February 18th in History
A cover flown on the first official airmail flight
Today in History
- Vermont becomes a US state (1791)
- Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as president of the Confederacy (1861)
- Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published in the US (1885)
- The first official airmail flight, from Allahabad to Naini in British India, takes place (1911)
- The first cow is milked in an aircraft (1930)
- Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto (1930)
- The first Church of Scientology opens in Los Angeles (1954)
- The Chicago Seven are acquitted of incitement to riot (1970)
- The Space Shuttle Enterprise makes its maiden flight on top of a Boeing 747 (1977)
- FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union (2001)
- WikiLeaks publishes its first release of classified documents, provided by Bradley (now Chelsey) Manning (2010)
Birthdays
- Alessandro Volta, inventor of the battery (1745)
- Lewis Armistead, Confederate general (1817)
- Ernst Mach, physicist for whom the speed of sound measurement “Mach number” is named (1838)
- Louis Comfort Tiffany, stained glass artist (1848)
- Adolphe Menjou, actor (1890)
- Wendell Wilkie, US presidential candidate (1892)
- Enzo Ferrari, race car driver who founded Ferrari (1898)
- Hans Asperger, pediatrician, namesake of Asperger syndrome (1906)
- Pee Wee King, country musician who wrote “Tennessee Waltz” (1914)
- Jack Palance, actor (1919)
- Bill Cullen, game show host (1920)
- Helen Gurley Brown, author, editor of Cosmopolitan (1922)
- George Kennedy, actor (1925)
- Len Deighton, author (1929)
- Johnny Hart, creator of B. C. and The Wizard of Id (1931)
- Toni Morrison, author (1931)
- Yoko Ono, artist and wife of John Lennon (1933)
- Jean M. Auel, author (1936)
- John Hughes, filmmaker (1950)
- Cybill Shepherd, actress (1950)
- Juice Newton, singer-songwriter (1952)
- John Travolta, actor (1954)
- Vanna White, model and game show host (1957)
- Matt Dillon, actor (1964)
- Dr. Dre, rapper (1965)
- Molly Ringwald, actress (1968)
Deaths
- Timur (Tamerlane), emperor (1405)
- Martin Luther, theologian and Reformation leader (1546)
- Michelangelo, sculptor and painter (1564)
- Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Co. (1902)
- Frank James, criminal, brother of Jesse James (1915)
- Albert Payson Terhune, author and dog breeder, known for his books about collies (1942)
- J. Robert Oppenheimer, physicist and Manhattan Project leader (1967)
- Frank Costello, gangster (1973)
- Andy Devine, actor (1977)
- Jack Northrop, aircraft manufacturer (1981)
- Ngaio Marsh, mystery writer (1982)
- Harry Caray, sportscaster (1998)
- Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR driver (2001)
- Maria Franziska von Trapp, singer (“Louisa” in The Sound of Music) (2014)
Holidays and Celebrations
- National Democracy Day (Nepal)
- Dialect Day (Amani Islands, Japan)
- Independence Day (Gambia)
- Kurdish Students Union Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
- Battery Day (Volta’s Birthday)
- Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day
- National Drink Wine Day
- Pluto Day
February 18 is the 49th day of the year. There are 316 days (317 in leap years) remaining until the end of the year.