April 26
April 26 is the 117th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 249 days remain until the year's end. It falls in spring (northern hemisphere) and under the astrological sign of Taurus.
External references
Curated jump-off points to the major almanacs, encyclopaedias and primary sources for this date.
Astronomy
On April 26 the Sun's declination is approximately +13.6°. At this latitude the Sun is north of the celestial equator, giving the Northern Hemisphere longer days than nights.
For specific rise/set times at your location, see the U.S. Naval Observatory, or the NASA APOD archive for any imagery published on a April 26.
Position in the year
Holidays & observances
No widely-observed holidays catalogued for this day in our base set. See the external almanacs above for region-specific observances.
Events
A selection of widely-documented historical events that took place on this date. Years marked BCE follow standard astronomical convention.
1564 — William Shakespeare was baptised at Stratford-upon-Avon. ↗(462 years ago)more
William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" or simply "the Bard".
1865 — Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union General William T. Sherman at Bennett Place, ending the U.S. Civil War in the East. ↗(161 years ago)more
Bennett Place is a former farm and homestead in Durham, North Carolina, which was the site of the last surrender of a major Confederate army in the American Civil War, when Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to William T. Sherman.
1937 — German bombers attacked the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. ↗(89 years ago)more
On 26 April 1937, the Basque town of Guernica was aerially bombed during the Spanish Civil War. It was carried out at the behest of Francisco Franco's rebel Nationalist faction by its allies, the Nazi German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion and the Fascist Italian Aviazione Legionaria, under the code name Operation Rügen.
1986 — The Chernobyl nuclear-power plant in Ukraine experienced a catastrophic explosion. ↗(40 years ago)more
On 26 April 1986, reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, exploded. With dozens of direct casualties and thousands of health complications stemming from the disaster, it is one of only two nuclear accidents rated at the maximum severity on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the other being the...
Notable births
1711 — David Hume, Scottish philosopher. ↗(315 years ago)more
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist and essayist who is known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beginning with A Treatise of Human Nature (1739–40), Hume strove to create a naturalistic science of man that examined the psychological basis of human nature.
1894 — Rudolf Hess, deputy to Adolf Hitler. ↗(132 years ago)more
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a German politician, convicted war criminal, and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Germany. Appointed Deputy to the Führer in 1933, Hess held that position until 1941, when he flew solo to Scotland in an attempt to negotiate the United Kingdom's exit from the Second World War.
Notable deaths
1865 — John Wilkes Booth, assassin of Abraham Lincoln, killed in a tobacco barn in Virginia. ↗(161 years ago)more
John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated United States president Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth theatrical family from Maryland, he was a noted actor who was also a Confederate sympathizer; denouncing Lincoln, he lamented the then-recent abolition...
Numerical & calendrical curiosities
| Day-of-year (117) | 3^2 × 13 · composite (no) |
|---|---|
| Days remaining (249) | 3 × 83 |
| Date code DDMMYYYY | 26042026 · no palindrome in next 200 years |
| Sun declination | +13.61° (Cooper approximation) |
| Distance from solstice | 55 days |