📜 This Day in History

May 18

• 1302Armed insurrectionists massacred the occupying French garrison in Bruges, Flanders, killing approximately 2,000 people.
• 1896Ruling 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.
• 1936In 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.
• 1965Eli Cohen, a spy who is credited with gathering significant intelligence used by Israel during the Six-Day War, was publicly hanged in Syria.
• 2005The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion publicly debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
• 2018Cubana 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.

Born on this day

• 1048Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet (died 1131)
• 1872Bertrand Russell, British mathematician, historian, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970)
• 1888(O.S.) Hanna Barysevich, the oldest female resident of Belarus not registered by the Guinness Book of Records. (died 2007)
• 1920Pope John Paul II (died 2005)