On This Day in History – September 26

Major Events

• 1580 – Sir Francis Drake completes his circumnavigation of the globe, returning to England.
• 1687 – The Parthenon in Athens is severely damaged during a Venetian bombardment in the Morean War.
• 1789 – Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first U.S. Secretary of State, John Jay as Chief Justice, and other inaugural cabinet members confirmed.
• 1905 – Albert Einstein publishes his paper on special relativity, revolutionizing physics.
• 1960 – The first televised U.S. presidential debate is held between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
• 1983 – Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov averts a potential nuclear war by judging a missile warning as a false alarm.
• 1984 – The United Kingdom and China agree on the terms of the 1997 handover of Hong Kong.
• 1997 – Garry Kasparov loses to IBM’s Deep Blue in a rematch, signaling advances in artificial intelligence.
• 2020 – Armenia and Azerbaijan engage in renewed conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Famous Birthdays

• 1181 – Saint Francis of Assisi, Italian Catholic friar and preacher (d. 1226)
• 1888 – T.S. Eliot, American-English poet and Nobel laureate (d. 1965)
• 1898 – George Gershwin, American composer (d. 1937)
• 1925 – Marty Robbins, American country singer (d. 1982)
• 1936 – Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, South African politician and activist (d. 2018)
• 1947 – Lynn Anderson, American country music singer (d. 2015)
• 1948 – Olivia Newton-John, British-Australian singer and actress (d. 2022)
• 1949 – Jane Smiley, American author
• 1956 – Linda Hamilton, American actress
• 1962 – Melissa Sue Anderson, American actress
• 1968 – Jim Caviezel, American actor
• 1981 – Serena Williams, American tennis player
• 1982 – Christina Milian, American singer and actress

Notable Deaths

• 1902 – Levi Strauss, German-American businessman (b. 1829)
• 1904 – Lafcadio Hearn, Greek-Japanese author (b. 1850)
• 1945 – Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (b. 1881)
• 1952 – George Santayana, Spanish-American philosopher and writer (b. 1863)
• 1973 – Anna Magnani, Italian actress (b. 1908)
• 1984 – Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, Polish general (b. 1895)
• 2008 – Paul Newman, American actor and philanthropist (b. 1925)
• 2016 – Arnold Palmer, American golfer (b. 1929)
• 2021 – Roger Michell, South African-British film director (b. 1956)

Holidays

• European Day of Languages (International)
• Dominion Day in New Zealand (historical)
• Johnny Appleseed Day (USA)
• Armed Forces Day in Yemen

Fun Facts

1. The first televised U.S. presidential debate in 1960 set a precedent for modern political campaigning.
2. Stanislav Petrov’s decision in 1983 is credited with preventing a potential nuclear exchange during the Cold War.
3. Einstein’s 1905 relativity paper is considered one of the most important scientific works of all time.
4. Francis Drake’s circumnavigation helped solidify England’s status as a naval power.