August 24 is the 236th day of the year (237th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 129 days remaining until the end of the year.
Today in history
49 BC – Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River by the Numidians under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba of Numidia. Curio commits suicide to avoid capture.
79 – Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash.
410 – The Visigoths under Alaric begin to pillage Rome for three days.
1200 – John of England, famous for issuing the first Magna Carta, married Isabella of Angouleme at the Bordeaux Cathedral.
1215 – Pope Innocent III declares Magna Carta invalid.
1349 – Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.
1391 – Jews massacred in Palma de Mallorca.
1456 – The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.
1511 – Afonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Sultanate of Malacca.
1561 – Willem of Orange marries duchess Anna of Saxony.
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 English 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.
1815 – The modern Constitution of the Netherlands was signed.
1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.
1820 – Constitutionalist insurrection at Oporto, Portugal; see Portugal's crises of the Nineteenth Century.
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.
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.
1870 – The Wolseley Expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River Rebellion.
1875 – Captain Matthew Webb became first person to swim English Channel
1891 – Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
1898 – Count Muravyov, Foreign Minister of Russia presented a rescript that convoked the First Hague Peace Conference.
1902 – A statue of Joan of Arc is unveiled in Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier.
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.
1929 – Second day of two-day Hebron massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, resulted in the death of 65-68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.
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.
1937 – In the Spanish Civil War, the Basque Army surrenders to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie following the Santoña Agreement.
1939 – The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (also known as Nazi-Soviet Pact) is signed between German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō is sunk and US carrier Enterprise heavily damaged.
1944 – World War II: Allied troops start the attack on Paris.
1949 – The treaty creating NATO goes into effect.
1950 – Edith Sampson becomes 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, commits 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.
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.
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 as a Category 5 Hurricane.
1994 – Initial accord between Israel and the PLO about partial self-rule of the Palestinians on the West Bank.
1995 – Microsoft releases Windows 95, and revolutionizes the PC world, with the introduction of the Start Menu
1998 – The Netherlands is selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 Pan Am bombing.
1998 – First RFID human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.
2000 – Argon fluorohydride, the first Argon compound ever known, is discovered at the University of Helsinki by Finnish scientists.
2001 – Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from Toronto) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores.
2004 – 89 passengers die after two airliners explode after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow. The explosions are caused by suicide bombers (reportedly female) from the Russian Republic of Chechnya.
2006 – The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is considered a Dwarf Planet.
2008 – Three men are arrested in Denver for in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate United States presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Births
1113 – Geoffrey of Anjou, Count of Anjou (d. 1151)
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)
1707 – Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, English Evangelical Revivalist (d. 1791)
1750 – Letizia Ramolino, mother of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1836)
1758 – Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1794)
1759 – William Wilberforce, English abolitionist (d. 1833)
1772 – King William I of the Netherlands (d. 1840)
1787 – James Weddell, English explorer of Antarctica (d. 1834)
1817 – Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (d. 1875)
1837 – Théodore Dubois, French composer and teacher (d. 1924)
1845 – James C. Calhoun, American soldier, brother-in-law of George Armstrong Custer (d. 1876)
1851 – Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer (d. 1924)
1852 – Deacon White, American baseball player (d. 1919)
1863 – Dragutin Lerman, Croatian explorer (d. 1918)
1865 – King Ferdinand I of Romania (d. 1927)
1872 – Max Beerbohm, British caricaturist (d. 1956)
1880 – Joshua Lionel Cowen, American entrepreneur (d. 1965)
1884 – Earl Derr Biggers, American author (d. 1933)
1887 – Harry Hooper, American baseball player (d. 1974)
1890 – Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaiian swimmer and surfer (d. 1968)
1890 – Jean Rhys, British writer (d. 1979)
1895 – Richard Cardinal Cushing, archbishop of Boston (d. 1970)
1897 – Fred Rose, American songwriter and publishing executive (d. 1954)
1898 – Malcolm Cowley, American literary critic (d. 1989)
1899 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (d. 1986)
1899 – Albert Claude, Belgian biologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1983)
1899 – Gaylord DuBois, American comic book writer (d. 1993)
