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. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Wednesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Monday or Tuesday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Thursday or Saturday (56).
Events
1071 – The Seljuq Turks defeat the Byzantine army at the Battle of Manzikert , and soon gain control of most of Anatolia .
1278 – Ladislaus IV of Hungary and Rudolf I of Germany defeat Ottokar II of Bohemia in the Battle on the Marchfeld near Dürnkrut in (then) Moravia .
1303 – Alauddin Khilji captures Chittorgarh .
1346 – Hundred Years' War : The military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights is established at the Battle of Crécy .
1444 – Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs : A vastly outnumbered force of Swiss Confederates is defeated by the Dauphin Louis (future Louis XI of France ) and his army of 'Armagnacs' near Basel .
1498 – Michelangelo is commissioned to carve the Pietà .
1748 – The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium , is founded in Philadelphia .
1768 – Captain James Cook sets sail from England on board HMS Endeavour .
1778 – The first recorded ascent of Triglav , the highest mountain in Slovenia .
1789 – The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France.
1791 – John Fitch is granted a United States patent for the steamboat .
1810 – The former viceroy Santiago de Liniers of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata is executed after the defeat of his counter-revolution .
1813 – War of the Sixth Coalition : An impromptu battle takes place when French and Prussian-Russian forces accidentally run into each other near Liegnitz , Prussia (now Legnica, Poland).
1814 – Chilean War of Independence : Infighting between the rebel forces of José Miguel Carrera and Bernardo O'Higgins erupts in the Battle of Las Tres Acequias .
1821 – The University of Buenos Aires , Argentina , is officially opened.
1883 – The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa begins its final, paroxysmal, stage.
1914 – World War I : The German colony of Togoland surrenders to French and British forces after a 20-day campaign .
1914 – In Brazil, Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras is founded.
1914 – World War I : During the retreat from Mons , the British II Corps commanded by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien fought a vigorous and successful defensive action at Le Cateau .
1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote.
1922 – Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) : Turkish army launched what has come to be known to the Turks as the "Great Offensive" (Büyük Taarruz). The major Greek defense positions were overrun.
1940 – Chad becomes the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué , France's first black colonial governor .
1942 – At Chortkiv , the Ukrainian police and German Schutzpolizei deport two thousand Jews to Bełżec extermination camp . Five hundred of the sick and children are murdered on the spot. This continued until the next day.
1944 – World War II : Charles de Gaulle enters Paris.
1966 – The Namibian War of Independence starts with the battle at Omugulugwombashe .
1970 – The then-new feminist movement , led by Betty Friedan , leads a nationwide Women's Strike for Equality .
1977 – The Charter of the French Language is adopted by the National Assembly of Quebec
1978 – Papal conclave : Albino Luciani is elected as Pope John Paul I .
1980 – John Birges plants a bomb at Harvey's Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada , United States, FBI inadvertently detonated the bomb during disarming
1997 – Beni Ali massacre in Algeria where 60 to 100 people were killed.
1999 – Russia begins the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade .
2009 – Kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard is discovered in California after being missing for over 18 years.
2011 – The Boeing 787 Dreamliner , Boeing's all-new composite airliner, receives certification from the EASA and the FAA .
2015 – Two U.S. journalists are shot and killed by a disgruntled former coworker while conducting a live report in Moneta, Virginia .
