Today in History: The Use of International Time and Calendar, Adopted by the Turkish Grand National Assembly

December 26 is the 360th day of the year (361th in leap years) according to the Gregorian calendar. The number of days left until the end of the year is 5.

Railways

• 26 December 1860 Izmir-Üçpınar (Triyande) route (7 shaft), which is the first railway in Anatolia, was opened for operation.
• 26 December 1916 Kemerburgaz-Çiftalan Line was completed.
• 26 December 1939 On Circular on the tenure of the railway operation was published.
• 26 December 1941 Arda Bridge near Edirne and Alexandroupolis-Kırklareli-Burgaz Railway were rebuilt. Diyarbakır-Sinan line (85 km) will be opened in the press.
• 1932 – Samsun-Sivas railway line was opened.
• 1992 – The first electric train on the Ankara-Haydarpaşa line was put into service.

Events

• 1865 - American James H. Nason patented the filtered coffee machine.
• 1898 - Marie Curie and Pierre Curie announce their discovery of radium. The Curies received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their discovery.
• 1908 - Jack Johnson defeats Tommy Burns in Sydney Australia to become the world's first black heavyweight boxing champion.
• 1923 - Partial amnesty law passed.
• 1925 – The use of the international clock and calendar was accepted in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
• 1925 – Turkey switched to the Gregorian calendar with a law.
• 1933 – FM radio is patented.
• 1934 – Kublai monument built in Menemen was opened with a ceremony.
• 1938 – The Republican People's Party extraordinary congress convened. In the congress, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was declared the "Eternal Chief" and İsmet İnönü was declared the "National Chief".
• 1957 – It was announced that nine officers were arrested for inciting rebellion and making mischief. As a result of the trials that started on May 26, 1958, Staff Major Samet Kuşçu, one of the defendants in the Nine Officers Incident, was sentenced to 2 years in prison and a tart sentence from the army, the other defendants were acquitted.
• 1968 – Students of Istanbul University occupied the Rectorate Building. The university was closed indefinitely.
• 1972 – Writer Fakir Baykurt and 7 of his friends were sentenced to prison for eight years and ten months each. Fakir Baykurt and his friends were on trial for allegedly founding a secret organization.
• 1975 - The Soviet Union put into service the Tupolev Tu-144, the world's first supersonic transport aircraft.
• 1982 – For the first time, a non-human object entered Time magazine's Man of the Year list: the personal computer.
• 1983 – Hisarbank, Istanbul Bank and Ortadoğu İktisat Bank were transferred to Ziraat Bank. 1329 people working in the transferred banks were dismissed by paying their compensation.
• 1986 - The world's population reaches 5 billion.
• 1988 – The Culture and Art Grand Prize was given to the cinema director Lütfü Akad for his works and contributions in the field of cinema.
• 1991 – Social-Democratic Populist Party deputy Mahmut Alinak said, “Two of our brothers died recently, one is a soldier and one is a PKK member,” and an incident broke out in the Parliament. The forehead was forcibly removed from the pulpit.
• 1991 - Russia declared its independence.
• 1994 – Sivas case regarding the burning of 37 intellectuals in the Madımak Hotel was concluded. Ankara State Security Court commuted the death sentence given to 22 defendants to fifteen years of heavy imprisonment each. The court argued that Aziz Nesin provoked the public and led to the unfolding of events.
• 1995 – Young people from Manisa, who were the subject of the Manisa case, which would continue for many years, were taken into custody.
• 1996 – Mehmet Eymür, Head of Counter-terrorism Department of the National Intelligence Organization (National Intelligence Organization), who informed the Susurluk Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, that the National Intelligence Organization used Abdullah Çatlı in foreign operations after 1980.
• 2003 – An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 occurred in Iran's Kerman Province. 20.000 people died, mostly in Bam.
• 2004 – The tsunami caused by the 9,7 magnitude earthquake on the Indian Ocean floor (near Aceh, Northern Indonesia) killed or disappeared more than 13 people in 200.000 oceanic countries in Southeast Asia. 128.000 people died in Indonesia alone.
• 2005 – The first version of Pardus GNU Linux, developed by TÜBİTAK, was published.
• 2006 – More than 500 people are killed in an explosion at an oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria.
• 2006 – An earthquake with a magnitude of 23 struck 7,2 km off Hengchun, on the southern tip of Taiwan.

