2026 Islamic Center of San Diego shooting
A shooting carried out by two gunmen at the Islamic Center of San Diego results in the deaths of five people, including the perpetrators.
What happened on May 18
38 events · 20 births · 20 deaths · 8 observances. From 1388 to 2026.
Standout on May 18
2019
2020 United States presidential election
United States presidential election: Joe Biden launches his presidential campaign.
About May 18
May 18 is the 138th day of the year. These facts are computed from the calendar, not copied from anywhere.
- Day of the year
- Day 138 of 365 (139 in leap years)227 days left in the year (227 in leap years)
- Falls on
- Monday in 2026, Tuesday in 2027, Thursday in 2028, Friday in 2029, Saturday in 2030
- Week
- ISO week 21 of 2026 · Q2
- Zodiac sign
- ♉ Taurus (April 20 – May 20)
- Season
- Spring in the north · Autumn in the south
- May birthstone
- Emeraldrebirth, love and wisdom
- May birth flower
- Lily of the valley / Hawthornsweetness, humility and hope
- Next occurrence
- In 203 days
- Roman numerals
- XVIII.Vday.month — see the Roman numeral date tool
Anniversaries in 2026
- 100thPentecostalism1926
- 90thSada Abe1936
- 40thKevin Anderson (tennis)1986
- 30thRepublic of Ireland1996
- 25thEmma Navarro2001
- 20th2006 Nepalese revolution2006
- 20thFederal Parliament of Nepal2006
- 5thCharles Grodin2021
May 18 through the years
- 10 years ago2016
- Nothing recorded
- 25 years ago2001
- Emma Navarro
- 50 years ago1976
- Nothing recorded
- 100 years ago1926
- Pentecostalism
- 200 years ago1826
- Nothing recorded
Born on May 18 — ages this year
- 2009Hala Finleyturns 17
- 2003Travis Hunterturns 23
- 2002Alina Zagitovaturns 24
- 2001Emma Navarroturns 25
- 2000Ryan Sessegnonturns 26
- 2000Steven Sessegnonturns 26
Historical events 38
A dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
2020 United States presidential election
United States presidential election: Joe Biden launches his presidential campaign.
2018 Santa Fe High School shooting
A school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas kills ten people.
Cubana de Aviación Flight 0972
Cubana de Aviación Flight 0972 crashed near Santiago de las Vegas shortly after takeoff from José Martí International Airport, killing 112 of the 113 people on board.
2015 Colombian landslide
At least 78 people die in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar.
Murder of Mark Carson
Mark Carson, an openly gay man, was murdered in a hate crime incident in New York City, prompting a 1,500-person march against anti-LGBTQ violence.
Sri Lanka Army
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.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
2006 Nepalese revolution
The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
Federal Parliament of Nepal
The Parliament of Nepal unanimously voted to strip King Gyanendra of many of his powers.
Hubble Space Telescope
A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion publicly debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Republic of Ireland
Ireland won the Eurovision song contest for the seventh time, the highest number of wins for any country before Sweden tied it in 2023.
Gaza Strip
Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern.
Nørrebro
Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.
Somalia
Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland.
TGV
In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).
Gwangju Uprising
Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
Mount St. Helens
Mount St. Helens explosively erupted (pictured), killing approximately 57 people in southern Washington state, reducing hundreds of square miles to wasteland, and causing more than US$1 billion in damage.
1980 Miami riots
Rioting spreads to Miami's mostly African-American neighborhoods of Overtown and Liberty City following the previous day's courthouse protests.
Likud
Likud party wins the 1977 Israeli legislative election, with Menachem Begin, its founder, as the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.
Smiling Buddha
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.
Nuclear weapons testing
Nuclear weapons testing: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
Aeroflot Flight 109
Aeroflot Flight 109 is hijacked mid-flight and the aircraft is subsequently destroyed when the hijacker's bomb explodes, killing all 82 people on board.
Kharkiv International Airport
During approach to Kharkiv International Airport, Aeroflot Flight 1491 crashes near Ruska Lozova, killing all 112 aboard.
Apollo program
Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
Eli Cohen
Eli Cohen, a spy who is credited with gathering significant intelligence used by Israel during the Six-Day War, was publicly hanged in Syria.
Operation Passage to Freedom
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.
First Indochina War
First Indochina War: Viet Minh forces overran a French and Laotian garrison at Muong Khoua, leaving only four survivors.
Deportation of the Crimean Tatars
The Soviet Union forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars to the Uzbek SSR and elsewhere in the country.
Sada Abe
In a crime that captivated Japan, Sada Abe strangled her lover, cut off his genitals, and carried them around with her for several days until her arrest.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
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.
Board of education
Disgruntled school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe set off explosives with timers and a rifle, 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.
Pentecostalism
Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson (pictured) was reportedly kidnapped near Venice Beach in Los Angeles before reappearing five weeks later in Mexico.
List of landmark court decisions in the United States
Ruling in the landmark decision Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of racial segregation in public transportation under the "separate but equal" doctrine.
American Civil War
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.
1695 Linfen earthquake
An earthquake measuring .mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}Ms 7.8 struck Shanxi Province in northern China, resulting in at least 52,600 deaths.
Battle of Buir Lake
At the Battle of Buir Lake, a Ming Chinese army led by general Lan Yu defeated the forces of Tögüs Temür, the Mongol khan of Northern Yuan.
Births 20
A notable person born on this day. Each links to a person page with their dates and story.
Deaths 20
A notable person who died on this day.
Jim Brown
Jim Brown, American football player, civil rights activist, and actor (born 1936)
Austin Eubanks
Austin Eubanks, American addiction recovery advocate, survivor of the Columbine shooting (born 1981)
Halldór Ásgrímsson
Halldór Ásgrímsson, Icelandic accountant and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Iceland (born 1947)
Dobrica Ćosić
Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (born 1921)
Holidays & observances 8
A holiday, feast day, awareness day or national day observed every year on this date.
May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Christian feast day: May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Beatification
Christian feast day: Blessed Blandine Merten
Public holidays in Russia
Baltic Fleet Day (Russia)
Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Christian feast day: Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
Pope John I
Christian feast day: Pope John I
Felix of Cantalice
Christian feast day: Felix of Cantalice
Venantius of Camerino
Christian feast day: Venantius of Camerino
Saint Erik
Christian feast day: Eric IX of Sweden
Spread across the centuries
- 14th century1
- 17th century1
- 19th century2
- 20th century38
- 21st century36
Earliest: Battle of Buir Lake (1388). Most recent: 2026 Islamic Center of San Diego shooting (2026).
What the categories mean, and how the standout is chosen
- Historical events
- A dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
- Births
- A notable person born on this day. Each links to a person page with their dates and story.
- Deaths
- A notable person who died on this day.
- Milestones
- A first, a founding or a turning point our editors flagged as a landmark moment.
- Holidays & observances
- A holiday, feast day, awareness day or national day observed every year on this date.
- Standout / notable
- Editor-written entries come first, then entries covered by the most Wikipedia language editions. For the standout tile we prefer an entry that has a picture.
Nearby and related
Questions about May 18
What day of the year is May 18?
May 18 is the 138th day of the year, with 227 days left after it.
What star sign is May 18?
May 18 falls under Taurus (April 20 – May 20), a earth sign ruled by Venus. The birthstone for the month is Emerald.
How many things happened on May 18?
We record 86 entries for May 18: 38 events · 20 births · 20 deaths · 8 observances. From 1388 to 2026.
Who was born on May 18?
Hala Finley (2009) is among the notable births on May 18. The births section lists the rest.
How often is the May 18 page updated?
The day is filled the first time anyone opens it and then re-checked for new entries about every 90 days. Computed facts such as the weekday and the anniversaries update every year.
Get a daily entry like May 18
One short email a day from this calendar. Kept for this site only.
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