What are the important events that happened on January 26? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

January 26: Facts & Myths About This Day

January 26 is the 26^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 339 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is January 13, 2025 – a Sunday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 482,736 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘icosihexagon’ day.

Aquarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Garnet is the modern birthstone for this month. Emerald is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 3 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,419 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

January 26 Historical Events

• 1700 –
  The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake takes place off the west coast of the North America, as evidenced by Japanese records.
• 1736 –
  Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
• 1788 –
  The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Commemorated as Australia Day
• 1855 –
  Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory.
• 1856 –
  First Battle of Seattle. Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all day battle with settlers.
• 1924 –
  Saint Petersburg, Russia, is renamed Leningrad.
• 1933 –
  New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Water Rooster in Chinese astrology.
• 1949 –
  The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976).
• 1960 –
  Danny Heater sets a worldwide high school basketball scoring record when he records 135 points for Burnsville High School (West Virginia)
• 2004 –
  A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.

Who were born on January 26?

• 1722 –
  Alexander Carlyle, Scottish church leader (d. 1805)
• 1781 –
  Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet (d. 1831)
• 1826 –
  Julia Dent-Grant, First Lady of the United States (d. 1902)
• 1842 –
  François Coppée, French poet and novelist (d. 1908)
• 1900 –
  Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
• 1932 –
  Coxsone Dodd, Jamaican record producer
• 1967 –
  Pradip Somasundaran, Indian playback singer
• 1974 –
  Shannon Hale, American author
• 1976 –
  Hitomi, Japanese singer and songwriter
• 1978 –
  Corina Morariu, American tennis player

Who died on January 26?

• 1886 –
  David Rice Atchison, American politician (b. 1807)
• 1933 –
  Alva Belmont, American socialite (b. 1853)
• 1962 –
  Lucky Luciano, American mobster (b. 1897)
• 1993 –
  Jan Gies, Dutch resistance leader (b. 1905)
• 1996 –
  Harold Brodkey, American author (b. 1930)
• 1998 –
  Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese music teacher (b. 1898)
• 2000 –
  Don Budge, American tennis player (b. 1915)
• 2006 –
  Carol Lambrino, son of Carol II of Romania and Zizi Lambrino (b. 1920)
• 2006 –
  Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Pakistani politician and statesman (b. 1917)
• 2011 –
  Gladys Horton, American musician and singer, member of the group The Marvelettes (b. 1944)