August 6

is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining.

Events

1538 - Bogotá, Colombia, founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.
1787 - Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention.
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.
1845 - 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 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.
1909 - Mrs. John R. Ramsie and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip.
1912 - The Bull Moose Party meets at the Chicago Coliseum.
1914 - Ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea, beginning the First Battle of the Atlantic.
1914 - Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia. World War I begins.
1914 - Denis Patrick Dowd Jr. enlists in the Franch Foregin Legion, becoming the first American to fight in World War I.
1915 - World War I: The Battle of Sari Bair begins - The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
1923 - Henry Sullivan swims the English Channel.
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.
1926 - Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
1941 - A curfew is imposed on gas stations in preparation for the upcoming war.
1942 - Queen Wilhelmina is the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States congress.
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.
1966 - Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Falls City, NE killing all 42 on board.
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 (13 inches) 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.
2001 - White House briefing entitled Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S. delivered to George W. Bush. This document foreshadowed the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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

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 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)
1715 - Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French writer (d. 1747)
1766 - William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist (d. 1828)
1768 - Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (d. 1813)
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, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1955)
1881 - Louella Parsons, American gossip columnist (d. 1972)
1889 - John Middleton Murry, English poet (d. 1957)
1889 - George Kenney, American Air Force General
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)
1904 - Henry Iba, basketball coach (d. 1993)
1905 - Clara Bow, American actress and silent film star(d. 1965)
1908 - Helen Jacobs, American tennis player
1908 - Will Lee, American actor
1911 - Lucille Ball, American actress and comedian (d. 1989)
1916 - Richard Hofstadter, American historian (d. 1970)
1916 - Dom Mintoff, Maltese politician and Prime Minister
1917 - Robert Mitchum, American actor (d. 1997)
1918 - Norman Granz, American jazz musician
1921 - Ella Raines, American actress
1922 - Sir Freddie Laker, English entrepreneur
1923 - Jess Collins, American artist (d. 2004)
1927 - Andy Warhol, American artist (d. 1987)
1930 - Abbey Lincoln, American jazz singer
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)
1938 - Peter Bonerz, American actor and director
1940 - Mukhu Aliyev, President of Dagestan
1941 - Lyle Berman, American poker player
1943 - Jon Postel, computer scientist
1945 - Andy Messersmith, baseball pitcher
1946 - Allan Holdsworth, British fusion guitarist and composer
1946 - Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea
1946 - Masaaki Sakai, Japanese comedian
1949 - Alan Campbell, Northern Irish clergyman
1949 - Clarence Richard Silva, Catholic Bishop of Honolulu
1950 - Dorian Harewood, American actor
1951 - Daryl Somers, Australian television personality
1951 - Catherine Hicks, American actress
1957 - Jim McGreevey, Governor of New Jersey
1957 - Bob Horner, baseball player
1962 - Michelle Yeoh, Malaysian actress
1963 - Kevin Mitnick, computer hacker
1965 - Yuki Kajiura, Japanese composer
1965 - David Robinson, Basketball Player
1967 - Archbishop Alexy (Bondarenko)
1969 - Elliott Smith, American musician (d. 2003)
1969 - Cactvs Chris, American/British musician and writer
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
1975 - Jamie McGonnigal, American actor, director, producer
1976 - Melissa George, Australian actress
1978 - Marisa Miller, American model
1978 - Billy Klippert, Canadian singer
1981 - Vitantonio Liuzzi, Formula One Driver
1981 - Liliana Domínguez, Mexican supermodel
1982 - Adrianne Curry, American model
1982 - Ryan Sypek, American actor
1983 - Robin van Persie, Dutch football player
1984 - Marcos Airosa, Angolan footballer
1985 - Steve Williams, single circuit Stock Car racer
1990 - JonBenét Ramsey, American beauty queen and murder victim (d. 1996)

Deaths

258 - Saint Pope Sixtus II
523 - Saint Pope Hormisdas
1162 - Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona
1195 - Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria (b. 1129)
1221 - Saint Dominic, Spanish founder of the Dominicans (b. 1170)
1272 - King Stephen V of Hungary
1414 - King Ladislas of Naples (b. 1377)
1458 - Pope Callixtus III (b. 1378)
1623 - Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare's wife) (b. 1556)
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)
1657 - Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Polish-Lithuanian noble
1660 - Diego Velázquez, Spanish painter (b. 1599)
1679 - John Snell, English royalist (b. 1629)
1695 - François de Harlay de Champvallon, French Catholic archbishop (b. 1625)
1753 - Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Russian physicist (struck by lightning) (b. 1711)
1759 - Eugene Aram, English philologist (b. 1704)
1794 - Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, British politician (b. 1714)
1815 - James A. Bayard (elder), U.S. Senator from Delaware (b. 1767)
1828 - Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman
1850 - Edward Walsh, Irish poet (b. 1805)
1866 - John Mason Neale, English divine, scholar and hymnwriter (b. 1818)
1904 - Eduard Hanslick, Austrian music critic (b. 1825)
1914 - Ellen Louise Wilson, First Lady of the United States, first wife of President Woodrow Wilson (b. 1860)
1931 - Bix Beiderbecke, American musician (b. 1903)
1942 - Jonathan Campbell, American film pioneer (b. 1875)
1945 - Prince Wu of Korea (b. 1912)
1945 - Richard Bong, America's all time Ace of Aces (b. 1920)
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)
1973 - Memphis Minnie, American blues singer (b. 1897)
1974 - Gene Ammons, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1925)
1976 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (b. 1903)
1978 - Pope Paul VI (b. 1897)
1979 - Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
1983 - Klaus Nomi, German singer (b. 1944)
1985 - Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (b. 1923)
1987 - Quinn Martin, American television producer (b. 1922)
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 - Keter Betts, American jazz bassist (b. 1928)
2005 - Robin Cook, British politician (b. 1946)
2005 - Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances

Roman Catholicism - several feasts, including those of at least 3 saints:
- Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ
- St. Joachim (father of St. Mary, according to Catholic tradition)
- St. Juatus
- St. Pastor
- St. Xystus/Sixtus
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

Sources

August 5 - August 7 - July 6 - September 6 -- listing of all days

Gourt Home::Gourt :: August 6

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links

Sources