August 26
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
August 26 is the 238th day of the year (239th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 127 days remaining until the end of the year.
Contents |
Births [change]
- 1469 – Ferdinand II of Naples (d. 1496).
- 1540 – King Magnus of Livonia (d. 1583).
- 1596 – Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate, German aristocrat (d. 1632).
- 1676 – Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1745).
- 1694 – Elisha Williams, American rector of Yale college (d. 1755).
- 1695 – Marie-Anne-Catherine Quinault, French singer and composer (d. 1791).
- 1728 – Johann Heinrich Lambert, Swiss scientist (d. 1777).
- 1740 – Joseph Montgolfier, French inventor (d. 1810).
- 1743 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist (d. 1794).
- 1787 – Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov, Russian general, admiral and statesman (d. 1869).
- 1789 – Abbas Mirza, Prince of Persia (d. 1833).
- 1792 – Manuel Oribe, Uruguayan political figure (d. 1857).
- 1819 – Albert, Prince Consort (d. 1861).
- 1826 – Princess Alexandra of Bavaria (d. 1875).
- 1828 – Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (d. 1875).
- 1845 – Mary Ann Nichols, victim of Jack the Ripper (d. 1888).
- 1850 – Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist, won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, (d. 1935).
- 1864 – Anna Ulyanova, older sister of Vladimir Lenin (d. 1935).
- 1873 – Lee De Forest, American inventor (d. 1961).
- 1875 – John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish novelist and Governor-General of Canada (d. 1940).
- 1880 – Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet and art critic (d. 1918).
- 1882 – James Franck, German-born physicist (d. 1964).
- 1885 – Jules Romains, French novelist, dramatist and poet (d. 1972).
- 1886 – Jerome Hunsaker, American aeronautical engineer (d. 1984).
- 1896 – Ivan Mihailov, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1990).
- 1896 – Besse Cooper, American supercentenarian (d. 2012).
- 1897 – Yun Poson, President of South Korea (d. 1990).
- 1898 – Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (d. 1979).
- 1900 – Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (d. 1980).
- 1901 – Chen Yi, Chinese Communist military commander and politician (d. 1972).
- 1901 – Maxwell D. Taylor, American army officer (d. 1987).
- 1904 – Christopher Isherwood, English writer (d. 1986).
- 1906 – Albert Sabin, Polish-American polio researcher (d. 1993).
- 1906 – Bunny Austin, British tennis player (d. 2000).
- 1910 – Mother Theresa, Catholic nun and missionary, Nobel Prize winner (d. 1997).
- 1913 – Boris Pahor, Slovenian writer.
- 1923 – Wolfgang Sawallisch, German conductor and pianist.
- 1924 – Jacques Villiers, French aerospace engineer (d. 2012).
- 1928 – Santiago Vernazza, Argentine footballer.
- 1935 – Karen Sparck Jones, British computer scientist.
- 1935 – Geraldine Ferraro, American lawyer and politician (d. 2011).
- 1937 – Gennady Yanayev, Soviet politician (d. 2010).
- 1938 – Jet Black, English musician (The Stranglers).
- 1940 – Don LaFontaine, American voice actor (d. 2008).
- 1941 – Akiko Wakabayashi, Japanese actress.
- 1941 – Chris Curtis, British musician.
- 1944 – Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, member of the extended British royal family.
- 1945 – Tom Ridge, American politician
- 1946 – Alison Steadman, English actress.
- 1946 – Valerie Simpson, American singer.
- 1951 – Edward Witten, American physicist.
- 1954 – Steve Wright, British DJ.
- 1957 – Rick Hansen, Canadian athlete.
- 1960 – Branford Marsalis, American musician.
- 1963 – Ludger Beerbaum, German equestrian showjumper.
- 1964 – Allegra Huston, English-American writer and editor.
- 1965 – Chris Burke, American actor.
- 1965 – Marcus du Sautoy, British mathematics professor.
- 1966 – Shirley Manson, British singer.
- 1966 – Jacques Brinkman, Dutch field hockey player.
- 1967 – Michael Gove, British politician.
- 1968 – Chris Boardman, British motorcycle racer.
- 1969 – Melissa McCarthy, American actress.
- 1969 – Adrian Young, American rock musician.
- 1971 – Thalia, Mexican singer.
- 1979 – Cristian Mora, Ecuadorean footballer.
- 1980 – Macaulay Culkin, American actor.
- 1980 – Chris Pine, American actor.
- 1981 – Vangelis Moras, Greek footballer.
- 1982 – Noah Welch, American ice hockey player.
- 1983 – Mattia Cassani, Italian footballer.
- 1985 – Brandon McDonald, American football player.
- 1986 – Cassie, American singer.
- 1986 – Colin Kazim-Richards, Turkish footballer.
- 1987 – Greg Halman, Dutch baseball player (d. 2011).
- 1988 – Princess Maria Laura of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este.
- 1990 – Lil' Chris, English singer.
- 1992 – Yang Yilin, Chinese gymnast
- 1993 – Keke Palmer, American actress.
Deaths [change]
- 303 – Alexander of Bergamo, Italian Catholic saint.
- 887 – Emperor Koko of Japan (b. 830).
- 1214 – Patriarch Michael IV of Constantinople
- 1278 – King Ottokar II of Bohemia
- 1346 – Killed in the Battle of Crécy:
- Charles II of Alençon (b. 1297)
- Louis I of Flanders (b. 1304)
- John I, Count of Luxemburg (b. 1296)
- Rudolph, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1320)
- 1349 – Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1551 – Margareta Leijonhufvud, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1516)
- 1595 – Antonio, Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal (b. 1531)
- 1607 – Giorgio Basta, Habsburg general (b. 1550).
- 1666 – Frans Hals, Dutch painter
- 1714 – Edward Fowler, English Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1632)
- 1723 – Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch scientist (b. 1632)
- 1785 – George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, British soldier and politician (b. 1716)
- 1850 – Louis-Philippe I of France (b. 1773)
- 1910 – William James, American psychologist and philosopher (b. 1842).
- 1915 – John Bunny American comedian (b. 1863)
- 1930 – Lon Chaney, Sr., American actor (b. 1883)
- 1944 – Adam von Trott zu Solz, German diplomat opposing the Nazi regime (executed) (b. 1909)
- 1945 – Franz Werfel, Austrian writer (b. 1890)
- 1956 – Alfred Wagenknecht, German-born American activist (b. 1881).
- 1958 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (b. 1872)
- 1962 – Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Icelandic-Canadian explorer (b. 1879)
- 1968 – Kay Francis, American actress (b. 1899)
- 1972 – Francis Chichester, British sailor and adventurer (b. 1901).
- 1974 – Charles Lindbergh, American aviator (b. 1902)
- 1976 – Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
- 1978 – Charles Boyer, French actor (b. 1899)
- 1978 – José Manuel Moreno, Argentine footballer (b. 1916)
- 1979 – Mika Waltari, Finnish author (b. 1908)
- 1980 – Rosa Albach-Retty, German actress (b. 1874)
- 1980 – Tex Avery, American cartoonist (b. 1908)
- 1981 – Roger Nash Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union (b. 1884)
- 1986 – Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
- 1987 – Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- 1988 – Carlos Paião, Portuguese singer (b. 1957)
- 1989 – Irving Stone, American author (b. 1903)
- 1990 – Minoru Honda, Japanese astronomer (b. 1913)
- 1998 – Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- 2000 – Bunny Austin, British tennis player (b. 1906).
- 2003 – Jim Wacker, American football coach (b. 1937)
- 2004 – Laura Branigan, American singer (b. 1957)
- 2005 – Robert Denning, Interior designer (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Rainer Barzel, German politician (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Gaston Thorn, Luxembourg politician (b. 1928)
- 2010 – Raimon Panikkar, Spanish theologian (b. 1918)
- 2011 – George Band, British mountaineer (b. 1929)
- 2011 – Aloysius Ambrozic, Slovenian-born Canadian Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto (b. 1930)
Events [change]
- 55 BC – Julius Caesar attempts to conquer Britannia.
- 1071 – Battle of Manzikert: Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Army at Manzikert.
- 1278 – Ladislaus IV of Hungary and Rudolph I of Germany defeat Premysl Ottokar I of Bohemia in the Battle of Marchfield near Durnkrut in then-Moravia.
- 1346 – Cannons are used for the first time in a European battle, the Battle of Crecy.
- 1444 – Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs: A vastly outnumbered forces of Swiss Confederates is defeat by Dauphin Louis (future King Louis IX of France) and his army near Basel.
- 1498 – Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pieta.
- 1542 – Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana and his expedition reach the Amazon Delta.
- 1789 – The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen is approved by the National Assembly at the Palace of Versailles.
- 1791 – John Fitch is granted a US patent for the steam boat.
- 1813 – War of the Sixth Coalition: An impromptu battle takes place when French and Russian-Prussian forces accidentally run into each other near what is now Legnica, Poland.
- 1821 – The University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is founded.
- 1865 – A monument to Albert, Prince Consort is unveiled in Coburg, Germany.
- 1883 – Krakatoa's 1883 eruption reaches its final stage, ending in a major explosion and tsunamis the following day.
- 1883 – The Ashes, a cricket prize, is given to English captain, Ivo Bligh.
- 1914 – World War I: French and British forces invade the then-German colony of Togoland, (covering present-day Togo and western Ghana) in West Africa, taking it after five days.
- 1920 – An amendment to the United States Constitution allows women in the United States the right to vote.
- 1922 – The Japanese cruiser Niitaka sinks in a strom off the west coast of Kamchatka, eastern Russia, killing all 400 people on board.
- 1940 – World War II: Under Governor Felix Eboue, Chad becomes the first French colony to join the Allies.
- 1944 – World War II: Bulgaria declares that it is neutral.
- 1944 – World War II: Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.
- 1961 – Changing its Constitution, Burma adopts Buddhism as its official state religion.
- 1966 – The Namibian War of Independence begins.
- 1970 – The then-New Feminist Movement, led by Betty Friedan, leads a women's national strike, for equality.
- 1972 – The 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich begin, officially opened by German President Gustav Heinemann.
- 1977 – Benin gets a Marxist-Leninist Constitution.
- 1977 – The Charter of the French language is adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec.
- 1978 – East German cosmonaut Sigmund Jaehn becomes the first German in space.
- 1978 – Albino Luciani (Pope John Paul I) is elected Pope. He dies just 33 days later, on September 28.
- 1980 – John Birges plants a bomb at Harvey's Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada.
- 1997 – Beni-Ali massacre in Algeria: Between 60 and 100 people are killed.
- 1999 – Russia begins the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan, by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade.
- 2002 – The 2002 Earth Summit meeting in Johannesburg begins.
- 2005 – The highest court in Fiji declares the ban on Homosexuality unconstitutional.
- 2008 – Russia unilaterally recognises the Republic of Georgia's break-away territories Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
- 2011 – Naoto Kan announces his resignation as Prime Minister of Japan.
Observances [change]
- Heroes Day (Namibia)
- Women's Equality Day (United States)
