THURSDAY, Oct. 15, 2026

1581-The first ballet "Ballet Comique de la Reine," commissioned by Catherine de Medici, is staged in Paris

1582-Gregorian calendar is introduced in Spain, Portugal, and the Papal States after skipping 10 days from October 4 to sync the calendar to the solar year and compensate for the drift that has occurred due to the Julian calendar having too many leap days

1815-Napoleon Bonaparte arrives on the island of Saint Helena to begin his exile

1986-Yuan T. Lee is the first Taiwanese Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, alongside Dudley R. Herschbach and John C. Polanyi, for work on the "dynamics of chemical elementary processes"

1969-Millions nationwide protest against the Vietnam War on Moratorium Day in the U.S.

1993-Nelson Mandela and South African President F. W. de Klerk are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize