Events

Pre-1600

• 747 BC According to Ptolemy, the epoch (origin) of the Nabonassar Era began at noon on this date. Historians use this to establish the modern BC chronology for dating historic events.

• 320 Chandragupta I is officially crowned as the first Gupta Emperor.

• 364 Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.

• 1074 Battle of Kemej: The royal army of Solomon, King of Hungary defeats the force of his rebellious cousin Duke Géza.

• 1266 Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.

• 1365 The Ava Kingdom and the royal city of Ava (Inwa) were founded by King Thado Minbya.

1601–1900

• 1606 The Janszoon voyage of 1605–06 becomes the first European expedition to set foot on Australia, although it is mistaken as a part of New Guinea.

• 1616 Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.

• 1775 The British East India Company factory on Balambangan Island is destroyed by Moro pirates.

• 1794 The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.

• 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba.

• 1870 The Beach Pneumatic Transit in New York City, intended as a demonstration for a subway line, opens.

• 1876 Japan and Korea sign the Treaty of Kangwha, which grants Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights in Korea, opens three Korean ports to Japanese trade, and ends Korea's status as a tributary state of Qing dynasty China.

1901–present

• 1909 Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.

• 1914 , sister to the , is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

• 1919 President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park.

• 1929 President Calvin Coolidge signs legislation establishing the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

• 1935 Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

• 1935 Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom.

• 1936 In the February 26 Incident, young nationalist Japanese military officers assassinate multiple cabinet statesmen and start a rebellion in downtown Tokyo, which is ended 3 days later.

• 1945 World War II: US troops reclaim the Philippine island of Corregidor from the Japanese.

• 1952 Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.

• 1960 A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.

• 1960 A Kyiv-bound Aeroflot airliner crashes on approach to Snilow Airport in Lviv, killing 32 of the 33 people on board.

• 1966 Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket.

• 1971 U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.

• 1979 The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak.

• 1980 Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.

• 1987 Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.

• 1992 First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.

• 1993 World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people.

• 1995 The UK's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a rogue securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.

• 2008 The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea; this was the first such event to take place in North Korea.

• 2012 A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45.

• 2012 Seventeen-year-old African-American student Trayvon Martin is shot to death by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in an altercation in Sanford, Florida.

• 2013 A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.

• 2019 Indian Air Force fighter-jets target Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camps in Balakot, Pakistan.

• 2021 A total of 279 female students aged between 10 and 17 are kidnapped by bandits in the Zamfara kidnapping in Zamfara State, Nigeria.

• 2026 The government of Pakistan declares "open war" against the Taliban in Afghanistan, initiating the 2026 Afghanistan–Pakistan War.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1361 Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (died 1419)

• 1416 Christopher of Bavaria (died 1448)

• 1564 Christopher Marlowe, English playwright, poet and translator (died 1593)

• 1584 Albert VI, Duke of Bavaria (died 1666)

• 1587 Stefano Landi, Italian composer and educator (died 1639)

1601–1900

• 1629 Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, Scottish peer (died 1685)

• 1651 Quirinus Kuhlmann, German Baroque poet and mystic (died 1689)

• 1671 Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English philosopher and politician (died 1713)

• 1672 Antoine Augustin Calmet, French monk and theologian (died 1757)

• 1677 Nicola Fago, Italian composer and teacher (died 1745)

• 1714 Biagio Bellotti, Italian painter and architect (died 1789)

• 1718 Johan Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop, botanist and zoologist (died 1773)

• 1720 Gian Francesco Albani, Italian cardinal (died 1803)

• 1729 Anders Chydenius, Finnish economist, philosopher and Lutheran priest (died 1803)

• 1746 Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma (died 1804)

• 1770 Anton Reicha, Bohemian composer and flautist (died 1836)

• 1777 Matija Nenadović, Serbian priest, historian, and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Serbia (died 1854)

• 1786 François Arago, French mathematician and politician, 25th Prime Minister of France (died 1853)

• 1802 Victor Hugo, French author, poet, and playwright (died 1885)

• 1808 Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator, and sculptor (died 1879)

• 1808 Nathan Kelley, American architect, designed the Ohio Statehouse (died 1871)

• 1829 Levi Strauss, German-American fashion designer, founded Levi Strauss & Co. (died 1902)

• 1842 Camille Flammarion, French astronomer and author (died 1925)

• 1846 Buffalo Bill, American soldier and hunter (died 1917)

• 1852 John Harvey Kellogg, American surgeon, co-created Corn flakes (died 1943)

• 1857 Émile Coué, French psychologist and pharmacist (died 1926)

• 1861 Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (died 1948)

• 1861 Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian soldier and politician (died 1939)

• 1866 Herbert Henry Dow, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Dow Chemical Company (died 1930)

• 1866 Gustave Mathieu, French anarchist illegalist, suspected of being one of Ravachol's main accomplices (died 1947)

• 1871 Matti Turkia, Finnish politician (died 1946)

• 1877 Henry Barwell, Australian politician, 28th Premier of South Australia (died 1959)

• 1877 Rudolph Dirks, German-American illustrator (died 1968)

• 1879 Frank Bridge, English viola player and composer (died 1941)

• 1880 Kenneth Edgeworth, Irish astronomer (died 1972)

• 1881 Janus Djurhuus, Faroese poet (died 1948)

• 1882 Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (died 1968)

• 1885 Aleksandras Stulginskis, Lithuanian farmer and politician, 2nd President of Lithuania (died 1969)

• 1887 Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player and coach (died 1950)

• 1887 William Frawley, American actor and vaudevillian (died 1966)

• 1887 Stefan Grabiński, Polish author and educator (died 1936)

• 1893 Wallace Fard Muhammad, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Islam (disappeared 1934)

• 1893 Dorothy Whipple, English novelist (died 1966)

• 1896 Andrei Zhdanov, Ukrainian-Russian civil servant and politician (died 1948)

• 1899 Max Petitpierre, Swiss jurist and politician, 54th President of the Swiss Confederation (died 1994)

• 1900 Halina Konopacka, Polish discus thrower and poet (died 1989)

• 1900 Fritz Wiessner, German-American mountaineer (died 1988)

1901–present

• 1902 Jean Bruller, French author and illustrator, co-founded Les Éditions de Minuit (died 1991)

• 1903 Giulio Natta, Italian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1979)

• 1903 Orde Wingate, English general (died 1944)

• 1906 Madeleine Carroll, English actress (died 1987)

• 1908 Tex Avery, American animator, producer, and voice actor (died 1980)

• 1908 Nestor Mesta Chayres, Mexican operatic tenor and bolero vocalist (died 1971)

• 1908 Jean-Pierre Wimille, French racing driver (died 1949)

• 1909 Fanny Cradock, English chef, author, and critic (died 1994)

• 1909 Talal of Jordan (died 1972)

• 1910 Vic Woodley, English footballer (died 1978)

• 1911 Tarō Okamoto, Japanese painter and sculptor (died 1996)

• 1914 Robert Alda, American actor, singer, and director (died 1986)

• 1918 Otis Bowen, American physician and politician, 44th Governor of Indiana (died 2013)

• 1918 Pyotr Masherov, Leader of Soviet Belarus (died 1980)

• 1918 Theodore Sturgeon, American author and critic (died 1985)

• 1919 Mason Adams, American actor (died 2005)

• 1920 Danny Gardella, American baseball player and trainer (died 2005)

• 1920 Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist and author (died 2006)

• 1921 - Betty Hutton, American actress, singer, dancer and comedian (died 2007)

• 1922 Bill Johnston, Australian cricketer and businessman (died 2007)

• 1922 Margaret Leighton, English actress (died 1976)

• 1924 Marc Bucci, American composer, lyricist, and dramatist (died 2002)

• 1924 Noboru Takeshita, Japanese soldier and politician, 74th Prime Minister of Japan (died 2000)

• 1925 Everton Weekes, Barbadian cricketer and referee (died 2020)

• 1926 Doris Belack, American actress (died 2011)

• 1926 Verne Gagne, American football player, wrestler, and trainer (died 2015)

• 1926 Henry Molaison, American medical patient (died 2008)

• 1927 Tom Kennedy, American game show host and actor (died 2020)

• 1928 Fats Domino, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2017)

• 1928 Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (died 2014)

• 1931 Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer and manager (died 2004)

• 1933 James Goldsmith, French-British businessman and politician (died 1997)

• 1934 Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Algerian director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2025)

• 1936 José Policarpo, Portuguese cardinal (died 2014)

• 1937 Paul Dickson, American football player and coach (died 2011)

• 1939 Chuck Wepner, American boxer

• 1940 Oldřich Kulhánek, Czech painter, illustrator, and stage designer (died 2013)

• 1942 Jozef Adamec, Slovak footballer and manager (died 2018)

• 1943 Paul Cotton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2021)

• 1943 Dante Ferretti, Italian art director and costume designer

• 1943 Bob Hite, American singer-songwriter and musician (died 1981)

• 1944 Christopher Hope, South African author and poet

• 1944 Ronald Lauder, American businessman and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Austria

• 1945 Peter Brock, Australian racing driver (died 2006)

• 1946 Colin Bell, English footballer (died 2021)

• 1946 Bingo Smith, American basketball player (died 2023)

• 1946 Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016)

• 1947 Sandie Shaw, English singer and psychotherapist

• 1948 Sharyn McCrumb, American author

• 1949 Simon Crean, Australian trade union leader and politician, 14th Australian Minister for the Arts (died 2023)

• 1949 Elizabeth George, American author and educator

• 1949 Emma Kirkby, English soprano

• 1950 Helen Clark, New Zealand academic and politician, 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand

• 1950 Billy Steinberg, American songwriter (died 2026)

• 1951 Wayne Goss, Australian lawyer and politician, 34th Premier of Queensland (died 2014)

• 1953 Barbara Niven, American actress and writer

• 1954 Prince Ernst August of Hanover, head of the House of Hanover

• 1955 Andreas Maislinger, Austrian historian and academic, founded the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service

• 1956 Michel Houellebecq, French author, poet, screenwriter, and director

• 1957 David Beasley, American lawyer and politician, 113th Governor of South Carolina

• 1957 Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player and coach

• 1957 John Jude Palencar, American artist and illustrator

• 1957 Keena Rothhammer, American swimmer

• 1958 Liza 'N' Eliaz, Belgian, transgender, hardcore DJ (died 2001)

• 1958 Susan Helms, American general, engineer, and astronaut

• 1958 Tim Kaine, American lawyer and politician, 70th Governor of Virginia

• 1959 Rolando Blackman, Panamanian-American basketball player

• 1959 Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkish political scientist, academic, and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Turkey

• 1960 Jaz Coleman, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer

• 1962 Ahn Cheol-soo, South Korean physician, academic, and politician

• 1965 James Mitchell, American wrestler and manager

• 1966 Garry Conille, Haitian physician and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Haiti

• 1966 Marc Fortier, French-Canadian ice hockey player

• 1966 Najwa Karam, Lebanese singer

• 1967 Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese footballer

• 1967 Gene Principe, Canadian sports reporter and broadcaster

• 1968 Leif Rohlin, Swedish ice hockey player

• 1969 Hitoshi Sakimoto, Japanese composer and producer

• 1970 Predrag Danilović, Serbian basketball player and executive

• 1970 Mark Harper, English accountant and politician, former Secretary of State for Transport and former Minister of State for Immigration

• 1971 Max Martin, Swedish-American record producer and songwriter

• 1971 Hélène Segara, French singer-songwriter and actress

• 1973 Marshall Faulk, American football player

• 1973 Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Norwegian footballer and manager

• 1973 Jenny Thompson, American swimmer

• 1974 Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, Filipina television actress, host and equestrienne

• 1974 Sébastien Loeb, French racing driver

• 1975 P. J. Axelsson, Swedish ice hockey player

• 1976 Nalini Anantharaman, French mathematician

• 1976 Chad Urmston, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

• 1977 Marty Reasoner, American ice hockey player and coach

• 1977 Tim Thomas, American basketball player

• 1977 Shane Williams, Welsh rugby union player

• 1978 Abdoulaye Faye, Senegalese footballer

• 1979 Steve Evans, Welsh footballer

• 1979 Pedro Mendes, Portuguese footballer

• 1980 Steve Blake, American basketball player

• 1981 Kevin Dallman, Canadian-Kazakhstani ice hockey player

• 1981 Kertus Davis, American race car driver

• 1981 Simon Maljevac, Slovenian politician

• 1981 Robert Mathis, American football player

• 1981 Oh Seung-bum, South Korean footballer

• 1981 Sharon Van Etten, American singer-songwriter, musician and actress

• 1982 Li Na, Chinese tennis player

• 1982 Matt Prior, South African-English cricketer

• 1983 Jerome Harrison, American football player

• 1983 Pepe, Brazilian-Portuguese footballer

• 1984 Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese footballer

• 1984 Beren Saat, Turkish actress

• 1985 Fernando Llorente, Spanish footballer

• 1986 Mārtiņš Karsums, Latvian ice hockey player

• 1986 Hannah Kearney, American skier

• 1989 Gabriel Obertan, French footballer

• 1990 Takanoiwa Yoshimori, Mongolian sumo wrestler

• 1991 Lee Chae-rin, South Korean singer

• 1991 Kevin Plawecki, American baseball player

• 1992 Mikael Granlund, Finnish hockey player

• 1993 Morgan Gautrat, American soccer player

• 1994 Jacob Trouba, American ice hockey player

• 1994 Mahra Al Maktoum, Emirati princess.

• 1997 Jessie Bates, American football player

• 2000 Yeat, American rapper

• 2002 Gerard Martín, Spanish footballer

• 2002 César Tárrega, Spanish footballer

• 2003 Jamal Musiala, German footballer

• 2004 Bibisara Assaubayeva, Kazakhstani chess grandmaster

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 420 Porphyry of Gaza, Greek bishop and saint (born 347)

• 943 Muirchertach mac Néill, King of Ailech (Ireland)

• 1154 Roger II of Sicily (born 1095)

• 1266 Manfred, King of Sicily (born 1232)

• 1275 Margaret of England, Queen consort of Scots (born 1240)

• 1349 Fatima bint al-Ahmar, Nasrid princess in the Emirate of Granada (born c.1260)

• 1360 Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English commander (born 1328)

• 1462 John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, English politician (born 1408)

• 1548 Lorenzino de' Medici, Italian writer and assassin (born 1514)

• 1577 Eric XIV of Sweden (born 1533)

1601–1900

• 1603 Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, spouse of Maximilian II (born 1528)

• 1608 John Still, English bishop (born 1543)

• 1611 Antonio Possevino, Italian priest and diplomat (born 1533)

• 1625 Anna Vasa of Sweden, Polish and Swedish princess (born 1568)

• 1630 William Brade, English violinist and composer (born 1560)

• 1638 Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician and linguist (born 1581)

• 1723 Thomas d'Urfey, English poet and playwright (born 1653)

• 1726 Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (born 1662)

• 1770 Giuseppe Tartini, Italian violinist and composer (born 1692)

• 1790 Joshua Rowley, English admiral (born 1730)

• 1802 Esek Hopkins, American admiral (born 1718)

• 1806 Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, Haitian-French general (born 1762)

• 1813 Robert R. Livingston, American lawyer and politician, 1st United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs (born 1746)

• 1815 Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (born 1737)

• 1821 Joseph de Maistre, French lawyer and diplomat (born 1753)

• 1839 Sybil Ludington, American figure of the American Revolutionary War (born 1761)

• 1864 Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Canadian jurist and politician, 3rd Premier of Canada East (born 1807)

• 1869 Afzal-ud-Daulah, Asaf Jah V, 5th Nizam of Hyderabad State (born 1827)

• 1883 Alexandros Koumoundouros, Greek lawyer and politician, 56th Prime Minister of Greece (born 1817)

• 1887 Anandi Gopal Joshi, First Indian women physician (born 1865)

• 1889 Karl Davydov, Russian cellist and composer (born 1838)

• 1895 Kathinka Kraft, Norwegian memoirist (born 1826)

1901–present

• 1903 Richard Jordan Gatling, American engineer, invented the Gatling gun (born 1818)

• 1906 Jean Lanfray, Swiss convicted murderer (born 1874)

• 1913 Felix Draeseke, German composer and academic (born 1835)

• 1921 Carl Menger, Polish-Austrian economist and academic (born 1840)

• 1930 Mary Whiton Calkins, American philosopher and psychologist (born 1863)

• 1931 Otto Wallach, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1847)

1936 February 26 Incident:

• Takahashi Korekiyo, Japanese accountant and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Japan (born 1854)

• Saitō Makoto, Japanese admiral and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Japan (born 1858)

• Jōtarō Watanabe, Japanese general (born 1874)

• 1943 Potato Creek Johnny, American gold prospector (born 1866)

• 1943 Theodor Eicke, German general (born 1892)

• 1945 Sándor Szurmay, Minister of Defence of the Hungarian portion of Austria-Hungary (born 1860)

• 1947 Heinrich Häberlin, Swiss judge and politician, President of the Swiss National Council (born 1868)

• 1950 Harry Lauder, Scottish comedian and singer (born 1870)

• 1951 Sabiha Kasimati, Albanian ichthyologist (born 1912) executed with 21 others

• 1952 Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general and politician, President of Greece (born 1878)

• 1961 Karl Albiker, German sculptor, lithographer, and educator (born 1878)

• 1961 Mohammed V of Morocco (born 1909)

• 1966 Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian poet and politician (born 1883)

• 1969 Levi Eshkol, Israeli soldier and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Israel (born 1895)

• 1969 Karl Jaspers, German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher (born 1883)

• 1981 Robert Aickman, English author and activist (born 1914)

• 1981 Howard Hanson, American composer, conductor, and educator (born 1896)

• 1985 Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch-American economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1910)

• 1989 Roy Eldridge, American trumpet player (born 1911)

• 1993 Constance Ford, American model and actress (born 1923)

• 1994 Bill Hicks, American comedian (born 1961)

• 1995 Jack Clayton, English director and producer (born 1921)

• 1997 David Doyle, American actor (born 1929)

• 1998 Theodore Schultz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902)

• 2000 George L. Street III, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1913)

• 2000 Raosaheb Gogte, Indian industrialist (born 1916)

• 2002 Lawrence Tierney, American actor (born 1919)

• 2004 Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (born 1905)

• 2004 Boris Trajkovski, Macedonian politician, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia (born 1956)

• 2005 Jef Raskin, American computer scientist, created Macintosh (born 1943)

• 2006 Georgina Battiscombe, British biographer (born 1905)

• 2008 Bodil Udsen, Danish actress (born 1925)

• 2009 Johnny Kerr, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (born 1932)

• 2009 Wendy Richard, English actress (born 1943)

• 2009 Norm Van Lier, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (born 1947)

• 2010 Jun Seba, also known as "Nujabes", Japanese record producer, DJ, composer and arranger (born 1974)

• 2011 Arnošt Lustig, Czech author, playwright, and screenwriter (born 1926)

• 2012 Richard Carpenter, English actor and screenwriter (born 1929)

• 2013 Marie-Claire Alain, French organist and educator (born 1926)

• 2013 Stéphane Hessel, German-French diplomat and author (born 1917)

• 2013 Simon Li, Hong Kong judge and politician (born 1922)

• 2014 Sorel Etrog, Romanian-Canadian sculptor, painter, and illustrator (born 1933)

• 2014 Phyllis Krasilovsky, American author and academic (born 1927)

• 2015 Sheppard Frere, English historian and archaeologist (born 1916)

• 2015 Theodore Hesburgh, American priest, theologian, educator, and academic (born 1917)

• 2015 Earl Lloyd, American basketball player and coach (born 1928)

• 2015 Tom Schweich, American lawyer and politician, 36th State Auditor of Missouri (born 1960)

• 2016 Andy Bathgate, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (born 1932)

• 2016 Don Getty, Canadian football player and politician, 11th Premier of Alberta (born 1933)

• 2017 Joseph Wapner, American judge and TV personality (born 1919)

• 2025 Michelle Trachtenberg, American actress (born 1985)

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day:

• Alexander of Alexandria

• Emily Malbone Morgan (Episcopal Church (USA))

• Isabelle of France

• Li Tim-Oi (Anglican Church of Canada)

• Paula Montal Fornés

• Porphyry of Gaza

• February 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Day of Remembrance for Victims of Khojaly Massacre (Azerbaijan)

• Liberation Day (Kuwait)

• Saviours' Day (Nation of Islam)

References

External links

• BBC: On This Day

• Historical Events on February 26