August 24: Encyclopedia - August 24

August 24

August 24 is the 236th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (237th in leap years), with 129 days remaining.

August 24 - Events

• 49 BC - Julius Caesar's general Gaius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River by the Numidians under Attius Varus and King Juba of Numidia. Curio is slain in battle.
• AD 79 - Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash.
• 410 - The Visigoths under Alaric sack Rome for three days.
• 1215 - Pope Innocent III declares the Magna Carta invalid.
• 1349 - Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz because they are blamed for the bubonic plague.
• 1391 - Jews massacred in Palma de Mallorca.
• 1456 - The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.
• 1511 - Alfonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers the Sultanate of Malacca.
• 1572 - Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre: On the orders of king Charles IX of France, a massacre of Huguenots (French Protestants) begins.
• 1608 - The first official British representative to India lands in Surat.
• 1662 - Act of Uniformity requires England to accept the Book of Common Prayer.
• 1682 - William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
• 1690 - Calcutta, India is founded.
• 1814 - British troops invade Washington, D.C. and burn down the White House and several other buildings.
• 1821 - The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, now in Veracruz, Mexico, concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.
• 1831 - Charles Darwin is asked to travel on HMS Beagle.
• 1847 - Charlotte Brontë finishes Jane Eyre.
• 1853 - Potato chips are first prepared.
• 1857 - The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in U.S. history.
• 1858 - In Richmond, Virginia, 90 blacks are arrested for learning.
• 1891 - Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
• 1909 - Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
• 1912 - Alaska becomes a United States territory.
• 1914 - World War I: German troops capture Namur.
• 1929 - Turkey and Persia sign a friendship treaty.
• 1931 - France and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality/no attack treaty.
• 1931 - Resignation of the United Kingdom's Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.
• 1932 - Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).
• 1936 - The Australian Antarctic Territory is created.
• 1942 - World War II: The Battle of the East Solomon Islands. Japanese aircraft carrier Ryuho is sunk.
• 1944 - World War II: French and Allied troops start the attack on Paris.
• 1949 - The treaty creating NATO goes into effect.
• 1950 - Edith Sampson becomess the first black U.S. delegate to the UN.
• 1954 - The Communist Control Act goes into effect. The American Communist Party is outlawed.
• 1954 - Getúlio Dornelles Vargas, president of Brazil, commit suicide and is succeeded by João Café Filho.
• 1960 - A temperature of −88°C (−127°F) is measured in Vostok, Antarctica — a world-record low.
• 1963 - The 200-metre freestyle is swum in less than 2 minutes for the first time by Don Schollander (1:58).
• 1967 - Led by Abbie Hoffman, a group of hippies temporarily disrupt trading at the NYSE by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing a cease in trading as the brokers scramble to grab them up.
• 1968 - France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.
• 1971 - Pink Floyd performs their most famous concert, in an abandoned Pompeii amphitheatre on the 1892nd anniversary of the infamous disappearance of Pompeii.
• 1979 - In Central Park, New York a concert is given by cars.
• 1981 - Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.
• 1989 - Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
• 1989 - Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose is banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti
• 1989 - Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
• 1990 - A judge rules that Judas Priest are not responsible for the deaths of two youths who committed suicide after listening to the band's music.
• 1990 - Sinéad O'Connor refuses to perform at the Garden State Arts Plaza in Holmdel, New Jersey if "The Star-Spangled Banner" is played before her show, as is customary.
• 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
• 1991 - Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
• 1992 - Diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and South Korea.
• 1992 - Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida.
• 1994 - Initial accord between Israel and the PLO about partial self-rule of the Palestinians on the West Bank.
• 1995 - Windows 95 is released.
• 1998 - The Netherlands is selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 PanAm bombing.
• 2001 - Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from New York) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores.
• 2004 - Two airliners in Russia, carrying a total of 89 passengers, crash within minutes of each other after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow, leaving no survivors. Authorities suspect suicide attacks by rebels from the breakaway republic of Chechnya to be the cause of the crashes.

