What are the important events that happened on January 26? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
January 26: Facts & Myths About This Day
January 26 is the 26th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 340 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is January 13, 2024 – a Friday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 28,437,120 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘icosihexagon’ day.
Aquarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Garnet is the modern birthstone for this month. Emerald is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 15 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,053 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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January 26 Historical Events
- 1788 –The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Commemorated as Australia Day
- 1838 –Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States
- 1905 –The world’s largest diamond ever, the Cullinan weighing 3106.75 carat, is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.
- 1930 –The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence) which occurred 20 years later.
- 1933 –New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Water Rooster in Chinese astrology.
- 1949 –The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976).
- 1962 –Ranger program: Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
- 1966 –The Beaumont Children go missing from Glenelg Beach near Adelaide, South Australia.
- 1980 –Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
- 1992 –Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
Who were born on January 26?
- 1891 –Frank Costello, Italian-born American gangster (d. 1973)
- 1922 –Michael Bentine, British comedian (d. 1996)
- 1927 –José Azcona del Hoyo, President of Honduras (d. 2005)
- 1943 –Jean Knight, American singer
- 1961 –Li Cunxin, Chinese-Australian ballet dancer
- 1961 –Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1967 –Pradip Somasundaran, Indian playback singer
- 1986 –Thiago Pereira, Brazilian swimmer
- 1987 –Mia Rose, English/Portuguese singer
- 1987 –Vladimir Garin, Russian actor (d. 2003)
Who died on January 26?
- 1567 –Nicholas Wotton, English diplomat
- 1697 –Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (b. 1640)
- 1993 –Jan Gies, Dutch resistance leader (b. 1905)
- 1993 –Robert Jacobsen, Danish artist (b. 1912)
- 1996 –Henry Lewis, American musician and conductor (b. 1932)
- 1997 –Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (b. 1904)
- 2000 –Don Budge, American tennis player (b. 1915)
- 2007 –Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
- 2008 –Christian Brando, American actor; son of Marlon Brando (b. 1958)
- 2008 –Viktor Schreckengost, American industrial designer (b. 1906)
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