August 6

2024 Calendar

August 6 is the 218th day of the year (219th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 147 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

1223 – Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile are crowned King and Queen of France.
1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, therefore losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean.
1506 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Crimean Khanate in the Battle of Kletsk.
1538 – Bogota, the present–day capital city of Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada.
1661 – The Treaty of The Hague is signed by Portugal and the Dutch Republic.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: The bloody Battle of Oriskany prevents American relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix.
1787 – Sixty proof sheets of the United States Constitution are delivered to the Constitution Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1806 – Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire.
1813 – Simon Bolivar takes control of Caracas (present–day Venezuela) from the Spanish.
1825 – Bolivia gains independence from Peru.
1845 – The Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint Petersburg.
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 the USS Essex near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1870 – Franco–Prussian War: The Battles of Spicheren and Woerth both end in Prussian victory.
1890 – At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electric chair is performed, with murderer William Kemmler as the subject.
1893 – The Corinth Canal in Greece opens for shipping.
1896 – Madagascar officially becomes a French colony.

1901 – 2000

1914 – World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany.
1915 – World War I: 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 City, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system premieres with the movie Don Juan starring John Barrymore.
1940 – The Soviet Union takes control of Estonia.
1942 – Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.
1945 – World War II: An atomic bomb codenamed Little Boy is dropped by the American B–29 Enola Gay on the city of Hiroshima, Japan at 8:16 a.m.. It kills 80,000 outright with another 60,000 dead by the end of the year from fallout sickness. Ultimately, about 200,000 die due to the atomic bombing.
1958 – Gasherbrum IV in the Karakoram range of the Himalayas is first climbed, by Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri.
1960 – Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign–owned property in the nation.
1962 – Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1964 – Prometheus, a bristlecone pine and the world's oldest tree, is cut down.
1965 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
1966 – Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Fall City, Nebraska, killing all 42 people.
1984 – Pop star Prince releases Purple Rain, the album which launched him to superstardom.
1985 – In Hiroshima, tens of thousands mark the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
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 – Takako Doi becomes the first female speaker of the Japanese House of Representatives.
1993 – Heavy rains kill 72 people in the Aira and Kagoshima areas of Kyushu, Japan.
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.
1996 – Australian census conducted.
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.

From 2001

2001 – President George W. Bush receives President's Daily Briefing entitled Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US.
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".
2008 – In Mauritania, President Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallahi is removed from office in a military coup, led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
2010 – In relation to the floods in Pakistan, flash floods also hit the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, killing 255 people.
2011 – The 2011 England riots begin.
2012 – NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity lands on the surface of the planet Mars, with the intention of finding evidence that life once existed there.
2017 – The UEFA Women's Championship is won by the Netherlands, with a 4–2 win in the final over Denmark, who had ended Germany's run of six titles in–a–row in the quarter finals.

Births

Up to 1800

1180 – Emperor Go–Toba of Japan (d. 1239)
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 Valliere, mistress to Louis XIV of France (d. 1710)
1666 – Maria Sofia of Neuburg, German–born consort of Peter II of Portugal (d. 1699)
1667 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and physician (d. 1748)
1682 – Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1712)
1697 – Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1745)
1765 – Petros Mavromichalis, Greek independence leader (d. 1848)
1766 – William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist (d. 1828)
1775 – Daniel O'Connell, Irish politician (d. 1847)
1775 – Louis–Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, son of King Charles X of France (d. 1844)
1789 – Friedrich List, German economist, businessman and diplomat (d. 1846)

1801 – 1900

1809 – Alfred Tennyson, English poet (d. 1892)
1811 – Judah P. Benjamin, American politician (d. 1884)
1826 – Thomas Alexander Browne, Australian writer (d. 1915)
1827 – José Manuel Marroquin, 27th President of Colombia (d. 1908)
1835 – Jewett W. Adams, Governor of Nevada (d. 1920)
1844 – James Henry Greathead, engineer (d. 1896)
1844 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe–Coburg and Gotha (d. 1900)
1857 – Christian Wilhelm Allers, German painter (d. 1915)
1859 – Arthur Berson, German meteorologist (d. 1942)
1861 – Edith Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (d. 1948)
1866 – Matthew Henson, American Arctic explorer (d. 1955)
1868 – Paul Claudel, French poet (d. 1955)
1874 – Charles Fort, writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena (d. 1932)
1877 – Wallace H. White, Jr., United States Senator from Maine (d. 1952)
1880 – Hans Moser, Austrian actor (d. 1964)
1881 – Leo Carrillo, actor (d. 1961)
1881 – Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist and physician (d. 1955)
1881 – Louella Parsons, American gossip columnist (d. 1972)
1889 – John Middleton Murry, English poet (d. 1957)
1891 – William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, 13th Governor–General of Australia (d. 1970)
1892 – Hoot Gibson, American cowboy actor (d. 1962)
1893 – Wright Patman, American politician (d. 1976)
1895 – Ernesto Lecuona, Cuban musician and composer (d. 1963)
1900 – Cecil H. Green, Texas Instruments founder (d. 2003)

1901 – 1950

1902 – Dutch Schultz, American bootlegger, gangster (d. 1935)
1904 – Jean Desses, French couturier (d. 1970)
1904 – Henry Iba, American basketball player and coach (d. 1993)
1908 – Helen Jacobs, American tennis player (d. 1997)
1908 – Rufino Santos, Filipino cardinal (d. 1973)
1908 – Louis Vaida, Hungarian painter (d. 1941)
1911 – Norman Gordon, South African cricketer (d. 2014)
1911 – Lucille Ball, American actress and comedienne (d. 1989)
1914 – Gordon Freeth, Australian politician (d. 2001)
1916 – Richard Hofstadter, historian (d. 1970)
1916 – Dom Mintoff, Prime Minister of Malta (d. 2012)
1917 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (Night of the Hunter, Cape Fear 1961 version) (d. 1997)
1919 – Pauline Betz, American tennis player (d. 2011)
1922 – Sir Freddie Laker, American entrepreneur (d. 2006)
1922 – Daniel Walker, American politician, Governor of Illinois (d. 2015)
1924 – Hélène Martini, French night club owner (d. 2017)
1924 – Philippe Washer, Belgian tennis player (d. 2015)
1925 – Barbara Bates, American actress (d. 1969)
1926 – Janet Asimov, American science fiction writer and psychoanalyst (d. 2019)
1926 – Elisabeth Beresford, British author (d. 2010)
1926 – Frank Finlay, English actor (d. 2016)
1928 – Andy Warhol, American artist (d. 1987)
1929 – Mike Elliott, Jamaican saxophonist
1929 – Kateb Yacine, Algerian writer (d. 1989)
1930 – Abbey Lincoln, American jazz singer (d. 2010)
1932 – Howard Hodgkin, English painter and print–maker (d. 2017)
1933 – Suchinda Kraprayoon, former Prime Minister of Thailand
1933 – Ulrich Biesinger, German footballer (d. 2011)
1934 – Chris Bonington, English mountaineer
1934 – Piers Anthony, English author
1934 – Diane di Prima, American poet
1935 – Fortunato Baldelli, Italian cardinal (d. 2012)
1935 – Mario Coluna, Mozambican–Portuguese footballer (d. 2014)
1937 – Charlie Haden, American musician (d. 2014)
1937 – Barbara Windsor, British actress
1937 – Baden Powell de Aquino, Brazilian musician (d. 2000)
1938 – Peter Bonerz, American actor and director
1940 – Louise Sorel, American actress
1940 – Mukhu Aliyev, Russian politician, 2nd President of Dagestan
1940 – Egil Kapstad, Norwegian pianist
1942 – Evelyn Hamann, German actress (d. 2007)
1943 – Jon Postel, American creator of the Domain Name System (DNS) (d. 1998)
1946 – Roh Moo–hyun, President of South Korea (d. 2009), possibly born on September 1
1946 – Masaaki Sakai, Japanese comedian
1946 – Ron Davies, Welsh politician
1948 – Alan Howarth, American composer
1949 – Clarence Richard Silva, Roman Catholic bishop of Honolulu

1951 – 1975

1951 – Daryl Somers, Australian television personality
1951 – Catherine Hicks, American actress
1951 – Christophe de Margerie, French businessman (d. 2014)
1952 – David McLetchie, Scottish politician (d. 2013)
1955 – Rusty Magee, American actor and composer (d. 2003)
1955 – Tom Sandberg, Norwegian skier
1957 – Renato Soru, Italian politician and businessman, founder of Tiscali
1957 – Jim McGreevey, American politician, former Governor of New Jersey
1959 – Joyce Sims, American singer–songwriter
1962 – Michelle Yeoh, Chinese–Malaysian actress
1962 – Marc Lavoine, French singer and actor
1963 – Charles Ingram, British game show contestant
1963 – Kevin Mitnick, American computer hacker and author
1964 – Gary Valenciano, Filipino singer–songwriter, producer and actor
1965 – Juliane Köhler, German actress
1965 – David Robinson, American basketball player
1965 – Mark Speight, English television presenter (d. 2008)
1968 – Lisa Boyle, American actress and model
1969 – Elliott Smith, American musician (d. 2003)
1970 – M. Night Shyamalan, Indian–American movie director, writer, producer, actor
1971 – Merrin Dungey, actress
1971 – Federico Giunti, Italian footballer
1972 – Geri Halliwell, English singer (Spice Girls)
1973 – Donna Lewis, Welsh singer and composer
1975 – Jason Crump, Australian speedway rider
1975 – Renate Götschl, Austrian skier

From 1976

1976 – Soleil Moon Frye, American actress
1976 – Melissa George, actress
1977 – Jennifer Lyons, American actress
1977 – Leandro Amaral, Brazilian footballer
1978 – Marisa Miller, American actress
1978 – Billy Klippert, singer
1979 – Francesco Bellotti, Italian cyclist
1979 – Jaime Correa, Mexican footballer
1979 – Megumi Okina, Japanese actress and singer
1980 – Roman Weidenfeller, German footballer
1981 – Travie McCoy, American rapper and songwriter
1981 – Abdul Kader Keïta, footballer from Ivory Coast
1982 – Romola Garai, British actress
1983 – Robin van Persie, Dutch footballer
1984 – Vedad Ibisevic, footballer from Bosnia and Herzegovina
1984 – Sofia Essaidi, French–Moroccan singer, dancer and actress
1985 – Jesse Ryder, New Zealand cricketer
1985 – Bafétimbi Gomis, French footballer
1987 – Aditya Narayan, Indian actor and singer
1987 – Charley Chase, American pornographic actress
1987 – Joran van der Sloot, Dutch murderer
1988 – Chelsee Healey, English actress
1988 – Aleska Diamond, Hungarian pornographic actress
1990 – JonBenét Ramsey, young beauty queen and victim of crime (d. 1996)
1991 – Jiao Liuyang, Chinese swimmer
1993 – Kaori Ishihara, Japanese voice actress
1998 – Jack Scanlon, British actor
2001 – Ty Simpkins, American actor

Deaths

Up to 1900

258 – Pope Sixtus II
523 – Pope Hormisdas (b. 450)
1162 – Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona (b. 1113)
1195 – Henry the Lion, son of Henry X, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1129)
1221 – Saint Dominic, Spanish monk and founder of the Dominican Order (b. 1170)
1272 – King Stephen V of Hungary (b. 1239)
1328 – Galeazzo I Visconti, ruler of Milan (b. 1277)
1414 – Ladislaus of Naples (b. 1377)
1458 – Pope Callixtus III (b. 1378)
1623 – Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare (b. 1555)
1660 – Diego Velazquez, Spanish painter (b. 1599)
1694 – Antoine Arnauld, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1612)
1746 – King Christian VI of Denmark (b. 1699)
1753 – Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Russian physicist (b. 1711)
1794 – Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
1828 – Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman (b. 1785)
1875 – Gabriel Garcia Moreno, President of Ecuador (b. 1821)
1881 – James Springer White, American preacher and author (b. 1821)
1890 – William Kemmler, American murderer, executed on the electric chair (b. 1860)
1891 – Henry Litolff, English pianist and composer (b. 1818)
1893 – Jean–Jacques Challet–Venel, Swiss politician (b. 1811)

1901 – 2000

1904 – Eduard Hanslick, Austrian music writer and critic (b. 1825)
1914 – Ellen Louise Wilson, first wife of US President Woodrow Wilson (b. 1860)
1920 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (b. 1890)
1925 – Surendranath Banerjee, Indian politician (b. 1848)
1931 – Bix Beiderbecke, American jazz cornetist and pianist (b. 1903)
1945 – Richard Bong, American pilot (b. 1920)
1945 – Hiram Johnson, Governor of California (b. 1866)
1954 – Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne Quintuplets (b. 1934)
1959 – Preston Sturges, American playwright, screenwriter and director (b. 1898)
1964 – Cedric Hardwicke, English actor (b. 1893)
1969 – Theodor Adorno, German philosopher (b. 1903)
1973 – Fulgencio Batista, President of Cuba (b. 1901)
1974 – Gene Ammons, American saxophonist (b. 1925)
1976 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian–American cellist (b. 1903)
1978 – Pope Paul VI (b. 1897)
1978 – Edward Durrell Stone, American architect (b. 1902)
1979 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist (b. 1911)
1983 – Klaus Nomi, German singer (b. 1944)
1985 – Forbes Burnham, leader of Guyana (b. 1923)
1986 – Emilio Fernandez, Mexican actor, screenwriter and director (b. 1904)
1991 – Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer, politician and diplomat (b. 1900)
1991 – Shapour Bakhtiar, Iranian politician (b. 1915)
1991 – Harry Reasoner, American journalist (b. 1923)
1993 – Bob Kiesel, American athlete (b. 1911)
1994 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer–songwriter, actor and politician (b. 1928)
1994 – Giovanni Spadolini, Italian politician (b. 1925)
1998 – André Weil, French mathematician (b. 1906)

From 2001

2001 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)
2002 – Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)
2005 – Robin Cook, British politician (b. 1946)
2005 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer (b. 1927)
2007 – Heinz Barth, German SS officer (b. 1920)
2009 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer (b. 1909)
2009 – Willy DeVille, American singer–songwriter (b. 1950)
2009 – John Hughes, American movie director (b. 1950)
2010 – Fredrik Ericsson, Swedish mountaineer (b. 1975)
2010 – Catfish Collins, American musician (b. 1944)
2010 – Tony Judt, British historian (b. 1948)
2012 – Bernard Lovell, British physicist and radio astronomer (b. 1913)
2012 – Ruggiero Ricci, American violinist (b. 1918)
2012 – Marvin Hamlisch, American composer (b. 1944)
2013 – Selcuk Yula, Turkish footballer (b. 1959)
2014 – Pran Kumar Sharma, Indian cartoonist (b. 1938)
2014 – Smita Talwalkar, Indian actress (b. 1954)
2014 – John Woodland Hastings, American biochemist (b. 1927)
2014 – Julien Fourgeaud, French businessman and inventor (b. 1980)
2015 – Orna Porat, German–Israeli actress (b. 1924)
2015 – Louise Suggs, American tennis player (b. 1923)
2016 – Ivo Pitanguy, Brazilian plastic surgeon (b. 1926)
2017 – Nicole Bricq, French politician (b. 1947)
2017 – Betty Cuthbert, Australian athlete (b. 1938)
2017 – Darren Daulton, American baseball player (b. 1962)
2017 – Hinrich Lehmann–Grube, German politician (b. 1932)
2017 – Martin Roth, German museum director (b. 1955)
2017 – Dick Locher, American cartoonist (b. 1929)
2017 – Wolfgang H. Berger, German–American oceanographer and geologist (b. 1937)
2018 – Margaret Heckler, American politician (b. 1931)
2018 – Paul Laxalt, American politician, 22nd Governor of Nevada (b. 1922)
2018 – Joël Robuchon, French chef and cookbook writer (b. 1945)

Observances

Independence Day in Bolivia and Jamaica
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony
Start of Tanabata Festival (Sendai, Japan)
Bogota Day