March 26

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

March 26 is the 85th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (86th in leap years). There are 280 days remaining.

[edit] Events

• 1026 - Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1199 - Richard the Lionheart is fatally wounded by a crossbow bolt during a siege in France, he dies eleven days later. The marksman, a french noble named Pierre Basile, is executed.
• 1552 - Guru Amar Das becomes the Third Sikh Guru.
• 1636 - Utrecht University is founded in The Netherlands.
• 1707 - The Act of Union becomes law, uniting England and Scotland into one state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.
• 1808 - Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII.
• 1812 - An earthquake destroys Caracas, Venezuela.
• 1839 - The first Henley Royal Regatta is held.
• 1913 - Balkan War: Bulgarian forces take Adrianople.
• 1917 - World War I: First Battle of Gaza - British troops are halted after 17,000 Turks block their advance.
• 1934 - Driving test introduced in the United Kingdom.
• 1942 - World War II: In Poland, Auschwitz receives its first female prisoners.
• 1943 - World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands - In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
• 1953 - Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine.
• 1958 - The United States Army launches Explorer III.
• 1958 - The African Regroupment Party (PRA) is launched at a meeting in Paris.
• 1971 - East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan to form People's Republic of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Liberation War begins.
• 1975 - The Biological Weapons Convention enters into force.
• 1976 - A military dictatorship begins in Argentina. As a result of the state terrorism, thirty thousand people are murdered. Their final whereabouts remain unknown.
• 1976 - Queen Elizabeth II sent out the first royal email, from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment.
• 1979 - Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, DC.
• 1982 - A groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, DC.
• 1995 - The Schengen Treaty goes into effect.
• 1996 - The International Monetary Fund approves a $10.2 billion loan for Russia.
• 1997 - Thirty-nine bodies found in the Heaven's Gate cult suicides.
• 1998 - Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria; 52 people killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of 2.
• 1999 - The "Melissa worm" infects e-mail systems around the world.
• 1999 - A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.
• 2000 - The Seattle Kingdome is imploded to make room for a new stadium.
• 2000 - Presidential elections are held in Russia, and Vladimir Putin is elected President.
• 2005 - Return of Doctor Who to television after 16-year absence.
• 2006 - In Scotland the prohibition of smoking in all substantially enclosed public places comes into force.

