February 26

February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 308 days remaining until the end of the year (309 in leap years).

Events

• 747 BC – Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era.
• 364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
• 1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
• 1658 – Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655–1661), the King of Denmark-Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden to save the rest.
• 1794 – Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen burns down.
• 1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
• 1848 – The Second French Republic is proclaimed.
• 1863 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the National Currency Act into law.
• 1870 – In New York City, a demonstration of the first pneumatic subway opens to the public.
• 1885 – The Berlin Act, which resulted from the Berlin Conference regulating European colonization and trade in Africa, is signed
• 1897 – Sigma Pi Fraternity is founded at Vincennes University in Vincennes, IN.
• 1914 – HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
• 1917 – The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.
• 1919 – An act of the U.S. Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park (see Grand Canyon National Park).
• 1929 – The Grand Teton National Park is created.
• 1935 – The Luftwaffe is re-formed.
• 1935 – The Daventry Experiment, Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of RADAR in the United Kingdom.
• 1936 – In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
• 1952 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.
• 1966 – Apollo Program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
• 1970 – National Public Radio incorporates as a non-profit corporation.
• 1971 – U.N. Secretary General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
• 1972 – The Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.
• 1984 – US troops withdraw from Beirut. President Ronald Reagan had sent the troops as a peacekeeping force in August 1982.
• 1986 – People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
• 1987 – Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
• 1990 – The Sandinistas are defeated in Nicaraguan elections.
• 1991 – Gulf War: On Baghdad Radio Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
• 1992 – Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.
• 1993 – World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing 6 and injuring over a thousand.
• 1995 – The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a securities broker, Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
• 2000 – Mount Hekla in Iceland erupts.
• 2001 – The Taliban destroys two giant statues of Buddha in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
• 2003 – Generally said to be the starting date of the War in Darfur.
• 2004 – The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
• 2004 – Republic of Macedonia President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 2005 – Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt, orders the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005 by asking Egyptian parliament to amend Article 76.

