August 6
August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining.
Events
- 1806 - Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1825 - Bolivia gains independence from Peru.
- 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.
- 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, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system premieres with the movie Don Juan starring John Barrymore.
- 1945 - World War II: 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 died 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.
- 1985 - In Hiroshima, tens of thousands mark the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
- 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.
- 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 - A Korean Air Boeing 747-300 crashes into the jungle on Guam on approach to airport, killing 228.
- 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 - Manaindra 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)
- 1766 - William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist (d. 1828)
- 1809 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet (d. 1892)
- 1844 - James Henry Greathead, engineer (d. 1896)
- 1844 - Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1900)
- 1868 - Paul Claudel, French poet (d. 1955)
- 1877 - Wallace H. White, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maine (d. 1952)
- 1880 - Hans Moser, actor (d. 1964)
- 1881 - Leo Carrillo, actor (d. 1961)
- 1881 - Alexander Fleming, scientist (d. 1955)
- 1881 - Louella Parsons, gossip columnist (d. 1972)
- 1889 - John Middleton Murry, English poet (d. 1957)
- 1892 - Hoot Gibson, cowboy actor (d. 1962)
- 1893 - Wright Patman, American politician (d. 1976)
- 1900 - Cecil H. Green, Texas Instruments founder (d. 2003)
- 1902 - Dutch Schultz, bootlegger, gangster (d. 1935)
- 1904 - Jean Desses , French couturier (d. 1970)
- 1911 - Lucille Ball, actress, comedian (d. 1989)
- 1916 - Richard Hofstadter, historian (d. 1970)
- 1917 - Robert Mitchum, actor: Night of the Hunter , Cape Fear (1961 version) (d. 1997)
- 1918 - Otto Wolff von Amerongen , industrialist
- 1922 - Sir Freddie Laker, entrepreneur
- 1928 - Jan Kucera , author
- 1928 - Chung Se Yung , cofounder of the Hyundai Motor Company
- 1928 - Andy Warhol, artist (d. 1987)
- 1930 - Andy Warhol, painter (d. 1987)
- 1932 - Howard Hodgkin, painter and print-maker
- 1943 - Jon Postel, creator of DNS
- 1946 - Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea
- 1946 - Masaaki Sakai, Japanese comedian
- 1951 - Daryl Somers, Australian television personality
- 1957 - Jim McGreevey, governor of New Jersey
- 1959 - Joyce Sims , US singer/songwriter
- 1963 - Kevin Mitnick, computer cracker
- 1970 - M. Night Shyamalan, film director, writer, producer, actor
- 1971 - Merrin Dungey, actress
- 1972 - Geri Halliwell, singer
- 1973 - Asia Carrera, erotic actress
- 1976 - Melissa George, actress
- 1978 - Billy Klippert, singer
- 1982 - Adrianne Curry, reality television
- 1990 - JonBenét Ramsey, young beauty queen and young victim of crime (d. 1996)
Deaths
- 258 - Saint Pope Sixtus II
- 523 - Saint Pope Hormisdas
- 1221 - Saint Dominic
- 1458 - Pope Callixtus III
- 1637 - Ben Jonson, English writer (b. 1572)
- 1904 - Eduard Hanslick, music critic
- 1931 - Bix Beiderbecke, jazz musician (b. 1903)
- 1942 - Jonathan Campbell, Film pioneer (b. 1875)
- 1946 - Tony Lazzeri, Major League Baseball player
- 1959 - Preston Sturges, playwright, screenwriter, director
- 1964 - Sir Cedric Hardwicke, actor
- 1966 - Cordwainer Smith, writer
- 1973 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban dictator
- 1976 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (b. 1903)
- 1978 - Pope Paul VI
- 1983 - Klaus Nomi, singer
- 1991 - Harry Reasoner, reporter
- 1993 - Tex Hughson, Major League Baseball player (b. 1916)
- 1994 - Domenico Modugno, Italian singer & songwriter
- 1998 - Andre Weil, mathematician
- 2001 - Jorge Amado de Faria, Brazilian writer
- 2002 - Edsger Dijkstra, computer scientist (b. 1930)
- 2004 - Rick James, musician
Holidays and observances
External links
August 5 - August 7 - July 6 - September 6 -- listing of all days
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