What happened on February 26? There are more than 271 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About February 26
February 26 is the 57th day of the year 2024. There are 309 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday. This day falls under the 9th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Oberon, North Dakota 58357 sunrise occured at 07:22 AM and sunset occured at 06:17 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Pisces. The modern birthstone for this month is Amethyst while the mystical birthstone is Bloodstone.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 338 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 28 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For February 26
- 747 BCEEpoch (origin) of Ptolemy’s Nabonassar Era.
- 364Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
- 1266Battle 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.
- 1658Treaty 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.
- 1794The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
- 1815Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
- 1876Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea’s status as a tributary state of Qing Dynasty China.
- 1909Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
- 1914Ship HMHS, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
- 1917The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.
- 1919President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of the U.S. Congress establishing most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park (see Grand Canyon National Park).
- 1920The first German Expressionist film and early horror movie, Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, premièred in Berlin.
- 1929President Calvin Coolidge signs an Executive Order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
- 1935Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
- 1935Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of RADAR in the United Kingdom.
- 1936In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
- 1946Finnish observers report the first of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets.
- 1952Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.
- 1960A New York bound Alitalia airliner crashed into a cemetery at Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
- 1961Hassan II becomes King of Morocco.
- 1966Apollo Program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
- 1966Vietnam War: The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam.
- 1971U.N. Secretary General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
- 1972The Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam kills 125 in West Virginia.
- 1980Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.
- 1987Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
- 1991Gulf War: United States Army forces capture the town of Al Busayyah.
- 1992Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.
- 1993World 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.
- 1995The 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.
- 2004Republic of Macedonia President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Who Were Born On February 26?
- 1361Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia (d. 1419)
- 1564Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)
- 1587Stefano Landi, Italian composer (d. 1639)
- 1671Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician and philosopher (d. 1713)
- 1672Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (d. 1757)
- 1714James Hervey, English clergyman and writer (d. 1758)
- 1715Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (d. 1771)
- 1720Gian Francesco Albani, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1803)
- 1732Francis Marion, American Revolutionary War officer (d. 1795)
- 1740Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (d. 1813)
- 1746Archduchess Marie Amalie of Austria, duchess of Piacenza (d. 1806)
- 1786François Jean Dominique Arago, French mathematician (d. 1853)
- 1799Émile Clapeyron, French engineer and physicist (d. 1864)
- 1802Victor Hugo, French writer (d. 1885)
- 1808Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator, and sculptor (d. 1879)
- 1808Nathan Kelley,American architect, active mainly in Ohio, (d. 1871)
- 1814Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (d. 1876)
- 1829Levi Strauss, German-born clothing designer (d. 1902)
- 1846William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, American frontiersman (d. 1917)
- 1852John Harvey Kellogg, American surgeon, advocate of dietary reform (d. 1943)
- 1857Émile Coué, French psychologist (d. 1926)
- 1858Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist (d. 1917)
- 1861King Ferdinand of Bulgaria (d. 1948)
- 1861Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya, Russian revolutionary, widow of Vladimir Lenin (d. 1939)
- 1866Herbert Henry Dow, American chemical industrialist (d. 1930)
- 1879Frank Bridge, English composer (d. 1941)
- 1882Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)
- 1885Aleksandras Stulginskis, President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
- 1887Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player (d. 1950)
- 1887Stefan Grabinski, Polish writer (d. 1936)
- 1887William Frawley, American actor (d. 1966)
- 1893I. A. Richards, English literary critic (d. 1979)
- 1896Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov, Soviet politician and art ideologist (d. 1948)
- 1899Max Petitpierre, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1994)
- 1900Fritz Wiessner, American mountaineer of German descent (d. 1988)
- 1901Dwight Wilson, Canadian Soldier (d. 2007)
- 1902Jean Bruller, alias Vercors, French writer and illustrator (d. 1991)
- 1903Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1979)
- 1903Orde Charles Wingate, British Major-General, prominent Zionist, eccentric (d. 1944)
- 1906Madeleine Carroll, English actress (d. 1987)
- 1907Dub Taylor, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1908Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (d. 1949)
- 1908Leela Majumdar, Bengali writer (d. 2007)
- 1908Tex Avery, American cartoonist (d. 1980)
- 1909Fanny Cradock, English food writer and broadcaster (d. 1994)
- 1909King Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)
- 1911Tarō Okamoto, Japanese avant-garde artist (d. 1996)
- 1912Dane Clark, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1913George Barker, English poet (d. 1991)
