November 18

© 1997, 1998 by Paul A. Schons

November 18, 1786

Birth of Carl Maria von Weber in Eutin, Germany. The composer is known primarily for his operas Der Freischütz (1821), Euryanthe (1823) and Oberon (1826). The title "von" seems to have been an invention of his father rather than a genuine title.

November 18, 1827

Death of Wilhelm Hauff in Stuttgart, Germany. Hauff was a poet and novelist, but is probably remembered most for his fairy tales.

November 18, 1839

Birth of August Kundt in Schwerin, Germany. A physicist, Kundt, discovered how to measure the velocity of sound in gases and solids.

November 18, 1863

Birth of Richard Dehmel in Wendisch-Hermsdorf, Germany. Dehmel was a poet who explored themes on individualism, social injustice, sexuality and love. Works by Dehmel include Erlösungen (1891), Weib und Welt (1896), and Schöne wilde Welt (1913).

November 18, 1887

Death of Theodor Gustav Fechner in Leipzig, Germany. The physicist, Fechner, was the principal founder of psychophysics (quantitative relations between sensations and stimuli), Elemente der Psychophysik (2 vols. 1860). He was a professor of physics at the University of Leipzig

November 18, 1941

Death of Walther Nernst in Muskau, Germany. His development of the third law of thermodynamics led to the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1920.

November 18, 1977

Death of Kurt von Schuschnigg in Riva del Garda, Austria-Hungary (now in Italy). Von Schuschnigg was the Austrian chancellor at the time of the annexation by Germany. He had struggled against the growing Nazi influence in Austria and the coming annexation, but ultimately failed. He was forced to resign on March 11, 1938 as Germany entered the country and was imprisoned until the end of WWII.