May 18th, 1888

Born on May 18th, 1888

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 49,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 345 days, exactly on April 10th, 2025, people who were born on May 18th, 1888 will be 50,000 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

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

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

74

Hermann Diels

German classical scholar (1848–1922)

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

86

Walter Gropius

German-American architect (1883–1969)

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

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

94

Frank Capra

Italian-born American film director (1897–1991)

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

78

Peter Grünberg

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

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

31

Luke Black

Serbian singer-songwriter (born 1992)

*May 18th, 1992, Čačak

72

Ben Feringa

Dutch Nobel laureate in chemistry

*May 18th, 1951, Barger-Compascuum

64

Ezio Pinza

Italian opera singer (1892-1957)

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

90

Robert Morse

American actor

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

82

Meredith Willson

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

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

61

Nathaniel Parker

British actor

*May 18th, 1962, London

55

Thomas Midgley

American chemist and engineer (1889–1944)

*May 18th, 1889, Beaver Falls †November 2nd, 1944, Worthington

68

Pierre Balmain

French fashion designer (1914–1982)

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

79

Rudolf Carnap

German philosopher and logician

*May 18th, 1891, Ronsdorf †September 14th, 1970, Santa Monica

98

Johannes Terwogt

Dutch rower

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

Same year
Born in 1888

85

Oswald Menghin

Austrian prehistorian

*April 19th, 1888, Merano †November 29th, 1973, Buenos Aires

81

Mary Barratt Due

Norwegian pianist

*April 9th, 1888, Bergen †December 24th, 1969, Oslo

76

T. S. Eliot

US-born British poet (1888–1965)

*September 26th, 1888, St. Louis †January 4th, 1965, Kensington

101

Irving Berlin

American composer and lyricist (1888–1989)

*May 11th, 1888, Talačyn †September 22nd, 1989, New York City

65

Eugene O'Neill

American playwright (1888–1953)

*October 16th, 1888, New York City †November 27th, 1953, Boston

88

Edith Evans

British actress (1888–1976)

*February 8th, 1888, London †October 14th, 1976, Cranbrook

77

Clemence Dane

English novelist (1888-1965)

*February 21st, 1888, London Borough of Lewisham †March 28th, 1965, London

58

Antoinette Perry

American actress, stage director and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing

*June 27th, 1888, Denver †June 28th, 1946, Manhattan

81

Otto Stern

German-American physicist (1888–1969)

*February 17th, 1888, Żory †August 17th, 1969, Berkeley

57

John Logie Baird

Scottish inventor, demonstrating the world's first working television

*August 14th, 1888, Helensburgh †June 14th, 1946, Bexhill-on-Sea

85

Sol Hurok

Ukraine-born American impresario

*April 9th, 1888, Pogar †March 5th, 1974, New York City

88

Hermann Pünder

German politician (1888-1976)

*April 1st, 1888, Trier †October 3rd, 1976, Fulda

87

Hans Thirring

Austrian physicist (1888-1976)

*March 23rd, 1888, Vienna †March 22nd, 1976, Vienna

53

José Raúl Capablanca

Cuban chess player (1888-1942)

*November 6th, 1888, Havana †March 8th, 1942, New York City

72

George Relph

British stage and film actor (1888-1960)

*January 27th, 1888, Cullercoats †April 24th, 1960, London

88

Paul Morand

French writer (1888-1976)

*March 13th, 1888, 8th arrondissement of Paris †July 23rd, 1976, Paris

83

Maurice Chevalier

French singer, actor, and entertainer (1888–1972)

*September 12th, 1888, Paris †January 1st, 1972, Paris

73

Werner Jaeger

German-american classical philologist (1888-1961)

*July 30th, 1888, Lobberich †October 19th, 1961, Cambridge

90

Giorgio de Chirico

Italian artist (1888–1978)

*July 10th, 1888, Volos †November 20th, 1978, Rome

70

Maxwell Anderson

American playwright and writer (1888–1959)

*December 15th, 1888, Atlantic †February 28th, 1959, Stamford

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: 1888 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 1888