August 6
August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (219th in
leap years), with 147 days remaining.
\n
Events
\n*1806 - Francis I, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire. \n*1825 - Bolivia gains independence from Peru. \n*1861 - British annexation of Lagos, Nigeria. \n*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. \n*1890 - At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electric chair is performed (murderer William Kemmler was the subject). \n*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. \n*1926 - Gertrude Ederle becomes first woman to swim the English Channel. \n* 1926 - In New York, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system premieres with the movie Don Juan starring John Barrymore. \n*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 (another 60,000 will die by the end of the year due to fallout sickness). \n*1960 - Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation. \n*1962 - Jamaica becomes independent. \n*1965 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into United States law. \n*1985 - In Hiroshima, tens of thousands mark the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. \n*1990 - Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait \n*1991 - Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the "World Wide Web" \n*1993 - Louis Freeh is confirmed by the United States Senate to be the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation \n*1996 - NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms\n* 1996 - Australian census\n*1997 - Microsoft buys a $150 million worth of shares of financially troubled Apple Computer\n*1997 - A Korean Air Boeing 747-300 crashes into the jungle on Guam on approach to airport, killing 228\n*2001 - President George W. Bush receives President's Daily Briefing entitled Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US\n*2002 - Marquis de la Fayette is made Honorary Citizen of the United States\n*2002 - Manindra Agrawal et al prove the long standing conjecture "Primes in P"
Births
\n*1766 - William Hyde Wollaston, noted English chemist (d. 1828)\n*1776 - Amedeo Avogadro, chemist (d. 1856)\n*1809 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, poet: In Memoriam (d. 1892)\n*1844 - James Henry Greathead, engineer (d. 1896)\n*1868 - Paul Claudel, poet (d. 1955)\n*1880 - Hans Moser, actor (d. 1964)\n*1881 - Alexander Fleming, scientist (d. 1955)\n*1881 - Leo Carrillo, actor (d. 1961)\n*1881 - Louella Parsons, gossip columnist (d. 1972)\n*1892 - Hoot Gibson, cowboy actor (d. 1962)\n*1892 - Lowell Thomas, travel writer (d. 1981)\n*1900 - Cecil H. Green, Texas Instruments founder (d. 2003)\n*1902 - Dutch Schultz, bootlegger, gangster (d. 1935)\n*1904 - Jean Desses, French couturier (d. 1970)\n*1911 - Lucille Ball, actress, comedian (d. 1989)\n*1916 - Richard Hofstadter, historian (d. 1970)\n*1917 - Robert Mitchum, actor: Night of the Hunter, Cape Fear (1961 version) (d. 1997)\n*1918 - Otto Wolff von Amerongen, industrialist\n*1922 - Sir Freddie Laker, entrepreneur\n*1928 - Andy Warhol, artist (d. 1987)\n*1928 - Jan Kucera, author\n*1928 - Chung Se Yung, cofounder of the Hyundai Motor Company\n*1932 - Howard Hodgkin, painter and print-maker\n*1943 - Jon Postel, creator of DNS\n*1946 - Roh Moo-hyun, President of South Korea\n*1946 - Masaaki Sakai,Japanese comedian\n*1963 - Kevin Mitnick, computer cracker\n*1970 - M. Night Shyamalan, film director, writer, producer, actor\n*1971 - Merrin Dungey, actress\n*1972 - Aras Vaichas, artist, engineer\n*1972 - Geri Halliwell, singer\n*1976 - Melissa George, actress\n*1990 - JonBenét Ramsey, young beauty queen and young victim of crime (d. 1996)
Deaths
\n*258 - Saint Pope Sixtus II\n*523 - Saint Pope Hormisdas\n*1221 - Saint Dominic\n*1458 - Pope Callixtus III\n*1904 - Eduard Hanslick, music critic\n*1931 - Bix Beiderbecke, jazz musician (b. 1931)\n*1946 - Tony Lazzeri, Major League Baseball player\n*1959 - Preston Sturges, playwright, screenwriter, director\n*1964 - Sir Cedric Hardwicke, actor\n*1966 - Cordwainer Smith, writer\n*1973 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban dictator\n*1978 - Pope Paul VI\n*1991 - Harry Reasoner, reporter\n*2001 - Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer\n*2002 - Edsger Dijkstra, computer scientist (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances
\n*Christianity - Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ\n*Bolivia - Independence Day\n*Jamaica - Independence Day\n*United Arab Emirates - H.H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Accession Day
August 5 -
August 7 -
July 6 -
September 6 --
listing of all days
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
