Title: August 7 Content: == Events == === Up to 1900 === * 322 BC - Battle of Crammon between Athens and Macedon. * 461 - Roman Emperor Majorian is beheaded near the river Iria in northwestern Italy. * 626 - The Avar and Slav armies leave the Siege of Constantinople. * 768 - Pope Stephen III is elected. * 936 - Coronation of King Otto I of Germany. * 1316 - Pope John XXII is elected. * 1420 - Building of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy begins. * 1461 - Ming Dynasty Chinese general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor. * 1588 - The English Navy defeats the Spanish Armada. * 1679 – The brigantine Le Griffon, which was commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America. * 1714 - Battle of Gangut: First important victory in the Russian Navy. * 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 Department of War is established. * 1794 – Whiskey Rebellion begins: Farmers in the Monoghaela Valley of Pennsylvania rebel against the federal tax on liquor and distilled drinks. * 1819 – Simón Bolívar triumphed over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá. * 1858 - The first Australian rules football match is played between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College. * 1879 - Opening of the Poor Man's Palace in Manchester, England. * 1884 - Germany takes control of Southwest Africa, present-day Namibia. * 1888 - In the US, Theophilus Van Kannel is given a patent for the Revolving door. === 1901 2000 === * 1909 - Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to make a transcontinental car journey, reaching San Francisco, California after setting off from New York City on June 9. * 1927 – Peace Bridge opens, between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York. * 1930 - The last confirmed lynchings of African Americans in the Northern United States take place in Marion, Indiana. * 1933 - Simele Massacre: Iraqi government forces slaughter over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Simele. * 1942 – World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - US Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with a landing on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. * 1944 – IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I). * 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day 7,000 km (4,300 mile) journey across the Pacific Ocean proving that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America. * 1953 – Ohio admitted to the union, retroactive to 1803 (this is disputed by some). * 1959 – Explorer program: The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida. * 1960 – Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent. * 1964 – Vietnam War: The United States 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. * 1964 - Prometheus, a bristlecone pine and the oldest tree in the world, is cut down. * 1965 – Singapore is expelled and separated from the Federation of Malaysia. * 1967 – Vietnam War: The People's Republic of China agrees to give North Vietnam and undisclosed amount of aid in the form of a grant. * 1971 - Apollo 15 returns to Earth after a mission to the Moon. * 1972 - Idi Amin gives all Asian people in Uganda 90 days to leave. * 1974 – French tight-rope walker Philippe Petit crosses from one tower to the other at New York City's World Trade Center. * 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. * 1983 - The first World Athletics Championships begin in Helsinki, Finland. * 1985 – Takao Doi, Mamoru Mori, and Chiaki Mukai are chosen as Japan's first astronauts. * 1987 – American swimmer Lynne Cox crosses the so-called 'Ice Curtain' between Alaska (US), and the Soviet Union's far east. * 1989 – US Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX), and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia. * 1990 – At 12:34:56 (both AM and PM) the time and date by British reckoning was 12:34:56 7/8/90. * 1990 - César Gaviria becomes President of Colombia. * 1994 - Ernesto Samper becomes President of Colombia. * 1997 – Fine Air Flight 101, a cargo flight from Miami to Santo Domingo crashes onto NW 72nd Ave near Miami International Airport, killing five people. * 1998 - Andrés Pastrana Arango becomes President of Colombia. * 1998 – 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: Bombing of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya kills 224 people and injures over 4,500. * 1999 - Southern Russia: Chechnya-based Islamic International Brigade invades nearby Dagestan. * 