[edit] Births

• 1516 - Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (d. 1565)
• 1554 - Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, French military leader (d. 1611)
• 1753 - Benjamin Thompson, American physicist and inventor (d. 1814)
• 1859 - Alfred Edward Housman, English poet (d. 1936)
• 1859 - Adolf Hurwitz, German mathematician (d. 1919)
• 1868 - King Fuad I of Egypt (d. 1936)
• 1874 - Robert Frost, American poet (d. 1963)
• 1875 - Max Abraham, German physicist (d. 1922)
• 1875 - Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea (d. 1965)
• 1879 - Othmar Ammann, Swiss-born bridge engineer (d. 1965)
• 1882 - Hermann Obrecht, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1940)
• 1884 - Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist (d. 1969)
• 1896 - Rudolf Dassler, Founder of PUMA AG (d. 1974)
• 1888 - Elsa Brändström, Swedish nurse (d. 1948)
• 1893 - Palmiro Togliatti, Italian communist leader (d. 1964)
• 1904 - Joseph Campbell, American author (d. 1987)
• 1904 - Xenophon Zolotas, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2004)
• 1904 - Emilio Fernández, Mexican actor, screenwriter and film director (d. 1986)
• 1905 - Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (d. 1997)
• 1911 - Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2003)
• 1911 - Tennessee Williams, American dramatist (d. 1983)
• 1913 - Paul Erdős, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1996)
• 1914 - Toru Kumon, Japanese educator (d. 1995)
• 1914 - William Westmoreland, U.S. general (d. 2005)
• 1916 - Christian B. Anfinsen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
• 1916 - Sterling Hayden, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1916 - Bill Edrich, English cricketer (d. 1986)
• 1917 - Rufus Thomas, American musician (d. 2001)
• 1919 - Strother Martin, American actor (d. 1980)
• 1922 - Oscar Sala, Italian-born physicist
• 1923 - Bob Elliott, American comedian
• 1925 - Pierre Boulez, French composer and conductor
• 1925 - James Moody, American jazz musician, composer, and actor
• 1930 - Gregory Corso, American poet (d. 2001)
• 1930 - Sandra Day O'Connor, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• 1931 - Leonard Nimoy, American actor and director
• 1934 - Alan Arkin, American actor
• 1935 - Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestine National Authority
• 1937 - Wayne Embry, former basketball player in the National Basketball Association
• 1938 - Anthony James Leggett, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1940 - James Caan, American actor
• 1940 - Nancy Pelosi, American politician
• 1942 - Erica Jong, American author
• 1943 - Bob Woodward, American journalist
• 1944 - Diana Ross, American singer (Supremes)
• 1945 - Mikhail Voronin, Soviet gymnast (d. 2004)
• 1946 - Johnny Crawford, American actor
• 1946 - Alain Madelin, French politician
• 1947 - Dar Robinson, American stunt man (d. 1986)
• 1948 - Steven Tyler, American musician (Aerosmith)
• 1949 - Vicki Lawrence, American actress and singer
• 1949 - Patrick Süskind, German writer
• 1950 - Teddy Pendergrass, American singer
• 1950 - Martin Short, Canadian comedian
• 1950 - Ernest Thomas, American actor
• 1951 - Carl Wieman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1952 - Didier Pironi, French Formula One driver (d. 1987)
• 1953 - Elaine Chao, U.S. Secretary of Labor
• 1953 - Lincoln Chafee, American Senator from Rhode Island
• 1953 - Youssouf Togoïmi, Chadian rebel (d. 2002)
• 1954 - Kazuhiko Inoue, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
• 1954 - Curtis Sliwa, American founder of the Guardian Angels
• 1956 - Charly McClain, American singer
• 1957 - Leeza Gibbons, American television host
• 1960 - Marcus Allen, American football player
• 1960 - Jennifer Grey, American actress
• 1961 - William Hague, British politician
• 1962 - John Stockton, American basketball player
• 1962 - Paul de Leeuw, Dutch television host
• 1963 - Kyogoku Natsuhiko, Japanese writer
• 1963 - Roch Voisine, Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1964 - Martin Donnelly, Irish racecar driver
• 1964 - Ulf Samuelsson, Swedish hockey player
• 1968 - Kenny Chesney, American singer
• 1968 - James Iha, American musician (Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle)
• 1968 - Laurent Brochard, French cyclist
• 1971 - Behzad Ghorbani, Iranian zoologist and sociobiologist
• 1973 - Lawrence E. Page, American search engine pioneer
• 1974 - Mike Peca, Canadian hockey player
• 1976 - Amy Smart, American actress
• 1977 - Kevin Davies, English footballer
• 1977 - Sylvain Grenier, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1979 - Hiromi Uehara, Japanese jazz pianist
• 1982 - Mikel Arteta, Spanish footballer
• 1983 - Michael Brenley, Professional wrestler
• 1984 - Gregory Strydom, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1984 - Stéphanie Lapointe, Quebec artist and singer, 2004 Star Académie winner
• 1985 - Keira Knightley, English actress
• 1985 - Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwean cricket captain
• 1987 - YUI, Japanese musician
• 1991 - Brittney Wilson, Canadian actress