Births

• 1536 – Yi I, Korean Neo-Confucian philosopher and author (b. 1584)
• 1756 – Bernard Germain de Lacépède, French natural historian (d. 1825)
• 1769 – Ernst Moritz Arndt, German poet and politician (d. 1830)
• 1780 – Mary Somerville, English scientist and polymath (d. 1872)
• 1785 – Étienne Constantin de Gerlache, lawyer and politician in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (d. 1871)
• 1791 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician (d. 1871)
• 1798 – Amariah Brigham, American psychiatrist (d. 1849)
• 1847 – Stephen Sauvestre, French architect (d. 1919)
• 1861 – Emil Wiechert, German geophysicist (d. 1928)
• 1863 – Charles Pathé, French film and sound industry pioneer (d. 1957)
• 1864 – Yun Chi-ho, Korean educator, independent activist, and politician (d. 1945)
• 1866 John Devey, English former football player (d. 1940)
• 1867 – Phan Boi Chau, Vietnamese nationalist (d. 1940)
• 1873 – Norman Angell, English economist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 1967)
• 1879 – Armen Tigranyan, Armenian composer and conductor (d. 1950)
• 1880 – Elton Mayo, Australian psychologist, sociologist, and organizational theorist (d. 1949)
• 1883 – Maurice Utrillo, French actor (d. 1955)
• 1890 Rainer von Fieandt, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 1972)
• 1890 – Konstandinos Yeorgakopoulos, Greek Prime Minister (d. 1973)
• 1891 – Henry Miller, American author (d. 1980)
• 1893 – Mao Zedong, Chinese revolutionary, politician, and founder of the Communist Party of China (d. 1976)
• 1897 – Pyotr Gluhov, Soviet writer (d. 1979)
• 1903 – Stefan Ryniewicz, Polish diplomat, undersecretary (d. 1988)
• 1904 – Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (d. 1980)
• 1909 – Oldřich Nejedlý, Czech former football player (d. 1990)
• 1914 – Richard Widmark, American actor (d. 2008)
• 1918 – Ali Şen, Turkish actor (d. 1989)
• 1918 – George George Rallys, Greek politician (d. 2006)
• 1919 – Ilita Daurova, Soviet pilot (d. 1999)
• 1922 – Norman Orentreich, American dermatologist and cosmetologist (d. 2019)
• 1923 – Necdet Levent, Turkish composer (d. 2017)
• 1924 – János Aczél, Hungarian-Canadian mathematician (d. 2020)
• 1924 – Baki Tamer, Turkish character, theater, TV series and movie actor (d. 2004)
• 1925 – Natalia Revuelta Clews, Cuban socialite (d. 2015)
• 1926 Earle Brown, American composer (d. 2002)
• 1926 – Ali Cevan, Iranian physicist
• 1927 – Twitter Basaran, Turkish theater and film actor (d. 2016)
• 1929 – Kathleen Crowley, American actress (d. 2017)
• 1929 – Taarak Mehta, Indian playwright, columnist, humorist (d. 2017)
• 1930 – Jean Ferrat, French singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
• 1930 – Donald Moffat, English-American actor (d. 2018)
• 1930 – Krishna Bose, Indian politician, educator, author (d. 2020)
• 1933 – Carroll Spinney, American comedian, actor, and voice actor (d. 2019)
• 1934 - Raoul Dauce, American actor
• 1934 – Richard Swinburne, English philosopher
• 1934 – Mari Hulman George, American business philanthropist (d. 2018)
