Wednesday 28 August 2024 Calendar with holidays, observances and special days

Holidays and observances

• Agronomist's Day in Chile
• Argentine Archivist's Day
• Bow Tie Day
• Ceremony of Procession and Raising the National Flag in Tacna, Peru
• Crackers Over The Keyboard Day
• Day of Agricultural Engineers in El Salvador
• Day of the Russian Germans
• Earth Overshoot Day (date for 2022)
• Feast of the Mother of God (Eastern Orthodox Church, a public holiday in the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and Georgia)
• National Cherry Turnovers Day and National Red Wine Day in USA
• National Grandparents Day in Mexico (Día del Abuelos)
• Panama Biologist's Day
• PepsiCo Day
• Race Your Mouse Around The Icons Day
• Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day
• Rheingau Wine Market (takes place on the last Wednesday in August)
• St. Augustine's Day in Spain
• Toyota Motor Day
• Veracruz Earthquake Memorial Day, Mexico
• World Turner Syndrome Day
• Youth Day in North Korea

Events

• In 2017 scientists break the record for coldest temperature of molecules, at 50 millionths of a degree above absolute zero.
• 1993 – The Galileo spacecraft discovers a moon, later named Dactyl, around 243 Ida, the first known asteroid moon.
• 1901 – Silliman University is founded in the Philippines. It is the first American private school in the country.
• 1867 – The United States takes possession of the (at this point unoccupied) Midway Atoll.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Second Manassas. The battle ends on August 30.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in the Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries which lasts for two days.
• 1845 – The first issue of Scientific American magazine is published.
• 1789 – William Herschel discovers a new moon of Saturn: Enceladus.
• 1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Delaware Bay.
• 1565 – Pedro Menéndez de Avilés sights land near St. Augustine, Florida and founds the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the continental United States.

Births

• 2003 – Quvenzhané Wallis, American actress. This was the second remake of Annie (1982 film).
• 1989 – Cassadee Pope, American singer-songwriter. Pope embarked on a solo career in early 2012, and released the EP Cassadee Pope in May 2012.
• 1987 – Caleb Moore, American snowmobile racer (d. 2013), was an American professional snowmobile racer and a quad freestyle motocross rider and the first person to die as a result of injuries sustained during the X Games. During his X Games career, Moore claimed four medals.
• 1986 – Armie Hammer, American actor. Hammer's first leading role was as Billy Graham in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, and he gained wider recognition for his portrayal of the Winklevoss twins in David Fincher's biographical drama film The Social Network (2010), for which he won the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.
• 1986 – Tommy Hanson, American baseball player (d. 2015). Hanson Jr. (August 28, 1986 – November 9, 2015) was an American professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB).
• 1982 – LeAnn Rimes, American singer-songwriter and actress. Rimes rose to stardom at age 13 following the release of her version of the Bill Mack song "Blue", becoming the youngest country music star since Tanya Tucker in 1972.
• 1981 – Jake Owen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. This album produced three singles, all of which reached top 20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart: his debut single "Yee Haw", "Startin' with Me", and "Something About a Woman".
• 1981 – Matt Alrich, American lacrosse player. Matt Alrich (born August 28, 1981) is a professional lacrosse player for the Baltimore Bombers in the North American Lacrosse League, and the Rochester Rattlers of Major League Lacrosse.
• 1979 – Ruth Riley, American basketball player. Ruth Ellen Riley Hunter (born August 28, 1979) is a retired American professional basketball player (a center), playing most recently for the Atlanta Dream in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
• 1978 – Jess Margera, American drummer. Prior to CKY, Margera performed in the band Foreign Objects with former CKY vocalist and guitarist Deron Miller, and he has since worked with Gnarkill, Viking Skull, The Company Band and Fuckface Unstoppable.
• 1972 – Jay Witasick, American baseball player and coach. Gerald Alphonse "Jay" Witasick, Jr. (/wɪˈtɑːsɪk/; born August 28, 1972) is a former professional baseball pitcher.
• 1971 – Janet Evans, American swimmer. Janet Beth Evans (born August 28, 1971) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in distance freestyle events.
• 1971 – Raúl Márquez, Mexican-American boxer and sportscaster. Márquez also represented the U.S. at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
• 1971 – Shane Andrews, American baseball player. Andrews began his minor-league career in 1990 with the Gulf Coast Expos.
• 1971 – Todd Eldredge, American figure skater and coach. He is the 1996 World champion, a six-time U.S. national champion (1990, 1991, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002), a three-time Olympian (1992, 1998, 2002), and a six-time World medalist.
• 1970 – Rick Recht, American singer-songwriter. Richard Samuel "Rick" Recht (born August 28, 1970) is an American rock musician who is especially known for his live performances at Camp Kinder Ring, Camp Poyntelle, Camp Ramah, Shwayder Camp, Herzl Camp, Camp Barney Medintz, URJ Camp Coleman, and for groups of Jewish youth all over the United States as well as performances at synagogues and Jewish rock festivals.
• 1969 – Jack Black, American actor and comedian. Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician, songwriter, and YouTuber.
• 1969 – Pierre Turgeon, Canadian-American ice hockey player. He is currently the most productive retired player not yet inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
• 1964 – Lee Janzen, American golfer. Lee McLeod Janzen (born August 28, 1964) is an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the U.S.
• 1963 – Regina Jacobs, American runner. Regina Jacobs (born August 28, 1963 in Los Angeles) is an American former middle-distance runner from Los Angeles.
• 1962 – Craig Anton, American actor and screenwriter. Pettus in Lizzie McGuire and Lloyd Diffy in Phil of the Future.
• 1962 – David Fincher, American director and producer. Born in Denver, Colorado, Fincher developed a passion for filmmaking at an early age.
• 1961 – Cliff Benson, American football player. Clifford Anthony Benson (born August 28, 1961 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League for the Atlanta Falcons, Washington Redskins, and the New Orleans Saints.
• 1961 – Jennifer Coolidge, American actress. She is also a regular actor in Christopher Guest's mockumentary films.
• 1959 – Brian Thompson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. His career began with a small role in the 1984 film The Terminator.
• 1956 – Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican-American actor and producer. For much of his career, he has played character roles largely as sidekicks, thugs, and policemen.
• 1956 – Steve Whiteman, American singer-songwriter. Steve Whiteman (born August 28, 1956) is an American-born rock vocalist, best known for being the lead singer of Kix.
• 1954 – George M. Church, American geneticist, chemist, and engineer. As of March 2017, Church serves as a member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Board of Sponsors.
• 1954 – Katharine Abraham, American feminist economist. Abraham (born August 28, 1954) is an American economist who is the director of the Maryland Center for Economics and Policy, and a professor of survey methodology and economics at the University of Maryland.
• 1952 – Rita Dove, American poet and essayist. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937–86).
• 1951 – Wayne Osmond, American singer-songwriter and actor. Melvin Wayne Osmond (born August 28, 1951) is the second oldest of the original Osmond Brothers singers and the fourth oldest of the nine Osmond children.
• 1950 – Ron Guidry, American baseball player and coach. Ronald Ames Guidry (/ˈɡɪdri/; born August 28, 1950), nicknamed "Louisiana Lightning" and "Gator", is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) left-handed pitcher who played his entire 14-year career for the New York Yankees of the American League (AL).
• 1948 – Danny Seraphine, American drummer and producer. He is best known as the original drummer and founding member of the rock band Chicago, a tenure which lasted from February 1967 to May 1990.
• 1948 – Vonda N. McIntyre, American author, was an American science fiction author.
• 1945 – Bob Segarini, American-Canadian singer-songwriter. Robert Joseph "Bob" Segarini (born August 28, 1945 in Stockton, California) is a recording artist, singer, songwriter, composer and radio host.
• 1943 – David Soul, American actor and singer. He became a British citizen in 2004.
• 1943 – Lou Piniella, American baseball player and manager. During his playing career, he was named AL Rookie of the Year in 1969 and captured two World Series championships with the Yankees (1977, 1978).
• 1943 – Robert Greenwald, American director and producer. Robert Greenwald (born August 28, 1945) is the founder of Brave New Films, a nonprofit film and advocacy organization whose work is distributed for free in concert with nonprofit partners and movements in order to educate and mobilize for progressive causes.
• 1942 – Sterling Morrison, American singer and guitarist (d. 1995), was an American guitarist, best known as one of the founding members of the rock group the Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, and singing backing vocals.
• 1941 – Paul Plishka, American opera singer. Paul Plishka (born August 28, 1941) is an American operatic bass.
• 1940 – William Cohen, American lawyer and politician, 20th United States Secretary of Defense. A Republican, Cohen served as both a member of the United States House of Representatives (1973–1979) and Senate (1979–1997), and as Secretary of Defense (1997–2001) under Democratic President Bill Clinton.