2000 - US presidential candidate Al Gore chooses Joe Lieberman as his running mate. * 2000 - Saturn's moon Ymir is discovered. === From 2001 === * 2002 - Alvaro Uribe becomes President of Colombia. * 2005 - The biggest bank robbery in Brazilian history takes place when 150 million Real (equivalent of 52 million Euros) are stolen from a bank in Fortaleza in the northeast of the country. * 2007 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks baseball great Hank Aaron's record by hitting his 756th home run. * 2008 – The Republic of Georgia carries out a military offensive in South Ossetia. * 2009 – Typhoon Morakot hits Taiwan. * 2010 - Juan Manuel Santos becomes President of Colombia. * 2012 - 3 gunmen kill 19 people in a church in Okene, Nigeria. * 2018 - US President Donald Trump imposes new sanctions (restrictions) on Iran. * 2018 - Ivan Duque becomes President of Colombia. == Births == === Up to 1800 === * 317 – Constantius II, Roman Emperor (d. 361) * 594 - Empress Kogyoku of Japan (d. 661) * 1282 - Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, daughter of Edward I of England (d. 1316) * 1400 – Guillaume Dufay, French composer (d. 1474) (some sources give August 5, 1397 birthdate) * 1533 – Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga, Basque soldier and poet (d. 1595) * 1560 – Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian countess and serial killer (d. 1614) * 1574 - Robert Dudley, English writer (d. 1649) * 1598 – Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish poet (d. 1672) * 1649 - Archduke Charles Joseph of Austria (d. 1664) * 1726 - James Bowdoin, 2nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1790) * 1734 - Duchess Maria Anna Josepha of Bavaria (d. 1776) * 1742 - Nathanael Greene, American revolutionary general (d. 1786) * 1751 – Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange (d. 1820) * 1779 – Louis de Freycinet, French explorer (d. 1842) * 1779 – Carl Ritter, German geographer (d. 1859) * 1783 – Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom (d. 1810) * 1783 - John Heathcoat, English inventor (d. 1861) === 1801 1900 === * 1804 - Johan Nicolai Madvig, Danish classical philologist and politician (d. 1886) * 1811 - Elias Loomis, American mathematician, astronomer and meteorologist (d. 1889) * 1819 - Ion Emanuel Florescu, Romanian general and politician (d. 1893) * 1832 - Max Lange, German chess player (d. 1899) * 1862 – Victoria of Baden, Queen of Sweden (d. 1931) * 1863 - Scipione Riva-Ricci, Italian physician (d. 1937) * 1867 – Emil Nolde, German painter (d. 1956) * 1868 - Ladislaus Bortkiewicz, Russian mathematician (d. 1931) * 1870 - Gustav Krupp, German industrialist and war criminal (d. 1950) * 1872 - Andries Cornelis Dirk de Graeff, Dutch politician (d. 1957) * 1876 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (d. 1917) * 1876 - John August Anderson, American astronomer (d. 1959) * 1877 – Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (d. 1949) * 1878 - Maria Caspar-Filser, German artist (d. 1968) * 1883 - Joachim Ringelnatz, German writer and painter (d. 1934) * 1884 - Billie Burke, American actress (d. 1970) * 1890 - Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, American activist (d. 1964) * 1896 - Alberto Demicheli, Uruguayan politician (d. 1980) * 1900 - Alan Helffrich, American athlete (d. 1994) === 1901 1950 === * 1901 - Ann Harding, American actress (d. 1981) * 1903 – Louis Leakey, British-Kenyan archaeologist (d. 1972) * 1904 – Ralph Bunche, American diplomat (d. 1971) * 1906 – Nelson Goodman, American philosopher (d. 1998) * 1907 - Albert Kotin, American abstract painter (d. 1980) * 1910 - Freddie Slack, American pianist and bandleader (d. 1965) * 1911 - Nicholas Ray, American movie director and writer (d. 1979) * 1912 – Vo Chi Cong, President of Vietnam (d. 2011) * 1913 - Alicia Penalba, Argentine sculptor, tapestry designer and weaver (d. 1982) * 1916 – Kermit Love, American puppeteer (d. 2008) * 1918 - Poni Adams, American actress (d. 2014) * 1921 - Manitas de Plata, French flamenco guitarist (d. 2014) * 1924 - Kenneth Kendall, English journalist (d. 2012) * 1925 - M. S. Swaminathan, Indian scientist * 1925 – Armand Razafindratandra, Malagasy cardinal (d. 2010) * 1926 - Stan Freberg, American actor, comedian and author (d. 2015) * 1927 - Edwin Edwards, 50th Governor of Louisiana (d. 2021) * 1927 - George Busbee, American politician, Governor of the State of Georgia (d. 2004) * 1927 - Rocky Bridges, American baseball player (d. 2015) * 1928 - Betsy Byars, American author * 1928 - James Randi, Canadian-American stage magician and scientific sceptic * 1929 - Jo Baer, American painter * 1929 - Don Larsen, American baseball player * 1930 - Veljo Tormis, Estonian composer (d. 2017) * 1932 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian runner (d. 1973) * 1932 – Edward Hardwicke, British actor (d. 2011) * 1932 - Rien Poortvliet, Dutch painter (d. 1995) * 1933 - Eddie Firmani, South African footballer and coach * 1933 - Elinor Ostrom, American economist (d. 2012) * 1933 - Jerry Pournelle, American science fiction author (d. 2017) * 1937 - Magic Slim, American blues musician (d. 2013) * 1940 – Jean-Luc Dehaene, Belgian politician, former Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2014) * 1941 - Franco Columbu, Italian actor and bodybuilder * 1942 – Sigfried Held, German footballer * 1942 – B.J. Thomas, American singer * 1942 - Caetano Veloso, Brazilian musician * 1943 – Alain Corneau, French movie director (d. 2010) * 1944 - Robert Mueller, American FBI director * 1945 - Kenny Ireland, Scottish actor (d. 2014) * 1945 - Alan Page, American football player and judge * 1946 - John C. Mather, American physicist * 1947 - Sofia Rotaru, Soviet-Ukrainian singer * 1948 - Greg Chappell, Australian cricketer and coach * 1948 - Antonis Vardis, Greek composer and singer (d. 2014) * 1949 - Tim Renwick, British musician * 1949 - Walid Junblatt, Lebanese political leader * 1950 - Alan Keyes, American conservative political activist, pundit, author and diplomat * 1950 - Kessai Note, former President of the Marshall Islands * 1950 - Dave Wottle, American athlete === 1951 1975 === * 1952 - Gary Schwartz, American actor, voice actor, author and teacher * 1952 - Caroline Aaron, American actress * 1955 - Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer * 1955 - Greg Nickels, American politician, 51st Mayor of Seattle * 1955 - Diana Downs, American murderess * 1956 - Kent Rominger, American astronaut * 1957 - Alexander Dityatin, Soviet gymnast * 1958 – Bruce Dickinson, British singer (Iron Maiden) * 1958 – Alberto Salazar, American runner * 1960 – Jacquie O'Sullivan, British singer (Bananarama) * 1960 – David Duchovny, American actor * 1961 - Yelena Davydova, Soviet-Russian gymnast * 1961 - Brian Conley, English actor and singer * 1962 - Alain Robert, French daredevil * 1962 - Alison Brown, American musician, songwriter and producer * 1962 - Bruno Pelletier, Canadian singer * 1962 - Doon Mackichan, British comedienne and actress * 1963 - Harold Perrineau, American actor * 1966 – Jimmy Wales, American founder of Wikipedia * 1966 - Shobna Gulati, English actress * 1966 - Kristin Hersh, American singer-songwriter, musician and author * 1966 - David Cairns, Scottish politician (d. 2011) * 1967 - Evgeny Platov, Russian ice dancer * 1968 - Martin Max, German footballer * 1969 - Domino Harvey, English bounty hunter (d. 2005) * 1969 – Paul Lambert, Scottish footballer and coach * 1971 – Rachel York, American actress and singer * 1972 - Karen Disher, American film director * 1973 - Kevin Muscat, Australian footballer * 1973 – Zane Lowe, New Zealand disc jockey and television presenter * 1974 - Michael Shannon, American actor * 1975 – Charlize Theron, South African actress * 1975 - Edgar Renteria, Colombian baseball player * 1975 - Gaahl, Norwegian singer- songwriter * 1975 - Koray Candemir, Turkish singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and actor * 1975 - David Hicks, Australian alleged terrorist === From 1976 === * 1976 - Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos, Greek footballer * 1977 - Charlotte Ronson, English fashion designer * 1977 - Samantha Ronson, English DJ and songwriter * 1978 - Mark McCammon, Barbadian footballer * 1979 - Eric Johnson, American actor * 1979 - Nenad Djordjevic, Serbian footballer * 1980 - Seiichiro Maki, Japanese footballer * 1980 - Shane Orio, Belizean footballer * 1982 - Yana Klochkova, Ukrainian swimmer * 1982 – Marco Melandri, Italian cyclist * 1982 - Abbie Cornish, American actress * 1983 - Brit Marling, American writer, producer, director and actress * 1984 - Yun Hyon-seok, South Korean activist (d. 2003) * 1985 - Rick Genest, Canadian fashion model and artist (d. 2018) * 1986 – Paul Biedermann, German swimmer * 1986 – Valter Birsa, Slovenian footballer * 1986 – Nancy Sumari, Tanzanian beauty queen * 1987 – Sidney Crosby, Canadian ice hockey player * 1988 - Melody Oliveria, American blogger * 1990 - Helen Flanagan, English actress * 1991 - Mitchell te Vrede, Dutch footballer * 1993 - Francesca Eastwood, American actress, model, television presenter and socialite * 1996 - Liam James, Canadian actor == Deaths == === Up to 1900 === * 461 – Majorian, Roman Emperor (assassinated) (b. 420) * 479 - Emperor Yuryaku of Japan * 1106 – Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1050) * 1385 - Joan of Kent (b. 1328) * 1485 - Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany (b. 1454) * 1616 - Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect (b. 1548) * 1635 – Friedrich von Spee, German writer (b. 1591) * 1661 - Jin Shengtan, Chinese editor, writer and critic (b. 1608) * 1809 - Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., Governor of Connecticut (b. 1740) * 1817 – Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, French industrialist (b. 1739) * 1821 - Caroline of Brunswick, Queen of the United Kingdom (b. 1768) * 1834 – Joseph Marie Jacquard, inventor of the Jacquard loom (b. 1752) * 1848 – Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (b. 1779) * 1855 – Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (b. 1802) * 1864 - Li Xiucheng, Chinese general (b. 1823) * 1893 - Alfredo Catalani, Italian musician (b. 1854) * 1900 - Wilhelm Liebknecht, German political activist (b. 1826) === 1901 2000 === * 1908 - Antonio Starabba, Italian politician (b. 1839) * 1912 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss hydrologist (born 1841) * 1917 - Edwin Harris Dunning, South African-English pilot and commander (b. 1891) * 1937 - Takeo Wakabayashi, Japanese footballer (b. 1907) * 1938 - Constantin Stanislavski, Russian theatre practitioner (b. 1863) * 1941 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian writer and poet (b. 1861) * 1945 - Yi Wu, Korean prince (b. 1912) * 1948 - Charles Bryant, American actor and movie director (b. 1879) * 1957 – Oliver Hardy, American radio and movie comedian, and actor (born 1892) * 1969 - Joseph Kosma, French composer (b. 1905) * 1972 – Asposia Manos, wife of King Alexander of Greece (b. 1896) * 1972 - Joi Lansing, American model, actress and singer (b. 1929) * 1974 - Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet (b. 1925) * 1981 - Gunnar Uusi, Estonian chess player (b. 1931) * 1987 – Camille Chamoun, Lebanese President (b. 1900) * 1989 - Mickey Leland, American politician (b. 1944) * 1994 - Larry Martin, English actor (b. 1934) * 1995 – Brigid Brophy, British writer (b. 1929) * 1999 – Brion James, American actor (b. 1945) === From 2001 === * 2004 – Red Adair, American oil well firefighter (b. 1915) * 2005 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American news anchor (b. 1938) * 2007 - Angus Tait, New Zealand electronics innovator and businessman (b. 1929) * 2008 - Andrea Pininfarina, Italian engineer (b. 1957) * 2010 – Bruno Cremer, French actor (b. 1929) * 2011 – Hugh Carey, former Governor of New York (b. 1919) * 2011 - Mark Hatfield, former Governor of Oregon (b. 1922) * 2011 – Harri Holkeri, 57th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1937) * 2011 – Nancy Wake, New Zealand-born spy (b. 1912) * 2014 - Denys Williams, British-Barbadian judge, acting Governor- General of Barbados (b. 1929) * 2014 - Cristina Deutekom, Dutch opera singer (b. 1931) * 2014 - Perry Moss, American football coach (b. 1926) * 2014 - Claude Bertrand, Canadian neurosurgeon (b. 1917) * 2015 - Frances Oldham Kelsey, Canadian physician (b. 1914) * 2015 - Manuel Contreras, Chilean general, convicted of crimes against humanity (b. 1929) * 2015 - Terrence Evans, American actor (b. 1934) * 2016 - Gustavo Bueno, Spanish philosopher (b. 1924) * 2016 - Bryan Clauson, American racing driver (b. 1989) * 2017 - Don Baylor, American baseball player (b. 1949) * 2017 - Haruo Nakajima, Japanese actor (b. 1929) * 2017 - Sigmund Sobolewski, Polish activist and Holocaust survivor (b. 1923) * 2017 - Patsy Ticer, American politician (b. 1935) * 2018 - John Ciaccia, Italian-born Canadian politician (b. 1933) * 2018 - Arvonne Fraser, American women's rights activist (b. 1925) * 2018 - Gustavo Giagnoni, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1932) * 2018 - M. Karunanidhi, Indian politician and writer (b. 1924) * 2018 - Anton Lehmden, Austrian painter (b. 1929) * 2018 - Stan Mikita, Slovakian-born Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1940) * 2018 - Carlos Almenar Otero, Venezuelan tenor (b. 1926) == Observances == * Republic Day (Ivory Coast) * Youth Day (Kiribati) * Battle of Boyacá Day (Colombia) August 07