Curated category
1926 births
- Marilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on the 1st of June 1926, in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, at a city hospital.
- Jiang ZeminJiang Zemin stood before a group of student protesters in Shanghai in 1986 and recited the Gettysburg Address in English.
- Elizabeth IIElizabeth II reigned for 70 years and 214 days, the longest of any British monarch and the longest of any queen regnant in history.
- Gus GrissomGus Grissom was born in Mitchell, Indiana, on the 3rd of April 1926, the son of a railroad signalman and a homemaker. His nickname came from a friend who…
- John ColtraneJohn William Coltrane was born on the 23rd of September 1926, in his parents' apartment at 200 Hamlet Avenue in Hamlet, North Carolina.
- Miles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was born on the 26th of May 1926 in Alton, Illinois, to a family that owned a 200-acre estate in Arkansas with a profitable pig farm.
- Henry J. KelleyHenry J. Kelley walked into the Grumman Aircraft facility in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science degree from New York University.
- Chuck BerryChuck Berry was buried with a cherry-red Gibson ES-355 guitar bolted to the inside lid of his coffin. That image captures something essential about the man…
- Fidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz delivered the longest speech ever heard before the United Nations General Assembly, speaking for four and a half hours in 1960.
- Michel FoucaultMichel Foucault was born on the 15th of October 1926 in Poitiers, France, into a family where a surgeon father expected his son to follow in his footsteps.
- Poul AndersonPoul William Anderson was born on the 25th of November 1926 in Bristol, Pennsylvania, to Danish parents who would soon uproot the family and carry it across…
- Bruno KoschmiderBruno Koschmider entered the world in 1926 within the Free City of Danzig. This port city now bears the name Gdańsk and sits on the Baltic Sea coast.
- Chuck Cooper (basketball)Chuck Cooper stepped onto an NBA court for the first time on the 1st of November, 1950, against the Fort Wayne Pistons. That night, three men crossed a line…
- Thích Nhất HạnhThich Nhat Hanh was born Nguyen Xuan Bao on the 11th of October 1926, in the ancient capital of Hue in central Vietnam. He died there too, on the 22nd of…
- Pete RozellePete Rozelle walked into a room in January 1960 and changed American sports forever. He was 33 years old, a surprise choice picked on the 23rd ballot by NFL…
- Alan GreenspanAlan Greenspan stood before the United States Senate in February 1997 and told the assembled lawmakers that growing worker insecurity was, in his view, a…
- George MartinGeorge Martin stood at a mixing desk on the 26th of November 1962, listening to the Beatles run through "Please Please Me" for a third time.
- George LowGeorg Michael Löw was born near Vienna, Austria, on the 10th of June 1926. His parents Artur and Gertrude Löw ran a prosperous manufacturing business before…
- David AttenboroughDavid Attenborough turned 100 years old on the 8th of May 2026, and the Royal Albert Hall filled with singers, filmmakers, composers, and royalty to mark the…
- Angus MaddisonAngus Maddison was born on the 6th of December 1926 in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. He attended Darlington Grammar School before entering Selwyn College at…
- Hilary PutnamHilary Putnam was a philosopher who changed his mind for a living. He arrived at Harvard in 1965, organized campus protests, taught courses on Marxism, and…
- Oliver SelfridgeOliver Selfridge was born on the 10th of May 1926 into a family that already knew something about building things people would remember.
- Ray SolomonoffRay Solomonoff was born on the 25th of July 1926 in Cleveland, Ohio. He grew up as the son of Jewish Russian immigrants named Phillip Julius and Sarah…
- Efraín Ríos MonttEfraín Ríos Montt died of a heart attack at his home in Guatemala City on the 1st of April 2018, at the age of 91, without ever completing a criminal trial.
- James Samuel ColemanJames Samuel Coleman walked into a whites-only amusement park outside of Baltimore with his wife, their three children, and a Black family.
- Harold Hunter (basketball)Harold Hunter Sr. entered the world on the 30th of April 1926 in Kansas City, Kansas. He walked through the doors of Sumner High School and graduated there…