Wednesday, August 26th
The 238th day of 2009.
There are 127 days left in the year.
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Today's Highlights in History
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On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, was declared in effect. (Go to article.)
On Aug. 26, 1906, Albert Sabin, the Polish-American doctor who developed the polio vaccine, was born. Following his death on March 3, 1993, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On August 26, 1876, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about monetary policy and the presidential election of 1876. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1847 Liberia was proclaimed an independent republic.
1910 Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia.
1939 Major league baseball was televised for the first time when experimental station W2XBS broadcast a doubleheader between the visiting Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.
1957 The Soviet Union announced that it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.
1961 The International Hockey Hall of Fame opened in Toronto.
1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson was nominated for a term of office in his own right at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, N.J.
1974 Aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh died at age 72.
1978 Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice was elected the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and took the name John Paul I.
2003 Investigators concluded that NASA's overconfident management and inattention to safety doomed the space shuttle Columbia as much as damage to the craft did.
Current Birthdays
Branford Marsalis turns 49 years old today.
AP Photo/Charles Dharapak Jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis turns 49 years old today.
73 Francine York
Actress
88 Ben Bradlee
Former Washington Post executive editor
76 Ben J. Wattenberg
Author
75 Tom Heinsohn
Basketball Hall of Famer
74 Geraldine Ferraro
Former Democratic vice presidential candidate
67 Vic Dana
Singer
64 Tom Ridge
Former director of homeland security
63 Valerie Simpson
R&B singer (Ashford and Simpson)
60 Bob Cowsill
Singer (The Cowsills)
53 Brett Cullen
Actor
48 Jimmy Olander
Country musician (Diamond Rio)
44 Chris Burke
Actor ("Life Goes On")
43 Shirley Manson
Rock musician (Garbage)
43 Dan Vickrey
Rock musician (Counting Crows)
43 Riley Weston
Actress, writer
40 Adrian Young
Rock musician (No Doubt)
39 Melissa McCarthy
Actress ("Gilmore Girls")
38 Thalia
Singer, actress
34 Tyler Connolly
Rock singer, musician (Theory of a Deadman)
30 Jamal Lewis
Football player
29 Macaulay Culkin
Actor ("Home Alone")
29 Chris Pine
Actor
23 Cassie
R&B singer
16 Keke Palmer
Actress
Historic Birthdays
Albert Sabin
8/26/1906 - 3/3/1993
Polish-born American microbiologist; developed oral polio vaccine
(Go to obit.)
68 Robert Walpole
8/26/1676 - 3/18/1745
British prime minister (1721-42)
49 Johann Heinrich Lambert
8/26/1728 - 9/25/1777
Swiss mathematician, scientist and philosopher
69 Joseph-Michel Montgolfier
8/26/1740 - 6/26/1810
French inventor; helped build first hot-air balloon
50 Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier
8/26/1743 - 5/8/1794
French scientist
42 Albert
8/26/1819 - 12/14/1861
German-born prince consort of Queen Victoria
87 Lee De Forest
8/26/1873 - 6/30/1961
American inventor of the Audion vacuum tube
86 Jules Romains
8/26/1885 - 8/14/1972
French novelist, dramatist and poet
98 Jerome Hunsaker
8/26/1886 - 9/10/1984
American aeronautical engineer
81 Peggy Guggenheim
8/26/1898 - 12/23/1979
American art collector and patron
85 Maxwell Taylor
8/26/1901 - 4/19/1987
American army officer in World War II
81 Christopher Isherwood
8/26/1904 - 1/4/1986
English-born novelist and playwright
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SOURCE: The Associated Press
Front Page Image Provided by UMI
