August 26
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1856
1856: Teenager invents purple
On this day in 1856, 18-year-old chemist William Henry Perkin patented the worldâs first synthetic dye. He had discovered the brilliant purple substance accidentally while trying to make quinine, a malaria treatment. Dubbed mauveine, the dye made fashionable purple clothing far more affordable, sparked a âmauve mania,â and helped launch the modern synthetic dye and chemical industries.
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In preparation for an attack on Paris, part of Charles VIIâs campaign to drive the English from French soil, Joan of Arc and her soldiers reached the cityâs outskirts on this day in 1429, but the assault ultimately failed. [Watch an overview of Joan of Arcâs life.]
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Born this day in 1743, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier was a prominent French chemist and leading figure in the 18th-century chemical revolution who developed an experimentally based theory of the chemical reactivity of oxygen.
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2026
A catastrophic flash flood and debris flow triggered by the partial collapse of the glacier sitting atop Langtang Lirung peak in Nepalâs Langtang National Park occurred. Some six days later, Nepali and Chinese officials reported that more than 950 people had been killed and more than 4,000 were still missing.
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2018
American playwright, screenwriter, and TV writer Neil Simonâwho was one of the most popular playwrights in the history of American theater, known for such plays as The Odd Couple and Biloxi Bluesâdied at age 91. [Test your knowledge of the theatre.]
Peter Pettus/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-ppmsca-08102)
2015
American civil rights activist Amelia Boynton Robinsonâan organizer of the Selma March (1965), which was a landmark event in the civil rights movement that led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Actâdied at age 104. [Read about 10 milestones in U.S. civil rights history .]
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1978
Albino Cardinal Luciani was elected pope as John Paul I, but he died of a heart attack 33 days later. [Learn more about how the pope is elected.]
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1975
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie Iâwho steered his country into the mainstream of African politics after World War II and oversaw its entrance into the League of Nations and the United Nationsâdied at age 83, possibly assassinated. [Test your knowledge of African leaders.]
EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica, Inc.
1936
The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty established Egypt as a sovereign state after 50 years of British occupation. [How much do you know about Egyptian history?]
NARA
1920
The Nineteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution of the United States, giving women the right to vote. [Take our quiz about the Nineteenth Amendment and womenâs suffrage.]
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1914
During World War I the Battle of Tannenberg began, fought between the Germans and the Russians; several days later the German forces, led by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, handed Russia a crushing defeat. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about World War I.]
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1883
The volcano Krakatoa in Indonesia began to erupt, and 36,000 people were killed by the eruption and the resulting tsunami. [Take our quiz about volcanoes.]
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1629
English Puritan stockholders of the Massachusetts Bay Company pledged to emigrate to New England under the terms of the Cambridge Agreement. [How much do you know about early American history?]
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1346
During the Hundred Yearsâ War the English, led by Edward III, defeated the French at the Battle of CrĂ©cy. [Take our history of war quiz.]
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1071
Seljuq Turk forces under Alp-Arslan vanquished the Byzantine army and captured the emperor Romanus IV Diogenes at the Battle of Manzikert. [Test your knowledge of Roman and Byzantine emperors.]