1901 – Preston Foster, American actor (d. 1970)
1902 – Fernand Braudel, French historian (d. 1985)
1902 – Carlo Gambino, Sicilian-born American mafioso (d. 1976)
1903 – Karl Hanke, Nazi official (d. 1945)
1904 – Alice White, American actress (d. 1983)
1905 – Arthur Crudup, American singer and guitarist (d. 1976)
1905 – Siaka Stevens, President of Sierra Leone (d. 1988)
1909 – Ronald Grieveson, South African cricketer (d. 1998)
1911 – Lofty England, English automotive engineer and race team manager (d. 1995)
1912 – Durward Kirby, American television personality (d. 2000)
1913 – Charles Snead Houston, American mountaineer
1915 – James Tiptree, Jr., American writer (d. 1987)
1916 – Léo Ferré, French composer and singer (d. 1993)
1916 – Hal Smith, American actor (d. 1994)
1917 – Dennis James, American game show host (d. 1997)
1918 – Sikander Bakht, Governor of Kerala (d. 2004)
1919 – Enrique Llanes, Mexican professional wrestler (d. 2004)
1920 – Alex Colville, Canadian painter
1921 – Sam Tingle, Zimbabwean racing driver (d. 2008)
1922 – René Lévesque, Premier of Quebec (d. 1987)
1922 – Howard Zinn, American historian and activist
1923 – Arthur Jensen, American psychologist
1924 – Alyn Ainsworth, British bandleader
1927 – David Ireland, Australian author
1927 – Harry Markowitz, American economist, Nobel laureate
1929 – Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader (d. 2004)
1929 – Betty Dodson, American feminist and sex educator
1932 – Robert D. Hales, LDS apostle
1934 – Kenny Baker, English actor
1936 – A. S. Byatt, English novelist
1936 – Kenny Guinn, American Governor, Nevada
1937 – Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, Nigerian politician (d. 1998)
1938 – Halldór Blöndal, Icelandic politician
1938 – David Freiberg, American bassist (Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Starship)
1938 – Mason Williams, American guitarist and composer
1940 – Francine Lalonde, Quebec politician
1942 – Max Cleland, American politician
1942 – Howard Jacobson, British novelist and newspaper columnist
1943 – John Cipollina, American guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (d. 1989)
1943 – Pini Zahavi, Israeli football agent
1944 – Bill Goldsworthy, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1996)
1944 – Gregory Jarvis, American astronaut (d. 1986)
1944 – Rocky Johnson, Canadian professional wrestler
1945 – Ken Hensley, English musician (Uriah Heep)
1945 – Vince McMahon, American professional wrestling promoter
1947 – Anne Archer, American actress
1947 – Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author
1947 – Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist
1947 – Joe Manchin, American politician, governor of West Virginia
1947 – Vladimir Masorin, Russian admiral
1948 – Jean-Michel Jarre, French musician
1948 – Kim Sung-Il, Chief of Staff of Republic of Korea Air Force
1949 – Joe Regalbuto, American actor
1949 – Charles Rocket, American actor (d. 2005)
1950 – John Banaszak, Pittsburgh Steelers three-time Super Bowl champion
1950 – Tim White, American anthropologist
1951 – Orson Scott Card, American writer
1951 – Oscar Hijuelos, American author
1952 – Bob Corker, American politician, junior senator of Tennessee
1952 – Holly Hallstrom American model for The Price is Right
1952 – Mike Shanahan, American football coach
1952 – Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican dub poet
1953 – Ron Holloway, American tenor saxophonist
1954 – Philippe Cataldo, French singer
1954 – Alain Daigle, French Canadian ice hockey player
1955 – Mike Huckabee, American politician, Governor/Presidential candidate
1956 – John Culberson, American politician
1956 – Dick Lee, Singaporean singer-songwriter
1957 – Jeffrey Daniel, American dancer and singer (Shalamar)
1957 – Stephen Fry, English comedian and actor
1958 – Steve Guttenberg, American actor
1958 – Tracy Harris, American artist
1958 – Chris Offutt, American author
1959 – Adrian Kuiper, former South African cricketer
1960 – Kim Christofte, Danish footballer
1960 – Takashi Miike, Japanese filmmaker
1960 – Cal Ripken, Jr., American baseball player
1961 – Ingrid Berghmans, Belgian judoka
1961 – Jared Harris, English actor
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 – Dana Gould, American comedian and writer
1964 – Salizhan Sharipov, Russian cosmonaut
1965 – Marlee Matlin, American actress
1965 – Reggie Miller, American basketball player
1965 – Brian Rajadurai, Sri Lankan cricketer
1967 – Michael Thomas, English footballer
1968 – Benoît Brunet, French Canadian ice hockey player
1968 – Shoichi Funaki, Japanese professional wrestler
1968 – Andreas Kisser, Brazilian guitarist (Sepultura)
1968 – Tim Salmon, American baseball player
1970 – Dan Henderson, American Mixed martial artist
1970 – Tugay Kerimoğlu, Turkish footballer
1971 – Pierfrancesco Favino, Italian actor
1972 – Jean-Luc Brassard, Canadian freestyle skier
1973 – Andrew Brunette, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 – Dave Chappelle, American actor and Comedian
1973 – Inge de Bruijn, Dutch swimmer
1973 – Carmine Giovinazzo, American actor
1974 – Orla Fallon, Irish Vocalist for Celtic Woman
1974 – Jennifer Lien, American actress
1975 – Mark de Vries, Surinamese-Dutch footballer
1975 – Alex O'Loughlin, Australian actor
1976 – Nordin Wooter, Dutch footballer
1977 – Denílson, Brazilian footballer
1977 – Robert Enke, German footballer
1977 – Per Gade, Danish footballer
1977 – John Green, American author/Nerdfighter
1977 – Jürgen Macho, Austrian footballer
1978 – Rafael Furcal, Dominican baseball player
1978 – Derek Morris, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Elva Hsiao, Taiwanese singer
1979 – Michael Redd, American basketball player
1979 – Orlando Engelaar, Dutch International Footballer
1980 – Sonja Bennett, Canadian actress
1981 – Jiro Wang Dong Cheng, Taiwanese singer, actor, model.
