On this day in History - Jan. 26

• 0066 -5th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
• 1340 - King Edward III of England is declared King of France.
• 1500 - Some sources tell that the Spanish explorer Vicente Yáñez Pinzón become the first European to discover Brazil when he reaches the northeastern coast of Brazil during a voyage under his command. I always learned that he had been the Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral the first one to discover Brazil in 22 April 1500. May be i was wrong.
• 1531- Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake -about 30,000 die .
• 1654 -Portuguese troops conquer last Dutch base on Recife.
• 1697 - Isaac Newton received and solved Jean Bernoulli's brachistochrone problem. The swiss mathematician Bernouilli had challenged his colleagues to solve it within six months. Newton not only solved the problem before going to bed that same night, but in doing so, invented a new branch of mathematics called the calculus of variations.
• 1699 - Treaty of Carlowitz signed.
• 1700 - The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake took place off the coast of the American Northwest, as evidenced by Japanese records.
• 1736- Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
• 1748 -England, Netherlands, Austria & Sardinia sign anti-French treaty .
• 1763 - Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, was born, Napoleonic general and king Charles XIV of Sweden-Norway (d. 1841) .
• 1781 - Achim von Arnim, was born, poet (d. 1831).
• 1785 - Benjamin Franklin writes a letter to his daughter expressing disappointment over the selection of the eagle as the symbol of the United States; he wanted the turkey.
• 1788 - The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sail into Sydney Harbour to establish the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Celebrated as Australia Day.
• 1802 - The U.S. Congress passes an act calling for a library to be established within the U.S. Capitol; eventually this becomes the Library of Congress.
• 1810 -Joseph Rogers Brown was born (d. 23 Jul 1876). American inventor and manufacturer who made numerous advances in the field of fine measurement and machine-tool production.
• 1823 - Edward Jenner dies, (b. 17 May 1749) English surgeon and discoverer of vaccination for smallpox.
• 1825 - Se constituye la provincia de Costa Rica, dentro de la República Federal de las Provincias Unidas de Centroamérica.
• 1826 - Louis Favre, was born, engineer Gotthard tunnel (d. 1879) .
• 1826 - Julia Dent Grant, was born, First Lady of the United States (d. 1902).
• 1827 - O Perú anuncia o fim de sua união com a Colômbia e declara a sua independência.
• 1831 - Mary Mapes Dodged, was born, writer (d. 1907) .
• 1837 -Michigan became the 26th state in the United States.
• 1838 - É fundado, no Rio de Janeiro, o Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro.
• 1841 - The United Kingdom formally occupies Hong Kong, which China had ceded.
• 1861 -Louisiana becomes 6th state to secede .
• 1863 - American Civil War: Massachusetts Governor receives permission from Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.
• 1870 - American Civil War: Virginia rejoins the Union. .
• 1871 - The Rugby Football Union was founded in London, by 20 clubs.
• 1875 - George F. Green of Kalamazoo, Michigan patented the electric dental drill for sawing, filing, dressing and polishing teeth.
• 1878 - Nascimento do poeta português Afonso Lopes Vieira. Interessou-se também pelo cinema tendo realizado um pequeno filme com crianças (O Afilhado de Santo António) e encarregou-se dos diálogos de Camões e Inês de Castro, de Leitão de Barros, e do Amor de Perdição, de António Lopes Ribeiro.
• 1880 - Douglas MacArthur, was born, (d. 05. Apr. 1964); U.S. Army General and Commander of Allied Forces, WWII: “I shall return.”, “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”;
• 1885 - Troops loyal to the Mahdi conquer Khartoum.
• 1886 - Karl Benz patents 1st auto with burning motor .
• 1886 - David Rice Atchison dies, American politician (b. 1807) .
• 1887 - Tem início a construção da Torre Eiffel, em Paris, no local onde se realizará a Exposição Universal de Paris.
• 1887 - Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian troops defeat Italians.
• 1893 - Bessie Coleman was born, aviator .
• 1900 - Karl Ristenpart, was born, German conductor (d. 1967)
• 1901- Stuart Symington, was born, politician (d. 1988) .
• 1904 -Sean MacBride, was born in Dublin, Statesman / Amnesty International co-founder (Nobel '74) .
• 1904 - Ancel Keys, was born, (d. 20.11.2004). American nutritionist and epidemiologist who was the first to identify the role of saturated fats in causing heart disease.
• 1905 - Charles Lane, was born, actor .
• 1905 - Bernhard Minetti, was born, actor .
• 1905 - Maria von Trapp, was born, singer (d. 1987) .
• 1905 - The Cullinan Diamond (Worl's largest diamond) is found near Pretoria, South Africa at the Premier Mine.