Births

• 1361 – Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (d. 1419)
• 1564 – Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)
• 1587 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
• 1671 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (d. 1713)
• 1672 – Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (d. 1757)
• 1714 – James Hervey, English clergyman and writer (d. 1758)
• 1715 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (d. 1771)
• 1720 – Gian Francesco Albani, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1803)
• 1732 – Francis Marion, American Revolutionary War officer (d. 1795)
• 1740 – Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (d. 1813)
• 1746 – Archduchess Marie Amalie of Austria, duchess of Piacenza (d. 1806)
• 1786 – François Arago, French mathematician (d. 1853)
• 1799 – Émile Clapeyron, French engineer and physicist (d. 1864)
• 1802 – Victor Hugo, French writer (d. 1885)
• 1808 – Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator, and sculptor (d. 1879)
• 1808 – Nathan Kelley,American architect, active mainly in Ohio, (d. 1871)
• 1814 – Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (d. 1876)
• 1829 – Levi Strauss, German-born clothing designer (d. 1902)
• 1846 – William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, American frontiersman (d. 1917)
• 1852 – John Harvey Kellogg, American surgeon, advocate of dietary reform (d. 1943)
• 1857 – Émile Coué, French psychologist (d. 1926)
• 1858 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist (d. 1917)
• 1861 – King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1948)
• 1861 – Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary, Lenin's wife (d. 1939)
• 1866 – Herbert Henry Dow, American chemical industrialist (d. 1930)
• 1879 – Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941)
• 1882 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)
• 1885 – Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
• 1887 – Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player (d. 1950)
• 1887 – William Frawley, American actor (d. 1966)
• 1887 – Stefan Grabinski, Polish writer (d. 1936)
• 1893 – I. A. Richards, English literary critic (d. 1979)
• 1896 – Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov, Soviet politician and art ideologist (d. 1948)
• 1899 – Max Petitpierre, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1994)
• 1900 – Fritz Wiessner, American mountaineer of German descent (d. 1988)
• 1901 – Dwight Wilson, Canadian Soldier (d. 2007)
• 1902 – Jean Bruller, alias Vercors, French writer and illustrator (d. 1991)
• 1903 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1979)
• 1903 – Orde Charles Wingate, British Major-General, prominent Zionist, eccentric (d. 1944)
• 1906 – Madeleine Carroll, English actress (d. 1987)
• 1907 – Dub Taylor, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1908 – Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
• 1908 – Leela Majumdar, Bengali writer (d. 2007)
• 1908 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (d. 1949)
• 1909 – King Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)
• 1909 – Fanny Cradock, English food writer and broadcaster (d. 1994)
• 1911 – Tarō Okamoto, Japanese avant-garde artist (d. 1996)
• 1912 – Dane Clark, American actor (d. 1998)
• 1913 – George Barker, English poet (d. 1991)
• 1914 – Robert Alda, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1916 – Jackie Gleason, American actor, writer, composer, and comedian (d. 1987)
• 1918 – Otis Ray Bowen, American politician (Indiana Governor) and physician
• 1918 – Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)
• 1919 – Mason Adams, American actor (d. 2005)
• 1919 – Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (d. 2003)
• 1920 – Danny Gardella, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1920 – Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist, writer and traveller (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Betty Hutton, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
• 1922 – Margaret Leighton, British actress (d. 1976)
• 1922 – Karl Aage Præst, Danish football player
• 1924 – Noboru Takeshita, Japanese politician (d. 2000)
• 1926 – Verne Gagne, American wrestler
• 1926 – Miroslava Stern, Mexican actress (d. 1955)
• 1926 – H.M., Henry Gustav Molaison, the amnesiac patient (d. 2008)
• 1927 – Tom Kennedy, American game show host
• 1928 – Fats Domino, American musician
• 1928 – Anatoli Filipchenko, Soviet cosmonaut
• 1928 – Monique Leyrac, French Canadian singer and actress
• 1930 – Lazar Berman, Russian pianist (d. 2005)
• 1931 – Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2004)
• 1931 – Robert Novak, American political columnist (d. 2009)
• 1932 – Johnny Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1937 – Hagood Hardy, Canadian musician and composer (d. 1997)
• 1938 – Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot guerilla (d. 1957)
• 1939 – Josephine Tewson, English actress
• 1941 – Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer (d. 1972)
• 1943 – Bill Duke, American actor and director
• 1943 – Dante Ferretti, Italian art director and costume designer
• 1944 – Ronald Lauder, American philanthropist and president of the World Jewish Congress
• 1945 – Peter Brock, Australian motorsports champion (d. 2006)
• 1945 – Bob Hite, American singer and harmonicist (Canned Heat) (d. 1981)
• 1945 – Giannis Ioannidis, Greek basketball coach and politician
• 1945 – Marta Kristen, Norwegian actress
• 1945 – Mitch Ryder, American musician (The Detroit Wheels)
• 1946 – Ahmed H. Zewail, Egyptian chemist, Nobel laureate
• 1947 – Sandie Shaw, English singer
• 1949 – Elizabeth George, American novelist
• 1949 – Emma Kirkby, British singer
• 1950 – Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1950 – Jonathan Cain, American musician (Journey, Bad English, The Babys)
• 1953 – Michael Bolton, American singer
• 1954 – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Turkey
• 1954 – Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, heir to the deposed Kingdom of Hanover and husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco
• 1955 – Andreas Maislinger, founder of Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
• 1956 – Keisuke Kuwata, Japanese singer
• 1957 – David Muldrow Beasley, American politician
• 1957 – Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player
• 1958 – Karen Berger, American comic book editor
• 1958 – Greg Germann, American actor
• 1958 – Susan J. Helms, astronaut
• 1958 – Michel Houellebecq, French novelist
• 1958 – Tim Kaine, American politician, 70th Governor of Virginia
• 1959 – Rolando Blackman, American basketball player
• 1960 – Jaz Coleman, British musician
• 1962 – Kelly Gruber, American baseball player
• 1964 – Mark Dacascos, American actor and martial artist
• 1966 – Najwa Karam, Lebanese singer
• 1967 – James Allodi, Canadian actor, writer and director
• 1967 – Currie Graham, Canadian actor
• 1968 – Tim Commerford, American bass player (Rage Against the Machine)
• 1968 – Ed Quinn, American actor
• 1968 – J. T. Snow, American baseball player
• 1969 – Hitoshi Sakimoto, Japanese composer
• 1971 – Erykah Badu, American singer
• 1971 – Max Martin, Swedish composer and producer
• 1971 – Hélène Ségara, French singer
• 1973 – Marshall Faulk, American football player
• 1973 – Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Norwegian footballer
• 1973 – Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
• 1973 – Erinn Bartlett, American actress
• 1974 – Sébastien Loeb, French rally driver
• 1976 – Nikolaos Siranidis, Greek diver
• 1976 – Chad Urmston, American musician
• 1977 – Marty Reasoner, American ice hockey player
• 1977 – Greg Rikaart, American actor
• 1977 – Tim Thomas, American basketball player
• 1977 – Josh Towers, American baseball player
• 1977 – Shane Williams, Welsh rugby player
• 1978 – Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Senegalese footballer
• 1978 – Marc Hynes, British racing driver
• 1979 – Corinne Bailey Rae, English singer
• 1979 – Mariano Bainotti, Argentine racing driver
• 1979 – Pedro Mendes, Portuguese footballer
• 1979 – Shalim Ortiz, Puerto Rican singer and actor
• 1980 – Alex Fong, Hong Kong singer
• 1980 – Gary Majewski, baseball pitcher
• 1980 – Steve Blake, American basketball player
• 1981 – Kertus Davis, American NASCAR driver
• 1981 – Johnathan Wendel, American video gamer
• 1982 – Song Hye Kyo, South Korean model and actress
• 1983 – Jerome Harrison, American football player
• 1983 – Kara Monaco, American glamor model
• 1984 – Alex de Angelis, San Marino motorcycle racer
• 1984 – Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese footballer
• 1984 – Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer
• 1985 – Alexandria Hilfiger, American actress
• 1985 – Miki Fujimoto, Japanese singer
• 1986 – Leandro dos Santos de Jesus, Brazilian footballer
• 1986 – Crystal Kay, Japanese singer
• 1986 – Hannah Kearney, American freestyle skier
• 1986 – Teresa Palmer, Australian model and actress
• 1986 – Juliet Simms, guitarist and singer (Automatic Loveletter)
• 1991 – Mikael Granlund, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1993 – Taylor Dooley, American actress

