August 6

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

• 1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean.
• 1506 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Crimean Khanate in the Battle of Kletsk
• 1538 – Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.
• 1661 – The Treaty of The Hague is signed by Portugal and the Dutch Republic.
• 1787 – Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
• 1806 – Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates ending the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1819 – Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.
• 1825 – Bolivia gains independence from Spain.
• 1845 – The Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint Petersburg.
• 1861 – The United Kingdom annexes 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.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Battle of Wörth results in a decisive Prussian victory.
• 1890 – At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair.
• 1901 – Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.
• 1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip.
• 1912 – The Bull Moose Party meets at the Chicago Coliseum.
• 1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Atlantic – two days after the United Kingdom had declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base in Helgoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea.
• 1914 – World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia.
• 1915 – World War I: Battle of Sari Bair – the Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
• 1917 – World War I: Battle of Mărăşeşti between the Romanian and German armies begins.
• 1926 – Gertrude Ederle becomes the 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.
• 1926 – Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
• 1930 – Judge Joseph Force Crater steps into a taxi in New York and disappears to be never seen again.
• 1942 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.
• 1945 – World War II: Hiroshima is devastated when the atomic bomb "Little Boy" is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning.
• 1956 – After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena in New York in the Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena series.
• 1960 – Cuban Revolution: in response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
• 1962 – Jamaica becomes independent.
• 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 Falls City, NE killing all 42 on board.
• 1976 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lays the foundation stone of Port Qasim, Karachi.
• 1986 – A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimeters (13 inches) of rain in a day on Sydney.
• 1988 – The Tompkins Square Park Police Riot in New York City spurs a reform of the NYPD, held responsible for the event.
• 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. WWW debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet.
• 1991 – Doi Takako, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.
• 1993 – Heavy rains and debris kill 72 in the Kagoshima and Aira areas of Kyūshū, Japan.
• 1996 – NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
• 1997 – Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747-300, crashes into the jungle on Guam on approach to airport, killing 228.
• 2008 – A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

Births

• 1180 – Emperor Go-Toba of Japan (d. 1239)
• 1504 – Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1575)
• 1609 – Richard Bennett, British Colonial Governor of Virginia (d. 1675)
• 1619 – Barbara Strozzi (baptized), 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)
• 1666 – Maria Sofia of Neuburg, German-born Queen consort of Portugal and wife of King Peter II (d. 1699)
• 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)
• 1775 – Daniel O'Connell, Irish politician (d. 1847)
• 1809 – Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet (d. 1892)
• 1826 – Thomas Alexander Browne, Australian writer (d. 1915)
• 1844 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1900)
• 1844 – James Henry Greathead, British engineer (d. 1896)
• 1861 – Edith Roosevelt, American 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, American writer and researcher (d. 1932)
• 1877 – Wallace H. White, Jr., American politician (d. 1952)
• 1880 – Hans Moser, Austrian actor (d. 1964)
• 1881 – Leo Carrillo, American actor (d. 1961)
• 1881 – Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1955)
• 1881 – Louella Parsons, American gossip columnist (d. 1972)
• 1883 – Scott Nearing, American writer, educator and activist (d. 1983)
• 1887 – Dudley Benjafield, British racing driver (d. 1957)
• 1888 – Heinrich Schlusnus, German baritone (d. 1952)
• 1889 – George Kenney, American Air Force General (d. 1977)
• 1889 – John Middleton Murry, English poet (d. 1957)
• 1891 – William Slim, British general (d. 1970)
• 1892 – Hoot Gibson, American actor (d. 1962)
• 1893 – Wright Patman, American politician (d. 1976)
• 1895 – Ernesto Lecuona, Cuban pianist and composer (d. 1963)
• 1900 – Cecil H. Green, American geophysicist (d. 2003)
• 1902 – Dutch Schultz, American gangster and bootlegger (d. 1935)
• 1904 – Henry Iba, American basketball coach (d. 1993)
• 1906 – Vic Dickenson, American trombonist (d. 1984)
• 1908 – Helen Jacobs, American tennis player (d. 1997)
• 1908 – Will Lee, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1910 – Charles Crichton, British film director (d. 1999)
• 1911 – Lucille Ball, American actress (d. 1989)
• 1911 – Norman Gordon, South African cricketer
• 1911 – Constance Fecher Heaven, British romance writer (d. 1995)
• 1914 – Arthur Charles Dobson, British racing driver (d. 1980)
• 1916 – Richard Hofstadter, American historian (d. 1970)
• 1916 – Dom Mintoff, 11th, 14th, 15th and 16th Prime Minister of Malta
• 1917 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (d. 1997)
• 1918 – Norman Granz, American record producer (d. 2001)
• 1920 – Ella Raines, American actress (d. 1988)
• 1922 – Sir Freddie Laker, English entrepreneur (d. 2006)
• 1923 – Jess Collins, American artist (d. 2004)
• 1925 – Barbara Bates, American actress (d. 1969)
• 1926 – Clem Labine, American baseball player (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Frank Finlay, British actor
• 1926 – Norman Wexler, American screenwriter (d. 1999)
• 1928 – Herb Moford, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1928 – Andy Warhol, American artist (d. 1987)
• 1929 – Roch La Salle, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
• 1930 – Abbey Lincoln, American jazz singer
• 1932 – Howard Hodgkin, British painter
• 1933 – A. G. Kripal Singh, Indian cricketer (d. 1987)
• 1934 – Piers Anthony, English writer
• 1934 – Chris Bonington, British mountaineer
• 1934 – Billy Boston, Welsh rugby league footballer
• 1937 – Baden Powell de Aquino, Brazilian guitarist (d. 2000)
• 1937 – Barbara Windsor, English actress
• 1938 – Paul Bartel, American actor (d. 2000)
• 1938 – Peter Bonerz, American actor
• 1940 – Mukhu Aliyev, Russian politician, 2nd President of Dagestan
• 1940 – Louise Sorel, American actress
• 1941 – Lyle Berman, American poker player
• 1941 – Ray Culp, American baseball player
• 1942 – George Jung, American convicted drug felon
• 1943 – Jon Postel, American computer scientist (d. 1998)
• 1945 – Ron Jones, British TV director (d. 1993)
• 1945 – Andy Messersmith, American baseball player
• 1946 – Allan Holdsworth, British guitarist and composer
• 1946 – Roh Moo-hyun, 16th President of South Korea (d. 2009)
• 1946 – Masaaki Sakai, Japanese comedian
• 1947 – Tony Dell, Australian cricketer
• 1949 – Dino Bravo, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1993)
• 1949 – Alan Campbell, Northern Irish clergyman
• 1949 – Clarence Richard Silva, American Catholic Bishop of Honolulu
• 1950 – Dorian Harewood, American actor
• 1951 – Catherine Hicks, American actress
• 1951 – Daryl Somers, Australian television personality
• 1952 – Vinnie Vincent, American guitarist (Kiss)
• 1953 – Iqbal Qasim, Pakistani cricketer
• 1954 – Paul Steigerwald, American sports announcer
• 1955 – Rusty Magee, American composer (d. 2003)
• 1955 – Gregory Bryant-Bey, American convicted murderer (d. 2008)
• 1956 – Stepfanie Kramer, American actress
• 1957 – Bob Horner, American baseball player
• 1957 – Jim McGreevey, American politician
• 1960 – Dale Ellis, American basketball player
• 1962 – Marc Lavoine, French singer and actor
• 1962 – Michelle Yeoh, Malaysian-born Hong Kong actress
• 1963 – Kevin Mitnick, American computer hacker
• 1963 – Charles Ingram, British controversial contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
• 1964 – Moosie Drier, American actor and director
• 1964 – Gary Valenciano, Filipino singer
• 1965 – Yuki Kajiura, Japanese composer
• 1965 – Juliane Köhler, German actress
• 1965 – David Robinson, American basketball player
• 1965 – Mark Speight, British television presenter (d. 2008)
• 1965 – Vincent Wells, England cricketer
• 1967 – Archbishop Alexy Bondarenko, Ukrainian-born American theologian
• 1967 – Mike Greenberg, American sportscaster
• 1967 – Julie Snyder, Quebec talk show host and producer
• 1969 – Simon Doull, New Zealand cricketer
• 1969 – Elliott Smith, American musician (d. 2003)
• 1970 – M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-born American film director
• 1970 – Erwin Thijs, Belgian cyclist
• 1971 – Merrin Dungey, American actress
• 1971 – Scott Minto, English footballer
• 1971 – Piyal Wijetunge, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1972 – Geri Halliwell, British singer (Spice Girls)
• 1973 – Vera Farmiga, American actress
• 1973 – Monica Goodling, American political appointee in the George W. Bush administration
• 1973 – Karenna Gore Schiff, American author and political figure
• 1973 – Max Kellerman, American sportscaster
• 1973 – Stuart O'Grady, Australian cyclist
• 1974 – Ever Carradine, American actress
• 1974 – Luis Vizcaino, Dominican baseball player
• 1974 – Alvin Williams, American basketball player
• 1975 – Victor Zambrano, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1975 – Renate Götschl, Austrian alpine skier
• 1975 – Jamie McGonnigal, American actor
• 1976 – Melissa George, Australian actress
• 1976 – Soleil Moon Frye, American actress
• 1977 – Leandro Amaral, Brazilian footballer
• 1977 – Jennifer Lyons, American actress
• 1977 – Jimmy Nielsen, Danish footballer
• 1977 – Luciano Zavagno, Argentine footballer
• 1978 – Marisa Miller, American model
• 1978 – Brian Maillard, Swiss guitarist (Dominici)
• 1979 – Francesco Bellotti, Italian cyclist
• 1980 – Danny Collins, Welsh footballer
• 1980 – Wilber Pan, American-born Taiwanese singer and actor
• 1980 – Seneca Wallace, American football player
• 1982 – Adrianne Curry, American model and reality television personality
• 1982 – Kevin van der Perren, Belgian figure skater
• 1983 – Robin van Persie, Dutch footballer
• 1983 – C. J. Mosley, American football player
• 1984 – Vedad Ibisevic, Bosnian footballer
• 1985 – Bafétimbi Gomis, French footballer
• 1985 – Garrett Weber-Gale, American swimmer
• 1985 – Mickaël Delage, French cyclist
• 1986 – Raphael Pyrasch, German rugby player
• 1988 – Jared Murillo, American dancer
• 1990 – JonBenét Ramsey, American beauty pageant contestant and murder victim (d. 1996)
• 1991 – Jiao Liuyang, Chinese swimmer
• 2001 – Ty Simpkins, American actor

Deaths

• 258 – Pope Sixtus II (birth date unknown)
• 523 – Pope Hormisdas (b. c. 450)
• 1162 – Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona (b. c. 1113)
• 1195 – Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria (b. 1129)
• 1221 – Saint Dominic, Spanish founder of the Dominican Order (b. 1170)
• 1272 – King Stephen V of Hungary (b. 1239)
• 1414 – King Ladislas of Naples (b. 1377)
• 1458 – Pope Callixtus III (b. 1378)
• 1623 – Anne Hathaway, English wife of William Shakespeare (b. 1555 or 1556)
• 1628 – Johannes Junius, German Mayor of Bamberg, condemned to death at the Bamberg witch trials (b. 1573)
• 1637 – Ben Jonson, English writer (b. 1572)
• 1645 – Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, English merchant (b. 1575)
• 1657 – Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ukrainian-born Polish-Lithuanian noble
• 1660 – Diego Velázquez, Spanish painter (b. 1599)
• 1679 – John Snell, English royalist (b. 1629)
• 1694 – Antoine Arnauld, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1612)
• 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), American Senator from Delaware (b. 1767)
• 1828 – Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman (b. 1785)
• 1850 – Edward Walsh, Irish poet (b. 1805)
• 1866 – John Mason Neale, English divine, scholar and hymnwriter (b. 1818)
• 1881 – James Springer White, American co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (b. 1821)
• 1884 – Robert Spear Hudson, English businessman (b. 1812)
• 1890 – William Kemmler, American axe murderer (b. 1860)
• 1893 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1811)
• 1904 – Eduard Hanslick, Austrian music critic (b. 1825)
• 1914 – Ellen Louise Wilson, first wife of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson (b. 1860)
• 1920 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator, author of the first military flight in independent Poland (b. 1890)
• 1925 – Sir Surendranath Banerjea, Indian leader of the Indian National Congress (b. 1848)
• 1931 – Bix Beiderbecke, American jazz cornetist and pianist (b. 1903)
• 1945 – Richard Bong, American ace fighter pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1920)
• 1945 – Hiram Johnson, American politician (b. 1866)
• 1945 – Wu, Prince of Korea (b. 1912)
• 1946 – Tony Lazzeri, American 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)
• 1970 – Nikos Tsiforos, Greek screenwriter and film director (b. 1912)
• 1973 – Memphis Minnie, American blues singer (b. 1897)
• 1973 – Fulgencio Batista, Cuban president and de facto leader (b. 1901)
• 1974 – Gene Ammons, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1925)
• 1976 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (b. 1903)
• 1978 – Pope Paul VI (b. 1897)
• 1978 – Edward Durell Stone, American architect (b. 1902)
• 1979 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, Nobel Laureate (b. 1911)
• 1983 – Klaus Nomi, German singer (b. 1944)
• 1985 – Forbes Burnham, Guyanese visionary, 3rd President and 1st Prime Minister of Guyana (b. 1923)
• 1986 – Emilio Fernández, Mexican actor, screenwriter and film director (b. 1904)
• 1987 – Ira Eaker, American Air Force leader (b. 1896)
• 1990 – Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist (b. 1912)
• 1991 – Roland Michener, Canadian politician and governor general (b. 1900)
• 1991 – Shapour Bakhtiar, Iranian prime minister (assassinated) (b. 1915)
• 1991 – Harry Reasoner, American television reporter (b. 1923)
• 1993 – Tex Hughson, American baseball player (b. 1916)
• 1994 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer and songwriter (b. 1928)
• 1998 – Andre Weil, French mathematician (b. 1906)
• 1999 – Rita Sakellariou, Greek singer (b. 1934)
• 2001 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Dorothy Tutin, English actress (b. 1930)
• 2001 – Wilhelm Mohnke, one of the original 120 members of the Nazi SS-Staff Guard (b. 1911)
• 2002 – Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)
• 2004 – Rick James, American R&B singer and multi-instrumentalist (b. 1948)
• 2005 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1927)
• 2005 – Keter Betts, American jazz bassist (b. 1928)
• 2005 – Robin Cook, British politician (b. 1946)
• 2007 – Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian rock guitarist (Bikini, Omen, Carpathia Project Tirana Rockers, solo) (b. 1969)
• 2007 – Heinz Barth, German SS officer (b. 1920)
• 2008 – Angelos Kitsos, Greek lawyer and script writer (b. 1934)
• 2009 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer (b. 1909)
• 2009 – John Hughes, American film director (b. 1950)
• 2009 – W. S. Rendra, Indonesian poet and playwright (b. 1935)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day
  • Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ
  • Justus and Pastor
• H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Accession Day. (United Arab Emirates)
• Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony (Hiroshima)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Bolivia from Spain in 1825.
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Jamaica from the United Kingdom in 1962.
• The beginning of Tanabata festival. (Sendai)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada