26 May
May 26 is the 146th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (147th in leap years). There are 219 days remaining before the end of the year.
Events
- 1328 - William of Ockham secretly leaves Avignon under threat from Pope John XXII.
- 1538 - Geneva throws out John Calvin.
- 1637 - Pequot War: an allied Puritan and Mohegan force under English Captain John Mason attacks a Pequot village in Connecticut, killing approximately 500 inhabitants.
- 1670 - In Dover, Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France. secretly sign a treaty ending hostilities between their kingdoms.
- 1736 - Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw Native Americans defeat French troops.
- 1805 - In Milan's cathedral, Napoleon I of France is crowned King of Italy.
- 1828 - Mysterious foundling Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg, Germany.
- 1830 - The Indian Removal Act was passed by the United States Congress.
- 1864 - Montana is organized as a United States territory.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.
- 1868 - The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ends, with Johnson being found not guilty by one vote.
- 1879 - Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.
- 1896 - Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia.
- 1896 - Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
- 1897 - The novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, goes on sale in London.
- 1906 - Vauxhall Bridge opened in London.
- 1908 - At Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.
- 1918 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.
- 1938 - The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its first session.
- 1940 - World War II: Battle of Dunkirk - In France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk.
- 1948 - The United States Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
- 1963 - The Organization of African Unity forms.
- 1966 - British Guiana gains independence, as Guyana.
- 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first manned moon landing.
- 1970 - The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
- 1972 - Willandra National Park is established in Australia.
- 1972 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
- 1978 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.
- 1986 - The European Community adopts the European flag.
- 1991 - A Lauda Air Boeing 767-300 explodes over rural Thailand killing 223.
- 2002 - The Mars Odyssey finds signs of huge water ice deposits on the planet Mars.
- 2002 - Álvaro Uribe becomes President of Colombia.
- 2003 - Only three days after a previous record, Sherpa Lakpa Gelu climbs Mount Everest in 10 hours 56 minutes. The tourism ministry of Nepal confirms this record in July that year.
Births
- 1566 - Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1603)
- 1650 - John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (d. 1722)
- 1667 - Abraham de Moivre, mathematician (d. 1754)
- 1700 - Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf (d. 1760)
- 1764 - Edward Livingston, jurist and statesman (d. 1836)
- 1799 - Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian author (d. 1837)
- 1822 - Edmond de Goncourt, writer (d. 1896)
- 1865 - Robert W. Chambers, artist (d. 1933)
- 1867 - Mary of Teck, queen consort of King George V of the United Kingdom (d. 1953)
- 1873 - Olaf Gulbransson, painter (d. 1958)
- 1878 - Isadora Duncan, dancer (d. 1927)
- 1886 - Al Jolson (d. 1950)
- 1887 - Paul Lukas, actor (d. 1971)
- 1893 - Norma Talmadge, actress (d. 1957)
- 1895 - Dorothea Lange, photographer (d. 1965)
- 1907 - John Wayne ("The Duke"), actor (d. 1979)
- 1908 - Robert Morley, actor (d. 1992)
- 1911 - Ben Alexander, actor (d. 1969)
- 1912 - Jay Silverheels, actor (d. 1980)
- 1913 - Peter Cushing, actor (d. 1994)
- 1916 - Henriette Roosenburg, journalist (d. 1972)
- 1920 - Peggy Lee, singer (d. 2002)
- 1923 - James Arness, actor
- 1923 - Roy Dotrice, actor
- 1926 - Miles Davis, musician (d. 1991)
- 1928 - Jack Kevorkian, physician
- 1939 - Brent Musburger, sports broadcaster
- 1941 - Cliff Drysdale, tennis star
- 1942 - Levon Helm, musician ("The Band")
- 1946 - Mick Ronson, guitarist (d. 1993)
- 1948 - Stevie Nicks, songwriter, actress
- 1949 - Philip Michael Thomas, actor
- 1949 - Hank Williams Jr., singer
- 1949 - Ward Cunningham, inventor of Wiki
- 1951 - Sally Ride, astronaut
- 1953 - Michael Portillo, politician
- 1955 - Morimoto Masaharu, Japanese chef (Iron Chef)
- 1955 - Doris Dörrie, actor and screenplay writer
- 1957 - Margaret Colin, actress
- 1958 - Pete Michaels, actor, comedian, ventriloquist
- 1962 - Bobcat Goldthwait, actor, comedian
- 1964 - Lenny Kravitz, guitarist, singer
- 1966 - Helena Bonham Carter, actress
- 1968 - Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
- 1971 - Matt Stone, Co-creator of South Park
Deaths
- 604 or 605 - Augustine of Canterbury
- 818 - Ali ar-Rida, Shia Imam (b. 766)
- 946 - King Edmund I of England (b. 921)
- 1648 - Vincent Voiture, poet (b. 1597)
- 1703 - Samuel Pepys, English civil servant, famous for his diary (b. 1633)
- 1824 - Capel Lofft, writer (b. 1751)
- 1881 - Jakob Bernays, philologist (b. 1824)
- 1883 - Edward Sabine, astronomer (b. 1788)
- 1902 - Almon Strowger, developed the Strowger switch (b. 1839)
- 1907 - Ida McKinley, First Lady of the United States (b. 1847)
- 1908 - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadi sect (b. 1839)
- 1924 - Victor Herbert, operetta composer (b. 1859)
- 1926 - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter, known mostly by the pogroms done when he ruled Ukraine (b. 1879)
- 1933 - Jimmie Rodgers, singer (b. 1897)
- 1943 - Edsel Ford, president of the Ford Motor Company (b. 1893)
- 1976 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (b. 1889)
- 1995 - Friz Freleng, animator (b. 1905)
- 1999 - Waldo Semon, inventor (b. 1898)
- 2002 - Mamo Wolde, marathon runner (b. 1932)
- 2003 - Kathleen Winsor, novelist (b. 1919)
Holidays and observances
May 25 - May 27 - April 26 - June 26 - listing of all days
