Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
April 26
757 | Stephen II ends his reign as Catholic Pope. | |
1478 | Pazzi conspirators attack Lorenzo and kill Giuliano de’Medici. | |
1514 | Copernicus makes his first observations of Saturn. | |
1564 | William Shakespeare is baptized. | |
1607 | The British establish a colony at Cape Henry, Virginia. | |
1865 | Joseph E. Johnston surrenders the Army of Tennessee to Sherman. | |
1915 | Second Lieutenant Rhodes-Moorhouse becomes the first airman to win the Victoria Cross after conducting a successful bombing raid. | |
1929 | The first non-stop flight from England to India is completed. | |
1931 | New York Yankee Lou Gehrig hits a home run but is called out for passing a runner, the mistake ultimately costs him the home run record. | |
1937 | The ancient Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain is bombed by German planes. | |
1941 | The first organ is played at a baseball stadium in Chicago. | |
1968 | Students seize the administration building at Ohio State University. | |
1983 | The Dow Jones Industrial Average breaks 1,200 for first time. | |
1986 | The world’s worst nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl power plant in the Soviet Union. | |
1994 | Nelson Mandela wins the presidency in South Africa’s first multiracial elections. | |
Born on April 26 | ||
1718 | Esek Hopkins, first commodore of the United States Navy. | |
1785 | John James Audubon, artist and naturalist. | |
1812 | Alfred Krupp, German arms merchant. | |
1822 | Frederick Law Olmstead, landscape architect, designed New York’s central park. | |
1875 | Syngman Rhee, South Korean statesman. | |
1893 | Anita Loos, novelist and screenwriter (Gentleman Prefer Blondes). | |
1894 | Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader. | |
1900 | Charles Richter, physicist and seismologist. | |
1914 | Bernard Malamud, novelist and short story writer (The Natural).
Historynet.com |