This Day In History : January 18

1980 United States

NASA launches Fltsatcom-3

FLTSATCOM-3 or (FSC-3) was the third vehicle in the Navy's FLTSATCOM communications satellite constellation, which were used by the United States Navy for communications between aircraft, ships, submarines and ground stations. FSC 3 was launched on 18 January 1980 at 01:26 UTC on an Atlas-Centaur rocket. The launch took place at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The initial transfer orbit was at an inclination of 26.2 degrees. It had a periapsis of 171 km and an apoapsis of 3,524 km and an orbital period of 619 minutes.

Also on This Day in History January 18

Discover what happened on January 18 with HISTORY's summaries of major events, anniversaries,
famous births and notable deaths.

Births on This Day, January 18
  • 1856 Daniel Williams

    American heart surgeon who performed the 1st open heart surgery

  • 1933 Ray Dolby

    American engineer, sound expert, and inventor of Dolby noise reduction system

  • 1861 Hans Goldschmidt

    German chemist who invented the thermite (alumino-thermic) process

  • 1880 Paul Ehrenfest

    Austrian-Dutch theoretical physicist (phase transition, Ehrenfest theorem)

  • 1779 Peter Mark Roget

    British lexicographer (Roget's Thesaurus) and inventor (slide rule, pocket chessboard)

Deaths on This Day, January 18
  • 1956 Konstantin Päts

    Estonian politician, 1st President of Estonia

  • 1865 James Beaumont Neilson

    Scottish inventor who introduced the use of a hot-air blast

  • 1861 John Heathcoat

    English inventor of lace-making machinery

  • 1878 Antoine César Becquerel

    French physicist who pioneered in the study of electric and luminescent phenomena

  • 1995 Adolf Butenandt

    German biochemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939 for his "work on sex hormones"

1886

Modern Hockey is Born

On January 18, 1886, the modern game of hockey was established with the formation of the Hockey Association in England. This organization standardized the rules, laying the foundation for the sport as it is known today. This pivotal moment marked the beginning of organized, competitive field hockey.
1919

The Paris Peace Conference Opens

The Paris Peace Conference, aimed at negotiating peace treaties following World War I, opened in 1919. Delegates from over 30 countries convened to establish the terms of peace, leading to the Treaty of Versailles and significant geopolitical changes.
1911

First Aircraft Landing on a Ship

In 1911, Lt. Eugene B. Ely successfully landed his Curtiss pusher biplane on a wooden platform attached to the deck of the U.S.S. Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor. This marked the first time an aircraft had landed on a ship, pioneering naval aviation.
1977

Bacterium Identified as Cause of Legionnaire's Disease

In 1977, scientists at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, announced that they had sufficient laboratory evidence to identify a bacterium as the cause of Legionnaire's Disease. This bacterium is now known as Legionella pneumophila.
Holiday
Special day
Discover invention