• 1935 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma, President of Togo (d. 2005)
• 1936 – Kayhan Yıldızoğlu, Turkish cinema and TV series actor
• 1937 – John Horton Conway, English mathematician (d. 2020)
• 1937 – Abdulbaki Hermassi, Tunisian politician
• 1938 – Bahram Beizai, Iranian playwright and director
• 1939 - Phil Spector, American record producer and songwriter
• 1939 – Eduard Kukan, Slovak diplomat and politician
• 1940 – Edward C. Prescott, American economist
• 1940 – Teruki Miyamoto, Japanese former international football player (d. 2000)
• 1941 – Şener Şen, Turkish actor
• 1941 – Daniel Schmid, Swiss director (d. 2006)
• 1942 – Riza Naci, Iranian Azerbaijani actress
• 1943 – Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, professor of Turkish history of science, academician, diplomat, politician, writer
• 1943 – Carlo Benetton, Italian billionaire businessman (d. 2018)
• 1944 – Galsan Çinag, Mongolian writer of Tuva descent
• 1944 – Ekber Kargercem, Iranian national football player
• 1946 – Yusuke Omi, Japanese former international football player
• 1946 – Joseph Sifakis, French-Greek computer scientist
• 1947 - Kunio Okawara, Japanese mechanical designer
• 1947 – George Konrote, Fijian politician
• 1947 – Dominique Baratelli, French former goalkeeper
• 1947 – Peter Sattmann, German actor and musician
• 1947 – Anne Gazeau-Secret, French ambassador
• 1948 – Ali Kırca, Turkish news presenter and writer
• 1949 – José Ramos-Horta, 2nd President of East Timor and politician
• 1950 – Rajah Pervez Ashraf, 17th Prime Minister of Pakistan
• 1951 – John Scofield, American jazz guitarist and composer
• 1952 – Alexander Ankvab, former President of Abkhazia
• 1952 – Riki Sorsa, Finnish singer (d. 2016)
• 1952 – Bob Flanagan, American performance artist, comedian, author, poet, and musician (d. 1996)
• 1953 – Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonian politician and diplomat
• 1953 – Leonel Fernández, President of the Dominican Republic
• 1953 – Necmettin Pamir, Turkish neurosurgeon
• 1954 – Tony Rosato, Canadian actor, comedian, and voice actor (d. 2017)
• 1955 – Zlatko Lagumdžija, Bosnian politician
• 1956 – David Sedaris, American humorist, author, and comedian
• 1956 – Elisa Carrió, Argentine lawyer, professor, and politician
• 1956 – Vizier Orucov, National Hero of Azerbaijan (d. 1993)
• 1956 – Beppe Severgnini, Italian writer and journalist
• 1958 - Adrian Newey, British racing engineer, aerodynamicist, designer and technical manager
• 1958 – Boris Isachenko, Belarusian former archer
• 1959 – Chuck Mosley, American singer (d. 2017)
• 1959 – Gültekin Tetik, Turkish director, cinematographer, producer and professional photographer
• 1960 – Cem Uzan, Turkish politician and businessman
• 1960 – Aziz Buderbala, Moroccan football player
• 1961 – John Lynch, Northern Irish actor
• 1962 – James Kottak, American drummer
• 1962 – Jean-Marc Ferreri, French national football player
• 1962 – Carina Jaarnek, Swedish singer (d. 2016)
• 1963 – Lars Ulrich, Danish-American musician and Metallica drummer
• 1963 – Valeriu Chiveri, Moldovan diplomat
• 1965 – Mazinho Oliveira, Brazilian football player
• 1965 – Eldar Hasanov, National Hero of Azerbaijan (d. 1994)
• 1968 - Tricia Leigh Fisher, American singer and actress
• 1968 – Selim Özer, Turkish former national football player
• 1969 – Thomas Linke, German national football player
• 1971 – Jared Leto, American actor and musician
• 1971 – Cécile Bois, French actress
• 1974 – Julia Koschitz, Austrian actress
• 1975 – Marcelo Rios, Chilean tennis player
• 1975 – Ed Stafford, English explorer, author, and soldier
• 1975 – Selma Geçer, Turkish Folk Music singer
• 1977 – Fatih Akyel, Turkish football player
• 1977 – Ebru Saçar, Turkish theater, cinema and TV series actress, voice actor, dancer
• 1978 – Kirsi Heikkinen, Finnish football referee
• 1978 – Noom Diawara, Malian-French actor
• 1978 – Efe Baltacıgil, Turkish cellist
• 1979 – Fabián Carini, Uruguayan international football player
• 1979 – Adem Dursun, Turkish football player
• 1980 – Jo Jung-suk, South Korean actress
• 1980 – Li Hongli, Chinese weightlifter
• 1981 – Shu-Aib Walters, South African football player
• 1982 – Shun Oguri, Japanese male voice actor and actor
• 1982 – David Logan, Polish national basketball player
• 1982 – Roxanne Pallett, English actress and singer
• 1983 – Alexander Wang, American fashion designer
• 1983 – Hideo Okamoto, Japanese former football player
• 1983 – Jean-Emmanuel Effa Owona, Cameroonian football player
• 1984 – Alex Schwazer, Italian walking athlete
• 1984 – Ahmed Barusso, Ghanaian football player
• 1985 – Kunimitsu Sekiguchi, Japanese national football player
• 1985 – Beth Behrs, an American actress and writer
• 1985 – Christoph Schechinger, German actor.
• 1986 – Ilya Tkachenko, Russian figure skater
• 1986 – Kit Harington, British television and film actor
• 1986 – Mükerrem Selen Soyder, Turkish model and 2007 Miss Turkey
• 1986 – Hugo Lloris, French goalkeeper
• 1986 – Yuta Mikado, Japanese football player
• 1986 – Selen Soyder, Turkish model and actress
• 1986 – Joe Alexander, American professional basketball player
• 1986 – Dario Bottinelli, Argentine football player
• 1986 – Charles Templon, French film, television and theater actor
• 1987 – Emin Sharmiti, Tunisian football player
• 1987 – Wallace Reis, Brazilian football player
• 1988 – Shiho Ogawa, Japanese national football player
• 1988 – Etien Velikonja, Slovenian national football player
• 1989 – Yohan Blake, Jamaican sprinter
• 1989 - Keita Tanaka, Japanese football player
• 1989 – Koray Şanlı, Turkish football player
• 1989 – Hélder Tavares, Cape Verdean national football player
• 1990 – Aaron Ramsey, English football player
• 1990 – Denis Cherishev, Russian national football player
• 1990 – Andy Biersack, American singer and pianist
• 1990 - Takamitsu Tomiyama, Japanese football player
• 1990 – Gakuji Ota, Japanese football player
• 1990 – Jon Bellion, American singer-songwriter, producer, and rapper
• 1990 – Cory Jefferson, American professional basketball player
• 1991 – Eden Sher, American actress
• 1991 - Kristal Silva, Mexican model
• 1995 – Gazini Ganados, Filipino model
• 1996 – Nicole Azzopardi, Maltese singer-songwriter

