March 26
is the
85th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (86th in
leap years). There are 280 days remaining.
*
1026 -
Pope John XIX crowns
Conrad II as
Holy Roman Emperor.
*
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.
*
2001 - The very last broadcast of
WCW Monday Night Nitro is held on TNT in
Panama City Beach,
Florida.
*
2005 - Return of
Doctor Who after 16-year absence.
*
2006 - In
Scotland the prohibition of
smoking in all public places came into force.
*
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)
*
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)
*
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)
*
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
*
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
*
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 andsongwriter
*
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
*
1970 -
Mark Osher, Australian writer
*
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
*
1985 -
Keira Knightley, English actress
* 1985 -
Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwean Off Spinner
*
1987 -
YUI, Japanese musician
*
1991 -
Brittney Wilson, Canadian actress
*
922 -
Al-Hallaj, Persian Sufi teacher and writer
*
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)
*
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)
*
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)
*
Zoroastrianism -
Prophet Zoroaster's Birthday.
*
Prince Kuhio Day in
HawaiiLiturgical feasts
Catholic:
*
Saint Emmanuel (died 304)
*
Saint Ludger*
Saint Larissa Orthodox Christian liturgical calendar - Synaxis of St.
Gabriel the Archangel*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaMarch 25 -
March 27 -
February 26 -
April 26 --
listing of all days
