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1538 - Bogotá, Colombia, founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.

1787 - Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention.

1806 - Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire.

1819 - Norwich University founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.

1825 - Bolivia gains independence from Spain.

1845 - 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 USS ''Essex'' near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1890 - At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electric chair is performed, with murderer William Kemmler as the subject.

1901 - Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.

1909 - Alice 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 Britain declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea.

1914 - World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia.

1914 - Denis Patrick Dowd Jr. enlists in the French Foreign Legion, becoming the first American to fight in World War I.

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: The Battle of Mărăşeşti between the Romanian and German armies begins.

1923 - Henry Sullivan swims the English Channel.

1926 - Gertrude Ederle becomes first woman to swim across the English Channel.

1926 - In New York, 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.

1941 - A curfew is imposed on US gas stations in preparation for the upcoming war.

1942 - Queen Wilhelmina is the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.

1945 - World War II: the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima. At 8:15 a.m., an atomic bomb codenamed Little Boy is dropped by the American B-29 Enola Gay on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. It explodes at 8:16 a.m., killing 80,000 outright with another 60,000 dead by the end of the year due to fallout sickness. Ultimately, about 200,000 die due to the atomic bomb.

1956 - After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network has its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena.

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 - The cutting of prometheus the world's oldest tree.

1965 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into United States law.

1966 - Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Falls City, NE killing all 42 on board.

1976 - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lays foundation-stone of Port Qasim, Karachi.

1984 - Pop star Prince releases Purple Rain, the album which would launch him to superstardom.

1986 - A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres (13 inches) of rain in a day on Sydney.

1988 - "Tompkins Square Park Police Riot" in New York City. A riot erupted in Tompkins Square Park when police brutally attempted to enforce a newly-passed curfew for the park. Bystanders, artists, residents, homeless people and political activists were caught up in the police action that took place on the night of August 6th and the early morning of August 7th.

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 - Doi Takako, chair of the Social Democratic Party (Japan), becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.

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 - Legendary Punk band, Ramones play their 2,263rd and final concert, in The Palace, Los Angeles.

1996 - NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.

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.

2000 - The Roman Catholic Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under Prefect Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, publishes Dominus Iesus, notable for its lack of the filioque clause in the Latin text of the Nicene Creed.

2001 - White House briefing entitled Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S. delivered to George W. Bush. This document foreshadowed the September 11, 2001 attacks.

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."

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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 Vallière, French mistress of Louis XIV of France (d. 1710)

1656 - Claude de Forbin, French naval commander (d. 1733)

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)

1844 - James Henry Greathead, British engineer (d. 1896)

1844 - Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1900)

1861 - Edith Roosevelt, American First Lady (d. 1948)

1868 - Paul Claudel, French poet (d. 1955)

1874 - Charles Fort, American writer and researcher (d. 1932)

1877 - Wallace H. White, Jr., American politican (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)

1889 - John Middleton Murry, English poet (d. 1957)

1889 - George Kenney, American Air Force General (d. 1977)

1891 - William Slim, British general (d. 1970)

1892 - Hoot Gibson, American actor (d. 1962)

1893 - Wright Patman, American politician (d. 1976)

1900 - Cecil H. Green, American geophysicist (d.2003)

1902 - Dutch Schultz, American 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)

1911 - Lucille Ball, American actress (d. 1989)

1916 - Richard Hofstadter, American historian (d. 1970)

1916 - Dom Mintoff, Maltese Prime Minister

1917 - Robert Mitchum, American actor (d. 1997)

1918 - Norman Granz, American jazz musician and 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)

1928 - Andy Warhol, American artist (d. 1987)

1928 - Herb Moford, American baseball player (d. 2005)

1930 - Abbey Lincoln, American jazz singer

1932 - Howard Hodgkin, British painter

1934 - Piers Anthony, English writer

1937 - Barbara Windsor, English actress

1938 - Paul Bartel, American actor (d. 2000)

1938 - Peter Bonerz, American actor

1940 - Mukhu Aliyev, President of Dagestan

1941 - Lyle Berman, American poker player

1941 - Ray Culp, American baseball player

1943 - Jon Postel, computer scientist (d. 1998)

1945 - Andy Messersmith, American baseball pitcher

1946 - Allan Holdsworth, British musician

1946 - Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean president

1946 - Masaaki Sakai, Japanese comedian

1948 - Dino Bravo, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1993)