Deaths

• 268 – Dionysius, Bishop of Rome (b. ?)
• 1530 – Babur Shah, founder and Sultan of the Mughal State (b. 1483)
• 1698 – Wolfgang Julius von Hohenlohe, German field marshal (b. 1622)
• 1771 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (b. 1715)
• 1812 – Joel Barlow, American poet, diplomat, and politician (b. 1754)
• 1869 – Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille, French physiologist (b. 1799)
• 1890 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)
• 1909 – Frederic Remington, American painter, illustrator, sculptor, author (b. 1861)
• 1916 – Willie Smith, Scottish golfer (b. 1876)
• 1919 – Stephen Sauvestre, French architect (b. 1847)
• 1923 – Dietrich Eckart, German politician (b. 1868)
• 1931 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian (b. 1851)
• 1933 – Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian Marxist revolutionary and first Soviet Education Commissar (b. 1875)
• 1933 – Henry Watson Fowler, English teacher, lexicographer, and commentator (b. 1858)
• 1941 – Frances Hardcastle, American mathematician (b. 1866)
• 1943 – Erich Bey, commander of Nazi Germany's destroyer fleet (b. 1898)
• 1945 – Roger Keyes, British military personnel and politician (b. 1872)
• 1955 – Franz Immig, German football player (b. 1918)
• 1955 – Zihni Orhon, Turkish soldier and politician (b. 1883)
• 1965 – Şakir Uma, Turkish politician (b. 1886)
• 1966 – Herbert Otto Gille, general of Nazi Germany (b. 1897)
• 1972 – Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
• 1973 – Harold B. Lee, 11th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1899)
• 1974 – Farid al-Atrash, Egyptian composer, singer, lute player and film actor (b. 1910)
• 1974 – Ekrem Anıt, Turkish politician (b. 1905)
• 1975 – Stanisław Kot, Polish historian and politician (b. 1885)
• 1977 – Howard Hawks, American film director and writer (b. 1896)
• 1979 – Helmut Hasse, German mathematician (b. 1898)
• 1980 – Richard Chase, American serial killer (b. 1950)
• 1981 – Suat Hayri Ürgüplü, Turkish politician and 11th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1903)
• 1981 – Henry Eyring, American theoretical chemist (b. 1901)
• 1992 – John G. Kemeny, American mathematician, computer scientist, and educator (b. 1926)
• 1992 – Saadettin Yalım, Turkish politician (b. 1908)
• 1995 – Hüsamettin Böke, Turkish national football player and football referee (b. 1910)
• 1997 – Cahit Arf, Turkish mathematician (b. 1910)
• 1997 – Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek philosopher (b. 1922)
• 1999 – Curtis Mayfield, American soul, R&B, and funk singer, composer, and record producer (b. 1942)
• 2000 – Jason Robards, American actor (b. 1922)
• 2001 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (b. 1929)
• 2002 – Armand Zilciyan, Ottoman-American manufacturer of drum cymbals (b. 1921)
• 2002 – Herb Ritts, American fashion photographer (b. 1952)
• 2004 – Mehmet Ersoy, Turkish politician (b. 1933)
• 2005 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (b. 1948)
• 2005 – Erich Topp, German U-boat commander (b. 1914)
• 2006 – Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
• 2009 – Giuseppe Chiappella, Italian football player (b. 1924)
• 2009 – Norval White, American architect, historian, and professor (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Salvador Jorge Blanco, President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Teena Marie, American singer, songwriter, and producer (b. 1956)
• 2011 – Şahin Özyüksel, Turkish sculptor and academic (b. 1943)
• 2011 – Kennan Adeang, Nauruan politician (b. 1942)
• 2012 – Garibaldo Nizzola, Italian wrestler (b. 1927)
• 2012 – Étienne Burin des Roziers, French diplomat (b. 1913)
• 2014 – Leo Tindemans, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1922)
• 2014 – Roberto Delmastro, Chilean politician and engineer (b. 1945)
• 2016 – Ashot Anastasyan, Armenian World champion chess player (b. 1964)
• 2016 – Ricky Harris, American actor and comedian (b. 1962)
• 2016 – Joachim Calmeyer, Norwegian actor (b. 1931)
• 2016 – George S. Irving, American actor and voice actor (b. 1922)
• 2017 – Shahnon Ahmad, Malaysian writer, politician (b. 1933)
• 2017 – Asa Lanova, Swiss female ballet dancer and writer (b. 1933)
• 2017 – Cemal Külahlı, Turkish politician (b. 1930)
• 2018 – Roy Glauber, American theoretical physicist (b. 1925)
• 2018 – Nancy Roman, American female astronomer and scientist (b. 1925)
• 2018 – Sono Osato, American dancer and actress (b. 1919)
• 2018 – Penny Cook, Australian actress and director (b. 1957)
• 2018 – Elisavet Zahariadu, Greek researcher (b. 1931)
• 2019 – Jerry Herman, American composer, songwriter, and musician (b. 1931)
• 2019 – Galina Volçek, Soviet-Russian actress, theater, film director, politician and educator (b. 1933)
• 2019 – Sleepy LaBeef, American gospel-rock singer, songwriter, composer, musician, and actor (b. 1935)
• 2020 – Milka Babović, Croatian sprinter and hurdler, journalist (b. 1928)
• 2020 – Luke Harper, American professional wrestler (b. 1979)
• 2020 – Bronisława Kowalska, Polish politician (b. 1955)
• 2020 – Jonathan Huber, American professional wrestler and actor (b. 1979)
• 2020 – Tito Rojas, Puerto Rican salsa, rock and roll singer and musician (b. 1955)

Holidays and special occasions

• Kwanzaa: African-American holiday.