On August 26th...

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1676 Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of England, was born.

1723 Natural scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek died.

1740 Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, co-inventor of the first aircraft to carry humans into the sky, was born.

1743 Chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier was born.

1791 John Fitch was granted a patent for his steamboat.

1819 Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, was born.

1843 Charles Thurber patented a typewriter.

1850 King Louis Philippe of France died.

1873 The first free kindergarten in the U.S. was started by Susan Blow in Carondelet, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.
1873 Inventor Lee De Forest was born.

1884 Ottmar Mergenthaler received a patent for his Linotype machine.

1906 Albert Bruce Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine, was born.

1910 Missionaries of Charity founder Mother Teresa was born.

1920 The 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, was proclaimed.

1921 Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee was born.

1930 Actor Lon Chaney died.

1935 Geraldine Ferraro, the first female vice-presidential candidate for a major party in the United States, was born.

1937 Banker/philanthropist/Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon died.

1949 Musician Leon Redbone was born.

1950 Ransom E. Olds, founder of Oldsmobile, died.

1960 Jazz musician Bradford Marsalis was born.

1965 Actor Chris Burke was born.

1972 The Summer Olympic Games opened in Munich, Germany.

1974 Charles Lindbergh, the first person to make a nonstop transatlantic flight, died.

1979 Criminal Alvin Karpis died.

1980 Actor Macaulay Culkin was born.
1980 Cartoonist Tex Avery died.

1986 Actor Ted Knight died.

1989 Author Irving Stone died.

2004 Singer Laura Branigan died.

2009 Author Dominick Dunne died.

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This page was last updated on August 26, 2018.