Births
1469 – Ferdinand II of Naples (d. 1496)
1676 – Robert Walpole , English scholar and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1745)
1694 – Elisha Williams , English colonial minister, academic, and politician (d. 1755)
1695 – Marie-Anne-Catherine Quinault , French singer-songwriter (d. 1791)
1728 – Johann Heinrich Lambert , Swiss mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1777)
1736 – Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle , French mineralogist and geologist (d. 1790)
1740 – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier , French inventor, invented the hot air balloon (d. 1810)
1743 – Antoine Lavoisier , French chemist and biologist (d. 1794)
1751 – Manuel Abad y Queipo , Spanish-born Mexican bishop (d. 1825)
1775 – William Joseph Behr , German publicist and academic (d. 1851)
1792 – Manuel Oribe , Uruguayan soldier and politician, 4th President of Uruguay (d. 1857)
1819 – Albert, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom (d. 1861)
1826 – Princess Alexandra of Bavaria (d. 1875)
1854 – Arnold Fothergill , English cricketer (d. 1932)
1856 – Clara Schønfeld , Danish actress (d. 1939)
1862 – Herbert Booth , Canadian songwriter and bandleader (d. 1926)
1865 – Arthur James Arnot , Scottish-Australian engineer, designed the Spencer Street Power Station (d. 1946)
1873 – Lee de Forest , American engineer and academic, invented the Audion tube (d. 1961)
1874 – Zona Gale , American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1938)
1875 – John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir , Scottish-Canadian historian and politician, 15th Governor General of Canada (d. 1940)
1880 – Guillaume Apollinaire , Italian-French author, poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1918)
1882 – James Franck , German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
1882 – Sam Hardy , English footballer (d. 1966)
1885 – Jules Romains , French author and poet (d. 1972)
1891 – Acharya Chatursen Shastri , Indian author and playwright (d. 1960)
1894 – Sparky Adams , American baseball player and farmer (d. 1989)
1896 – Ivan Mihailov , Bulgarian soldier and politician (d. 1990)
1897 – Yun Posun , South Korean activist and politician, 2nd President of South Korea (d. 1990)
1898 – Peggy Guggenheim , American-Italian art collector and philanthropist (d. 1979)
1900 – Hellmuth Walter , German-American engineer and businessman (d. 1980)
1901 – Eleanor Dark , Australian author and poet (d. 1985)
1901 – Hans Kammler , German SS officer and engineer (d. 1945)
1901 – Jimmy Rushing , American singer and bandleader (d. 1972)
1901 – Maxwell D. Taylor , American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to South Vietnam (d. 1987)
1901 – Chen Yi , Chinese general and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China (d. 1972)
1903 – Caroline Pafford Miller , American author (d. 1992)
1904 – Christopher Isherwood , English-American author and academic (d. 1986)
1904 – Joe Hulme , English footballer and cricketer (d. 1991)
1906 – Albert Sabin , Polish-American physician and virologist, developed the polio vaccine (d. 1993)
1908 – Walter Bruno Henning , Prussian-American linguist and scholar (d. 1967)
1908 – Aubrey Schenck , American screenwriter and producer (d. 1999)
1909 – Eric Davies , South African cricketer and educator (d. 1976)
1909 – Jim Davis , American actor (d. 1981)
1909 – Gene Moore , American baseball player (d. 1978)
1910 – Mother Teresa , Macedonian-Indian nun and missionary, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
1911 – Otto Binder , American author and screenwriter (d. 1974)
1914 – Julio Cortázar , Belgian-Argentinian author and translator (d. 1984)
1914 – Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca , Turkish soldier and poet (d. 2008)
1915 – Humphrey Searle , English composer and conductor (d. 1982)
1918 – Katherine Johnson , American physicist and mathematician
1919 – Gerard Campbell , American priest and academic (d. 2012)
1920 – Brant Parker , American illustrator (d. 2007)
1920 – Prem Tinsulanonda , Thai general and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Thailand
1921 – Shimshon Amitsur , Israeli mathematician and scholar (d. 1994)
1921 – Benjamin C. Bradlee , American journalist and author (d. 2014)
1922 – Irving R. Levine , American journalist and author (d. 2009)
