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Stacy Conradt
The Quick 10: 10 Facts About the Number 26
by Stacy Conradt - July 21, 2008 - 2:24 PM

I’m celebrating birthday number 26 today, so I thought I would see what other factoids I could find about the number.

10 Facts About the Number 26

1. A Rubik’s Cube can always be solved in 26 moves or less.
2. In 26 B.C., Cleopatra Selene got married, so Augustus Caesar made her the queen of Mauretania as a wedding present (note to people wondering what to get me…).
3. In 1926, Route 66 was established.
4. Scientist Heinz von Foerster predicted that on November 11, 2026, technological singularity will occur – the point where we will reach a level of technological progress previously unknown to man. This includes the ability for machines to make themselves smarter, and, you know, finish off the human race.
5. 26 is the only number between a square number and a cube number.
6. 26 years ago (May 30, to be exact), Cal Ripken began his consecutive game streak of 2,632 games played.
7. In 1726, Isaac Newton told William Stukeley how he developed the theory of gravity.
8. Quincy Jones has won 26 Grammys.
9. Michigan is the 26th state to be admitted to the United States.
10. Asteroid number 26, Proserpina, was discovered in 1853. It is named after the Roman goddess, daughter of Ceres and the Queen of the Underworld. She is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Persephone.

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Comments (8)

  1. Nothing to do with 26 exactly, but I’ve always sort of been curious what the average age is of the Mental Floss bloggers…

    posted by ann on 7-21-2008 at 3:01 pm

  2. Happy Birthday, Stacy!

    posted by mandapanda on 7-21-2008 at 3:15 pm

  3. Quincy Jones has won 26 Grammy’s, true. But to be more precise he has won 27.

    posted by Chris on 7-21-2008 at 4:04 pm

  4. Happy Birthday!! I’m celebrating birthday number 25 today!!

    Did you know that the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was on July 21, 1983 (my actual birthday) in Antarctica. It was -128.6 °F!

    Just some random birthday trivia for ya’.

    posted by Jon on 7-21-2008 at 4:09 pm

  5. While 26 moves is technically correct for solving a Rubik’s Cube, a recent result by Tomas Rokicki has improved that number to 23.

    posted by Rif on 7-21-2008 at 4:50 pm

  6. You couldn’t come up with 26 facts for the number 26???

    posted by Chris H. on 7-21-2008 at 4:54 pm

  7. 26 is my birthday, 11-26-56.
    Stacy is now the official Queen of whatever she wants to be!!

    posted by gus on 7-22-2008 at 4:45 am

  8. And the New York Yankees have won 26 world championships. How did they miss that?

    posted by Jim on 7-22-2008 at 8:54 am

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