August 6
August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining.
Events
- 1538 - Bogota, Colombia founded by Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada.
- 1806 - Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1819 - Norwich University founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.
- 1825 - Bolivia gains independence from Spain.
- 1861 - British annexation of Lagos, Nigeria.
- 1862 - American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering damage in a battle with USS Essex near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- 1890 - At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electric chair is performed, with murderer William Kemmler as the subject.
- 1901 - Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.
- 1914 - Ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea, begining the First Battle of the Atlantic.
- 1915 - World War I: Battle of Battle of Sari Bair begins - The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
- 1926 - Gertrude Ederle becomes first woman to swim across the English Channel.
- 1926 - In New York, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system premieres with the movie Don Juan starring John Barrymore.
- 1945 - World War II: the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima. An atomic bomb codenamed Little Boy is dropped by the American B-29 Enola Gay on the city of Hiroshima in Japan at 8:16 a.m., killing 80,000 outright with another 60,000 dead by the end of the year due to fallout sickness. Ultimately, about 200,000 die due to the atomic bomb.
- 1960 - Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
- 1962 - Jamaica becomes independent.
- 1965 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into United States law.
- 1984 - Pop star Prince releases Purple Rain, the album which would launch him to superstardom.
- 1986 - A low pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres of rain in a day on Sydney.
- 1988 - "Police riot" in New York City's Tompkins Square Park
- 1990 - Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait
- 1991 - Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web.
- 1991 - Doi Takako, chair of the Social Democratic Party (Japan), becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.
- 1993 - Louis Freeh is confirmed by the United States Senate to be the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- 1993 - The Fugitive opens in theaters, starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.
- 1996 - NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
- 1997 - Microsoft buys $150 million worth of shares of financially troubled Apple Computer.
- 1997 - Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747-300, crashes into the jungle on Guam on approach to airport, killing 228.
- 2000 - The Roman Catholic Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under Prefect Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, publishes Dominus Iesus, notable for its lack of the filioque clause in the Latin text of the Nicene Creed.
- 2002 - Marquis de la Fayette is made Honorary Citizen of the United States
- 2002 - Manindra Agrawal et al prove the long standing number theory conjecture in the article entitled "Primes in P".
Births
- 1504 - Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1575)
- 1619 - Barbara Strozzi, Italian singer and composer (d. 1677)
- 1638 - Nicolas Malebranche, French philosopher (d. 1715)
- 1644 - Louise de la Vallière, French mistress of Louis XIV of France (d. 1710)
- 1656 - Claude de Forbin, French naval commander (d. 1733)
- 1697 - Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1745)
- 1766 - William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist (d. 1828)
- 1809 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet (d. 1892)
- 1844 - James Henry Greathead, British engineer (d. 1896)
- 1844 - Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1900)
- 1868 - Paul Claudel, French poet (d. 1955)
- 1874 - Charles Fort, American writer and researcher (d. 1932)
- 1877 - Wallace H. White, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maine (d. 1952)
- 1880 - Hans Moser, Austrian actor (d. 1964)
- 1881 - Leo Carrillo, American actor (d. 1961)
- 1881 - Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist (d. 1955)
- 1881 - Louella Parsons, American gossip columnist (d. 1972)
- 1889 - John Middleton Murry, English poet (d. 1957)
- 1892 - Hoot Gibson, American actor (d. 1962)
- 1893 - Wright Patman, American politician (d. 1976)
- 1900 - Cecil H. Green, American geophysicist and businessman (d.2003)
- 1902 - Dutch Schultz, American bootlegger and gangster (d. 1935)
- 1911 - Lucille Ball, American actress and comedian (d. 1989)
- 1916 - Richard Hofstadter, American historian (d. 1970)
- 1917 - Robert Mitchum, American actor (d. 1997)
- 1922 - Sir Freddie Laker, English entrepreneur
- 1928 - Andy Warhol, American artist (d. 1987)
- 1932 - Howard Hodgkin, British painter and print-maker
- 1934 - Piers Anthony, English writer
- 1937 - Barbara Windsor, English actress
- 1938 - Paul Bartel, American actor, writer, and director (d. 2000)
- 1940 - Barry M Sheppard, British entreprenuer.writer, and director
- 1943 - Jon Postel, Computer Scientist
- 1946 - Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea
- 1946 - Masaaki Sakai, Japanese comedian
- 1949 - Clarence Richard Silva, Catholic Bishop of Honolulu
- 1951 - Daryl Somers, Australian television personality
- 1957 - Jim McGreevey, Governor of New Jersey
- 1962 - Michelle Yeoh, Hong Kong actress
- 1963 - Kevin Mitnick, computer hacker
- 1965 - Yuki Kajiura, Japanese composer
- 1969 - Elliott Smith, American musician (d. 2003)
- 1970 - M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-born film director, writer, producer, and actor
- 1971 - Merrin Dungey, American actress
- 1972 - Geri Halliwell, British singer
- 1973 - Asia Carrera, American actress
- 1976 - Melissa George, English actress
- 1978 - Billy Klippert, Canadian singer
- 1982 - Adrianne Curry, American reality television
- 1990 - JonBenét Ramsey, American beauty queen and murder victim (d. 1996)
Deaths
- 258 - Saint Pope Sixtus II
- 523 - Saint Pope Hormisdas
- 1221 - Saint Dominic
- 1458 - Pope Callixtus III
- 1628 - Johannes Junius, Mayor of Bamberg (b. 1573)
- 1637 - Ben Jonson, English writer (b. 1572)
- 1645 - Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, English merchant (b. 1575)
- 1660 - Diego Velázquez, Spanish painter (b. 1599)
- 1679 - John Snell, English royalist (b. 1629)
- 1695 - François de Harlay de Champvallon, Archbishop of Paris (b. 1625)
- 1759 - Eugene Aram, English philologist (b. 1704)
- 1904 - Eduard Hanslick, Austrian music critic (b. 1825)
- 1931 - Bix Beiderbecke, American musician (b. 1903)
- 1942 - Jonathan Campbell, American film pioneer (b. 1875)
- 1945 - Prince Wu of Korea (b. 1912)
- 1946 - Tony Lazzeri, baseball player (b. 1903)
- 1959 - Preston Sturges, American playwright, screenwriter, and director (b. 1898)
- 1964 - Sir Cedric Hardwicke, English actor (b. 1893)
- 1966 - Cordwainer Smith, American writer (b. 1913)
- 1969 - Theodor Adorno, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1903)
- 1973 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban dictator (b. 1901)
- 1976 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (b. 1903)
- 1978 - Pope Paul VI (b. 1897)
- 1983 - Klaus Nomi, German singer (b. 1944)
- 1991 - Harry Reasoner, American reporter (b. 1923)
- 1993 - Tex Hughson, baseball player (b. 1916)
- 1994 - Domenico Modugno, Italian singer and songwriter (b. 1928)
- 1998 - Andre Weil, French mathematician (b. 1906)
- 2001 - Jorge Amado de Faria, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)
- 2002 - Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)
- 2004 - Rick James, American musician (b. 1948)
- 2005 - Robin Cook, British politician (b. 1946)
- 2005 - Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1927)
- 2005 - Keter Betts, American jazz bassist (b. 1928)
Holidays and observances
- Christianity - Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ
- Bolivia - Independence Day
- Jamaica - Independence Day
- United Arab Emirates - H.H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Accession Day
- Japan - Toro Nagashi (Hiroshima) - Floating lantern ceremony to honor those killed by the U.S. atomic bomb in Hiroshima.
External links
August 5 - August 7 - July 6 - September 6 -- listing of all days