What Happened On
Bill Cosby Convicted of Sexual Assault
April 26, 2018
The actor Bill Cosby is convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault against a Toronto woman. He was sentenced to three to ten years in state prison and fined $25,000 plus court costs. In 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Cosby's conviction and he was released from prison.
In a 2005 civil suit against Cosby, he admitted to having casual sex involving the recreational use of the sedative methaqualone (Quaaludes) with a series of young women.
Chernobyl Disaster
April 26, 1986
The worst accident in the history of nuclear energy; it killed 30 people and spewed radioactive material over the Soviet Union and Europe. Two workers died immediately after the accident and another 28 died during the next four months. 106 workers suffered acute radiation sickness. The disaster started when workers were running experiments on the reactor. Safety mechanisms had been disabled to facilitate the tests. The tests eventually caused an explosion that blew the top off the reactor and spewed radioactive material into the atmosphere. Chernobyl would eventually be declared a tourist attraction (2011).
First U.S. Satellite to Reach the Surface of the Moon
April 26, 1962
Ranger IV, launched three days earlier, impacts the Moon's surface. It was intended to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations for the 10 minutes of flight prior to crashing on the Moon's surface. However, an onboard computer failure caused failure of the deployment of the solar panels and navigation systems, resulting in Ranger crashing on the far side of the Moon without returning any scientific data. This was the first U.S. object to reach another celestial body.
Salk administering the vaccine
Salk administering the vaccine
Polio Vaccine
April 26, 1954
Nationwide testing of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine begins. It was the first successful vaccine for the dreaded disease.
Before the vaccine, there were about 15,000 cases of paralysis and 1,900 deaths annually from polio in the U.S.
Salk chose to not patent the vaccine in order to maximize its distribution. When asked who owned the patent, Salk replied, "Well, the people I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?" It is estimated the patent would have been worth billions had it been patented.
First Photograph of a Tornado
April 26, 1884
The tornado passed northwest of Garnett, Kansas and was photographed by fruit farmer and amateur photographer A.A. Adams, who was 14 miles from the tornado. Adams capitalized on his work by selling souvenir cabinet cards and stereographs of the photo.
Lincoln's Assassin Killed
April 26, 1865
John Wilkes Booth, who shot and killed U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, is shot and killed in Garrett's barn in Virginia. When Booth refused to come out of the barn, soldiers set it on fire. He was shot while still in the barn.
Launch of Ariel 1 on a Thor-Delta rocket
Launch of Ariel 1 on a Thor-Delta rocket
First International Satellite
April 26, 1962
Ariel 1 is launched. It was built and launched by NASA to perform British experiments. Its launch made the United Kingdom the third country to operate a satellite, after the Soviet Union and the U.S. It was named after the sprite in William Shakespeare's The Tempest.
First Air Force Academy Woman Officer
April 26, 1957
Naomi M. McCracken begins duties at the Air Force Academy temporary headquarters in Denver, Colorado.
First American Hanged for Treason Against the U.S.
April 26, 1862
After Union forces raised the Union flag over the New Orleans Mint, a group of men, including William Bruce Mumford, removed the flag. Mumford carried it to the mayor at city hall, with the flag being destroyed in the process. For this he was tried and convicted of treason and hanged the following June. Confederate Governor of Louisiana Thomas Overton Moore issued a statement declaring Mumford a hero.
Later on Union Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, who had ordered Mumford's execution, assisted Mumford's wife and helped her find a job in Washington.
Cherokee Cede Their Land
April 26, 1791
The Cherokee Indians cede most of their land to the U.S. with the Treaty of Holston.
Birthdays
Melania Trump (Melanija Knavs)
Born April 26, 1970
Slovenian-born American First Lady, wife of 45th U.S. President Donald Trump. She became a U.S. citizen in 2006 and is the first naturalized U.S. citizen to become First Lady of the U.S.
Carol Burnett
Born April 26, 1933
American Emmy-winning comedienne. TV: The Carol Burnett Show (1967-78). She would end each show by tugging her left ear, a message to her grandmother, who raised her, that she loved her.
John James Audubon
Born April 26, 1785 d. 1851
American ornithologist and wildlife artist. He was elected (1900) to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
Michael Damian
Born April 26, 1962
American singer, actor. Music: Rock On (#1). TV: The Young and the Restless (Danny Romalotti).
Roger Taylor
Born April 26, 1960
English drummer, with Duran Duran. Music: Hungry Like the Wolf (1982), Rio (1982), Union of the Snake (1983), and A View to a Kill (1985).
Claudine Auger (Claudine Oger)
Born April 26, 1941 d. 2019
French actress, Miss France (1958) and first runner-up in the 1958 Miss World contest. Film: Thunderball (1965, Bond girl Domino Derval).
Penzias and Wilson and the 15-meter Holmdel Horn Antenna that brought their most notable discovery
Penzias and Wilson and the 15-meter Holmdel Horn Antenna that brought their most notable discovery
Discovered Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
Arno Allan Penzias
Born April 26, 1933 d. 2024
German-American astrophysicist. He and Robert Woodrow Wilson shared the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (1964) which was predicted by the big-bang theory.
