Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

April 26

1988
China Beach debuts on ABC.

1986
Chernobyl disaster: The worst accident in the history of nuclear energy; it killed 31 people and spewed radioactive material over the Soviet Union and Europe.

1962
First international satellite: Ariel 1 is launched. It was built and launched by NASA to perform British experiments.

1962
First U.S. Satellite to reach the surface of the Moon:  Ranger IV, launched three days earlier, impacts the Moon's surface.

1957
First Air Force Academy woman officer: Naomi M. McCracken begins duties at the Air Force Academy temporary headquarters in Denver, Colorado.

1954
Polio: Nationwide testing of the Salk anti-polio vaccine begins.

1791
The Cherokee Indians cede most of their land to the U.S. with the Treaty of Holston.

1985
Alan, Bret, Connor, Douglas, and Edward Jacobssen, world's first test-tube quintuplets.

1962
Michael Damian, American singer, actor. Music: Rock On (#1). TV: The Young and the Restless (Danny Romalotti).

1960
Roger Taylor, English singer, with Duran Duran. Music: Hungry Like the Wolf (1982), Rio (1982), Union of the Snake (1983), and A View to a Kill (1985).

1942
Claudine Auger, French actress, Miss France (1958). Film: Thunderball (Domino Derval).

1933
Carol Burnett, American Emmy-winning comedienne. TV: The Carol Burnett Show.

1933
Arno Allan Penzias, German-American astrophysicist. He and Robert Woodrow Wilson shared the Nobel Prize for Physics (1978) for their discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (1964) which was predicted by the big-bang theory.

1900     d. 1976
David Mathias Dennison, American theoretical physicist. He discovered the spin of the proton.

1900     d. 1985
Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist. He invented the Richter Scale (1935) for measuring earthquakes.

1894     d. 1987
Rudolf Hess, German politician, Hitler's private secretary. In 1941, he embarked on a solo peace mission to Scotland - without Hitler's permission. He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment.

1893     d. 1981
Anita Loos, American author, playwright. Writings: Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1925) and But Gentleman Marry Brunettes (1928).

1886     d. 1970
William Levi Dawson, American politician. He was the first black U.S. representative to chair a Congressional committee (1949, Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments).

1822     d. 1903
Frederick Law Olmsted, American landscape architect. He designed New York's Central Park and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

1813     d. 1891
Edward Maynard, American dentist. He was the first to recognize dental fever (1836) and the first to use gold fillings (1838).

1785     d. 1851
John James Audubon, American ornithologist and wildlife artist. He was elected (1900) to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.

1989     b. 1911
Lucille Ball, American comedienne. TV: I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show.

1988     b. 1901
Frederick Douglass Patterson, American educator, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, President of the Tuskegee Institute (1935-53), and founder of the United Negro College Fund (1944).

1986     b. 1911
Broderick Crawford, American Oscar-winning actor. Film: All The King's Men (1949, Oscar). TV: Highway Patrol (Dan Matthews).

1984     b. 1904
Count Basie (William Basie), American jazz pianist, bandleader. Music: One O'Clock Jump, Swingin' the Blues and Tickle Toe.

1981     b. 1915
Jim Davis, American actor. TV: Dallas (Jock Ewing).

1973     b. 1903
Irene Ryan, American actress. TV: The Beverly Hillbillies (Granny).

1970     b. 1914
Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Louise Hovick), American actress, "The Queen of Burlesque," and the best-known stripper of the 1930s.

1915     b. 1863
John Bunny, American actor, comedian, the first comic star of the American screen (1910). This 300-pound actor made over 200 comic shorts during his brief five-year film career.

1865     b. 1838
John Wilkes Booth, American Shakespearean actor. He assassinated Pres. Lincoln at Ford's Theater (1865). He was reportedly shot and killed in Garrett's Barn in Virginia.

1865     b. 1791
Charles Joseph Sax, Belgian instrument maker. He invented the "omnitonic horn" (1824), which used a piston to provide different keys. He was the father of saxophone inventer Adolphe Sax.

1731     b. circa 1659
Daniel Defoe, English author. Writings: Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders (1722). He died broke and in hiding from his debts.

1558     b. circa 1497
Jean François Fernel, French physician. He coined the terms "physiology" and "pathology." He was the first to describe appendicitis and the spinal canal. He also worked to end the reliance on astrology and magic in matters of health.

757     b. ????
Stephen II, Italian religious leader, 92nd Pope (752-757).

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