• 1907 - Hans Selye, was born (d. 16 Oct 1982). Austrian-born Canadian endocrinologist known for his studies of the effects of stress on the human body.
• 1908 - Stéphane Grappelli, was born, musician, composer (d. 1997) .
• 1911 - Polykarp Kusch was born (d. 20 Mar 1993). German-American physicist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1955 for his accurate determination that the magnetic moment of the electron is greater than its theoretical value
• 1911- Glenn H. Curtiss flies the first successful seaplane.
• 1911 - Herman Max Gluckman was born (d. 13 Apr 1975). South African social anthropologist who pioneered the study of traditional African legal systems.
• 1914 -Vatican puts Belgian Nobel winner Maeterlinck's works in their index .
• 1918- Nicolae Ceauşescu, was born (d. 1989); Romanian President (1967-90) .
• 1918 - Philip José Farmer, was born, science fiction writer .
• 1921 - Akio Morita, was born, co-founder of Sony (d. 1999) .
• 1923 - Anne Jeffreys, was born, actress (I Married an Angel, Dick Tracy [1945], Boys’ Night Out, General Hospital [soap], Clifford).
• 1924 - Annette Strauss, was born, philanthropist, former mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1998)
• 1925 -Joan Leslie, Detroit, actress (High Sierra, Yankee Doodle Dandy) .
• 1925 -Sir James Mackenzie, dies (b. 12 Apr 1853) Scottish cardiologist, pioneer in the study of cardiac arrhythmias. In 1892, he built a machine for detecting and recording physiological activity, such as pulse rate and blood pressure, since known as a polygraph, and later used as a lie detector.
• 1925 - Paul Newman, was born, actorHud, Hombre, Hustler) .
• 1926 - Francis R. "Joe" Boyd, was born, (d. 12 Jan 2004). American geologist whose studies on the origins of volcanic rocks contributed to the understanding of the formation of the Earth
• 1928- Roger Vadim, (Roger Vladimir Plemiannikov) was born (d. 11. Feb. 2000); French film director (And God Created Women, Barbarella) .
• 1929 - Jules Feiffer, was born, cartoonist, writer .
• 1932 - the US Patent Office recieved a patent application for the cyclotron by Ernest Orlando Lawrence. By 1939, this atom-smashing instrument won the Nobel Prize for its inventor.
• 1932 - Clement Seymour "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, Jamaican record producer .
• 1932 - British submarine M-2 sinks in Channel (60 dead) .
• 1934 - The Apollo Theatre opens in Harlem, New York City.
• 1939 - Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
• 1940 - Nazis forbid Polish Jews to travel on trains .
• 1941 - Henry Jaglom, was born, director .
• 1942 - Scott Glenn, was born, actor (Apocalypse Now, The Right Stuff, Silverado, The Hunt for Red October, The Silence of the Lambs ) .
• 1942 - World War II: The first American forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
• 1942 - Felix Hausdorff dies, German mathematician (b. 1868) .
• 1943 - Jean Knight, was born, singer .
• 1943 - César Gutiérrez, was born Major League Baseball player (d. 2005) .
• 1944 - Angela Davis, was born, feminist and civil rights activist, teacher.
• 1945 - Jacqueline du Pré, was born, cello player (d. 1987) .
• 1946 - Prince Gustaf Adolf, dies, Duke of Westrobothnia, second in line to the Swedish throne (b. 1906) .
• 1946 - Gene Siskel, was born, film critic (d. 1999) .
• 1946 - Félix Gouin becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1947 - Gustav Adolf, crown Prince of Sweden, dies in air crash .
• 1947 - KLM Dakota crashes near Copenhagen, 22 die .
• 1949 - A Suíça reconhece o estabelecimento do Estado de Israel.
• 1949 - Victor Fleming, director (Wizard of Oz, Gone With Wind), dies at 65
• 1950 - India promulgates its constitution forming a republic and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first president. The Indian constitution takes effect, making the Republic of India the most populous democracy in the world.
• 1951 - Elizabeth Taylor divorced her first husband, Nicky Hilton, on the grounds of mental cruelty. It was less than a year after their highly publicized wedding.
• 1952 -Egypt is placed under martial law in response to wide-spread riots against the British.
• 1953 - Film actress, dancer, and sex symbol Rita Hayworth divorced Prince Aly Khan in Reno, Nevada on this date.
• 1953 - Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was born, Prime Minister of Denmark .
• 1956 - Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
• 1957 - Eddie Van Halen, was born, Grammy Award-winning musician, guitar, singer, [Van Halen] .
• 1958 - Ellen DeGeneres, was born, actress, comedienne .
• 1958 - Anita Baker singer: Sweet Love, Rhythm of Love, Giving You the Best that I Got
• 1961 - John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman holds this appointment.
• 1961 - Wayne Gretzky, was born, ice hockey player
• 1962 - Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later missed the moon by 22,000 miles.
• 1962 - Lucky Luciano dies, mobster (b. 1897 ).
• 1963 - Andrew Ridgeley, was born, musician .
• 1965 - Colombia gana el campeonato mundial de béisbol.
• 1965 - Hindi becomes the official language of India.
• 1968 - Israeli submarine Dakar crashes in Mediterranean Sea, 69 die
• 1968 - Merrill C. Meigs dies , newspaper publisher, aviation promoter (b. 1883) .
• 1970 - Folk rock duo Simon and Garfunkel release classic album Bridge Over Troubled Water.
• 1972 - Mahalia Jackson dies, gospel music singer (b. 1911) .
• 1973 - Edward G. Robinson dies, actor (b. 1893) .
• 1977- Vince Carter, was born, basketball player .
• 1978 - Mário Soares forms Portuguese government .
• 1979 - Nelson Rockefeller dies , Governor of New York, Vice President of the United States (b. 1908) .
• 1980 - 175,000 pay to hear Frank Sinatra sing in Rio de Janeiro .
• 1980 - Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
• 1982 - Mauno Koivisto elected President of Finland.
• 1983 - Lotus 1-2-3 is released.
• 1983 - Paul 'Bear' Bryant dies, football coach .
• 1985 - 42th Golden Globes: Amadeus wins .
• 1986 -The National Resistance Army takes over the Ugandan capital of Kampala.
• 1986 - Super Bowl XX: The Chicago Bears defeat the New England Patriots, 46-10.
• 1986 - José Azcona toma posesión como presidente de la República de Honduras.
• 1987 - 14th American Music Award: Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie & Alabama .
• 1987 -Los reyes de España, Juan Carlos I y Sofía colocan la primera piedra de la Exposición Universal de Sevilla de 1992, en el recinto de la Isla de la Cartuja.
• 1990 - Lewis Mumford died , historian (b. 1895) .
• 1991 - Rebels overrun the Somalian capital of Mogadishu.
• 1992 - José Ferrer dies, (b. 1912) actor and director (Cyrano de Bergerac).
• 1992 - Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia is going to stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
• 1992 - Super Bowl XXVI: The Washington Redskins defeat the Buffalo Bills, 37-24.
• 1993 - Jeanne Sauvé dies, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1922) .
• 1993 - Václav Havel elected President of the Czech Republic.
• 1994 - A man fires two blank shots at Charles, Prince of Wales in Sydney, Australia.
• 1996 - Whitewater scandal: Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies before a grand jury.
• 1996 - David Schultz, wrestler (Olympic Gold, 84), killed by John Du Pont .
• 1996 - A Roménia foi o primeiro país do antigo Pacto de Varsóvia a aderir à OTAN (Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte).
• 1997 - The Green Bay Packers defeat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI, with a score of 35-21.
• 1998 - Lewinsky scandal: On American television, Pres Clinton says "I want to say one thing to the American people I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" .
• 1998 - Compaq buys Digital Equipment Corporation. The purchase made Compaq the world's biggest seller of personal computers and allowed Compaq to enter the world of high-end computing, offering workstations and Internet services manufactured by Digital .
• 2000 - A. E. van Vogt dies, science fiction author (b. 1912) .
• 2000 - Don Budge dies, tennis player (b. 1915) .
• 2000 - O Benfica perde com o Sporting por 1-3 para a Taça de Portugal, no Estádio da Luz, com golos de Acosta 2 e André Cruz para o Sporting e Uribe pelo Benfica. Hoje voltam a encontrar-se passados cinco anos para a mesma prova .
• 2001 - A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24.
• 2001 - An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.
• 2002 - A post-mortem examination was due to take place on a former top executive of bankrupt US energy giant Enron who apparently committed suicide.
• 2003 - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers win their first Super Bowl title by defeating the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII .
• 2003 - World chess champion Garry Kimovich Kasparov [13 April 1963-], with White, defeats computer program Deep Junior (who has a human to physically move the pieces) in the first game of a match which will end in a draw with its 6th game on 07 February 2003 (28 Jan Game 2 — 30 Jan Game 3 — 02 Feb Game 4 — 05 Feb Game 5).:
• 2003 - Valeriy Brumel dies, Soviet athlete (b. 1942) .
• 2003 - Lord Dacre dies (Hugh Trevor-Roper), British historian .
• 2003 - George Younger dies, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, British politician (b. 1931) .
• 2004 -President Hamid Karzai signed the new constitution of Afghanistan.