International Strange Music Day (The celebration was conceived by Patrick Grant, a musician from New York City. The goal of the festival is simple: to encourage people to play and listen to music that we may not yet appreciate enough)
Liberia Flag Day (The adoption of Liberia's flag followed close on the heels of their declaration of independence on 16 July 1847)
In 2017 in a study published by Nature, researchers at the University of Manchester show that magnetic hysteresis is possible in individual molecules at -213 °C. This proves that storing data with single-molecule magnets is more feasible than previously thought, and could theoretically give 100 times higher density than current technologies.
In 2016 astronomers announce the detection of Proxima b, an Earth-sized exoplanet that is in the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun. Due to its closeness to Earth, Proxima b may be a flyby destination for a fleet of interstellar StarChip spacecrafts currently being developed by the Breakthrough Starshot project.
1998 – First radio-frequency identification (RFID) human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.
1995 – Microsoft Windows 95 was released to the public in North America.
1989 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki is chosen as the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe.
1963 – Buddhist crisis: As a result of the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids, the US State Department cables the United States Embassy, Saigon to encourage Army of the Republic of Vietnam generals to launch a coup against President Ngô Đình Diệm if he did not remove his brother Ngô Đình Nhu.
1954 – The Communist Control Act goes into effect, outlawing the American Communist Party.
1950 – Edith Sampson becomes the first black U.S. delegate to the United Nations.
1932 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).
1914 – World War I: The Battle of Cer ends as the first Allied victory in the war.
1911 – Manuel de Arriaga is elected and sworn-in as the first President of Portugal.
1898 – Count Muravyov, Foreign Minister of Russia presents a rescript that convoked the First Hague Peace Conference.
1891 – Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
1875 – Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel.
1857 – The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in United States history.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: A small force of Pennsylvania militia is ambushed and overwhelmed by an American Indian group, which forces George Rogers Clark to abandon his attempt to attack Detroit.
1608 – The first official English representative to India lands in Surat.
1200 – King John of England, signer of the first Magna Carta, marries Isabella of Angoulême in Bordeaux Cathedral.
Births
1986 – Arian Foster, American football player. Arian Isa Foster (born August 24, 1986) is a former American football running back and current musical artist under the name Bobby Feeno.
1986 – Nick Adenhart, American baseball player (d. 2009), was an American right-handed baseball starting pitcher who played parts of two seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In four career games, Adenhart pitched 18 innings and posted a win-loss record of 1–0, with nine strikeouts and a 6.00 earned run average (ERA).
1984 – Charlie Villanueva, American basketball player. Charlie Alexander Villanueva (born August 24, 1984) is a Dominican-American former professional basketball player who last played for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
1983 – Brett Gardner, American baseball player. Brett Michael Gardner (born August 24, 1983) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB).
1981 – Chad Michael Murray, American model and actor. Chad Michael Murray (born August 24, 1981) is an American actor, spokesperson, writer and former fashion model.
1979 – Kaki King, American guitarist and composer. King is known for her percussive and jazz-tinged melodies, energetic live shows, use of multiple tunings on acoustic and lap steel guitar, and her diverse range in different genres.
1979 – Michael Redd, American basketball player. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, where he attended West High School.
1973 – Dave Chappelle, American comedian, actor, producer and screenwriter. He is most known for his iconic and acclaimed satirical comedy sketch series Chappelle's Show (2003–2006).
1972 – Ava DuVernay, American director and screenwriter. Ava Marie DuVernay (/ˌdjuːvɛərˈneɪ/; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker and film distributor.
1970 – Rich Beem, American golfer. Richard Michael Beem (born August 24, 1970) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and is best known for his upset victory at the 2002 PGA Championship.
1968 – Shoichi Funaki, Japanese-American wrestler and sportscaster. Shoichi Funaki (船木 勝一, Funaki Shōichi) (born August 24, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler and color commentator signed to WWE, where he is a one-time Cruiserweight Champion and a one-time Hardcore Champion.
1968 – Tim Salmon, American baseball player and sportscaster. Timothy James Salmon (born August 24, 1968), nicknamed King Fish, is an American former professional baseball player and current television sports color commentator.
1966 – Nick Denton, English journalist and businessman, founded Gawker Media, was the managing editor of the New York-based Gawker.com, until a lawsuit by Hulk Hogan bankrupted the company. For years after starting Gawker Media in 2002, Denton ran the company out of his apartment in SoHo.