1981 – Chad Michael Murray, American actor
1982 – Kim Kallstrom, Swedish footballer
1983 – Marcel Goc, German ice hockey player
1983 – Christopher Parker, British actor
1984 – Kyle Schmid, Canadian actor
1984 – Yesung, a singer, a member of Korean boy group Super Junior
1984 – Charlie Villanueva, American basketball player
1986 – Nick Adenhart, American baseball player (d. 2009)
1986 – Fabiano Santacroce, Italian footballer
1987 – Anže Kopitar, Slovenian ice hockey player
1987 – Jon Scheyer, American basketball player
1988 – Rupert Grint, English actor
1988 – Helga Krapf, Filipina actress
2003 – Alexandre Coste, son of Albert II, Prince of Monaco
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 (b. c.1170)
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 (b. c.1535)
1595 – Thomas Digges, English astronomer (b. 1546)
1647 – Nicholas Stone, English sculptor and architect (b. 1586)
1664 – Maria Cunitz, Silesian astronomer (b. c.1610)
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 – Saint Cosmas of Aetolia, Greek Orthodox martyr (b. 1714)
1798 – Thomas Alcock, English clergyman (b. 1709)
1818 – James Carr (Massachusetts politician), U.S. Congressman (b. 1777)
1831 – August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (b. 1760)
1832 – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French mathematician (b. 1796)
1841 – Theodore Edward Hook, English author (b. 1788)
1841 – John Ordronaux, privateer of the War of 1812 (b. 1778)
1888 – Rudolf Clausius, German physicist (b. 1822)
1921 – Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (b. 1886)
1940 – Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, German television pioneer (b. 1860)
1943 – Simone Weil, French philosopher and social activist (b. 1909)
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)
1958 – Paul Henry, Northern Irish artist (b. 1876)
1967 – Henry J. Kaiser, American industrialist (b. 1882)
1967 – Lam Bun, Hong Kong radio commentator (murdered) (b. 1930)
1974 – Alexander de Seversky, Russian-American aviation pioneer (b. 1894)
1977 – Buddy O'Connor, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1916)
1978 – Louis Prima, American band leader (b. 1910)
1979 – Hanna Reitsch, German test pilot (b. 1912)
1979 – Sampson Sievers, Russian Orthodox Christian monk and wonder-worker (b. 1898)
1980 – Yootha Joyce, British actress (b. 1927)
1982 – Félix-Antoine Savard, French Canadian catholic priest and novelist (b. 1896)
1985 – Paul Creston, American composer (b. 1906)
1987 – Malcolm Kirk, English wrestler (b. 1936)
1990 – Sergei Dovlatov, Russian writer (b. 1941)
1990 – Gailli AbedElrhman, Sudanese writer (b. 1931)
1991 – Bernard Castro, Italian inventor (b. 1904)
1995 – Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-born photographer (b. 1898)
1998 – E.G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1910)
1999 – Alexandre Lagoya, Greek-Italian classical guitarist (b. 1929)
2001 – Jane Greer, American actress (b. 1924)
2002 – Nikolay Guryanov Russian Orthodox Christian mystic and priest (b. 1909)
2003 – Sir Wilfred Thesiger, British explorer (b. 1910)
2004 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (b. 1926)
2005 – Kaleth Morales, Colombian Vallenato singer (b. 1984)
2006 – Léopold Simoneau, French Canadian tenor (b. 1916)
2006 – Cristian Nemescu, Romanian film director (b. 1979)
2007 – Andrée P. Boucher, Mayor of Quebec City (b. 1937)
2007 – Aaron Russo, American film producer and director (b. 1943)