1923 – Wolfgang Sawallisch , German pianist and conductor (d. 2013)
1924 – Alex Kellner , American baseball player (d. 1996)
1925 – Jack Hirshleifer , American economist and academic (d. 2005)
1925 – Alain Peyrefitte , French scholar and politician, Minister of Justice for France (d. 1999)
1925 – Pyotr Todorovsky , Ukrainian-Russian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (d. 2013)
1926 – Anahit Tsitsikian , Armenian violinist and educator (d. 1999)
1926 – Robert Vickrey , American painter and author (d. 2011)
1927 – B. V. Doshi , Indian architect and academic
1928 – Peter Appleyard , English-Canadian vibraphone player and composer (d. 2013)
1928 – Naïm Kattan , Iraqi-Canadian author and critic
1928 – Om Prakash Munjal , Indian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Hero Cycles (d. 2015)
1929 – Reuben Kamanga , Zambian soldier and politician, 1st Vice President of Zambia (d. 1996)
1930 – Joe Solomon , Guyanese cricketer and coach
1931 – Kálmán Markovits , Hungarian water polo player (d. 2009)
1932 – Luis Salvadores Salvi , Chilean basketball player (d. 2014)
1934 – Tom Heinsohn , American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1934 – Kevin Ryan , Australian rugby player, coach, lawyer and politician
1935 – Geraldine Ferraro , American lawyer and politician (d. 2011)
1935 – Karen Spärck Jones , English computer scientist and academic (d. 2007)
1936 – Benedict Anderson , American political scientist and academic (d. 2015)
1937 – Don Bowman , American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1939 – Pinchas Goldstein , Israeli businessman and politician (d. 2007)
1939 – Jorge Paulo Lemann , Brazilian banker and financier
1940 – Michael Cockerell , English journalist
1940 – Don LaFontaine , American voice actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1941 – Chris Curtis , English singer and drummer (d. 2005)
1941 – Jane Merrow , English actress, producer, and screenwriter
1941 – Barbet Schroeder , French-Swiss director and producer
1942 – Dennis Turner, Baron Bilston , English lawyer and politician
1943 – Dori Caymmi , Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1944 – Alan Parker , English guitarist and songwriter
1944 – Judith Rees , English geographer and academic
1944 – Maureen Tucker , American singer-songwriter and drummer
1945 – Tom Ridge , American sergeant and politician, 1st Secretary of Homeland Security
1946 – Zhou Ji , Chinese engineer and politician, 14th Chinese Minister of Education
1946 – Valerie Simpson , American singer-songwriter
1946 – Mark Snow , American drummer and composer
1946 – Alison Steadman , English actress
1947 – Nicolae Dobrin , Romanian footballer and manager (d. 2007)
1949 – Allahshukur Pashazadeh , Azerbaijani cleric
1949 – Leon Redbone , Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1951 – Gerd Bonk , German weightlifter (d. 2014)
1951 – Edward Witten , American physicist and academic
1952 – Bryon Baltimore , Canadian ice hockey player
1952 – Michael Jeter , American actor (d. 2003)
1952 – John Kinsella , American swimmer
1952 – Will Shortz , American journalist and puzzle creator
1953 – Pat Sharkey , Irish footballer
1954 – Howard Clark , English golfer and sportscaster
1954 – Tracy Krohn , American race car driver and businessman
1954 – Hugh Pelham , British academic and educator
1955 – Ian Dejardin , English historian and curator
1956 – Sally Beamish , English viola player and composer
1956 – Mark Mangino , American football player and coach
1957 – Nikky Finney , American poet and academic
1958 – Jan Nevens , Belgian cyclist
1959 – Oliver Colvile , English lawyer and politician
1959 – Stan Van Gundy , American basketball player and coach
1960 – Branford Marsalis , American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader
1961 – Daniel Lévi , Algerian-French singer-songwriter and pianist
1961 – Jeff Parrett , American baseball player
1962 – Roger Kingdom , American hurdler
1962 – Bob Mionske , American cyclist and lawyer
1963 – David Byas , English cricketer and umpire
1963 – Stephen J. Dubner , American journalist and author
1963 – Patrice Oppliger , American author, critic, and academic
1964 – Allegra Huston , English-American author and screenwriter
1964 – Bobby Jurasin , American-Canadian football player and coach
1964 – Chad Kreuter , American baseball player and manager
1964 – Zadok Malka , Israeli footballer and manager
