This Day in History on 26 August
The historical events hold a lot of value for aspirants who are sitting for UPSC competitive exams including the IAS Exam.
On this page, we will list all historical events that occurred on 26 August. The students can refer to them while preparing for all competitive exams and banking exams.
Important Days
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Important Events
1303: Allauddin Khilji captured Chittorgarh. Alauddin Khilji captured Chittorhgarh after defeating Rana Bhim Singh. Before the capture, Padmini, the beautiful queen along with several hundred females, had sacrificed herself in fire (Jouhar Pratha). This whole battle was fought due to Padmini.
1498: Michelanjelo, Italian sculptor Started sculpturing famous ‘Pieta’.
1748: The first Lutheran synod was found in the America.
1768: Captain James Cook stated sail from England on board HMS Endeavour.
1789: The French Assembly adopted the declaration of the Rights of Man.
1852: Bombay Association was established.
1883: Eruption of Krakatoa Volcano, caused around 36,000 deaths.
1920: US legislature ratified the Nineteenth Amendment giving American woman right to vote.
1936: The first high definition television programs seen in Britain were transmitted today from the BBC studios at Alexandra Palace, London, to the Radio show at Olympia (Radiolympia).
1952: The Soviets announced the first successful intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) tests had taken place.
1984: An Indian Airlines Boeing with 68 passengers and a crew of six hijacked to Lahore. The 12 Sikh hijackers then surrendered to the authorities in the U.A.E and released all the passengers.
1988: American swimmer Lynne Cox crossed the 11 mile (17.5 km) wide Lake Baikal in Siberia in 4 hours. 20 minutes. The first long swim in a cold water lake.
1996: Supreme Court asks Harshad Mehta to pay Rs. 217 crore to the Income Tax department.
1997: Employee Provident Fund scheme of 1952 amended to ensure that all PF claims are settled within 30 days from the date of receipt of claims by the PF Commissioner.
1997: Vice President Krishan Kant takes over as Chairman of Rajya Sabha.
1997: Commander of Uri sector Brigadier Jasbir Singh Lidder and another senior army officer have a narrow escape as Pakistani troops fire on their cavalcade at Chakori near LOC in J&K.
2000: Vijay Kumar wins the Hindu Open Golf championship at the Cosmopolitan Club in Chennai.
Birth/Birth Anniversary
1740: Josef Michel Montgolfier, French inventor and pioneer of the hot balloon with his brother Jacques Etienne Montgolfier.
1743: Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist. He is widely considered in popular literature as the “father of modern chemistry”
1819: Prince Albert, Bavarian-born consort to Queen Victoria, patron of the arts and organizer of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
1873: Lee De Forest, the American radio and television pioneer, and inventor of the Audion vacuum tube, which made broadcasting possible.
1874: Ishwar Sharan Munshi, politician and philosopher, was born.
1883: Thiruvarur Viruttachala Kalyanasundaram. Tamil scholar, activist, and essayist.
1883: Algernon Lyons, a senior Royal Navy officer who served as First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria.
1891: Acharya Chatursen Shastri, Indian author and playwright (d. 1960)
1909: Dr.Moti Chandra, great historian, was born.
1910: Mother Teresa, Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun, and missionary. Noble Prize laureate and honoured with India’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.
1914: Bengali revolutionaries looted 46,000 bullet ammunition and pistols from Calcutta Port for their revolutionary activities.
1918: Katherine Johnson, American physicist, and mathematician. Calculations of Orbital Mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights.
1927: Second Radio Centre was started in Calcutta.
1928: Om Prakash Munjal, Indian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Hero Cycles (d. 2015)
1947: Nawab of Bhopal announced accession of the Bhopal state to the Indian Dominion.
1949: Social Democratic Party led by K. T. Shah formed.
1956: Menaka Gandhi, Indian Politician.
Death/ Death Anniversary
1723: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch microscopist and biologist. Commonly known as ‘Father of microbiology’.
1910: William James, American philosopher. The first educator to introduce the psychology course in the U.S.
1967: Dilawar Hussain, cricketer (Indian wicket-keeper in the 1930’s), passed away.
1969: S. S. Vasan, an Indian journalist, writer, advertiser, film producer, director, and business tycoon.
1972: Sir Francis Chichester, English yachtsman who was the first old age pensioner to sail around the world singlehanded.
1974: Charles Lindbergh. American pilot and explorer. He is famous for winning the Orteig Prize for making a nonstop flight from New York City to Paris.
1975: Dr. Narayan Subbarao Hardikar, freedom fighter, journalist and Padmabhushan awardee, died.
1997: Josef Burr Tyrreff, Canadian Geologist. He discovered the bones of the Albertosaurus dinosaur.
1980: Tex Avery, American cartoonist, and director. Known for producing and directing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. He created the classic cartoon characters, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig.
1993: Roy Raymond, American Businessman. He founded Victoria’s Secret lingerie retail store in California in 1977.
2012: A. K. Hangal, Indian film actor and freedom fighter.