- 1914Robert Alda, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1916Jackie Gleason, American actor, writer, composer, and comedian (d. 1987)
- 1918Otis Ray Bowen, American physician & politician, 44th Governor of Indiana, and 16th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
- 1918Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)
- 1919Mason Adams, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1919Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer (d. 2003)
- 1920Danny Gardella, American baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1920Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist, writer and traveller (d. 2006)
- 1920Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
- 1921Betty Hutton, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
- 1922Karl Aage Præst, Danish football player
- 1922Margaret Leighton, British actress (d. 1976)
- 1924Noboru Takeshita, Japanese politician (d. 2000)
- 1926Doris Belack, American actress (d. 2011)
- 1926H.M., Henry Gustav Molaison, the amnesiac patient (d. 2008)
- 1926Miroslava, Mexican actress (d. 1955)
- 1926Verne Gagne, American wrestler
- 1927Tom Kennedy, American game show host
- 1928Anatoly Filipchenko, Soviet cosmonaut
- 1928Ariel Sharon, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (2001–2006)
- 1928Fats Domino, American musician
- 1928Monique Leyrac, Canadian singer and actress
- 1930Lazar Berman, Russian pianist (d. 2005)
- 1931Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2004)
- 1931Robert Novak, American political columnist (d. 2009)
- 1932Johnny Cash, American musician (d. 2003)
- 1933James Goldsmith, Anglo-French businessman (d. 1997)
- 1937Hagood Hardy, Canadian musician and composer (d. 1997)
- 1937Paul Dickson, American football player and coach (d. 2011)
- 1938Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot guerilla (d. 1957)
- 1939Josephine Tewson, English actress
- 1941Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer (d. 1972)
- 1943Bill Duke, American actor and director
- 1943Dante Ferretti, Italian art director and costume designer
- 1944Ronald Lauder, American philanthropist and president of the World Jewish Congress
- 1945Bob Hite, American singer and harmonicist (Canned Heat) (d. 1981)
- 1945Giannis Ioannidis, Greek basketball coach and politician
- 1945Marta Kristen, Norwegian actress
- 1945Mitch Ryder, American musician (The Detroit Wheels)
- 1945Peter Brock, Australian motorsports champion (d. 2006)
- 1946Ahmed H. Zewail, Egyptian chemist, Nobel laureate
- 1947Sandie Shaw, English singer
- 1948Sharyn McCrumb, American writer
- 1949Elizabeth George, American novelist
- 1949Emma Kirkby, British singer
- 1950Helen Clark, New Zealand politician, Prime Minister (1999–2008)
- 1950Jonathan Cain, American musician (Journey, Bad English, The Babys)
- 1953Michael Bolton, American singer
- 1954Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, heir to the deposed Kingdom of Hanover and husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco
- 1954Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkish politician, Prime Minister (2003–present)
- 1955Andreas Maislinger, founder of Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
- 1956Keisuke Kuwata, Japanese singer
- 1956Kevin Dunn, American actor
- 1957David Muldrow Beasley, American politician and 113th Governor of South Carolina
- 1957Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player
- 1958Greg Germann, American actor
- 1958Karen Berger, American comic book editor
- 1958Michel Houellebecq, French novelist
- 1958Susan J. Helms, astronaut
- 1958Tim Kaine, American politician, 70th Governor of Virginia
- 1959Rolando Blackman, American basketball player
- 1960Jaz Coleman, British musician
- 1960Robert Jaspert, German football manager
- 1962Kelly Gruber, American baseball player
- 1964Mark Dacascos, American actor and martial artist
- 1966Najwa Karam, Lebanese singer
- 1967Currie Graham, Canadian actor
- 1967James Allodi, Canadian actor, writer and director
- 1968Ed Quinn, American actor
- 1968J. T. Snow, American baseball player
- 1968Tim Commerford, American bassist(Rage Against the Machine)
- 1969Hitoshi Sakimoto, Japanese composer
- 1971Erykah Badu, American singer
- 1971Hélène Ségara, French singer
- 1971Max Martin, Swedish composer and producer
- 1972Jonny Quinn Northern Irish drummer (Snow Patrol)
- 1973Erinn Bartlett, American actress
- 1973Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
- 1973Marshall Faulk, American football player
- 1973Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Norwegian footballer
- 1974Sébastien Loeb, French rally driver
- 1976Chad Urmston, American musician
- 1976Nikolaos Siranidis, Greek diver
- 1977Greg Rikaart, American actor
- 1977Josh Towers, American baseball player
- 1977Marty Reasoner, American ice hockey player
- 1977Shane Williams, Welsh rugby player
- 1977Tim Thomas, American basketball player
- 1978Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye, Senegalese footballer
- 1978Marc Hynes, British racing driver
- 1979Corinne Bailey Rae, English singer
- 1979Mariano Bainotti, Argentine racing driver
- 1979Pedro Mendes, Portuguese footballer
- 1979Shalim Ortiz, Puerto Rican singer and actor
- 1980Alex Fong, Hong Kong singer
- 1980Gary Majewski, baseball pitcher
- 1980Steve Blake, American basketball player
- 1981Johnathan Wendel, American video gamer
- 1981Kertus Davis, American racing driver
- 1982Li Na (tennis), Chinese tennis player
- 1982Song Hye Kyo, South Korean model and actress
- 1983Jerome Harrison, American football player
- 1983Kara Monaco, American glamor model
- 1983Pepe, Brazilian born Portuguese football player
- 1984Alex de Angelis, San Marino motorcycle racer
- 1984Beren Saat, Turkish actress
- 1984Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese footballer
- 1984Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer
- 1985Alexandria Hilfiger, American actress
- 1985Carolin Nytra, German athlete
- 1985Diego Ribas da Cunha, Brazilian footballer
- 1985Fernando Llorente, Spanish footballer
- 1985Gee Atherton, British cyclist
- 1985Miki Fujimoto, Japanese singer
- 1986Crystal Kay, Japanese singer
- 1986Hannah Kearney, American freestyle skier
- 1986Juliet Simms, guitarist and singer (Automatic Loveletter)
- 1986Leandro dos Santos de Jesus, Brazilian footballer
- 1986Teresa Palmer, Australian model and actress
- 1988Matteo Ciofani, Italian footballer
- 1990Kateřina Cachová, Czech heptathlete
- 1991CL (singer), South Korean singer/rapper (2NE1)
- 1992Mikael Granlund, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1993Taylor Dooley, American actress
Who Died On February 26?
