◆ On this day

April 26

4 sourced moments from April 26 in history: Shakespeare's baptism, written in a borrowed Latin line (1564); A rain of stones at L'Aigle proved rocks fall from space (1803); A steel box cut shipping costs more than thirtyfold (1956), plus 1 more.

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4 things happened on April 26

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1986 Earth & Climate · Natural Disasters

A botched safety test triggered the Chernobyl disaster

At 1:23 a.m. on April 26, 1986, a test meant to improve safety instead destroyed a reactor and scattered fallout across Europe.

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1956 Technology · Transportation

A steel box cut shipping costs more than thirtyfold

One trucking entrepreneur's metal box quietly made globalisation possible.

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1803 Space · Solar System

A rain of stones at L'Aigle proved rocks fall from space

When thousands of stones pelted a French town in 1803, one young physicist finally convinced science that rocks really do fall from the sky.

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1564 Culture & Arts · Literature

Shakespeare's baptism, written in a borrowed Latin line

A single parish-register entry from 1564 is the earliest documentary trace of the world's most-quoted playwright.

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