4 Mehr 1404 | Friday 26 September 2025

This day in four calendars

46 BC Julius Caesar dedicates a temple to Venus Genetrix, fulfilling a vow he made at the Battle of Pharsalus.
1687 (339 years ago) Morean War: The Parthenon in Athens, used as a gunpowder depot by the Ottoman garrison, is partially destroyed after being bombarded during the Siege of the Acropolis by Venetian forces.
1777 (249 years ago) American Revolutionary War: British troops capture and begin the occupation of Philadelphia, which had been serving as the American capital city, during the Philadelphia campaign.
1789 (237 years ago) George Washington appoints Thomas Jefferson the first United States Secretary of State.
1905 (121 years ago) Albert Einstein publishes the third of his Annus Mirabilis papers, introducing the special theory of relativity.
1917 (109 years ago) World War I: The Battle of Polygon Wood begins.
1980 (46 years ago) A terrorist bombing at the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, kills 13 people and injures 213 others.
2024 (2 years ago) Hurricane Helene makes landfall in Perry, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, killing over 250 people, causing US$78.7 billion in damage and becoming the deadliest hurricane in the mainland United States since Katrina.

1849 (177 years ago) Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1936)
1888 (138 years ago) T. S. Eliot, English poet, playwright, critic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1965)
1889 (137 years ago) Martin Heidegger, German philosopher and academic (died 1976)
1897 (129 years ago) Pope Paul VI,
1898 (128 years ago) George Gershwin, American pianist and composer (died 1937)
1932 (94 years ago) Manmohan Singh, Indian economist and politician, 13th Prime Minister of India (died 2024)
1965 (61 years ago) Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian businessman and politician, 5th President of Ukraine
1981 (45 years ago) Serena Williams, American tennis player

1328 (698 years ago) Ibn Taymiya, Islamic scholar and philosopher of Harran (born 1263)
1945 (81 years ago) Béla Bartók, Hungarian pianist and composer (born 1881)
1952 (74 years ago) George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, novelist, and poet (born 1863)
1973 (53 years ago) Anna Magnani, Italian actress and singer (born 1908)
1978 (48 years ago) Manne Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1886)
1990 (36 years ago) Alberto Moravia, Italian author and critic (born 1907)
2008 (18 years ago) Paul Newman, American actor, director, producer, and businessman (born 1925)
2019 (7 years ago) Jacques Chirac, French politician, President of France (born 1932)