• 1936 – Don Denkinger, American baseball player and umpire. Donald Anton Denkinger (/ˈdɛŋkɪŋɡər/; born August 28, 1936) is a former Major League Baseball umpire who worked in the American League from 1969 to 1998.
• 1935 – Warren M. Washington, American atmospheric scientist. Washington was born in Portland, Oregon.
• 1931 – Ola L. Mize, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2014), was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Korean War.
• 1930 – Ben Gazzara, American actor (d. 2012), was an American film, stage, and television actor and director. His best known films include Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Voyage of the Damned (1976), Inchon (1981), Road House (1989), The Big Lebowski (1998), Buffalo '66 (1998), Happiness (1998), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), Summer of Sam (1999), Dogville (2003) and Paris, je t'aime (2006).
• 1929 – Roxie Roker, American actress (d. 1995), was an American actress who portrayed Helen Willis on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons (1975–1985), half of the first interracial couple to be shown on regular prime time television. She is the mother of rock musician Lenny Kravitz and the grandmother of actress Zoë Kravitz.
• 1928 – F. William Free, American businessman (d. 2003). He is best remembered for the controversial 1971 advertising slogan for National Airlines, "I'm Cheryl – Fly Me."
• 1925 – Billy Grammer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011), was an American country music singer and accomplished guitar player. He recorded the million-selling "Gotta Travel On", which made it onto both the country and pop music charts in 1959.
• 1925 – Donald O'Connor, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 2003), was an American actor, dancer, and singer. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred alternately with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule.
• 1924 – Peggy Ryan, American actress and dancer (d. 2004), was an American dancer and actress, best known for starring in a series of movie musicals at Universal Pictures with Donald O'Connor and Gloria Jean.
• 1924 – Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Ukrainian-American rabbi and author (d. 2014), was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement and an innovator in ecumenical dialogue.
• 1921 – Nancy Kulp, American actress and soldier (d. 1991), was an American character actress best known as Miss Jane Hathaway on the CBS television series The Beverly Hillbillies.
• 1918 – L. B. Cole, American illustrator and publisher (d. 1995), was a comic book artist, editor, and publisher who worked during the Golden Age of Comic Books, producing work in various genres. Cole was particularly known for his bold covers, featuring what he referred to as "poster colors"—the use of primary colors often over black backgrounds.
• 1917 – Jack Kirby, American author and illustrator (d. 1994), was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City, and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons.
• 1916 – C. Wright Mills, American sociologist and author (d. 1962), was an American sociologist, and a professor of sociology at Columbia University from 1946 until his death in 1962. Mills was published widely in popular and intellectual journals.
• 1916 – Jack Vance, American author (d. 2013), was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote nine mystery novels.
• 1915 – Tasha Tudor, American author and illustrator (d. 2008), was an American illustrator and writer of children's books.
• 1913 – Jack Dreyfus, American businessman, founded the Dreyfus Corporation (d. 2009), was an American financial expert and the founder of the Dreyfus Funds.
• 1913 – Richard Tucker, American tenor and actor (d. 1975), was an American operatic tenor.
• 1910 – Morris Graves, American painter and academic (d. 2001). He was one of the earliest Modern artists from the Pacific Northwest to achieve national and international acclaim.
• 1910 – Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch-American mathematician and economist Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985). He was the joint winner with Leonid Kantorovich of the 1975 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on the theory of the optimum allocation of resources.
• 1908 – Roger Tory Peterson, American ornithologist and author (d. 1996), was an American naturalist, ornithologist, illustrator and educator, held to be one of the founding inspirations for the 20th-century environmental movement.
• 1904 – Secondo Campini, Italian-American engineer (d. 1980), was an Italian engineer and one of the pioneers of the jet engine.
• 1903 – Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-American psychologist and author (d. 1990), was an Austrian-born self-professed psychologist, public intellectual, and author who spent most of his academic and clinical career in the United States. An early writer on autism, Bettelheim's work focused on the education of emotionally disturbed children, as well as Freudian psychology more generally.
• 1899 – Charles Boyer, French-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1978), was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American films during the 1930s.
• 1899 – James Wong Howe, Chinese American cinematographer (d. 1976), was a Chinese American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was one of the most sought after cinematographers in Hollywood due to his innovative filming techniques.
• 1898 – Charlie Grimm, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 1983). Charles John Grimm (August 28, 1898 – November 15, 1983), nicknamed "Jolly Cholly", was an American professional baseball player and manager.
• 1878 – George Whipple, American physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976), was an American physician, pathologist, biomedical researcher, and medical school educator and administrator. Whipple shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1934 with George Richards Minot and William Parry Murphy "for their discoveries concerning liver therapy in cases of anemia".
• 1859 – Matilda Howell, American archer (d. 1938), was an American female archer who competed in the early twentieth century. She won three gold medals in Archery at the 1904 Summer Olympics in Missouri in the double national and Columbia rounds and for the US team.
• 1853 – Vladimir Shukhov, Russian architect and engineer, designed the Adziogol Lighthouse (d. 1939), was a Russian engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new methods of analysis for structural engineering that led to breakthroughs in industrial design of the world's first hyperboloid structures, diagrid shell structures, tensile structures, gridshell structures, oil reservoirs, pipelines, boilers, ships and barges. He is also the inventor of the first cracking method.
• 1840 – Alexander Cameron Sim, Scottish-Japanese pharmacist and businessman, founded Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club (d. 1900), was a Scottish-born pharmacist and entrepreneur active in Japan during the Meiji period. He was also the founder of the Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club.
• 1774 – Elizabeth Ann Seton, American nun and saint, co-founded the Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian-Setonian Tradition (d. 1821), was the first person born in what would become the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church (September 14, 1975). She established the first Catholic girls' school in the nation in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she also founded the first American congregation of religious sisters, the Sisters of Charity.
• 1728 – John Stark, American general (d. 1822). John Stark (August 28, 1728 – May 8, 1822) was a New Hampshire native who served as an officer in the British Army during the French and Indian war and a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Deaths

• 2016 – Mr. Fuji, American professional wrestler and manager (b. 1934)
• 2015 – Al Arbour, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1932)
• 2015 – Nelson Shanks, American painter and educator (b. 1937)
• 2014 – Hal Finney, American cryptographer and programmer (b. 1956)
• 2014 – John Anthony Walker, American soldier and spy (b. 1937)
• 2013 – Edmund B. Fitzgerald, American businessman (b. 1926)
• 2013 – Frank Pulli, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1935)
• 2012 – Dick McBride, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1928)
• 2012 – Shulamith Firestone, Canadian-American activist and author (b. 1945)
• 2010 – William P. Foster, American bandleader and educator (b. 1919)
• 2009 – Adam Goldstein, American drummer, DJ, and producer (b. 1973)
• 2008 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (b. 1927)
• 2007 – Hilly Kristal, American businessman, founded CBGB (b. 1932)
• 2007 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese-American actress (b. 1929)
• 2007 – Paul MacCready, American engineer and businessman, founded AeroVironment (b. 1925)
• 2006 – Melvin Schwartz, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
• 1995 – Earl W. Bascom, American rodeo performer and painter (b. 1906)
• 1989 – John Steptoe, American author and illustrator (b. 1950)
• 1988 – Max Shulman, American author and screenwriter (b. 1919)
• 1985 – Ruth Gordon, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1896)
• 1978 – Bruce Catton, American historian and journalist (b. 1899)
• 1959 – Bohuslav Martinů, Czech-American composer and educator (b. 1890)
• 1955 – Emmett Till, American murder victim (b. 1941)
• 1903 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American journalist and architect, co-designed Central Park (b. 1822)
• 1820 – Andrew Ellicott, American surveyor and urban planner (b. 1754)
• 1818 – Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, American fur trader, founded Chicago (b. 1750)