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
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