Year 1386
The oldest university in Germany, Heidelberg University was founded.
OCTOBER 18
Daily Historical Chronicle
UPSC CSE • State PSC • SSC CGL Matrix
18 October: What Happened On This Day in History
Curated historical timeline of momentous political pacts, freedom struggle uprisings, constitutional developments, scientific breakthroughs, and prominent birthdays recorded on 18 October.
Year 1867
The United States took possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million.
Year 1879
Branch of 'Theosophical Panth' established in India.
Year 1901
Mahatma Gandhi sails for India.
Year 1906
Depressed Classes Mission Society' was established by Vitthal Ramji Shinde.
Year 1922
Establishment of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Year 1952
Vinoo Mankad takes 13 Pakistan wickets to win first Indo-Pak clash.
Year 1954
Texas Instruments announced the first transistor radio.
Year 1967
Soviet Russia’s Venera-4 spacecraft lands on Venus.
Year 1977
2060 – Chiron, the farthest asteroid in space, was discovered.
Year 1980
The first Himalayan Car Rally of 5,377.9 km was started from Brabourne Stadium, Bombay with 74 starters.
Year 1992
Zimbabwe's first Test match vs India at Harare.
Year 1992
1,000 police personnel occupy the Golden Temple in Amritsar to keep Punjab separatists away.
Year 1995
President's Rule imposed in UP and the State Assembly put in suspended animation.
Year 1996
Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi to be the venue for the trial of former PM Rao.
Year 1997
Prince Philip switches on the internet version of Malayala Manorama and The Week at Kochi.
Year 2000
Supreme Court gives the nod for construction of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river.
Year 2000
Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Communications Minister, announces relief for phone users. New links to cost Rs. 2,000 in urban areas and Rs. 500 in rural areas.
Year 2002
Sachin Tendulkar became the first cricketer to score 20,000 runs in Tests and ODIs.
Born 1712
Jeremias Van Riemsdijk, Governor General of Dutch Indies (1775-77), was born.
Born 1861
Chintaman Vinayak Vaidya, historian and researcher, was born.
Born 1910
Ronald Alfred Vernieux was an Indian sprinter.
Born 1919
W. A. Sangma, leader of Meghalaya, was born.
Born 1925
Narayandatt Tiwar, former Central minister and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, was born.
Born 1925
Ila Mitra was a communist and peasants movement organizer of the Indian subcontinent.
Born 1927
Ramesh Vithaldas Divecha, cricketer (11 wickets for India in the early 50's), was born in Bombay.
Born 1928
Roshan Harshadlal "Deepak" Shodhan, cricketer (century on Test debut for India), was born in Ahmedabad.
Born 1940
Paran Bandopadhyay, an Indian Bengali film, television and stage actor based in Kolkata.
Born 1944
Deepak Parekh, Chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation, India’s leading housing finance company.
Born 1950
Om Puri was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films.
Born 1964
Vijay Ghate, an Indian tabla player.
Born 1968
Narendra Deepchand Hirwani, cricketer (Ind leggie 16 wickets vs WI on debut in 1988), was born in Gorakhpur.
Born 1972
Koshalendraprasad Pande, current acharya of the NarNarayan Dev Gadi of the Swaminarayan Sampraday.
Born 1973
Nila Madhab Panda, film producer.
Born 1974
Amish Tripathi, Indian author
Born 1977
Kunal Kapoor, Indian actor, writer and entrepreneur who works in Hindi films.
Born 1978
Jyothika Saravanan is an Indian actress who appears in Tamil films.
Born 1981
Arjun Mathur, Indian actor working in Bollywood, independent films and television.
Born 1984
Freida Pinto, Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films.
Born 1991
Abhijith P. S. Nair, Indian violinist, arranger and composer.
Died 1871
Charles Babbage, English polymath, mechanical engineer, mathematician, father of the first mechanical computer.
Died 1909
Lal Mohan Ghosh, sixteenth President of the Indian National Congress and eminent Bengali barrister.
Died 1931
Thomas Alva Edison, American researcher, and entrepreneur.
Died 1976
Viswanatha Satyanarayana, Indian poet and author (b. 1895)
Died 1983
Vijay Manjrekar, cricketer 55 Tests for India, 3208 runs @ 39.12, died.
Died 1993
Mandakini Athvale, first child actor of Indian film industry, died.
Died 1995
Baby Naaz (Anuradha Bhakkar), famous child actor, died.
Died 2004
Veerappan was an Indian bandit who was active for 36 years, kidnapping major politicians for ransom.