September 18 is the 261st day of the year (262nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 104 days remaining until the end of the year.
Holidays
- Christian feast day:
- Day of National Music (Azerbaijan)
- International Read an eBook Day
- International Read an eBook Day
- Island Language Day (Okinawa Prefecture, Japan)
- National Day or Dieciocho (Chile)
- Navy Day (Croatia)
- World Water Monitoring Day (International)
History
In 96, Nerva is proclaimed Roman emperor after Domitian is assassinated. Domitian, formally none as Titus Flavius Caesar Domitianus Augustus; born 24 October 51 ) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.
Domitian’s youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish–Roman War. This situation continued under the rule of his father Vespasian, who became emperor in 69 following the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. While Titus held a great many offices under the rule of his father, Domitian was left with honours but no responsibilities. Vespasian died in 79 and was succeeded by Titus, whose own reign came to an unexpected end when he was struck by a fatal illness in 81. The following day Domitian was declared Emperor by thePraetorian Guard, commencing a reign that lasted fifteen years – longer than any man who had ruled since Tiberius.
As Emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman coinage, expanded the border defenses of the Empire, and initiated a massive building program to restore the damaged city of Rome. Significant wars were fought in Britain, where his general Agricola attempted to conquer Caledonia(Scotland), and in Dacia, where Domitian was unable to procure a decisive victory against king Decebalus. Domitian’s government exhibited totalitariancharacteristics; he saw himself as the new Augustus, an enlightened despot destined to guide the Roman Empire into a new era of brilliance. Religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, and by nominating himself perpetual censor, he sought to control public and private morals. As a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and army but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate.
Domitian’s reign came to an end in 96 when he was assassinated by court officials. The same day he was succeeded by his advisor Nerva. After his death, Domitian’s memory was condemned to oblivion by the Roman Senate, while senatorial authors such as Tacitus, Pliny the Younger and Suetonius propagated the view of Domitian as a cruel and paranoid tyrant. Modern revisionists have instead characterized Domitian as a ruthless but efficient autocrat whose cultural, economic and political program provided the foundation of the peaceful 2nd century.
In 324, Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine’s sole control over the Roman Empire.
In 1180, Philip Augustus becomes king of France.
In 1454, In the Battle of Chojnice, the Polish army is defeated by the Teutonic army during the Thirteen Years’ War.
In 1502, Christopher Columbus lands at Honduras on his fourth, and final, voyage.
In 1618, The twelfth Baktun in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar begins.
In 1635, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II of Austria declares war on France.
In 1679, New Hampshire becomes a county of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
In 1714, George I arrives in Great Britain for the first time since becoming king on August 1st.
In 1739, The Treaty of Belgrade is signed, ceding Belgrade to the Ottoman Empire.
In 1759, Seven Years’ War: The British capture Quebec City.
In 1783, Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician and physicist (b. 1707) dies. He was a pioneering Swiss mathematician and physicist. He made important discoveries in fields as diverse as infinitesimal calculus and graph theory. He also introduced much of the modern mathematical terminology and notation, particularly for mathematical analysis, such as the notion of a mathematical function. He is also renowned for his work in mechanics, fluid dynamics, optics, astronomy, and music theory.
Euler is considered to be the preeminent mathematician of the 18th century and one of the greatest mathematicians to have ever lived. He is also one of the most prolific mathematicians; his collected works fill 60 to 80 quarto volumes. He spent most of his adult life in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in Berlin, then the capital of Prussia.
A statement attributed to Pierre-Simon Laplace expresses Euler’s influence on mathematics: “Read Euler, read Euler, he is the master of us all.”
In 1793, The first cornerstone of the Capitol building is laid by George Washington.
In 1809, The Royal Opera House in London opens.
In 1810, First Government Junta in Chile. Though supposed to rule only in the absence of the king, it is in fact the first step towards independence from Spain, and is commemorated as such.
In 1812, The 1812 Fire of Moscow dies down after destroying more than three-quarters of the city. Napoleon returns from the Petrovsky Palace to the Moscow Kremlin, spared from the fire.
In 1837, Tiffany and Co. (first named Tiffany & Young) is founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany and Teddy Young in New York City. The store is called a “stationery and fancy goods emporium”.
In 1838, The Anti-Corn Law League is established by Richard Cobden.
In 1850, The U.S. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
In 1851, First publication of The New-York Daily Times, which later becomes The New York Times.
