March 26

March 26 is the 85th day of the year (86th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 280 days remaining until the end of the year.

• 590 - Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
• 1027 - Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor is crowned.
• 1169 - Saladin becomes Emir of Egypt.
• 1344 - The Siege of Algeciras, one of the first European military engagements where gunpowder was used, comes to an end.
• 1351 - Combat of the Thirty: 30 Breton knights call out and defeat 30 English knights
• 1511 - An earthquake on the Balkan peninsula and Italy kills 6,000 people.
• 1552 – Guru Amar Das becomes the third Sikh Guru.
• 1636 – Utrecht University is founded in the Netherlands.
• 1808 – Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favour of his son, Ferdinand VII.
• 1812 – Caracas, Venezuela, is destroyed in an earthquake, killing 12,000 people.
• 1830 – The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, New York.
• 1839 – The first Henley Royal Regatta is held.
• 1866 - Carol I becomes Prince of Romania.
• 1872 – An earthquake kills 27 people in Lone Pine, California.
• 1881 – The Principality of Romania declares itself a Kingdom.
• 1885 - The Metis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel begin the North-West Rebellion against Canada.
• 1898 – Kruger National Park is founded in South Africa.

• 1913 - Gas explosions occur after the floods in Dayton, Ohio.
• 1917 - World War I: The Battle of Gaza takes place.
• 1931 – SwissAir is founded.
• 1934 – The Driving Test is introduced in the United Kingdom.
• 1939 - Spanish Civil War: Nationalists under Francisco Franco begin their final offensive of the war.
• 1942 – The first female prisoners arrive at Auschwitz.
• 1945 – The US declares Iwo Jima secure.
• 1958 - The United States Army launches Explorer 3.
• 1971 – East Pakistan declares independence under the name of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Liberation War begins.
• 1973 – The Young and The Restless airs for the first time.
• 1974 - In Caracas, Venezuela, George Foreman wins the Heavyweight Boxing title against Ken Norton.
• 1975 - The Biological Weapons Convention comes into force.
• 1976 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom sends the first royal email.
• 1979 – Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin, and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, DC.
• 1980 - Arianespace, European space organization, is founded.
• 1982 - The foundation stone is laid for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.
• 1991 – The Mercosur Common Market is founded by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
• 1995 – The Schengen Treaty comes into effect.
• 1997 – Members of the Heaven's Gate cult commit suicide.
• 1998 - Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria: 52 people, including 32 children under the age of two, are murdered with knives and axes.
• 1999 – The Melissa worm infects Microsoft Word Processing and email systems.
• 1999 – A jury in Michigan finds Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.
• 2000 – Vladimir Putin is elected President of Russia.
• 2000 - Greece joins the Schengen Treaty.

• 2006 – Burma's military junta moves its seat, capital city, from Rangoon to Naypyidaw in the Mandalay Division.
• 2006 – Smoking is banned in all public places in Scotland.
• 2009 - In New York City, the Freedom Tower, still under construction, is renamed One World Trade Center.
• 2010 – The South Korean warship ROKS Cheonan sinks, killing 46 seamen. It is believed that a North Korean torpedo was responsible.
• 2015 - King Richard III of England is reburied at Leicester Cathedral. His remains had been found in a car park in the city in 2012.
• 2015 - Germanwings Flight 9525: It is revealed that the plane's co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed it two days earlier, in the French Alps.

• 603 – Pacal II, Mayan ruler (d. 683)
• 1031 - King Malcolm III of Scotland (d. 1093)
• 1516 – Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (d. 1565)
• 1554 - Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, French military leader (d. 1611)
• 1634 - Domenico Freschi, Italian composer (d. 1710)
• 1687 - Sophia Dorothea of Hanover (d. 1757)
• 1698 - Prokop Divis, Czech theologian and natural scientist (d. 1765)
• 1740 - Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., Governor of Connecticut (d. 1809)
• 1749 - William Blount, American politician (d. 1800)
• 1753 - Benjamin Thompson, American physicist and inventor (d. 1814)
• 1773 - Nathaniel Bowditch, American mathematician and navigator (d. 1838)
• 1784 - John W. Taylor, American politician (d. 1854)

