February 1926 in History

Events in History

  • Feb 1 Kirghiz Autonomous Region in RSFSR becomes Kirghiz ASSR
  • Feb 1 Land at Broadway & Wall Street sold at a record $7 per sq inch
  • Feb 4 Austrian chancellor Seipel wants to join Germany
  • Feb 8 German Reichstag decides to apply for League of Nations membership
  • Feb 9 Teaching theory of evolution forbidden in Atlanta, Georgia schools
  • Feb 11 UK transfers administration of Tokelau (Union) Islands in South Pacific to New Zealand
  • Feb 15 Brooks Atkinson Theatre opens at 256 W 47th St NYC
  • Feb 15 Contract air mail service begins in US
  • Feb 17 Avalanche buries 75 in Sap Gulch, Bingham, Utah; 40 die

Event of Interest

Feb 25 Francisco Franco becomes Spain's youngest general at 33

  • Feb 25 Kwo-Min-Tang (Guomindang) declares war on government and warlords
  • Feb 26 Dark Street in the Bronx renamed Lustre Street

Birthdays in History

  • Feb 1 Douglas Johnson, British historian, born in Edinburgh (d. 2005)
  • Feb 1 Peter Crill, Bailiff of Jersey
  • Feb 1 Vivian Maier, American street photographer unknown until her death, born in New York City (d. 2009)
  • Feb 2 Miguel Cardinal Obando y Bravo, 1st Cent American cardinal (Nicaragua)
  • Feb 2 ValĂ©ry Giscard d'Estaing, French politician, President of France (1974-81), born in Koblenz, French-occupied Germany (d. 2020)
  • Feb 3 Glen Tetley, US choreographer
  • Feb 3 Hans-Jochen Vogel, leader of West Germany's Social Democrats (SPD)
  • Feb 3 J. Roy Rowland, American politician (Rep-D-GA, 1983-95), born in Wrightsville, Georgia (d. 2022)
  • Feb 4 John Edward Caulwell Hearne, writer
  • Feb 5 Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, American publisher (NY Times), born in NYC, New York
  • Feb 7 Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (Voskhod 1 - 1st to carry three members), born in Voronezh, Russia, USSR (d. 2009)
  • Feb 8 Neal Cassady, American writer (d. 1968)
  • Feb 9 Garret FitzGerald, Prime Minister of Ireland
  • Feb 11 Paul Bocuse, French great chef (Legion of Honor), born in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or, France (d. 2018)
  • Feb 12 Charles Van Doren, American quiz show contestant (Twenty-One), born in New York City
  • Feb 12 Paul Hamlyn, English publisher/multi-millionaire (Octopus)
  • Feb 16 David Austin, English rose breeder (Austin roses), born in Albrighton, England (d. 2018)
  • Feb 16 Jack Levy, English mechanical engineer, born in London, England (d. 2017)
  • Feb 20 Cameron Rusby, British Vice-Admiral
  • Feb 20 Kenneth H Olsen, American electrical engineer, and co-founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, born in Bridgeport, Connecticut (d. 2011)
  • Feb 20 Richard Matheson, American author, (d. 2013)
  • Feb 21 Hans Andreus [Johan W van der Zant], Dutch poet (Animal Language)
  • Feb 24 Reginald Freeson, British MP
  • Feb 25 Harvey McGregor, QC/warden (New College-Oxford)
  • Feb 27 David H. Hubel, Canadian neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate, (d. 2013)
  • Feb 27 Peter Emery, British MP
  • Feb 28 Svetlana Alliluyeva, Russian-born daughter of Joseph Stalin who later defected to the West and author (My Life), born in Moscow (d. 2011)

Deaths in History

  • Feb 2 Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general (b. 1848)
  • Feb 8 William Bateson, English biologist (originator of term "genetics"), dies at 64
  • Feb 21 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist (liquid helium, Nobel Prize for Physics 1913), dies at 72
  • Feb 26 Frederik Pijper, Dutch vicar and church historian (The Monasteries), dies at 67