In 1870, Old Faithful Geyser is observed and named by Henry D. Washburn during the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition to Yellowstone.
In 1872, King Oscar II accedes to the throne of Sweden–Norway.
In 1873, Panic of 1873: The U.S. bank Jay Cooke & Company declares bankruptcy, triggering a series of bank failures.
In 1882, The Pacific Stock Exchange opens.
In 1889, Hull House, the United States’ most influential settlement house, opens in Chicago.
In 1895, Booker T. Washington delivers the “Atlanta compromise” address.
In 1895, Daniel David Palmer gives the first chiropractic adjustment.
In 1898, Fashoda Incident: Lord Kitchener’s ships reach Fashoda, Sudan.
In 1906, A typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong.
In 1910, In Amsterdam, 25,000 demonstrate for general suffrage.
In 1911, Russian Premier Pyotr Stolypin is shot at the Kiev Opera House.
In 1914, The Irish Home Rule Act becomes law, but is delayed until after World War I.
In 1914, World War I: South African troops land in German South-West Africa.
In 1919, The Netherlands gives women the right to vote.
In 1919, Fritz Pollard becomes the first African American to play professional football for a major team, the Akron Pros.
In 1922, Hungary is admitted to the League of Nations.
Did you know that in 1923 after building Turkey’s first airplane (pictured), its builder was sentenced to jail for flying it without a permit?
In 1927, The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air.
In 1928, Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro crossing of the English Channel.
In 1931, The Mukden Incident gives Japan the pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria.
In 1934, The USSR is admitted to the League of Nations.
In 1939, World War II: Polish government of Ignacy Mościcki flees to Romania.
In 1939 – The Nazi propaganda broadcaster known as Lord Haw-Haw begins transmitting.
In 1940, The British liner SS City of Benares is sunk by German submarine U-48; those killed include 77 child refugees.
In 1943, World War II: The Jews of Minsk are massacred at Sobibór.
In 1943, World War II: Adolf Hitler orders the deportation of Danish Jews.
In 1944, World War II: The British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoes Jun’yō Maru, 5,600 killed. In order to transport prisoners, the ship was fitted out with extra decks constructed of bamboo subdivided into cages of the same material. Deck space was also used for the prisoners. When she was attacked and sunk on 18 September 1944, by HMS Tradewind, Jun’yō Maru was packed with 1,377 Dutch, 64 British and Australian, and 8 U.S. prisoners of war along with 4,200 Javanese slave labourers (rōmusha) bound for work on the railway line being built between Pakan Baru and Muaro in Sumatra. It was one of the world’s greatest sea disasters at the time with 5,620 dead. 680 survivors were rescued, only to be put to work in conditions similar to those of the Burma Railway where death was commonplace.
In 1945, General Douglas MacArthur moves his command headquarters to Tokyo.
In 1947, The United States Air Force becomes an independent branch of the United States Armed Forces.
In 1947, The National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency are established in the United States under the National Security Act.
In 1948, Operation Polo is terminated after the Indian Army accepts the surrender of the army of Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, Nizam of Hyderabad.
In 1948, Communist Madiun uprising in Dutch Indies.
In 1948, Margaret Chase Smith of Maine becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate without completing another senator‘s term, when she defeats Democratic opponent Adrian Scolten.
In 1949, Frank Morgan, American actor and singer (b. 1890) dies of a heart attack while filming Annie Get Your Gun (replaced by Louis Calhern). His real name was Francis Phillip Wuppermann, known by his stage name of Frank Morgan, was an American character actor He is best known as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player, and as the title character in The Wizard of Oz (1939). His last film Key to the City (1950) was released posthumously. In it Morgan played Fire Chief Duggan. He was the third lead, after Clark Gable and Loretta Young. He was nominated twice for an Academy Award: for Best Actor for his role as the cuckolded Duke of Florence in The Affairs of Cellini (1934), and for Best Supporting Actor for Tortilla Flat (1942), in which he played a simple Hispanic man who takes care of dogs.
In 1959, Vanguard 3 is launched into Earth orbit.
In 1960, Fidel Castro arrives in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations.
In 1961, U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in a plane crash while attempting to negotiate peace in the war-torn Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In 1961, The NAFC and CCCF merge into CONCACAF.
In 1962, Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda and Trinidad and Tobago are admitted to the United Nations.