[edit] Deaths

• 922 - Al-Hallaj, Persian Sufi teacher and writer
• 1130 - King Sigurd I of Norway (b. ca. 1090)
• 1212 - King Sancho I of Portugal (b. 1154)
• 1517 - Heinrich Isaac, Flemish composer
• 1535 - Georg Tannstetter, Austrian scientist (b. 1482)
• 1546 - Thomas Elyot, English diplomat
• 1566 - Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer (b. 1510)
• 1649 – John Winthrop, second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• 1679 - Johannes Schefferus, Alsatian-born humanist (b. 1621)
• 1697 - Godfrey McCulloch, Scottish politician and murderer (executed) (b. 1640)
• 1726 - Sir John Vanbrugh, English dramatist (b. 1664)
• 1772 - Charles Pinot Duclos, French writer (b. 1704)
• 1776 - Samuel Ward, American politician (b. 1725)
• 1780 - Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b. 1713)
• 1793 - John Mudge, English physician (b. 1721)
• 1797 - James Hutton, Scottish geologist (b. 1726)
• 1814 - Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, inventor of the guillotine (b. 1738)
• 1827 - Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (b. 1770)
• 1858 - John Addison Thomas, American soldier (b. 1811)
• 1881 - Roman Sanguszko, Polish aristocrat (b. 1800)
• 1892 - Walt Whitman, American poet (b. 1819)
• 1902 - Cecil Rhodes, English explorer (b. 1853)
• 1905 - Maurice Barrymore, actor; patriarch of the Barrymore family (b. 1849)
• 1910 - Auguste Charlois, French astronomer (b. 1864)
• 1910 - An Jung-geun, Japanese assassin of Ito Hirobumi (executed) (b. 1879)
• 1920 - William Chester Minor, American surgeon and contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary (b. 1834)
• 1923 - Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (b. 1844)
• 1926 - Konstantin Fehrenbach, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1852)
• 1929 - Katharine Lee Bates, American poet (b. 1859)
• 1933 - Eddie Lang, American musician (b. 1902)
• 1940 - Spiridon Louis, Greek runner (b. 1873)
• 1942 - Jimmy Burke, Baseball player (b. 1874)
• 1945 - David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1863)
• 1958 - Phil Mead, English cricketer (b. 1887)
• 1959 - Raymond Chandler, American-born novelist (b. 1888)
• 1969 - John Kennedy Toole, American author (b. 1937)
• 1973 - Noel Coward, English composer and playwright (b. 1899)
• 1976 - Josef Albers, German artist (b. 1888)
• 1976 - Lin Yutang, Chinese writer (b. 1895)
• 1983 - Anthony Blunt, British spy (b. 1907)
• 1984 - Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of Guinea (b. 1922)
• 1987 - Eugen Jochum, German conductor (b. 1902)
• 1990 - Halston, American fashion designer (b. 1932)
• 1992 - Barbara Frum, Canadian journalist (b. 1937)
• 1995 - Eazy-E, American rapper (b. 1963)
• 1996 - Edmund Muskie, American politician (b. 1914)
• 1996 - David Packard, American engineer and businessman (b. 1912)
• 2000 - Alex Comfort, American author (b. 1920
• 2002 - Randy Castillo, Drummer for Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue (b. 1950)
• 2003 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator (b. 1927)
• 2004 - Jan Berry, American musician (Jan and Dean) (b. 1941)
• 2004 - Jan Sterling, American actress (b. 1921)
• 2005 - James Callaghan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1912)
• 2005 - Paul Hester, Australian drummer (Split Enz and Crowded House) (b. 1959)
• 2005 - Marius Russo, baseball player (b. 1914)
• 2006 - Anil Biswas, Indian politician (b. 1944)
• 2006 - Paul Dana, American race car driver (b. 1975)
• 2006 - Nikki Sudden, British singer/songwriter (b. 1956)

[edit] Holidays and observances

• Zoroastrianism - Prophet Zoroaster's Birthday.
• Prince Kuhio Day in Hawaii

[edit] Liturgical feasts

Catholic:

• Saint Emmanuel (died 304)
• Saint Ludger
• Saint Larissa

Orthodox Christian liturgical calendar - Synaxis of St. Gabriel the Archangel

[edit] External links

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

March 25 - March 27 - February 26 - April 26 -- listing of all days