Updated August 26, 2012, 2:28 pm
On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was declared in effect.
On Aug. 26, 1906, Albert Sabin, the Polish-American doctor who developed the polio vaccine, was born. Following his death on March 3, 1993, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1847 Liberia was proclaimed an independent republic. 1910 Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia. 1939 Major league baseball was televised for the first time when experimental station W2XBS broadcast a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. 1957 The Soviet Union announced that it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile. 1961 The Hockey Hall of Fame opened in Toronto. 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson was nominated for a term of office in his own right at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J. 1974 Aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh died at age 72. 1978 Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and took the name John Paul I. 1986 In the so-called “preppie murder case,” 18-year-old Jennifer Levin was found strangled in New York’s Central Park. (Robert Chambers later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served 15 years in prison.) 2003 Investigators concluded that NASA’s overconfident management and inattention to safety doomed the space shuttle Columbia as much as damage to the craft did. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress Melissa McCarthy (“Mike and Molly”) turns 42 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
Actor Chris Pine (“Star Trek”) turns 32 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
1921 Ben Bradlee, Former Washington Post executive editor, turns 91 1933 Ben J. Wattenberg, Author, turns 79 1934 Tom Heinsohn, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 78 1945 Tom Ridge, Former director of homeland security, turns 67 1946 Valerie Simpson, R&B singer (Ashford and Simpson), turns 66 1960 Branford Marsalis, Jazz saxophonist, turns 52 1965 Chris Burke, Actor (“Life Goes On”), turns 47 1969 Adrian Young, Rock musician (No Doubt), turns 43 1971 Thalia, Singer, actress, turns 41 1980 Macaulay Culkin, Actor (“Home Alone”), turns 32 1986 Cassie, R&B singer, turns 26 1993 Keke Palmer, Actress, turns 19
Historic Birthdays
Albert Sabin 8/26/1906 – 3/3/1993 Polish-born American microbiologist; developed oral polio vaccine. Go to obituary »
68 Robert Walpole 8/26/1676 – 3/18/1745
British prime minister (1721-42)49 Johann Heinrich Lambert 8/26/1728 – 9/25/1777
Swiss mathematician, scientist and philosopher69 Joseph-Michel Montgolfier 8/26/1740 – 6/26/1810
French inventor; helped build first hot-air balloon50 Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier 8/26/1743 – 5/8/1794
French scientist42 Albert 8/26/1819 – 12/14/1861
German-born prince consort of Queen Victoria87 Lee De Forest 8/26/1873 – 6/30/1961
American inventor of the Audion vacuum tube86 Jules Romains 8/26/1885 – 8/14/1972
French novelist, dramatist and poet98 Jerome Hunsaker 8/26/1886 – 9/10/1984
American aeronautical engineer81 Peggy Guggenheim 8/26/1898 – 12/23/1979
American art collector and patron85 Maxwell Taylor 8/26/1901 – 4/19/1987
American army officer in World War II81 Christopher Isherwood 8/26/1904 – 1/4/1986
English-born novelist and playwright