In 1964, Constantine II of Greece marries Danish princess Anne-Marie.
In 1964, North Vietnamese Army begins infiltration of South Vietnam.
In 1973, The Bahamas, East Germany and West Germany are admitted to the United Nations.
In 1974, Hurricane Fifi strikes Honduras with 110 mph winds, killing 5,000 people.
In 1975, Patty Hearst is arrested after a year on the FBI Most Wanted List.
In 1977, Voyager I takes the first distant photograph of the Earth and the Moon together. As part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and interstellar space beyond the Sun’s heliosphere. Launched 16 days after its twin Voyager 2, Voyager 1 has been operating for 45 years and 11 days as of September 17, 2022 UTC [refresh] and still communicates with the Deep Space Network to receive routine commands and to transmit data to Earth. Real-time distance and velocity data is provided by NASA and JPL. At a distance of 157.58 AU (23.574 billion km; 14.648 billion mi) from Earth as of September 12, 2022, it is the most distant humanmade object from Earth.
In 1980, Soyuz 38 carries two cosmonauts (including one Cuban) to Salyut 6 space station.
In 1981, Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France.
In 1982, Christian militia begin killing six-hundred Palestinians in Lebanon.
In 1984, Joe Kittinger completes the first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic.
In 1987, Jerzy Kukuczka becomes the second mountaineer to summit all 14 Eight-thousanders.
In 1988, End of pro-democracy uprisings in Myanmar after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Thousands, mostly monks and civilians (primarily students), are killed by the Tatmadaw.
In 1990, Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations.
In 1991, Yugoslavia begins a naval blockade of seven Adriatic port cities.
In 1992, An explosion rocks Giant Mine at the height of a labor dispute, killing nine replacement workers.
In 1997, United States media magnate Ted Turner donates US$1 billion to the United Nations.
In 1997, Al-Qaeda carried out a terrorist attack in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 1998, ICANN is formed.
In 2001, First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
In 2007, Pervez Musharraf announces that he will step down as army chief and restore civilian rule to Pakistan, but only after he is re-elected president.
In 2007, Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some call the Saffron Revolution.
In 2009, The 72-year run of the soap opera The Guiding Light ends as its final episode is broadcast.
In 2011, 2011 Sikkim earthquake was felt across northeastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and southern Tibet.
In 2013, Cygnus Orb-D1 is launched into space.
In 2013, Ken Norton, American boxer (b. 1943) dies at a care facility in Las Vegas on September 18, 2013. He was 70 years old and had suffered a series of strokes in later life. Across the boxing world tributes were paid, with George Foreman “““““`calling him “the fairest of them all” and Larry Holmes saying that he “will be incredibly missed in the boxing world and by many”. He was an American professional boxer who competed from 1967 to 1981, and held the WBCheavyweight title in 1978. He is best known for his trilogy with Muhammad Ali, in which Norton won the first fight by split decision, and controversially lost the latter two fights by split and unanimous decision, respectively. Norton also fought a slugfest with Larry Holmes in 1978, narrowly losing a split decision. Having officially retired from boxing in 1981, Norton was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992.
Ken Norton was twice voted “Father of the Year” by the Los Angeles Sentinel and the Los Angeles Times in 1977. To quote Norton from his biography, Believe: Journey From Jacksonville: “Of all the titles that I’ve been privileged to have, the title of ‘dad’ has always been the best.” His son, Ken Norton Jr, played football at UCLA and had a long successful career in the NFL. In tribute to his father’s boxing career, Ken Jr. would strike a boxing stance in the end zone each time he scored a defensive touchdown and throw a punching combination at the goalpost pad. Ken Jr was a member of three Super Bowl champion teams as a player and one as an assistant coach. He later became the linebackers’ coach for the Seattle Seahawks and currently works as the defensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders.
Ken Norton’s other son, Keith Norton, was once the weekend sports anchor for KPRC in Houston, Texas. He followed his father in serving in the Marine Corps.
In 2014, Scotland votes against independence from the United Kingdom.
In 2015, Two security personnel, 17 worshippers in a mosque, and 13 militants are killed following a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan attack on a Pakistan Air Force base on the outskirts of Peshawar.
In 2016, Seventeen Indian Army security personnel killed in the Indian Administrated Kashmir by anti-government militants.
In 2021, A ferry capsizes in Guizhou province, China due to bad weather, killing ten people and five missing.