• 1814 - Charles Mackay, Scottish poet, journalist and writer (d. 1889)
• 1819 - Louise Otto-Peters, German writer and social activist (d. 1895)
• 1819 - Prince George, Duke of Cambridge (d. 1904)
• 1849 – Armand Peugeot, French businessman (d. 1915)
• 1854 - Maurice Lecoq, French target shooter (d. 1925)
• 1856 - William Massey, 19th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1925)
• 1858 - Luis Barros Borgono, President of Chile (d. 1943)
• 1859 - Alfred Edward Housman, English poet (d. 1936)
• 1859 – Adolf Hurwitz, German mathematician (d. 1919)
• 1860 - André Prévost, French tennis player (d. 1919)
• 1866 - Fred Karno, English theatre producer (d. 1941)
• 1868 – King Fuad I of Egypt (d. 1936)
• 1871 – Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole, Hawaiian prince and politician (d. 1922)
• 1873 - Dorothea Bleek, South African-German anthropologist and philologist (d. 1948)
• 1874 – Robert Frost, American poet (d. 1963)
• 1874 – Oskar Nedbal, Bohemian composer and conductor (d. 1930)
• 1875 – Max Abraham, German physicist (d. 1922)
• 1875 – Rhee Syng-man, President of South Korea (d. 1965)
• 1876 – William, Prince of Albania (d. 1945)
• 1879 - Othmar Ammann, Swiss-American engineer (d. 1965)
• 1879 - Waldemar Tietgens, German rower (d. 1917)
• 1881 - Guccio Gucci, Italian businessman and fashion designer (d. 1953)
• 1882 – Hermann Obrecht, Swiss jurist (d. 1940)
• 1884 – Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist (d. 1969)
• 1893 – Palmiro Togliatti, Italian Communist leader (d. 1964)
• 1893 - James Bryant Conant, American chemist, academic and diplomat (d. 1978)
• 1894 - Viorica Ursuleac, Romanian operatic soprano (d. 1985)
• 1896 – Rudolf Dassler, German sportswear executive (d. 1974)
• 1900 - Giovanni Urbani, Archbishop of Venice (d. 1969)

• 1904 – Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist and politician (d. 2004)
• 1904 – Attilio Ferraris, Italian footballer (d. 1947)
• 1904 - Joseph Campbell, American professor and writer (d. 1987)
• 1905 - Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (d. 1997)
• 1907 - Leigh Harline, American movie score composer (d. 1969)
• 1908 – Franz Stangl, Nazi Concentration Camp commandant (d. 1971)
• 1911 – Bernard Katz, German biophysicist (d. 2003)
• 1911 - J. L. Austin, British philosopher (d. 1960)
• 1911 - Robert B. Crosby, Governor of Nebraska (d. 2000)
• 1911 – Tennessee Williams, American writer and playwright (d. 1983)
• 1913 – Paul Erdős, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1996)
• 1913 - Jacqueline de Romilly, French philologist, classical scholar and fiction writer (d. 2010)
• 1914 - William Westmoreland, American military commander (d. 2005)
• 1915 - Hwang Sunwon, Korean writer (d. 2000)
• 1916 – Christian B. Anfinsen, American chemist (d. 1995)
• 1916 - Harry Rabinowitz, South African-American composer and conductor (d. 2016)
• 1917 - Rufus Thomas, American blues musician (d. 2001)
• 1920 - Sergio Livingstone, Chilean footballer (d. 2012)
• 1922 - William Milliken, American politician, former Governor of Michigan (d. 2019)
• 1923 – Gert Bastian, German politician (d. 1992)
• 1923 - Bob Elliott, American actor and comedian (d. 2016)
• 1923 - Elizabeth Jane Howard, British writer (d. 2014)
• 1925 – Pierre Boulez, French composer and conductor (d. 2016)
• 1925 – James Moody, American jazz musician (d. 2010)
• 1925 - Vesta Roy, Governor of New Hampshire (d. 2002)
• 1929 - Tom Foley, American politician (d. 2013)
• 1930 - Gregory Corso, American poet (d. 2001)
• 1930 – Sandra Day O'Connor, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
• 1931 – Leonard Nimoy, American actor (d. 2015)
• 1933 - Tinto Brass, Italian movie director and screenwriter
• 1934 – Alan Arkin, American actor
• 1935 – Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian politician
• 1936 - Giora Feidman, Israeli clarinetist
• 1937 - Ahmed Qurei, Palestinian politician
• 1937 - James Lee, 26th Premier of Prince Edward Island
• 1937 - Wayne Embry, American basketball player and manager
• 1938 – Anthony James Leggett, British-American physicist
• 1940 – James Caan, American actor
• 1940 – Nancy Pelosi, American politician
• 1941 – Richard Dawkins, British evolutionary biologist
• 1942 - Erica Jong, American novelist and poet
• 1943 - Bob Woodward, American journalist
• 1943 - Mustafa Kalemli, Turkish physician and politician
• 1944 – Diana Ross, American singer (The Supremes)
• 1944 - Igor Mitoraj, Polish sculptor (d. 2014)
• 1945 – Mikhail Voronin, Soviet gymnast (d. 2004)
• 1945 - Paul Bérenger, former Prime Minister of Mauritius
• 1946 - Alain Madelin, French politician
• 1946 - Johnny Crawford, American actor, singer and musician
• 1948 – Richard Tandy, British musician
• 1948 – Steven Tyler, American singer (Aerosmith)
• 1948 - Nash the Slash, Canadian musician (d. 2014)
• 1948 - Kyung-wha Chung, South Korean violinist
• 1949 - Jon English, English-Australian singer-songwriter, musician and actor (d. 2016)
• 1949 – Patrick Süskind, German writer
• 1949 - Vicki Lawrence, American actress, comedienne and singer
• 1950 – Teddy Pendergrass, American singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
• 1950 – Martin Short, Canadian actor and screenwriter
• 1950 - Alan Silvestri, American composer