- 420Saint Porphyry, Palestine bishop
- 1154King Roger II of Sicily (b. 1093)
- 1200Symeon, former Serbian ruler and saint (b. 1109)
- 1266King Manfred of Sicily (b. 1232)
- 1360Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English military leader (b. 1328)
- 1552Heinrich Faber, German composer
- 1561Jorge de Montemayor, Spanish writer
- 1577King Eric XIV of Sweden (b. 1533)
- 1608John Still, English bishop
- 1611Antonio Possevino (b. 1533) Jesuit humanist, diplomat, bibliographer
- 1630William Brade, English composer (b. 1560)
- 1638Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician (b. 1681)
- 1723Thomas d'Urfey, English writer (b. 1653)
- 1726Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
- 1770Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer (b. 1692)
- 1790Sir Joshua Rowley, 1st Baronet, Royal Navy admiral (b. 1730)
- 1802Esek Hopkins, American Revolutionary War admiral (b. 1718)
- 1813Robert Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1746)
- 1815Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (b. 1737)
- 1821Joseph de Maistre, Savoyard diplomat and writer (b. 1753)
- 1864Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Canadian politician (b. 1807)
- 1883Alexandros Koumoundouros, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1817)
- 1889Karl Davydov, Russian cellist (b. 1838)
- 1903Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
- 1913Felix Draeseke, German composer (b. 1835)
- 1921Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)
- 1930Mary Calkins, American philosopher and psychologist (b. 1863)
- 1931Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1847)
- 1933Princess Thyra, daughter of Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1853)
- 1943Theodor Eicke, Nazi official (b. 1892)
- 1947Heinrich Häberlin, Swiss politician, member of the Federal Council (b. 1868)
- 1950Sir Harry Lauder, Scottish Music Hall Entertainer, Knighted for WWI War Work (b. 1870)
- 1952Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general who briefly ruled the country (b. 1878)
- 1959Selig Suskin, Russian-born Israeli agronomist and early Zionist (b. 1873)
- 1961King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
- 1966Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian freedom fighter and writer (b. 1883)
- 1969Karl Jaspers, German psychiatrist (b. 1883)
- 1969Levi Eshkol, Israeli politician, Prime Minister (1963-death) (b. 1895)
- 1971Fernandel, French actor (b. 1903)
- 1981Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
- 1981Robert Aickman, English writer and conservationist (b. 1914)
- 1985Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)
- 1989Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
- 1990Cornell Gunter, American singer (The Coasters) (b. 1938)
- 1993Constance Ford, American actress (b. 1923)
- 1994Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
- 1995Jack Clayton, British film director (b. 1921)
- 1997David Doyle, American actor (b. 1929)
- 1998James Algar, American film director, screenwriter and producer (b. 1912)
- 1998Shirley Ardell Mason, American psychiatric patient (AKA Sybil Isabell Dorsett in Sybil (book) (b. 1923)
- 1998Theodore Schultz, American economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902)
- 2000George L. Street III American Navy submariner and Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1913)
- 2001Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan writer (b. 1906)
- 2002Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
- 2003Christian Goethals, Belgian racing driver (b. 1928)
- 2004Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (b. 1905)
- 2004Boris Trajkovski, Macedonian politician, President (1999-death) (b. 1956)
- 2004Shankarrao Chavan, Indian politician (b. 1920)
- 2005Jef Raskin, American computer scientist (b. 1943)
- 2008Buddy Miles, American drummer (Band of Gypsies) (b. 1947)
- 2008Dick Fletcher, American meteorologist (b. 1942)
- 2008Glory Mukwati, Zimbabwean politician
- 2009Johnny Kerr, American basketball player and Chicago Bulls broadcaster (b. 1932)
- 2009Norm Van Lier, American basketball player and broadcaster (b. 1947)
- 2009Wendy Richard, English actress (b. 1943)
- 2010Nujabes, Japanese hip hop producer (b. 1974)
- 2011Arnošt Lustig, Czech writer (b. 1926)
- 2011James A. McClure, American politician (b. 1924)
Did you know that coffee and word games are an excellent combination to sharpen your vocabulary? Try this! Within 30 seconds, how many words can you think of from these letters XAUSAELNPE? Check your answers here: Words with these letters XAUSAELNPE. (Sponsored by WordFinder.Cafe)