1949 - Alan Campbell, Northern Irish clergyman

1949 - Clarence Richard Silva, Catholic Bishop of Honolulu

1950 - Dorian Harewood, American actor

1951 - Daryl Somers, Australian television personality

1951 - Catherine Hicks, American actress

1957 - Jim McGreevey, American politician

1957 - Bob Horner, American baseball player

1962 - Michelle Yeoh, Malaysian actress

1963 - Kevin Mitnick, American computer hacker

1964 - Moosie Drier, American actor and occasional director

1965 - Yuki Kajiura, Japanese composer

1965 - David Robinson, American basketball player

1967 - Archbishop Alexy (Bondarenko)

1967 - Mike Greenberg, American ESPN sportscaster

1969 - Elliott Smith, American musician (d. 2003)

1969 - Cactvs Chris, American/British musician

1970 - M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-born American film director and actor

1971 - Merrin Dungey, American actress

1972 - Geri Halliwell, British singer

1973 - Asia Carrera, American pornographic actress

1973 - Stuart O'Grady, Australian cyclist

1975 - Jamie McGonnigal, American actor

1976 - Melissa George, Australian actress

1976 - Soleil Moon Frye, American actress

1978 - Marisa Miller, American model

1978 - Billy Klippert, Canadian singer

1981 - Vitantonio Liuzzi, Italian Formula One driver

1981 - Liliana Domínguez, Mexican supermodel

1982 - Adrianne Curry, American model

1982 - Ryan Sypek, American actor

1983 - Robin van Persie, Dutch footballer

1984 - Marcos Airosa, Angolan footballer

1987 - Carolina Solberg Salgado, Brazilian beach volleyball champion

1990 - JonBenét Ramsey, American child beauty queen (d. 1996)

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258 - Saint Pope Sixtus II

523 - Saint Pope Hormisdas

1162 - Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona

1195 - Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria (b. 1129)

1221 - Saint Dominic, Spanish founder of the Dominicans (b. 1170)

1272 - King Stephen V of Hungary

1414 - King Ladislas of Naples (b. 1377)

1458 - Pope Callixtus III (b. 1378)

1623 - Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare's wife) (b. 1556)

1628 - Johannes Junius, Mayor of Bamberg (b. 1573)

1637 - Ben Jonson, English writer (b. 1572)

1645 - Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, English merchant (b. 1575)

1657 - Bohdan Khmelnytsky, 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), United States Senator from Delaware (b. 1767)

1828 - Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman

1850 - Edward Walsh, Irish poet (b. 1805)

1866 - John Mason Neale, English divine, scholar and hymnwriter (b. 1818)

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 President Woodrow Wilson (b. 1860)

1920 - Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator, first flight in independent Poland (b. 1890)

1931 - Bix Beiderbecke, American musician (b. 1903)

1945 - Prince Wu of Korea (b. 1912)

1945 - Richard Bong, America's all time Ace of Aces (b. 1920)

1945 - Hiram Johnson, American politician (b. 1866)

1946 - Tony Lazzeri, 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)

1973 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban dictator (b. 1901)

1973 - Memphis Minnie, American blues singer (b. 1897)

1974 - Gene Ammons, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1925)

1976 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (b. 1903)

1978 - Pope Paul VI (b. 1897)

1979 - Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1911)

1983 - Klaus Nomi, German singer (b. 1944)

1985 - Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (b. 1923)

1987 - Ira Eaker, American Air Force leader (b. 1896)

1987 - Quinn Martin, American television producer (b. 1922)

1991 - Harry Reasoner, American reporter (b. 1923)

1993 - Tex Hughson, baseball player (b. 1916)

1994 - Domenico Modugno, Italian singer and songwriter (b. 1928)

1998 - Andre Weil, French mathematician (b. 1906)

2001 - Jorge Amado de Faria, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)

2001 - Dorothy Tutin, English actress (b. 1930)

2002 - Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930)

2004 - Rick James, American musician (b. 1948)

2005 - Keter Betts, American jazz bassist (b. 1928)

2005 - Robin Cook, British politician (b. 1946)

2005 - Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1927)

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Bolivia - Independence Day.

Jamaica - Independence Day.

United Arab Emirates - H.H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Accession Day.

Japan - Toro Nagashi (Hiroshima) - Floating lantern ceremony to honor those killed by the U.S. atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

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Liturgical feasts
Roman Catholicism

Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ
Saint Agapitus (died 258)
Saint Donatus, bishop of Arezzo, martyr Paris
Saints Felissimus and Agapitus, martyrs common
Saint Joachim (father of St. Mary, according to Catholic tradition)
Saints Justus and Pastor, martyrs in 304 at Complutum France
St. Pastor
St. Xystus/Sixtus II, pope, martyr common
Saint Walburga, virgin Bruges

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Sources