Deaths

• 1154 – King Roger II of Sicily (b. 1093)
• 1200 – Symeon, former Serbian ruler and saint (b. 1109)
• 1266 – King Manfred of Sicily (b. 1232)
• 1360 – Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English military leader (b. 1328)
• 1552 – Heinrich Faber, German composer
• 1561 – Jorge de Montemayor, Spanish writer
• 1577 – King Eric XIV of Sweden (b. 1533)
• 1608 – John Still, English bishop
• 1630 – William Brade, English composer (b. 1560)
• 1638 – Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician (b. 1681)
• 1723 – Thomas d'Urfey, English writer (b. 1653)
• 1726 – Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
• 1770 – Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (b. 1692)
• 1802 – Esek Hopkins, American Revolutionary War admiral (b. 1718)
• 1813 – Robert Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)
• 1815 – Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (b. 1737)
• 1821 – Joseph de Maistre, Savoyard diplomat and writer (b. 1753)
• 1864 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, French Canadian politician (b. 1807)
• 1883 – Alexandros Koumoundouros, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1817)
• 1889 – Karl Davydov, Russian cellist (b. 1838)
• 1903 – Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
• 1913 – Felix Draeseke, German composer (b. 1835)
• 1921 – Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)
• 1931 – Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1847)
• 1933 – Princess Thyra, daughter of Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1853)
• 1943 – Theodor Eicke, Nazi official (b. 1892)
• 1947 – Heinrich Häberlin, Swiss politician, member of the Federal Council (b. 1868)
• 1950 – Sir Harry Lauder, Scottish Music Hall Entertainer, Knighted for WWI War Work (b. 1870)
• 1952 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general who briefly ruled the country (b. 1878)
• 1959 – Selig Suskin, Russian-born Israeli agronomist and early Zionist (b. 1873)
• 1961 – King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
• 1966 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian freedom fighter and writer (b. 1883)
• 1969 – Levi Eshkol, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)
• 1969 – Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist (b. 1883)
• 1971 – Fernandel, French actor (b. 1903)
• 1981 – Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
• 1981 – Robert Aickman, English writer and conservationist (b. 1914)
• 1985 – Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)
• 1989 – Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
• 1990 – Cornell Gunter, American singer (The Coasters) (b. 1938)
• 1993 – Constance Ford, American actress (b. 1923)
• 1994 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
• 1995 – Jack Clayton, British film director (b. 1921)
• 1997 – David Doyle, American actor (b. 1929)
• 1998 – James Algar, American film director, screenwriter and producer (b. 1912)
• 1998 – Theodore Schultz, American economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902)
• 1998 – Shirley Ardell Mason, American psychiatric patient (AKA Sybil Isabell Dorsett in Sybil (book) (b. 1923)
• 2000 – George L. Street III American Navy Submariner and Medal of Honor recipient.(b. 1913)
• 2001 – Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer (b. 1906)
• 2002 – Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
• 2003 – Christian Goethals, Belgian racing driver (b. 1928)
• 2004 – Shankarrao Chavan, Indian politician (b. 1920)
• 2004 – Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (b. 1905)
• 2004 – Boris Trajkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1956)
• 2005 – Jef Raskin, American computer scientist (b. 1943)
• 2008 – Buddy Miles, American drummer (Band of Gypsies) (b. 1947)
• 2008 – Dick Fletcher, Meteorologist (b. 1942)
• 2008 – Glory Mukwati, Zimbabwean politician
• 2009 – Wendy Richard, English actress (b. 1943)
• 2009 – Norm Van Lier, American basketball player and broadcaster (b. 1947)
• 2009 – Johnny Kerr, American basketball player and Chicago Bulls broadcaster (b. 1932)
• 2010 – Nujabes, Japanese Hip Hop producer. (b. 1974)

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith – February 26, Day 1 of Ayyám-i-Há (Intercalary Days) – days in the Bahá'í calendar devoted to service and gift giving.
• Nation of Islam – Savior's Day – commemoration of the birthdate of Wallace Fard Muhammad, believed to be Allah in human form, the saviour of the black race.
• Liberation Day in Kuwait (1991).
• Saint Nestor (died 251)
• Saint Alexander of Alexandria
• Saint Isabel of France
• February 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada