August 7

August 7 is the Expression error: unrecognised punctuation character "{"th day of the year Expression error: unrecognised punctuation character "{" in the Gregorian calendar. There are Expression error: unrecognised punctuation character "{" days remainingExpression error: unrecognised punctuation character "{".

The Northern Hemisphere is considered to be halfway through its summer on this day.

Events

• 322 BC - Battle of Crannon between Athens and Alexander the Great of Macedon.
• 1679 - The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the south-eastern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.
• 1714 - The first important victory of the Russian Navy - the Battle of Gangut.
• 1782 - George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.
• 1789 - The United States War Department is established.
• 1794 - Whiskey Rebellion begins: Farmers in the Monongahela Valley of Pennsylvania rebel against the federal tax on liquor and distilled drinks.
• 1819 - Simón Bolívar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá.
• 1879 - The opening of the Poor Man's Palace in Manchester.
• 1927 - The Peace Bridge opens, between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York.
• 1933 - The Iraqi Government slaughtered over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Sumail. The day becomes Assyrian Martyrs Day.
• 1940 - Alsace Lorraine is annexed by the Third Reich (Germany) during World War II
• 1942 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - U.S. Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
• 1944 - IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
• 1945 - President Harry Truman announces the bombing of Hiroshima with an atomic bomb while returning from the Potsdam Conference aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1947 - Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7000-km (4375-mile) journey across the Pacific Ocean proving that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
• 1947 - The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
• 1955 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the precursor to Sony, begins selling its first Transistor radios in Japan.
• 1959 - The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny goes into circulation. It replaces the "sheaves of wheat" design and is still in use.
• 1959 - Explorer program: Explorer 6 launched from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• 1960 - Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.
• 1964 - Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving US President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.
• 1966 - Race riots occur in Lansing, Michigan.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: The People's Republic of China agrees to give North Vietnam an undisclosed amount of aid in the form of a grant.
• 1970 - California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during in an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
• 1973 - NBC airs the final day of the Watergate hearings on U.S. daytime television.
• 1976 - Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars.
• 1978 - United States President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal.
• 1981 - The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.
• 1985 - Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
• 1988 - Rioting in New York City's Tompkins Square Park.
• 1989 - U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
• 1997 - Garth Brooks plays to 750,000 people in Central Park.
• 1998 - Bombing of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, kill 224 people and injure over 4,500.
• 1999 - A group of Indian army veterans launch the political party Rashtriya Raksha Dal.
• 2007 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks baseball great Hank Aaron's record by hitting his 756th home run.
• 2007 - Jonas Brothers CD was released

Births

• 317 - Constantius II, Roman emperor (d. 361)
• 1400 - Guillaume Dufay, French composer (d. 1474)
• 1533 - Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, Basque soldier and poet (d. 1595)
• 1560 - Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian countess and serial killer (d. 1614)
• 1574 - Robert Dudley, styled Earl of Warwick, English writer (d. 1649)
• 1598 - Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish poet (d. 1672)
• 1726 - James Bowdoin, American Revolutionary leader and politician (d. 1790)
• 1742 - Nathanael Greene, American Revolutionary general (d. 1786)
• 1779 - Louis de Freycinet, French explorer (d. 1842)
• 1779 - Carl Ritter, German geographer (d. 1859)
• 1844 - Auguste Michel-Lévy, French geologist (d. 1911)
• 1860 - Alan Leo, British astrologer (d. 1917)
• 1867 - Emil Nolde, German painter (d. 1956)
• 1876 - Mata Hari, Dutch spy (d. 1917)
• 1877 - Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (d. 1949)
• 1885 - Billie Burke, American actress (d. 1970)
• 1901 - Ann Harding, American actress (d. 1981)
• 1903 - Louis Leakey, British archaeologist (d. 1972)
• 1904 - Ralph Bunche, American diplomat, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1971)
• 1907 - Albert Kotin, American abstract expressionist painter of the New York School (d. 1980)
• 1911 - Nicholas Ray, American actor, director and scenarist (d. 1979)
• 1913 - George Van Eps, noted American guitarist (d. 1998)
• 1921 - Manitas de Plata, Gypsy guitarist
• 1925 - M. S. Swaminathan, Indian scientist
• 1925 - Felice Bryant, American country songwriter and singer (d. 2003)
• 1926 - Stan Freberg, American voice comedian
• 1927 - Edwin W. Edwards, four-term Louisiana governor
• 1927 - Art Houtteman, baseball player (d. 2003)
• 1927 - Carl Switzer, American child actor (d. 1959)
• 1928 - Romeo Muller, American screenwriter (d. 1992)
• 1928 - James Randi, Canadian magician
• 1929 - Don Larsen, baseball player
• 1931 - Charles E. Rice, Legal Scholar and Author
• 1932 - Abebe Bikila, Ethiopan athlete (d. 1973)
• 1932 - Dr. Maurice Rabb, Jr., African American ophthalmologist
• 1932 - Edward Hardwicke, British actor
• 1933 - Eddie Firmani, South African football player and coach
• 1936 - Rahsaan Roland Kirk, American saxophonist (d. 1977)
• 1939 - Anjanette Comer, American actress
• 1940 - Jean-Luc Dehaene, Prime Minister of Belgium
• 1942 - Tobin Bell, American actor
• 1942 - Garrison Keillor, American writer and radio host
• 1942 - Carlos Monzón, Argentine boxer
• 1942 - B.J. Thomas, American singer
• 1942 - Caetano Veloso, Brazilian musician
• 1943 - Dino Valente, American musician Quicksilver Messenger Service (d. 1994)
• 1943 - Alain Corneau, French film director
• 1944 - David Rasche, American actor
• 1945 - Alan Page, American football player
• 1946 - Ed Seykota, commodities and futures trader
• 1947 - Franciscus Henri (Franciscus Henricus Antheunis), children's entertainer, composer and artist
• 1948 - Greg Chappell, Australian test cricket player, captain and coach
• 1949 - Walid Jumblatt, Leader of the Lebanese Druze
• 1952 - Alexei Sayle, British comedian
• 1953 - Anne Fadiman, American writer, daughter of Clifton Fadiman
• 1954 - Jonathan Pollard, Israeli spy
• 1955 - Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
• 1955 - Wayne Knight, American actor
• 1957 - Alexander Dityatin, Soviet gymnast
• 1958 - Bruce Dickinson, English singer (Iron Maiden)
• 1958 - Alberto Salazar, Member, American National Distance Running Hall of Fame
• 1960 - David Duchovny, American actor
• 1961 - Yelena Davydova, Soviet gymnast
• 1962 - Bruno Pelletier, Québécois singer
• 1963 - Harold Perrineau Jr., American actor
• 1964 - Michael Weishan, American TV host, author
• 1964 - John Birmingham, Australian author
• 1966 - Kristin Hersh, American singer and guitarist (Throwing Muses)
• 1967 - Jason Grimsley, American baseball player
• 1968 - Lynn Strait, American singer (Snot)
• 1971 - Sydney Penny, American actress
• 1971 - Rachel York, American actress and singer
• 1972 - Greg Serano, American actor
• 1973 - Danny Graves, American baseball player
• 1975 - Edgar Renteria, Colombian baseball player
• 1975 - David Hicks, Australian alleged terrorist
• 1975 - Charlize Theron, South African actress
• 1976 - Jeffrey Durrum, American Supermodel
• 1976 - Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos, Greek footballer
• 1978 - Jamey Jasta, American singer (Hatebreed)
• 1978 - Alexandre Aja, French director
• 1978 - Vanness Wu, Taiwanese singer
• 1978 - Linsey Dawn McKenzie, English model and porn star
• 1978 - Cirroc Lofton, American actor
• 1978 - Shirley Yeung, Hong Kong actress
• 1979 - Eric Johnson, American actor
• 1980 - Aurélie Claudel, French supermodel
• 1982 - Yana Klochkova, Ukrainian swimmer
• 1982 - Vasileios Spanoulis, Greek basketball player
• 1983 - Tina O'Brien, British actress
• 1983 - Robert Flores, American baseball player
• 1983 - Christian Chávez, Mexican singer and actor, member of RBD
• 1987 - Sidney Crosby, Canadian hockey player
• 1988 - Melody Oliveria, American internet blogger
• 1989 - Sherman Cárdenas, Colombian football player
• 1996 - Tessa Allen, American actress