Penzias and Wilson were testing their most sensitive antenna/receiver system when they encountered radio noise they could not explain. After eliminating terrestrial sources, including bird and bat droppings, they contacted Robert H. Dicke, who suggested it might be the background radiation predicted by some cosmological theories.
Penzias and his brother were among the Jewish children that escaped the Nazis as part of the Kindertransport rescue operation. Their parents also fled, and the family eventually settled in New York.
David Mathias Dennison
Born April 26, 1900 d. 1976
American theoretical physicist. He discovered the spin of the proton.
Charles Francis Richter
Born April 26, 1900 d. 1985
American seismologist. He invented the Richter Scale (1935) for measuring earthquakes.
Rudolf Hess
Born April 26, 1894 d. 1987
German politician, Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler (1933-41). In 1941, he embarked on a solo peace mission to Scotland - without Hitler's permission. Upon finding out about Hess' secret mission, Hitler declared Hess should be shot on site. Hess was arrested when he landed in Scotland and imprisoned by the British for the remainder of the war. After the war, Hess was tried at the Nuremberg Trials and found guilty of planning and preparing a war of aggression, and conspiracy with other German leaders to commit crimes. He was sentenced to life in prison, where he remained until he committed suicide at the age of 93.
Anita Loos
Born April 26, 1889 d. 1981
American author, playwright. Writings: Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1925) and But Gentleman Marry Brunettes (1928).
William Levi Dawson
Born April 26, 1886 d. 1970
American politician. He was the first black U.S. representative to chair a Congressional committee (1949, Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments).
Frederick Law Olmsted
Born April 26, 1822 d. 1903
American landscape architect. He designed New York's Central Park and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
Deaths
Lucille Ball
Died April 26, 1989 b. 1911
American Emmy-winning comedienne. TV: I Love Lucy (1951-57) and The Lucy Show (1962-68). She and husband Desi Arnaz created the television show I Love Lucy and in 1962, Ball became the first woman to run a major television studio - Desilu Productions, whose productions included I Love Lucy, Mission: Impossible, The Untouchables, and Star Trek. Desilu Productions also pioneered a number TV production methods, such as filming before a live studio audience with a number of cameras and distinct sets adjacent to each other.
The standard at the time was to broadcast live in New York, and use a lower-quality kinescopes for the rest of the country. Desi Arnaz wanted to film the shows live so that all audiences received a high-quality image. Network executives considered the use of film too expensive, so Arnaz agreed to cover the costs in exchange for the rights to the prints. As a result, Desilu made a fortune from the reruns in what is considered one of the shrewdest deals in television history.
Irene Ryan (Jessie Irene Noblitt)
Died April 26, 1973 b. 1902
American actress. TV: The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-71, Daisy May "Granny" Moses).
Trivia: What was Granny's relationship to Jed?
Answer: Mother-in-law.
Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Louise Hovick)
Died April 26, 1970 b. 1911
American actress. "The Queen of Burlesque" and the best-known stripper of the 1930s.
Lincoln Assassin
John Wilkes Booth
Died April 26, 1865 b. 1838
American Shakespearean actor. He assassinated U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater (1865). He was reportedly shot and killed in Garrett's Barn in Virginia.
Phoebe Snow (Phoebe Laub)
Died April 26, 2011 b. 1950
American singer. Music: Phoebe Snow: Poetry Man (1974).
Mason Adams
Died April 26, 2005 b. 1919
American actor. TV: Lou Grant (1977-82, managing editor Charlie Hume). Advertising: Smucker's -"With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good."
Founder of the United Negro College Fund
Frederick Douglass Patterson
Died April 26, 1988 b. 1901
American educator. Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, President of the Tuskegee Institute (1935-53), and founder of the United Negro College Fund (1944).
Broderick Crawford
Died April 26, 1986 b. 1911
American Oscar-winning actor. Film: All The King's Men (1949, Oscar). TV: Highway Patrol (Dan Matthews).
Count Basie (William Basie)
Died April 26, 1984 b. 1904
American jazz pianist, bandleader. Music: One O'Clock Jump, Swingin' the Blues, and Tickle Toe.
Jim Davis
Died April 26, 1981 b. 1909
American actor. TV: Dallas (1978-82, Jock Ewing).
Henry Ossian Flipper
Died April 26, 1940 b. 1856
American soldier. First black to graduate from West Point (1877). He was the first nonwhite officer to lead buffalo soldiers of the 10th Cavalry. He was court-martialed and discharged from the Army (1882). His descendants applied for a review of Flipper's court-martial which led to a pardon from U.S. President Bill Clinton (1999).
John Bunny
Died April 26, 1915 b. 1863
American actor, comedian, the first comic star of the American screen (1910). This 300-pound actor made over 200 comic shorts during his brief five-year film career.
Charles Joseph Sax
Died April 26, 1865 b. 1791
Belgian instrument maker. His "omnitonic horn" (1824) used a piston to provide different keys. He was the father of saxophone inventor Adolphe Sax.
Jean François Fernel
Died April 26, 1558 b. circa 1497
French physician. He coined the terms "physiology" and "pathology." He was the first to describe appendicitis and the spinal canal. He also worked to end the reliance on astrology and magic in matters of health.
Stephen II
Died April 26, 757 b. ????
Italian religious leader, 92nd Pope (752-757).