May 18th, 1872

Born on May 18th, 1872

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 55,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 511 days, exactly on September 13th, 2025, people who were born on May 18th, 1872 will be 56,000 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, 1872

97

Bertrand Russell

British philosopher and logician (1872–1970)

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

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

56

Heinz-Harald Frentzen

German racing driver

*May 18th, 1967, Mönchengladbach

35

Megumi Taruno

Badminton player

*May 18th, 1988, Fukuoka Prefecture

71

Rigobert Günther

German historian of classical antiquity (1928-2000)

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

86

Walter Gropius

German-American architect (1883–1969)

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

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

94

Frank Capra

Italian-born American film director (1897–1991)

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

90

Robert Morse

American actor

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

98

Johannes Terwogt

Dutch rower

*May 18th, 1878, Oude Wetering †January 22nd, 1977, Amsterdam

61

Nathaniel Parker

British actor

*May 18th, 1962, London

54

Hermann Müller

German chancellor (1876-1931)

*May 18th, 1876, Mannheim †March 20th, 1931, Berlin

52

Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow

Prussian lieutenant-general

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

68

Pierre Balmain

French fashion designer (1914–1982)

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

68

Chow Yun-fat

Hong Kong actor

*May 18th, 1955, Hong Kong

82

Meredith Willson

American composer, conductor, musical arranger, flautist, bandleader and playwright (1902-1984)

*May 18th, 1902, Iowa †June 15th, 1984, Santa Monica

64

Ezio Pinza

Italian opera singer (1892-1957)

*May 18th, 1892, Rome †May 9th, 1957, Stamford

Same year
Born in 1872

55

Roald Amundsen

Norwegian explorer; first person to reach the South Pole

*July 16th, 1872, Borge Municipality †June 18th, 1928, Arctic Ocean

59

Herbert Baddeley

Tennis and badminton player

*January 11th, 1872, London Borough of Bromley †July 20th, 1931, Cannes

57

Wilfred Baddeley

Tennis player and sports administrator

*January 11th, 1872, London Borough of Bromley †January 24th, 1929, Menton

89

Max Pohlenz

German classical philologist

*July 30th, 1872, Kolkwitz †January 5th, 1962, Göttingen

60

Calvin Coolidge

President of the United States from 1923 to 1929

*July 4th, 1872, Plymouth Notch †January 5th, 1933, Northampton

33

Paul Laurence Dunbar

American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries

*June 27th, 1872, Dayton †February 9th, 1906, Dayton

46

Anna Held

Broadway stage performer (1872–1918)

*March 19th, 1872, Warsaw †August 12th, 1918, New York City

92

Helena Rubinstein

Polish-American businesswoman, art collector, and philanthropist

*December 25th, 1872, Kraków †April 1st, 1965, New York City

79

Alexandra Kollontai

Soviet diplomat (1872-1952)

*March 31st, 1872, Saint Petersburg †March 9th, 1952, Moscow

80

Cicely Hamilton

British actress and writer

*June 15th, 1872, Paddington †December 5th, 1952, Chelsea

83

Pio Baroja

Spanish writer (1872-1956)

*December 28th, 1872, San Sebastián †October 30th, 1956, Madrid

74

Paul Langevin

French physicist, philosopher of science and pedagogue

*January 23rd, 1872, Paris †December 19th, 1946, Paris

69

Richard Willstätter

German chemist (1872–1942)

*August 13th, 1872, Karlsruhe †August 3rd, 1942, Muralto

77

Léon Blum

French politician (1872–1950)

*April 9th, 1872, Paris †March 30th, 1950, Jouy-en-Josas

94

Norman Angell

British politician (1872-1967)

*December 26th, 1872, Holbeach †October 7th, 1967, Croydon

78

Aurobindo Ghosh

Indian Bengali philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet and nationalist (1872–1950)

*August 15th, 1872, Sri Aurobindo Bhawan †December 5th, 1950, Pondicherry

101

Charles Greeley Abbot

American astrophysicist and the 5th Secretary of the Smithsonian

*May 31st, 1872, Wilton †December 17th, 1973, Washington, D.C.

71

Piet Mondrian

Dutch painter (1872–1944)

*March 7th, 1872, Amersfoort †February 1st, 1944, New York City

80

Carlo Sforza

Italian politician (1872-1952)

*January 23rd, 1872, Montignoso †September 4th, 1952, Rome

54

Robert de Flers

French playwright, opera librettist, and journalist

*November 25th, 1872, Pont-l'Évêque †July 30th, 1927, Vittel

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: 1872 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 1872