1964 – Torsten Schmitz , German boxer
1964 – Carsten Wolf , German cyclist
1965 – Marcus du Sautoy , English mathematician and academic
1966 – Jacques Brinkman , Dutch field hockey player and coach
1966 – Shirley Manson , Scottish singer-songwriter and actress
1967 – Michael Gove , Scottish journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Education
1968 – Chris Boardman , English cyclist
1970 – Jason Little , Australian rugby player
1970 – Melissa McCarthy , American actress, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
1970 – Brett Schultz , South African cricketer
1970 – Brannen Temple , American drummer and composer
1971 – Thalía , Mexican-American singer-songwriter and actress
1973 – Richard Evatt , English boxer (d. 2012)
1974 – Kelvin Cato , American basketball player and coach
1975 – Morgan Ensberg , American baseball player and coach
1976 – Amaia Montero , Spanish singer-songwriter
1977 – Therese Alshammar , Swedish swimmer
1977 – Liam Botham , English rugby player and cricketer
1977 – Saeko Chiba , Japanese voice actress and singer
1977 – Simone Motta , Italian footballer
1979 – Jamal Lewis , American football player
1979 – Cristian Mora , Ecuadorian footballer
1979 – Rubén Arriaza Pazos , Spanish footballer
1980 – Macaulay Culkin , American actor
1980 – Brendan Harris , American baseball player
1980 – Manolis Papamakarios , Greek basketball player
1980 – Chris Pine , American actor
1981 – Tino Best , Barbadian cricketer
1981 – Sebastian Bönig , German footballer
1981 – Andreas Glyniadakis , Greek basketball player
1981 – Vangelis Moras , Greek footballer
1981 – Petey Williams , Canadian wrestler
1982 – Angelo Iorio , Italian footballer
1982 – Jayson Nix , American baseball player
1982 – Noah Welch , American ice hockey player
1983 – Mattia Cassani , Italian footballer
1983 – Nicol David , Malaysian squash player
1983 – Toshiaki Imae , Japanese baseball player
1983 – Félix Porteiro , Spanish race car driver
1985 – Oleksiy Kasyanov , Ukrainian decathlete
1985 – Brandon McDonald , American football player
1985 – David Price , American baseball player
1986 – Vladislav Gussev , Estonian footballer
1987 – Juan Joseph , American football player and coach (d. 2014)
1988 – Elvis Andrus , Venezuelan baseball player
1988 – Wayne Simmonds , Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Lars Stindl , German football player
1989 – Héloïse Guérin , French model
1989 – James Harden , American basketball player
1991 – Dylan O'Brien , American actor
1992 – Jesse Delgado , American wrestler
1992 – Yang Yilin , Chinese gymnast
1993 – Keke Palmer , American singer-songwriter, presenter and television personality
Deaths
887 – Kōkō , emperor of Japan (b. 830)
1214 – Michael IV of Constantinople
1278 – Ottokar II of Bohemia (b. 1233)
1346 – Killed in the Battle of Crécy :
1349 – Thomas Bradwardine , English archbishop, mathematician, and physicist (b. 1290)
1572 – Petrus Ramus , French philosopher and logician (b. 1515)
1595 – António, Prior of Crato (b. 1531)
1666 – Frans Hals , Dutch painter and educator (b. 1580)
1714 – Constantin Brâncoveanu , Ruler of Wallachia (b. 1654)
1714 – Edward Fowler , English bishop and author (b. 1632)
1723 – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek , Dutch microscopist and biologist (b. 1632)
1785 – George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville , English soldier and politician, 3rd Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1716)
1810 – Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires , French-Spanish sailor and politician, 10th Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (b. 1753)
1813 – Theodor Körner , German soldier and author (b. 1791)
1850 – Louis Philippe I of France (b. 1773)
1865 – Johann Franz Encke , German astronomer and academic (b. 1791)
1878 – Mariam Baouardy , Syrian Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (b. 1846)
1910 – William James , American psychologist and philosopher (b. 1842)
1921 – Sándor Wekerle , Hungarian jurist and politician, Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1848)
1930 – Lon Chaney , American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1883)
1943 – Bîmen Şen , Turkish composer and songwriter (b. 1873)
1944 – Adam von Trott zu Solz , German lawyer and diplomat (b. 1909)
1945 – Franz Werfel , Austrian author and playwright (b. 1890)
1946 – Jeanie MacPherson , American actress and screenwriter (b. 1887)
