th, 1918, Beylerbeyi Palace

76

Arrigo Boito

Italian poet and opera composer and librettist of Verdi's opera ''Otello'' (1842-1918)

*February 24th, 1842, Padua †June 10th, 1918, Milan

47

Charles Grad

French politician (1842-1890)

*December 8th, 1842, Turckheim †July 3rd, 1890, Wintzenheim

88

Giovanni Boldini

Italian painter (1842-1931)

*December 31st, 1842, Ferrara †January 12th, 1931, Paris

80

Cornelie Richter

German salonnière

*March 4th, 1842, Berlin †July 19th, 1922, Berlin

71

Ambrose Bierce

American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

*June 24th, 1842, Meigs County †November 30th, 1913, Chihuahua City

70

Jules Massenet

French composer (1842–1912)

*May 12th, 1842, Saint-Étienne †August 13th, 1912, Paris

66

François Coppée

French poet and novelist

*January 26th, 1842, Paris †May 23rd, 1908, 7th arrondissement of Paris

85

Giovanni Giolitti

Italian statesman (1842–1928)

*October 27th, 1842, Mondovì †July 17th, 1928, Cavour

80

James Dewar

Scottish chemist and physicist (1842–1923)

*September 20th, 1842, Kincardine †March 27th, 1923, London

68

Ellen Swallow Richards

American chemist (1842-1911)

*December 3rd, 1842, Dunstable †March 30th, 1911, Boston

77

John H. Bankhead

American politician (1842-1920)

*September 13th, 1842, Marion County †March 1st, 1920, Washington, D.C.

76

John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh

English physicist (1842–1919)

*November 12th, 1842, Maldon †June 30th, 1919, Witham

79

Madeleine Brès

French physician

*November 25th, 1842, Bouillargues †November 30th, 1921, Montrouge

78

Peter Kropotkin

Russian revolutionary socialist and philosopher (1842–1921)

*November 27th, 1842, Moscow †February 8th, 1921, Dmitrov

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

No: With 365 days 1842 is a normal year and no leap year.

Calendar
May 1842