• 1951 – Carl Wieman, American physicist
• 1952 – Didier Pironi, French racing driver (d. 1987)
• 1953 – Lincoln Chafee, American politician, former Governor of Rhode Island
• 1953 - Elaine Chao, American politician
• 1953 - Tatyana Providokhina, Russian middle-distance runner
• 1956 - Charly McClain, American singer
• 1956 - Park Won-soon, South Korean lawyer and politician
• 1957 - Fiona Bruce, British politician
• 1958 - Elio de Angelis, Italian racing driver (d. 1986)
• 1960 - Marcus Allen, former American football running back, television personality, actor, and crewman
• 1960 – Jennifer Grey, American actress
• 1961 – William Hague, British politician
• 1962 - Kevin Seitzer, American baseball player
• 1962 - Yuri Gidzenko, Russian cosmonaut
• 1963 - Rich Voisine, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist and actor
• 1964 – Ulf Samuelsson, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1964 - Todd Barry, American comedian
• 1964 - Maria Miller, British politician
• 1965 - Violeta Szekely, Romanian runner
• 1968 – Kenny Chesney, American singer
• 1968 – James Iha, American musician
• 1969 - Alessandro Moscardi, Italian rugby player
• 1971 - Martyn Day, Scottish politician
• 1972 - Leslie Mann, American actress
• 1973 - Kyung-wha Chung, South Korean violinist
• 1973 – Larry Page, American co-founder of Google
• 1974 - Christina Surer, Swiss racing driver
• 1975 - Juvenile, American rapper

• 1976 – Amy Smart, American actress
• 1976 - Alex Varas, Chilean footballer
• 1977 – Kevin Davies, English footballer
• 1977 - Bianca Kajlich, American actress
• 1979 – Nacho Novo, Spanish footballer
• 1979 - Roisin Conaty, English comedienne
• 1981 – Massimo Donati, Italian footballer
• 1982 – Mikel Arteta, Spanish footballer
• 1982 – Andreas Hinkel, German footballer
• 1983 – Roman Bednar, Czech footballer
• 1984 - Felix Neureuther, German skier
• 1985 – Keira Knightley, British actress
• 1985 - Jonathan Groff, American actor
• 1987 – Steven Fletcher, Scottish footballer
• 1987 - Yui, Japanese singer, musician and actress
• 1989 – Simon Kjaer, Danish footballer
• 1990 - Takaki Yuya, Japanese singer and actor
• 1990 - Matteo Guidicelli, Filipino actor, singer and racing driver
• 1992 - Haley Ramm, American actress
• 1992 - Nina Agdal, Danish model
• 1994 – Mayu Watanabe, Japanese actress and singer (AKB48)
• 1996 - Kathryn Bernardo, Filipina actress

• 304 – Saint Emmanuel, Christian martyr
• 752 - Pope-elect Stephen
• 922 - Al-Hallaj, Persian Sufi teacher and writer
• 1130 – King Sigurd I of Norway (b. 1090)
• 1212 – King Sancho I of Portugal (b. 1154)
• 1535 - Georg Tannstetter, Austrian mathematician, astronomer and cartographer (b. 1482)
• 1649 - John Winthrop, English lawyer and politician
• 1685 - Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (b. 1638)
• 1726 - Johan Vanbrugh, English playwright and architect (b. 1664)
• 1793 - John Mudge, English physician (b. 1721)
• 1797 – James Hutton, Scottish geologist (b. 1726)
• 1814 – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French physician (b. 1738)
• 1827 – Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (b. 1770)
• 1881 - Roman Sanguszko, Polish aristocrat (b. 1800)
• 1888 – Barghash bin Said, Sultan of Zanzibar (b. 1837)
• 1892 – Walt Whitman, American poet (b. 1819)

• 1902 – Cecil Rhodes, English explorer and colonial politician (b. 1853)
• 1905 - Maurice Barrymore, American actor (b. 1849)
• 1910 - An Jung-geun, Korean general (b. 1879)
• 1910 - Auguste Charlois, French astronomer (b. 1864)
• 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 jazz musician (b. 1902)
• 1940 – Spyridon Louis, Greek marathon runner (b. 1873)
• 1945 – David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1863)
• 1951 - James F. Hinkle, Governor of New Mexico (b. 1864)
• 1954 - Charles Perrin, French rower (b. 1875)
• 1957 - Edouard Herriot, Prime Minister of France (b. 1872)
• 1959 – Raymond Chandler, American-born novelist (b. 1888)
• 1969 - John Kennedy Toole, American writer (b. 1937)
• 1973 – Noël Coward, British composer and playwright (b. 1899)
• 1973 – George Sisler, American baseball player (b. 1893)
• 1976 – Josef Albers, German artist (b. 1888)
• 1980 - Roland Barthes, French linguist and critic (b. 1915)
• 1983 - Anthony Blunt, English historian and spy (b. 1907)
• 1984 – Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of Guinea (b. 1922)
• 1987 – Eugen Jochum, German conductor (b. 1902)
• 1987 - Walter Abel, American poet (b. 1898)
• 1989 - Hai Zi, Chinese poet (b. 1964)
• 1993 - J. Caleb Boggs, American politician, 62nd Governor of Delaware (b. 1909)
• 1995 – Eazy-E, American rapper (b. 1963)
• 1996 - Edmund Muskie, American politician (b. 1914)
• 1996 - David Packard, American engineer and businessman (b. 1912)
• 1997 – Marshall Applewhite, American, leader of the Heaven's Gate cult (b. 1931)

• 2003 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American politician (b. 1927)
• 2005 – James Callaghan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1912)
• 2006 - Nikki Sudden, British singer-songwriter (b. 1956)
• 2008 – Manuel Marulanda, Colombian guerrilla (b. 1930)
• 2011 – Paul Baran, American computer programmer (b. 1926)
• 2011 – Geraldine Ferraro, American lawyer and politician (b. 1935)
• 2011 – Diana Wynne Jones, British writer (b. 1934)
• 2013 - Jerzy Nowak, Polish actor (b. 1923)
• 2013 - Don Payne, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1964)
• 2014 - George Bookasta, American actor and director (b. 1917)
• 2014 - Dick Guidry, American businessman and politician (b. 1929)
• 2015 - Karl Moik, Austrian television presenter and singer (b. 1938)
• 2015 - John Renbourn, English guitarist (b. 1944)
• 2015 - Dinkha IV, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East (b. 1935)
• 2015 - Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet (b. 1931)
• 2015 - Friedrich L. Bauer, German computer scientist (b. 1924)
• 2015 - Fred Robsahm, Norwegian actor (b. 1943)
• 2016 - David Baker, American jazz musician (b. 1931)
• 2016 - Norm Hadley, Canadian rugby player (b. 1964)
• 2016 - Jim Harrison, American writer and screenwriter (b. 1937)
• 2016 - Igor Pashkevich, Soviet-Russian figure skater (b. 1971)
• 2017 - Mai Dantsig, Belarusian artist (b. 1930)
• 2017 - Vladimir Kazachyonok, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1952)
• 2017 - Roger Wilkins, American civil rights activist and journalist (b. 1932)

• Independence Day in Bangladesh
• Prince Kuhio Day (Hawaii)
• Prophet Zoroaster's Birthday (Zoroastrianism)
• Day of Democracy (Mali)