September 26 birthdays & history

Famous people born on September 26

• 1888T. S. Eliot, English poet, playwright, critic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1889Martin Heidegger, German philosopher and academic
• 1981Serena Williams, American tennis player
• 1849Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1897Pope Paul VI, Head of the Catholic Church from 1963 to 1978
• 1965Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian businessman and politician, 5th President of Ukraine
• 1898George Gershwin, American pianist and composer
• 1976Michael Ballack, German footballer
• 1948Olivia Newton-John, English-Australian singer-songwriter and actress
• 1791Théodore Géricault, French painter and lithographer

What happened on September 26

• 1493Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Dudum siquidem, one of the Bulls of Donation, marking the beginning of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
• 1580English explorer Francis Drake's galleon the Golden Hind sailed into Plymouth, completing his circumnavigation of the globe.
• 1810A new Act of Succession is adopted by the Riksdag of the Estates, and Jean Baptiste Bernadotte becomes heir to the Swedish throne.
• 1905Albert Einstein publishes the third of his Annus Mirabilis papers, introducing the special theory of relativity.
• 1907The British colony of New Zealand officially became a dominion to reflect its political independence since the 1850s.
• 1907Four months after the 1907 Imperial Conference, New Zealand and Newfoundland are promoted from colonies to dominions within the British Empire.
• 1914The United States Federal Trade Commission is established by the Federal Trade Commission Act.
• 1928The Republic of China adopted Gwoyeu Romatzyh as the official system for romanization of Mandarin Chinese.
• 1953Rationing of sugar in the United Kingdom ends.
• 1960In Chicago, the first televised debate takes place between presidential candidates Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
• 1983The racing yacht Australia II, captained by John Bertrand, won the America's Cup and ended the New York Yacht Club's 132-year defence of the trophy.
• 1984The United Kingdom and China agree to a transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, to take place in 1997.

Also observed on September 26

• Day of the National Flag (Ecuador)
• Dominion Day (New Zealand)
• European Day of Languages (European Union)
• Petrov day
• Revolution Day (Yemen)