This Day in History – April 26

Every day is special because it marks the start or end of something important. Each event has resulted in the creation of stories and lessons for others to learn from. On this day – April 26 – a variety of events have occurred throughout history, including battles, discoveries, truces, and friendships. Read the blog to learn about the major events that happened on April 26.

What Happened on April 26 in India?

1841: Printing paper on silk
From April 26, 1841, the Bombay Gazette began printing on silk paper. The British Library has surviving copies of the Bombay Gazette (Colindale collection).

1987: Demise of Shanker Singh Raghuvanshi
Shankar Singh was part of the Shankar-Jaikishan music director duo in the Hindi film industry in the 1950s and 1960s, along with Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal. He passed away on April 26, 1987.

1993: B-737 Crashed
Sixty-six people were killed when a Boeing 737 plane crashed in the Indian city of Aurangabad.

What Happened Around the World on April 26?

1514: Copernicus
Copernicus made his first observations of Saturn.

1564: William Shakespeare
In Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, William Shakespeare was baptised on April 26, 1564.

1755: Russian University
In Moscow, the first Russian university was founded.

1828: Russia-Turkey war
To endorse Greece’s independence, Russia declared war on Turkey on April 26, 1828.

1848: Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace left the United Kingdom for South America, where he would spend four years travelling, collecting, and researching.

1890: In London, Henry Morton Stanley was inaugurated.

1915: Treaty of London
Italy secretly signed the “Treaty of London” with Britain, France, and Russia, thus joining the Allies in World War I.

1925: Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber won the Pulitzer Prize for “So Big.”

1928: Madame Tussaud’s
After a fire, Madame Tussaud’s waxwork show in London reopened on April 25, 1928.

1936: Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich’s 4th Symphony was completed.

1945: World War II
The Battle of Bautzen was the last successful German tank attack of the war, and the Wehrmacht’s last notable victory.

1954: Polio
The first shot of Jonas Salk’s anti-polio vaccine was given in Fairfax County, Virginia, as part of a mass trial. Over the course of three months, more than 443,000 children received vaccinations.

1966: 1972 Summer Olympic Games
Munich, Germany, was awarded the right to host the 1972 Summer Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee.

1982: Argentina Soldiers surrender
On South Georgia Island, near the Falkland Islands, Argentina surrendered to the United Kingdom on April 26, 1982.

1986: World’s worst nuclear accident
The world’s worst nuclear accident occurred on April 26, 1986, when the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union exploded, killing 31 people.

1991: Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona, a footballer who has been banned for using cocaine, has been arrested in Argentina for illicit drug possession and sale, on April 26, 1991.

1994: Multiracial elections in South Africa
The first day of voting in South Africa’s first multi-racial elections, and Dr. Nomaza Paintin was the first black South African to vote.

2015: 35th London Marathon
The 35th London Marathon was won by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian Tigist Tufa on April 26, 2015.

2018: Bill Cosby found guilty
In Pennsylvania, a well-known comedian was found guilty of sexual harassment on April 26, 2018.

2019: “No religion”
In the long-running General Social Poll, “no religion” topped a survey of American religious affiliation for the first time, with 23.1%, edging out Catholics 23.0% and evangelicals 22.5%.

2019: Pastaza’s Waorani people won
Pastaza’s Waorani people won a landmark environmental case against Ecuador’s government, securing the protection of half a million acres of their land in the Amazon rainforest.

Famous Birthdays on April 26

1889: Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian-British philosopher who specialised in logic, mathematics theory, mind philosophy, and language philosophy.

1963: Jet Li
Jet Li is a Chinese-born Singaporean film star, filmmaker, martial artist, and retired Wushu champion who was born in Beijing.

1970: Melania Trump
Melania Trump is a former model and businesswoman of Slovene descent. She served as First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021, during her husband Donald Trump’s presidency.

1977: Jason Earles 
Jason Daniel Earles is an American actor and comedian best known for his role in the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana as Jackson Stewart.

1980: Channing Tatum
Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor, producer, and dancer.

We hope this blog helped you get familiarized with all the major events that happened on April 26. Stay connected with Leverage Edu for more such educational content. If you want to keep yourself updated with such interesting and intriguing reads, follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Quora.