1965 – Marlee Matlin, American actress and producer. Having won the award at the age of 21, she is also the youngest winner in the category.
1965 – Reggie Miller, American basketball player and sportscaster. Reginald Wayne Miller (born August 24, 1965) is an American retired professional basketball player who played his entire 18-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Indiana Pacers.
1964 – Mark Cerny, American video game designer, programmer, producer and business executive. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cerny graduated from The College Preparatory School and attended UC Berkeley.
1962 – Major Garrett, American journalist and author. Prior to joining National Journal he was the senior White House correspondent for the Fox News Channel.
1960 – Cal Ripken, Jr., American baseball player and coach. Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr. (born August 24, 1960), nicknamed "The Iron Man", is an American former baseball shortstop and third baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles (1981–2001).
1958 – Chris Offutt, American author and academic. Christopher John "Chris" Offutt (born August 24, 1958) is an American writer.
1958 – Steve Guttenberg, American actor and producer. He is known for his lead roles in Hollywood films of the 1980s and 1990s, including Cocoon, Police Academy, Three Men and a Baby, Diner, The Bedroom Window, Three Men and a Little Lady, The Big Green and Short Circuit.
1957 – Jeffrey Daniel, American singer-songwriter and dancer. Jeffrey Glenn Daniel (born August 24, 1955 or 1957) (sources differ) is an American dancer, singer-songwriter and choreographer, most notable for being a founding member of the R&B vocal group Shalamar.
1956 – John Culberson, American lawyer and politician. John Abney Culberson (born August 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2019.
1955 – Mike Huckabee, American minister and politician, 44th Governor of Arkansas. He was a candidate in the United States Republican presidential primaries in both 2008 and 2016.
1953 – Ron Holloway, American saxophonist. He is listed in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz where veteran jazz critic Ira Gitler described Holloway as a "Hard bear-down-hard-bopper who can blow authentic R&B and croon a ballad with warm, blue feeling."
1952 – Bob Corker, American businessman and politician. Robert Phillips "Bob" Corker Jr. (born August 24, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 2007 to 2019.
1952 – Carlo Curley, American organist and educator (d. 2012), was an American classical concert organist who lived much of his later life in Great Britain.
1952 – Mike Shanahan, American football player and coach. Michael Edward Shanahan (born August 24, 1952) is a former American football coach, best known as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008.
1951 – Danny Joe Brown, American southern rock singer-songwriter and musician (Molly Hatchet) (d. 2005), was the lead singer of the Southern rock group Molly Hatchet, after succeeding founder Dave Hlubek in 1976, and co-writer of the band's biggest hits from the late 1970s.
1951 – Oscar Hijuelos, American author and academic (d. 2013), was an American novelist of Cuban descent. During a year-long convalescence from a childhood illness spent in a Connecticut hospital he lost his knowledge of Spanish, his parents' native language.
1950 – John Banaszak, American football player and coach. Banaszak played in the National Football League with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1975 to 1981.
1950 – Tim D. White, American paleoanthropologist and academic. White (born August 24, 1950) is an American paleoanthropologist and Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley.
1949 – Charles Rocket, American actor (d. 2005), was an American actor, comedian and television news reporter. He was best known for his tenure as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, for his role as the villain Nicholas Andre in the film Dumb and Dumber, and for his appearance as Dave Dennison, Max and Dani Dennison's father, in Disney's Hocus Pocus.
1949 – Stephen Paulus, American composer and educator (d. 2014), was a Grammy winning American composer, best known for his operas and choral music. His best-known piece is his 1982 opera The Postman Always Rings Twice, one of several operas he composed for the Opera Theatre of St.
1947 – Anne Archer, American actress and producer. Her other film appearances include Paradise Alley (1978), Patriot Games (1992), Short Cuts (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and Lullaby (2014).
1947 – Jim Fox, American rock drummer and organist (James Gang). James Fox (born 1939) is an English actor.
1947 – Joe Manchin, American politician, 34th Governor of West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 34th governor of West Virginia from 2005 to 2010 and the 27th secretary of state of West Virginia from 2001 to 2005.
1945 – Marsha P. Johnson, African American gay liberation activist and drag queen. Known as an outspoken advocate for gay rights, Johnson was one of the prominent figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969.
1945 – Ronee Blakley, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress. She also had a role in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
1945 – Vince McMahon, American wrestler, promoter, and entrepreneur; co-founded WWE. Vincent Kennedy McMahon (/məkˈmæn/; born August 24, 1945) is an American professional wrestling promoter and executive, American football executive, and businessman.
1944 – Bill Goldsworthy, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1996), was a professional ice hockey right winger who played for three teams in the National Hockey League for 14 seasons between 1964 and 1978, mostly with the Minnesota North Stars.
1944 – Gregory Jarvis, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (d. 1986), was an American engineer who died during the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, where he was serving as payload specialist for Hughes Aircraft.
1944 – Henry Braden, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013). Henry English Braden, IV, known as Hank Braden (August 24, 1944 – July 15, 2013), was an American lawyer, lobbyist, and Democratic politician from New Orleans, Louisiana.
1944 – Rocky Johnson, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer. Along with his partner Tony Atlas, Johnson was a part of the first black tag team to win the World Tag Team championship in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
1943 – John Cipollina, American rock guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (d. 1989), was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. After leaving Quicksilver he formed the band Copperhead, was a member of the San Francisco All Stars and later played with numerous other bands, including Janis Joplin on the Dick Cavett show.
1942 – Jimmy Soul, American pop-soul singer (d. 1988), was an American vocalist. He is best remembered for his 1963 number one hit, "If You Wanna Be Happy."
1942 – Max Cleland, American captain and politician. Cleland, a Democrat, is a disabled US Army veteran of the Vietnam War, a recipient of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star for valorous actions in combat, and a former United States Senator.
1938 – David Freiberg, American singer and bass player. David Freiberg (pronounced FRY-BERG) (born August 24, 1938) is an American musician best known for contributing vocals, keyboards, electric bass, rhythm guitar, viola and percussion as a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship.
1938 – Mason Williams, American guitarist and composer. Mason Douglas Williams (born August 24, 1938) is an American classical guitarist, composer, writer, comedian, and poet, best known for his 1968 instrumental "Classical Gas" and for his work as a comedy writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live.
1937 – Susan Sheehan, Austrian-American journalist and author. Susan Sheehan (née Sachsel; born August 24, 1937) is an Austrian-born American writer.
1936 – Arthur B. C. Walker, Jr., American physicist and academic (d. 2001), was a solar physicist and a pioneer of EUV/XUV optics. He is most noted for having developed normal incidence multilayer XUV telescopes to photograph the solar corona.
1936 – Kenny Guinn, American banker and politician, 27th Governor of Nevada (d. 2010), was an American academic administrator, businessman and politician who served as the 27th Governor of Nevada from 1999 to 2007 and interim president of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from 1994 to 1995. Originally a Democrat, he later joined the Republican Party prior to being elected governor.
1932 – Robert D. Hales, American captain and religious leader, was an American businessman and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1994 until his death. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Hales was accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.
1930 – Jackie Brenston, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (d. 1979), was an American R&B singer and saxophonist, who recorded, with Ike Turner's band, the first version of the pioneering rock-and-roll song "Rocket 88."
1930 – Roger McCluskey, American race car driver (d. 1993). He was from Tucson, Arizona.
1929 – Betty Dodson, American author and educator. Dodson’s workshops and manuals encourage women to masturbate, often in groups.
1927 – Harry Markowitz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate. Harry Max Markowitz (born August 24, 1927) is an American economist, and a recipient of the 1989 John von Neumann Theory Prize and the 1990 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
1926 – Nancy Spero, American painter and academic (d. 2009), was an American visual artist. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Spero lived for much of her life in New York City.
1924 – Louis Teicher, American pianist (Ferrante & Teicher) (d. 2008), was an American piano player, half of the piano duo Ferrante & Teicher.
1923 – Arthur Jensen, American psychologist and academic (d. 2012), was an American psychologist and writer. He was a professor of educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
1922 – Howard Zinn, American historian, author, and activist (d. 2010). Anti-war and civil rights movements
1917 – Dennis James, American game show host (d. 1997), was an American television personality, philanthropist, and commercial spokesman. Up until 1976, he had appeared on TV more times and for a longer period than any other television star.
1915 – James Tiptree, Jr., American psychologist and author (d. 1987), was an American science fiction author better known as James Tiptree Jr., a pen name she used from 1967 to her death. It was not publicly known until 1977 that James Tiptree Jr. was a woman.
1915 – Wynonie Harris, American singer and guitarist (d. 1969), was an American blues shouter and rhythm-and-blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. He had fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952.
1913 – Charles Snead Houston, American physician and mountaineer (d. 2009), was an American physician, mountaineer, high-altitude investigator, inventor, author, film-maker, and former Peace Corps administrator. He made two important and celebrated attempts to climb the mountain K2 in the Karakoram Range.
1911 – Durward Kirby, American television host and announcer (d. 2000). He is best remembered for The Garry Moore Show in the 1950s and Candid Camera, which he co-hosted with Allen Funt from 1961 through 1966.
1907 – Bruno Giacometti, Swiss architect, designed the Hallenstadion (d. 2012), was a Swiss architect and the brother of the artists Alberto and Diego Giacometti. He was among the most notable post-World War II architects in Switzerland.
1905 – Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1974), was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Glad You're Mine", later recorded by Elvis Presley and other artists.
1902 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1976), was a Italian-American crime boss of the Gambino crime family. After the Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and the imprisonment of Vito Genovese in 1959, Gambino took over the Commission of the American Mafia until his death from a heart attack on October 15, 1976.
1901 – Preston Foster, American actor (d. 1970), was an American actor of stage, film, radio, and television, whose career spanned nearly four decades. He also had a career as a vocalist.
1899 – Gaylord DuBois, American author and poet (d. 1993), was an American writer of comic book stories and comic strips, as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure novels. Du Bois wrote Tarzan for Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics from 1946 until 1971, and wrote over 3,000 comics stories over his career.
1898 – Malcolm Cowley, American novelist, poet, literary critic (d. 1989), was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. He is best known for his first book of poetry, Blue Juniata (1929), his lyrical memoir, Exile's Return (1934; rev. 1951), as a chronicler and fellow traveller of the Lost Generation, and as an influential editor and talent scout at Viking Press.
1895 – Richard Cushing, American cardinal (d. 1970), was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970 and was made a cardinal in 1958.
1890 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer, actor, and surfer (d. 1968), was a Native Hawaiian competition swimmer who popularized the ancient Hawaiian sport of surfing. He was born towards the end of the Kingdom of Hawaii, just before the overthrow, living into statehood as a United States citizen.
1887 – Harry Hooper, American baseball player and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee (d. 1974), was a Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder in the early 20th century. Hooper batted left-handed and threw right-handed.
1884 – Earl Derr Biggers, American author and playwright (d. 1933), was an American novelist and playwright.
1845 – James Calhoun, American lieutenant (d. 1876). Calhoun (February 12, 1811 – October 1, 1875) was the 16th Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia during the American Civil War, best known as the recipient of Union General William T.
Deaths
2017 – Jay Thomas, American actor, comedian, and radio talk show host (b. 1948)
2015 – Charlie Coffey, American football player and coach (b. 1934)
2015 – Joseph F. Traub, German-American computer scientist and academic (b. 1932)
2013 – Gerry Baker, American soccer player and manager (b. 1938)
2013 – Julie Harris, American actress (b. 1925)
2013 – Muriel Siebert, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1928)
2012 – Steve Franken, American actor (b. 1932)
2007 – Aaron Russo, American director and producer (b. 1943)
2006 – Rocco Petrone, American soldier and engineer (b. 1926)
2004 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist and academic (b. 1926)
2001 – Jane Greer, American actress (b. 1924)
1999 – Mary Jane Croft, American actress (b. 1916)
1998 – E. G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1910)
1991 – Bernard Castro, Italian-American inventor (b. 1904)
1990 – Sergei Dovlatov, Russian-American journalist and author (b. 1941)
1985 – Paul Creston, American composer and educator (b. 1906)
1983 – Scott Nearing, American economist, educator, and activist (b. 1883)
1978 – Louis Prima, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and actor (b. 1910)
1974 – Alexander P. de Seversky, Russian-American pilot and businessman, co-founded Republic Aviation (b. 1894)
1967 – Henry J. Kaiser, American businessman, founded Kaiser Shipyards and Kaiser Aluminum (b. 1882)
1946 – James Clark McReynolds, American lawyer and judge, 48th United States Attorney General (b. 1862)
1940 – Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, Polish-German technician and inventor, invented the Nipkow disk (b. 1860)
1939 – Frederick Carl Frieseke, American painter and educator (b. 1874)
1932 – Kate M. Gordon, American activist (b. 1861)
1923 – Kate Douglas Wiggin, American author and educator (b. 1856)
Remind me of this day