August 24
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
August 24 is the 237th day of the year (238th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 128 days remaining after August 24 until the end of the year.
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[change] Events
- 79 – Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae. The modern city of Naples now stands on the edge of the disaster area.
- 1215 – Pope Innocent III declares the Magna Carta invalid.
- 1456 – Printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.
- 1572 – St. Batholomew's Day massacre: Start of a massacre of Huguenots (French Protestants) under the orders of King Charles IX of France.
- 1814 – British troops invade Washington, D.C., burning many buildings, including the White House.
- 1815 – The modern Constitution of the Netherlands is signed.
- 1875 – Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first man to swim across the English Channel.
- 1909 – Workers start pouring concrete for the construction of the Panama Canal.
- 1912 – Alaska becomes a United States territory.
- 1932 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly non-stop across the United States.
- 1936 – The Australian Antarctic Territory is created.
- 1968 – France explodes its first hydrogen bomb.
- 1981 – Mark David Chapman is sentenced to at least 20 years in prison for the murder of John Lennon.
- 1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Soviet Union's Communist party.
- 1991 – Ukraine declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1992 – Hurricane Andrew makes landfall in southern Florida as a Category 5 hurricane.
- 1995 – MSN is launched.
- 2004 – 89 people die in explosions on two jets at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.
- 2006 – The definition of the word planet is changed, therefore stripping Pluto of its planet status, making it a dwarf planet.
[change] Births
- 1198 – King Alexander II of Scotland (d. 1249)
- 1358 – King John I of Castile (d. 1390)
- 1669 – Alessandro Marcello, Italian composer (d. 1747)
- 1750 – Letizia Ramolino, mother of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1838)
- 1758 – Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1790)
- 1759 – William Wilberforce, English abolitionist (d. 1833)
- 1772 – King William I of the Netherlands (d. 1840)
- 1787 – James Weddell, English Antarctic explorer (d. 1834)
- 1865 – King Ferdinand II of Romania (d. 1927)
- 1890 – Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaiian-American athlete (swimming and surfing) (d. 1968)
- 1899 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (d. 1986)
- 1899 – Albert Claude, French biologist (d. 1983)
- 1905 – Arthur Crudup, American blues musician (d. 1976)
- 1905 – Siaka Stevens, President of Sierra Leone (d. 1988)
- 1907 – Bruno Giacometti, Italian sculptor
- 1922 – René Lévesque, Canadian politician (d. 1987)
- 1922 – Howard Zinn, American historian (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Harry Markowitz, American economist
- 1928 – Tommy Docherty, Scottish footballer
- 1929 – Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Authority (d. 2004)
- 1932 – Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster and cardinal
- 1944 – Gregory Jarvis, American astronaut (d. 1986)
- 1945 – Vince McMahon, American Professional Wrestling promoter
- 1947 – Paulo Coelho, Brazilian writer
- 1947 – Joe Manchin, American politician
- 1947 – Roger de Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist
- 1948 – Jean-Michel Jarre, French musician
- 1948 – Alexander McCall Smith, Scottish writer and professor
- 1953 – Sam Torrance, Scottish golfer
- 1955 – Mike Huckabee, American politician
- 1957 – Stephen Fry, British actor, comedian and writer
- 1958 – Steve Guttenberg, American actor
- 1960 – Cal Ripken, Jr., American baseball player
- 1961 – Jared Harris, English actor
- 1965 – Marlee Matlin, American actress
- 1973 – David Chappelle, American comedian and actor
- 1977 – Robert Enke, German football goalkeeper (d. 2009)[1]
- 1977 – Juergen Macho, Austrian football goalkeeper
- 1977 – Denilson, Brazilian footballer
- 1979 – Orlando Engelaar, Dutch footballer
- 1982 – Kim Kallstrom, Swedish footballer
- 1988 – Rupert Grint, British actor
- 2003 – Alexandre Coste, son of Albert II, Prince of Monaco
[change] 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)
- 1841 – Theodore Edward Hook, English author (b. 1788)
- 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)
- 1961 – Guenter Litfin, first shooting victim at the Berlin Wall (b. 1937)
- 1967 – Henry J. Kaiser, American industrialist (b. 1882)
- 1975 – Éamon 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)
- 2009 – Toni Sailer, Austrian skier (b. 1935)
[change] Observances
- National Day of Ukraine
- Christian Feast Day of Saint Bartholomew
[change] References
- ↑ "Famous Birthdays on 24th August". History Orb. 2009-08-04. http://www.historyorb.com/birthdays/august/24.
