December 18: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

2019 The US House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power (230 votes to 197) and obstruction of Congress (229 votes to 198).

2018 A powerful meteor exploded over the Bering Sea.

The meteor that exploded in a huge fireball went unnoticed for months. Once it was discovered from military satellites, findings showed that the blast had ten times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

2018 Nevada became the first US state with a female-majority legislature, with new appointments taking it to 51%.

2012 Gunmen killed six health workers in Pakistan.

These workers were dispensing polio vaccinations when they were shot and killed, along with others who were wounded. It was suspected that they were attacked due to misconceptions that the vaccinations were a campaign of a Western conspiracy against Muslims.

2009 James Cameron’s “Avatar” was released in the US. It became the highest-grossing film of all time at the time.

2002 The Two Towers, the second of the Lord of the Rings films, was released in theaters.

It made $62 million in its opening weekend and $926 million worldwide.

1985 The film “The Color Purple,” based on the novel by Alice Walker, directed by Steven Spielberg, premiered in New York.

1966 Astronomer Richard Walker discovered Saturn’s moon, Epimetheus.

1963 The Pink Panther film premiered, directed by Blake Edwards with a theme by Henry Mancini.

1958 Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, was launched into orbit.

The Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment (SCORE) satellite was the first satellite built for the purpose of communications. Its launch aboard an Atlas rocket was the first time the rocket was used to launch a payload successfully.

1936 The first panda arrived in the US from China.

Sun-Lin became the first giant panda to arrive in the US after Ruth Harkness, the wife of a deceased panda lover, made it her mission to bring a panda home in honor of her husband. She personally caught the panda in the mountains of China and smuggled it to San Francisco, claiming to Chinese officials that it was a small dog.

1878 The modern state of Qatar was founded with Jassim Bin Mohammad Al Thani as its leader.

1787 New Jersey became the third state to ratify the US constitution.

1271 Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty when he renamed his Mongol Empire “Yuan.”

Kublai was the fifth emperor of the Mongol Empire and the first to shift attention more towards China than other regions. Within a decade, Kublai became the Emperor of all China after wresting control from the Song Dynasty.