Did you know about Michael Gove
A member of the House of Lords since 2025, he previously held senior Cabinet positions in Conservative governments between 2010 and 2024.
Famous Birthdays on August 26
August 26 has 201 recorded notable births across history, from 1548 to 2006. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
1967 — Michael Gove
Scottish journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Education
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Famous Birthdays
201 source records
1548 – 2006
Virgo
Today in history
Major events on August 26
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1849 President Faustin Soulouque of the First Republic of Haiti has the Senate and Chamber of Deputies proclaim him the Emperor of Haiti, abolishing the Republic and inaugurating the Second Empire of Haiti. Source
- 1748 The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, is founded in Philadelphia. Source
Did you know about Edward Witten
Edward Witten is an American theoretical physicist known for his contributions to string theory, topological quantum field theory, general relativity and various areas of mathematics.
Did you know about Peggy Guggenheim
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a modern art museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, and is one of the most visited attractions in the city.
Did you know about Austin Gunn
Austin Sopp, better known by the ring name Austin Gunn, is an American professional wrestler and reality television personality.
Did you know about Tom Heinsohn
Tom Heinsohn is regarded as one of the most iconic Celtics figures in the franchise's history, known during his lifetime for his charisma and loyalty to the team and its traditions.
More major people born on August 26
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1951
Edward Witten
American physicist and academic
Edward Witten is an American theoretical physicist known for his contributions to string theory, topological quantum field theory, general relativity and various areas of mathematics. He is a professor emeritus in the school of natural sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Witten is a researcher in string theory, quantum gravity, supersymmetric quantum field theories, and other areas of mathematical physics. Witten's work has also significantly impacted pure mathematics. In 1990, he became the first physicist to be awarded a Fields Medal by the International Mathematical Union, for his mathematical insights in physics, such as his 1981 proof of the positive energy theorem in general relativity, and his interpretation of the Jones invariants of knots as Feynman integrals. He is considered the practical founder of M-theory.
1898
Peggy Guggenheim
American-Italian art collector and philanthropist (died 1979)
Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim was an American art collector, bohemian, and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic in 1912, and the niece of Solomon R. Guggenheim, who established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Guggenheim collected art in Europe and America between 1938 and 1946. She exhibited this collection as she built it. In 1949, she settled in Venice, where she lived and exhibited her collection for the rest of her life. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a modern art museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, and is one of the most visited attractions in the city.
1994
Austin Gunn
American professional wrestler
Austin Sopp, better known by the ring name Austin Gunn, is an American professional wrestler and reality television personality. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Ring of Honor (ROH) where he is in a tag team with his brother Colten as The Gunns, and is a member of the Bang Bang Gang stable. Gunn is a former one-time AEW World Tag Team Champion and a one-time AEW World Trios Champions and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions. Sopp is a second-generation professional wrestler, as he is the son of professional wrestler Monty Sopp, better known as Billy Gunn.
1934
Tom Heinsohn
American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (died 2020)
Thomas William Heinsohn was an American professional basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. He was associated with the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for six decades as a player, coach and broadcaster. He played for the Celtics from 1956 to 1965, and also coached the team from 1969 to 1978. He spent over 30 years as the color commentator for the Celtics' local broadcasts alongside play-by-play commentator Mike Gorman. He is regarded as one of the most iconic Celtics figures in the franchise's history, known during his lifetime for his charisma and loyalty to the team and its traditions. From this, he earned the nickname "Mr. Celtic".
1959
Stan Van Gundy
American basketball player and coach
Stanley Alan Van Gundy is an American former basketball coach who is a television commentator for College Basketball on CBS for CBS Sports and NBA on Prime for Sports on Amazon Prime Video. He previously worked as game analyst for NBA on TNT from 2019 to 2020, and again from 2021 to 2025. Prior to TNT, he was most recently the head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA. He also served as the head coach and president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons from 2014 to 2018. From 2003 to 2005, he was the head coach of the Miami Heat but resigned in 2005 mid-season, returning the job over to Pat Riley. Van Gundy then coached the Orlando Magic for five seasons from 2007 to 2012, leading them to the 2009 NBA Finals. He is the older brother of former New York Knicks and Houston Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy.
1936
Benedict Anderson
American political scientist and academic (died 2015)
Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson was an Anglo-Irish political scientist and historian who lived and taught in the United States. Anderson is best known for his 1983 book Imagined Communities, which explored the origins of nationalism. A polyglot with an interest in Southeast Asia, he was the Aaron L. Binenkorb Professor of International Studies, Government & Asian Studies at Cornell University. His work on the "Cornell Paper" disputed the official story of Indonesia's 30 September Movement and the subsequent anti-Communist purges of 1965–1966 which led to his expulsion from that country. He was the elder brother of historian Perry Anderson.
1999
Rosa
former sea otter at Monterey Bay Aquarium
Rosa was a sea otter at Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California, United States. She was taken by the aquarium after being found stranded on a beach at four weeks old. She was released into the wild in April 2000, but was returned to the aquarium in 2002 after she continued to interact with humans, posing a risk to herself and others. She was a surrogate mother for 15 orphaned otter pups at the aquarium and was the aquarium's oldest resident otter. She was the subject of many charity livestreams in celebration of her birthday, hosted by content creator Douglas Wreden, known online as DougDoug.
1983
Nicol David
Malaysian squash player
Nicol Ann David is a Malaysian retired professional squash player. She was the world number one for a record-breaking 108 consecutive months, ceding the ranking in September 2015 to Raneem El Weleily. She has won the World Open title a record 8 times in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014, as well as the British Open title in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. In July 2016, she reached her 151st successive month in the top 10, breaking the record in both men's and women's category. She surpassed Peter Nicol's records of 150 months. David is the first squash player to have won the World Junior title twice; in 1999 and 2001 under Richard Glanfield.
1903
Caroline Pafford Miller
American author (died 1992)
Caroline Pafford Miller was an American novelist. She gathered the folktales, stories, and archaic dialects of the rural communities she visited in her home state of Georgia in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and wove them into her first novel, Lamb in His Bosom, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1934, and the French literary award, the Prix Femina Americain in 1935. Her success as the first Georgian winner of the fiction prize inspired Macmillan Publishers to seek out more southern writers, resulting in the discovery of Margaret Mitchell, whose first novel, Gone with the Wind, also won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. Miller's story about the struggles of nineteenth-century south Georgia pioneers found a new readership in 1993 when Lamb in His Bosom was reprinted, one year after her death. In 2007, Miller was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.
1935
Karen Spärck Jones
English computer scientist and academic (died 2007)
Karen Ida Boalth Spärck Jones was a self-taught programmer and a pioneering British computer and information scientist responsible for the concept of inverse document frequency (IDF), a technology that underlies most modern search engines. She was an advocate for women in computer science, her slogan being, "Computing is too important to be left to men." In 2019, The New York Times published her belated obituary in its series Overlooked, calling her "a pioneer of computer science for work combining statistics and linguistics, and an advocate for women in the field." From 2008, to recognise her achievements in the fields of information retrieval (IR) and natural language processing (NLP), the Karen Spärck Jones Award is awarded annually to a recipient for outstanding research in one or both of her fields.
1981
Tino Best
Barbadian cricketer
Tino la Bertram Best is a West Indian former cricketer. Since 2002, he has played domestic cricket for his native Barbados, with a season at English club Yorkshire in 2010. Best made his Test debut in May 2003 and played his first One Day International a year later. A back strain incurred in May 2004 prevented Best from playing cricket until March the following year. In 2008 Best signed to play in the Indian Cricket League because he had not played international cricket since 2006. He returned to the side when the West Indies fielded a side weakened by contract disputes between leading players and the West Indies Cricket Board but was dropped shortly after.
1944
Prince Richard
Duke of Gloucester
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is a member of the British royal family. He is the second son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, the youngest of the nine grandchildren of George V, nephew of Edward VIII and George VI, and first cousin of Elizabeth II. He is 33rd in the line of succession to the British throne, and the highest person on the list who is not a descendant of George VI. At the time of his birth, he was fifth in line to the throne.
1918
Katherine Johnson
American physicist and mathematician (died 2020)
Creola Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician and human computer whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform tasks previously requiring humans. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist".
1926
Anahit Tsitsikian
Armenian violinist and educator (died 1999)
Anahit Tsitsikian was an Armenian violinist. She toured around the world through more than 100 cities during the Soviet times; she taught at the State Conservatory for approximately 40 years and wrote more than 300 articles and scenarios for television and radio programs. She was also a scholar who established a new branch of Armenian musicology, history of performing art, and dedicated the last twenty years of her life to research in the field of ancient music history, becoming the founder of a new branch of Armenian musical archaeology.
1970
Melissa McCarthy
American actress, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
Melissa Ann McCarthy is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. McCarthy was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, and she has been featured multiple times in annual rankings of the highest-paid actresses in the world. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her #22 in its list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century.
1906
Bunny Austin
English tennis player (died 2000)
Henry Wilfred "Bunny" Austin was an English tennis player. For 74 years he was the last Briton to reach the final of the men's singles at the Wimbledon Championships, until Andy Murray did so in 2012. He was also a finalist at the 1937 French Championships and a championship winner at Queen's Club. Along with Fred Perry, he was a vital part of the British team that won the Davis Cup in three consecutive years (1933–1935). He is also remembered as the first tennis player to wear shorts.
1921
Benjamin C. Bradlee
American journalist and author (died 2014)
Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee was an American journalist who served as managing editor and later as executive editor of The Washington Post, from 1965 to 1991. He became a public figure when the Post joined The New York Times in publishing the Pentagon Papers and gave the go-ahead for the paper's extensive coverage of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. He was also criticized for editorial lapses when the Post had to return a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 after it discovered that its award-winning story was false.
1986
Cassie Ventura
American singer, dancer, actress and model
Casandra Elizabeth Ventura is an American singer, dancer, actress, and model. Born in New London, Connecticut, she began her musical career in 2004 after meeting producer Ryan Leslie, who signed her to his record label, NextSelection Lifestyle Group. She was then discovered by Sean Combs, who signed her to a joint venture with his label, Bad Boy Records, to commercially release her 2006 debut single, "Me & U". The song marked the first of her two entries on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number three.
1982
John Mulaney
American comedian, actor, writer, and producer
John Edmund Mulaney is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Mulaney first rose to prominence for his work as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2013, where he contributed to numerous sketches and characters, including Stefon, a recurring character whom he and Bill Hader co-created. Since his departure from SNL, Mulaney has hosted the program six times, and became a member of the SNL Five Timers Club in 2022.