1956 – Alfred Wagenknecht , German-American activist (b. 1881)
1958 – Ralph Vaughan Williams , English composer and educator (b. 1872)
1968 – Kay Francis , American actress (b. 1905)
1972 – Francis Chichester , English pilot and sailor (b. 1901)
1974 – Charles Lindbergh , American pilot and explorer (b. 1902)
1975 – Olaf Holtedahl , Norwegian geologist and academic (b. 1885)
1976 – Lotte Lehmann , German-American soprano (b. 1888)
1977 – H. A. Rey , German-American author and illustrator, created Curious George (b. 1898)
1978 – Charles Boyer , French-American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1899)
1978 – José Manuel Moreno , Argentinian footballer and manager (b. 1916)
1979 – Mika Waltari , Finnish author, translator, and academic (b. 1908)
1980 – Rosa Albach-Retty , German-Austrian actress (b. 1874)
1980 – Tex Avery , American animator, director, and voice actor (b. 1908)
1981 – Roger Nash Baldwin , American trade union leader, co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union (b. 1884)
1981 – Lee Hays , American singer-songwriter (b. 1914)
1986 – Ted Knight , American actor (b. 1923)
1987 – John Goddard , Barbadian-English cricketer and manager (b. 1919)
1987 – Georg Wittig , German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
1988 – Carlos Paião , Portuguese singer-songwriter (b. 1957)
1989 – Irving Stone , American author (b. 1903)
1992 – Bob de Moor , Belgian author and illustrator (b. 1925)
1993 – Reima Pietilä , Finnish architect, co-designed the Kaleva Church (b. 1923)
1995 – John Brunner , English-Scottish author and poet (b. 1934)
1998 – Jaanus Kuum , Estonian-Norwegian cyclist (b. 1964)
1998 – Frederick Reines , American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
2000 – Akbar Adibi , Iranian engineer and academic (b. 1939)
2001 – Louis Muhlstock , Polish-Canadian painter and educator (b. 1904)
2001 – Marita Petersen , Faroese educator and politician, 8th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1940)
2003 – Jim Wacker , American football player and coach (b. 1937)
2004 – Laura Branigan , American singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1952)
2005 – Denis D'Amour , Canadian guitarist and songwriter (b. 1960)
2005 – Robert Denning , American art collector and interior designer (b. 1927)
2005 – Moondog King , Canadian wrestler and politician (b. 1949)
2006 – Rainer Barzel , Polish-German lawyer and politician, Minister of Intra-German Relations (b. 1924)
2006 – Clyde Walcott , Barbadian cricketer and coach (b. 1926)
2007 – Gaston Thorn , Luxembourger jurist and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (b. 1928)
2009 – Dominick Dunne , American journalist and novelist (b. 1925)
2010 – Raimon Panikkar , Catalan priest and scholar (b. 1918)
2011 – George Band , Taiwanese-English mountaineer and author (b. 1929)
2011 – Patrick C. Fischer , American computer scientist and academic (b. 1935)
2011 – John McAleese , Scottish sergeant (b. 1949)
2012 – Russ Alben , American composer and businessman (b. 1929)
2012 – Reginald Bartholomew , American academic and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Italy (b. 1936)
2012 – Jacques Bensimon , Canadian director and producer (b. 1943)
2012 – Krzysztof Wilmanski , Polish-German physicist and academic (b. 1940)
2013 – Hélie de Saint Marc , French soldier (b. 1922)
2013 – John J. Gilligan , American soldier and politician, 62nd Governor of Ohio (b. 1921)
2013 – Bill Schmitz , American football player and coach (b. 1954)
2013 – Jack Sinagra , American lawyer and politician (b. 1950)
2013 – Clyde A. Wheeler , American soldier and politician (b. 1921)
2014 – Christian Bourquin , French lawyer and politician (b. 1954)
2014 – Peter Bacon Hales , American historian, photographer, and author (b. 1950)
2014 – Caroline Kellett , English journalist (b. 1960)
2014 – Chūsei Sone , Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1937)
2015 – Amelia Boynton Robinson , American activist (b. 1911)
2015 – Donald Eric Capps , American theologian, author, and academic (b. 1939)
2015 – P. J. Kavanagh , English poet and author (b. 1931)
2015 – Stefanos Manikas , Greek politician (b. 1952)
2015 – Francisco San Diego , Filipino bishop (b. 1935)
Holidays and observances
External links
Months and days of the year
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December