Deaths

• 461 - Majorian, Roman Emperor (assassinated) (b. 420)
• 479 - Emperor Yūryaku of Japan
• 1106 - Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1050)
• 1485 - Alexander Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany, Scottish prince
• 1613 - Thomas Fleming, English judge (b. 1544)
• 1616 - Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect (b. 1548)
• 1635 - Friedrich von Spee, German writer (b. 1591)
• 1639 - Martin van den Hove, Dutch scientist (b. 1605)
• 1661 - Jin Shengtan, Chinese editor, writer and critic (b. 1608)
• 1817 - Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, French industrialist (b. 1739)
• 1834 - Joseph Marie Jacquard, French weaver and inventor (b. 1752)
• 1848 - Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (b. 1779)
• 1855 - Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (b. 1802)
• 1912 - François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss hydrologist (b. 1841)
• 1917 - Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning, first pilot to land his aircraft on a moving ship. (b. 1891)
• 1938 - Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian/Soviet actor, producer, dramatist (b. 1863)
• 1941 - Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1861)
• 1957 - Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (b. 1892)
• 1969 - Joseph Kosma, French composer (Autumn Leaves) (b. 1905)
• 1972 - Joi Lansing, American model and actress (b. 1929)
• 1974 - Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet (b. 1925)
• 1974 - Sylvio Mantha, professional ice hockey player (b. 1902)
• 1984 - Esther Phillips, American singer (b. 1935)
• 1985 - Grayson Hall, American actress (b. 1923)
• 1987 - Camille Chamoun, Lebanese President (b. 1900)
• 1989 - Mickey Leland, American politician, United States Congressman from Texas (b. 1944)
• 1992 - John Anderson, American actor (b. 1922)
• 1994 - Larry Martyn, comedy actor (b. 1934)
• 1995 - Brigid Brophy, British author (b. 1929)
• 1999 - Brion James, American actor (b. 1945)
• 2003 - Mickey McDermott, baseball player (b. 1929)
• 2004 - Red Adair, American oil field firefighter (b. 1915)
• 2004 - Colin Bibby, English ornithologist (b. 1948)
• 2005 - Peter Jennings, Canadian-born news anchor (b. 1938)
• 2006 - Mary Anderson Bain, American New Deal politician (b. 1911)
• 2007 - Hal Fishman, Los Angeles based local news anchor. (b. 1931)
• 2007 - Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director and producer. (b. 1917)

Holidays and observances

• BC Day - Province of Canada.
• Civic Holiday - Canada.
• Emancipation Day - Turks and Caicos Islands.
• National Holiday in Colombia: Battle of Boyaca, birth of Bogotá.

Liturgical feasts

Roman Catholicism

• St. Afra, virgin martyr
• St. Albert of Trapani (Albert of Sicily)
• Saint Cajetan of Thienna, priest, confessor [common]
• St. Carpophorus
• St. Peter, Julian and Companions
• Saint Sixtus II, pope and companions, martyrs (sometimes only confessors) [common]
• Saint Juliana of Cornillon
• Saint Mary of Egypt [Cologne, Trier]

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada