August 6 (original) (raw)
August 6 is the 218th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (219th in leap years), with 147 days remaining.
Events
- 1806 - Francis I, 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 the USS Essex near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- 1890 - At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electric chair is performed (murderer William Kemmler was 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 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 (another 60,000 will die by the end of the year due to fallout sickness).
- 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.
- 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
- 1996 - NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms
- 1997 - Microsoft buys a $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
- 2002 - Marquis de la Fayette is made Honorary Citizen of the United States
Births
- 1766 - William Hyde Wollaston, noted English chemist (� 1828)
- 1776 - Amedeo Avogadro, chemist (� 1856)
- 1809 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, poet: In Memoriam (� 1892)
- 1844 - James Henry Greathead, engineer (� 1896)
- 1868 - Paul Claudel, poet (� 1955)
- 1880 - Hans Moser, actor (� 1964)
- 1881 - Alexander Fleming, scientist (� 1955)
- 1881 - Leo Carrillo, actor (� 1961)
- 1881 - Louella Parsons, gossip columnist (� 1972)
- 1892 - Hoot Gibson, cowboy actor (� 1962)
- 1892 - Lowell Thomas, travel writer (� 1981)
- 1900 - Cecil H. Green, Texas Instruments founder (� 2003)
- 1902 - Dutch Schultz, bootlegger, gangster (� 1935)
- 1904 - Jean Desses, French couturier (� 1970)
- 1911 - Lucille Ball, actress, comedian (� 1989)
- 1916 - Richard Hofstadter, historian (� 1970)
- 1917 - Robert Mitchum, actor: Night of the Hunter, Cape Fear (1961 version) (� 1997)
- 1918 - Otto Wolff von Amerongen, industrialist
- 1922 - Sir Freddie Laker, entrepreneur
- 1928 - Andy Warhol, artist (� 1987)
- 1928 - Jan Kucera, author
- 1928 - Chung Se Yung, cofounder of the Hyundai Motor Company
- 1932 - Howard Hodgkin, painter and print-maker
- 1943 - Jon Postel, creator of DNS
- 1970 - M. Night Shyamalan, film director, writer, producer, actor
- 1972 - Geri Halliwell, singer
- 1990 - JonBenet Ramsey, young beauty queen and young victim of crime (� 1996)
Deaths
- 258 - Saint Pope Sixtus II
- 523 - Saint Pope Hormisdas
- 1221 - Saint Dominic
- 1904 - Eduard Hanslick, music critic
- 1946 - Tony Lazzeri, Major League Baseball player
- 1959 - Preston Sturges, playwright, screenwriter, director
- 1964 - Sir Cedric Hardwicke, actor
- 1966 - Cordwainer Smith, writer
- 1978 - Pope Paul VI
- 1991 - Harry Reasoner, reporter
- 2001 - Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer
- 2002 - Edsger Dijkstra, computer scientist
Holidays and observances
- Christianity - Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ
- Bolivia - Independence Day
- Jamaica - Independence Day
- United Arab Emirates - H.H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Accession Day
See Also:
August 5 - August 7 - July 6 - September 6 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,August, September, October, November, December\n