26 February

364         Valentinian I  is proclaimed Roman Emperor.

1266       Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by King Manfred of Sicily.   Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily andNaples.

1360       Roger Mortimer (died), 2nd Earl of March, English commander (born 1328)

1361       Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (born) (died 1419)

1552       Heinrich Faber (died), German composer (born 1500)

1564       Christopher Marlowe (born), English playwright (died 1593)

1587       Stefano Landi (born), Italian composer (died 1639)

1608      John Still (died), English bishop (born 1543)

1630       William Brade (died), English violinist and composer (born 1560)

1638       Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac (died), French mathematician and linguist (born 1581)

1658       Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655–1661), the King of Denmark-Norwayis forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden to save the rest.

1714       James Hervey (born), English clergyman (died 1758)

1724       Gottfried Heinrich Bach (born), German son of Johann Sebastian Bach (died 1763)

1786       François Arago (born), French mathematician and politician, 25th Prime Minister of France (died 1853)

1794       The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.

1802      Victor Hugo (born), French author, poet, and playwright (died 1885)

1808      Honoré Daumier (born), French painter, illustrator, and sculptor (died 1879)

1808      Nathan Kelley (born), American architect (died 1871)

1814       Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville (born), French geologist and meteorologist (died 1876)

1815       Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.

1829       Levi Strauss (born), German-American fashion designer, founded Levi Strauss & Co. (died 1902)

1846       Buffalo Bill (born), American soldier and hunter (died 1917)

1852       John Harvey Kellogg (born), American surgeon, co-created Corn flakes (died 1943)

1858      Vladimir Serbsk (born) y, Russian psychiatrist (died 1917)

1866       Herbert Henry Dow (born), Canadian-American businessman, founded the Dow Chemical Company (died 1930)

1876       Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea’s status as a tributary state of Qing Dynasty China.

1880      Kenneth Edgeworth (born), Irish astronomer, economist, and engineer (died 1972)

1900      Fritz Wiessner (born), German-American mountaineer (died 1988)

1902       Jean Bruller (born), French author and illustrator, co-founded Les Éditions de Minuit (died 1991)

1908      Tex Avery (born), American animator, producer, and voice actor (died 1980)

1909       Fanny Cradock (born), English chef, author, and critic (died 1994)

1909       Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.

1914       Robert Alda (born), American actor (died 1986)

1916       Jackie Gleason (born), American actor and singer (died 1987)

1917       The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.

1919       President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of the U.S. Congress establishing most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park – theGrand Canyon National Park.

1920       The first German Expressionist film and early horror movie, Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, receives its première in Berlin.

1920       Tony Randall (born), American actor, director, and producer (died 2004)

1921       Betty Hutton (born), American actress and singer (died 2007)

1921       Carl Menger (died), Austrian economist (born 1840)

1922       Margaret Leighton (born), English actress (died 1976)

1928       Ariel Sharon (born), Israeli general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel

1928       Fats Domino (born), American singer-songwriter and pianist

1929       President Calvin Coolidge signs an Executive Order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

1930       Mary Calkins (died), American philosopher and psychologist (born 1863)

1931       Robert Novak (born), American journalist and author (died 2009)

1932       Johnny Cash (born), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (The Tennessee Three and The Highwaymen) (died 2003)

1935       Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

1935       Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of RADAR in the United Kingdom.

1943       Bob Hite (born), American singer-songwriter (Canned Heat) (died 1981)

1945       Mitch Ryder (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Detroit Wheels)

1945       Peter Brock (born), Australian race car driver (died 2006)

1946       Finnish observers report the first of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets.

1949       Elizabeth George (born), American author

1950       Jonathan Cain (born), American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Journey, The Babys, and Bad English)

1966       Apollo Program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket

1966       Vietnam War: The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam.

1969       Karl Jaspers (died), German psychiatrist (born 1883)

1971       U.N. Secretary General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.

1974       Sébastien Loeb (born), French race car driver

1980      Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.

1981       Howard Hanson (died), American composer (born 1896)

1987       Iran-Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.

1990       Cornell Gunter (died), American singer (The Coasters, The Platters, and The Flairs) (born 1938)

1993       World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand.

1995       Selena Quintanilla Perez gave her last “Live” Concert in front of over 74 thousand people,breaking record for the 3rd time, live at the Houston Astrodome, a few days before she was shot to death.

1995       The United Kingdom’s oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after securities broker Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.

2005      Jef Raskin (died), American computer scientist, created Macintosh (born 1943)

2008      Buddy Miles (died), American drummer and songwriter (Band of Gypsies and Electric Flag) (born 1947)

2008      Dick Fletcher (died), American meteorologist (born 1942)

2013       A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.

2013       Dale Robertson (died), American actor (born 1923)

2013       Harold G. Clarke (died), American politician and judge (born 1927)

2013       Randolph Bromery (died), American geologist and academic (born 1926)

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EO Smith

Interests include biological anthropology, evolution, social behavior, and human behavior. Conducted field research in the Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya and on Angaur, Palau, Micronesia, as well as research with captive nonhuman primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Institute for Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya.
EO Smith
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