August 24 - Births

• 1113 - Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (b. 1113)
• 1198 - King Alexander II of Scotland (d. 1249)
• 1358 - King John I of Castile (d. 1390)
• 1393 - Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (d. 1458)
• 1552 - Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter (d. 1614)
• 1580 - John Taylor, English poet (d. 1654)
• 1591 - Robert Herrick, English poet (d. 1674)
• 1635 - Peder Griffenfeld, Danish statesman (d. 1699)
• 1669 - Alessandro Marcello, Italian composer (d. 1747)
• 1759 - William Wilberforce, English campaigner against slavery (d. 1833)
• 1772 - King William I of the Netherlands (1814-1840)
• 1787 - James Weddell, Antarctica explorer (d. 1834)
• 1817 - Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (d. 1875)
• 1837 - Théodore Dubois, French composer and teacher (d. 1924)
• 1852 - Deacon White, baseball player (d. 1919)
• 1863 - Dragutin Lerman, Croatian explorer (d. 1918)
• 1865 - King Ferdinand I of Romania (d. 1927)
• 1880 - Joshua Lionel Cowen, American inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1965)
• 1884 - Earl Derr Biggers, American author (d. 1933)
• 1887 - Harry Hooper, baseball player (d. 1974)
• 1890 - Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaiian swimmer and surfer (d. 1968)
• 1890 - Jean Rhys, Dominican writer (d. 1979)
• 1898 - Malcolm Cowley, American literary critic, writer, and editor (d. 1989)
• 1899 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (d. 1986)
• 1901 - Preston Foster, American actor (d. 1970)
• 1904 - Alice White, American film actress (d. 1983)
• 1915 - James Tiptree, Jr., American writer (d. 1987)
• 1916 - Hal Smith, American actor and voice actor (d. 1994)
• 1922 - René Lévesque, Premier of Quebec (d. 1987)
• 1923 - Arthur Jensen, American psychologist
• 1927 - Harry Markowitz, American economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner
• 1929 - Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 2004)
• 1934 - Kenny Baker, English actor
• 1936 - A. S. Byatt, English novelist
• 1938 - Halldór Blöndal, Icelandic politician
• 1938 - David Freiberg, American bassist (Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Starship)
• 1943 - John Cipollina, American guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (d. 1989)
• 1945 - Ken Hensley, English musician (Uriah Heep)
• 1945 - Vince McMahon, American professional wrestling entrepreneur
• 1947 - Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author
• 1948 - Jean-Michel Jarre, French musician
• 1951 - Orson Scott Card, American novelist
• 1954 - Libby Mooney,British Science educator
• 1956 - John Culberson, American politician
• 1957 - Stephen Fry, English comedian, author, and actor
• 1958 - Steve Guttenberg, American actor
• 1958 - Tracy Harris, American artist
• 1960 - Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball player
• 1962 - Craig Kilborn, American talk show host
• 1962 - David Koechner, American actor
• 1963 - John Bush, American singer (Anthrax)
• 1963 - Hideo Kojima, Japanese video game director
• 1964 - Salizhan Sharipov, cosmonaut
• 1965 - Marlee Matlin, American actress
• 1965 - Reggie Miller, American basketball player
• 1968 - Shoichi Funaki, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1968 - Andreas Kisser, Brazilian guitarist (Sepultura)
• 1973 - David Chappelle, American actor and comedian
• 1973 - Inge de Bruijn, Dutch swimmer
• 1973 - Carmine Giovinazzo, American actor
• 1974 - Jennifer Lien, American actress
• 1978 - Rafael Furcal, Dominican Major League Baseball player
• 1981 - Chad Michael Murray, American actor
• 1983 - Christopher Parker, British actor
• 1988 - Rupert Grint, English actor

August 24 - Deaths

• 79 - Pliny the Elder, Roman writer and naturalist (b. 23)
• 1042 - Michael V, Byzantine Emperor) (b. 1015)
• 1103 - King Magnus III of Norway (b. 1073)
• 1217 - Eustace the Monk, French mercenary and pirate
• 1540 - Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, Italian painter (b. 1503)
• 1542 - Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (b. 1483)
• 1572 - Victims of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre:
  • Gaspard de Coligny, French Huguenot leader (b. 1519)
  • Pierre de la Ramée, French humanist (b. 1515)
  • Charles de Téligny, French Huguenot soldier
• 1595 - Thomas Digges, English astronomer (b. 1546)
• 1647 - Nicholas Stone, English sculptor and architect (b. 1586)
• 1664 - Maria Cunitz, Silesian astronomer
• 1679 - Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz, French churchman and agitator (b. 1614)
• 1680 - Thomas Blood, Irish-born thief of the British crown jewels (b. 1618)
• 1683 - John Owen, English non-conformist theologian (b. 1616)
• 1759 - Ewald Christian von Kleist, German poet (b. 1715)
• 1779 - Kosmas Aitolos, Greek Orthodox martyr (b. 1714)
• 1831 - August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (b. 1760)
• 1832 - Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French mathematician (b. 1796)
• 1888 - Rudolf Clausius, German physicist (b. 1822)
• 1921 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (b. 1886)
• 1841 - Theodore Edward Hook, English author (b. 1788)
• 1940 - Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, German television pioneer (b. 1860)
• 1946 - James Clark McReynolds, U.S. Supreme Court justice (b. 1862)
• 1954 - Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (b. 1882)
• 1956 - Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese film director (b. 1898)
• 1967 - Henry J. Kaiser, American industrialist (b. 1882)
• 1975 - Eamon de Valera, President of Ireland (b. 1882)
• 1978 - Louis Prima, American band leader (b. 1910)
• 1979 - Hanna Reitsch, German pilot (b. 1912)
• 1985 - Paul Creston, American composer (b. 1906)
• 1990 - Sergei Dovlatov, Russian writer (b. 1941)
• 1991 - Bernard Castro, Italian inventor (b. 1904)
• 1995 - Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-born photographer (b. 1898)
• 1998 - E.G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1910)
• 2002 - Hoyt Wilhelm, baseball player (b. 1922)
• 2003 - Sir Wilfred Thesiger, British explorer (b. 1910)
• 2004 - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (b. 1926)

August 24 - Holidays and observances

• Roman festivals - first of the 3 days on which the mundus was openend
• RC Saints - Feast day of Saint Bartholomew
• Liberia: Flag Day
• Sierra Leone: President's Birthday
• Ukraine: National Holiday, independence from Russia (1991)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "August 24", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki