Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/October 18

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 * 320 – Pappus of Alexandria, one of the last great Greek mathematicians of antiquity, observed an eclipse that allowed historians to calculate the approximate dates of his life.
 * 1081 – Byzantine–Norman wars: Robert Guiscard led an invasion of the Byzantine Empire, capturing Dyrrhachium in present-day Albania.
 * 1356 – The most significant earthquake to have occurred in Central Europe in recorded history destroyed Basel, Switzerland.
 * 1587 – Filipino sailors disembarked from the Manila galleon Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza in what is now Morro Bay, California, the first documented instance of Asians in the Americas.
 * 1775 – American Revolutionary War: In an act of retaliation against ports that supported Patriot activities in the early stages of the war, the Royal Navy destroyed what is now Portland, Maine.
 * 1963 – The first cat in space, later known as Félicette, launched aboard a French Véronique rocket.
 * 1967 – The Soviet space probe Venera 4 became the first spacecraft to perform direct in situ analysis of the environment of another planet (Venus).
 * Born/died this day: | Lady Mary Wroth |b|1587| Isaac Jogues |d|1646| Jacob Jordaens |d|1678| Baldassare Galuppi |b|1706|  Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough |d|1744|  Lucy Stone |d|1893| Christine Murrell |bd|1874; 1933|Jesse Helms |b|1921| Freida Pinto |b|1984