August 16
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 137 days remaining after August 16 until the end of the year.
[change] Events
- 1728 – Vitus Bering reaches the Diomede Islands between Siberia and Alaska in the now-named Bering Strait.
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American troops defeat British forces at the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac, New York.
- 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden - British forces defeat American forces near Camden, South Carolina.
- 1787 – Lieutenant William Bligh takes command of HMAV Bounty.
- 1812 – War of 1812 - American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit, without a fight, to the British Army.
- 1812 – Arnold Abbuehl, Joseph Bortis and Alois Volker become the first people to climb the mountain Finsteraarhorn in the Swiss Alps.
- 1858 – US President James Buchanan inaugurates a new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. A weak line forces the service to close after just a few weeks.
- 1863 – Fighting starts between the Dominican Republic and Spain over Dominican independence.
- 1868 – Arica, in Peru (now in Chile) is hit by a magnitude 8.5 earthquake. Resulting tsunamis kill thousands of people.
- 1906 – A magnitude 8.2 earthquake strikes Valparaiso, Chile, killing almost 3,900 people.
- 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Cer begins troops of Austria-Hungary enter Serbian territory.
- 1930 – The first colour sound cartoon, Fiddlesticks, is created by Ub Iwerks.
- 1930 – The first British Empire Games begin in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In later years, these games become better known as the Commonwealth Games.
- 1935 – The first successful climb of Gunnbjorn Fjeld, the highest mountain in Greenland, takes place.
- 1936 – 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany end.
- 1945 – Puyi, the last Chinese Emperor, and ruler of Manchuria, is captured by Soviet troops.
- 1945 – An assassination attempt is made on Prime Minister of Japan Kantaro Suzuki.
- 1945 – Poland cedes 46 % of its previous territory to the Soviet Union.
- 1960 – Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1960 – Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico.
- 1962 – The Beatles fire Pete Best and hire Ringo Starr.
- 1962 – Algeria joins the Arab League.
- 1964 – A coup occurs in South Vietnam, where President Duong Van Minh is replaced by Nguyen Khanh.
- 1972 – An unsuccessful coup attempt is made in Morocco, as the Royal Moroccan Air Force fires at the plane of King Hassan II of Morocco, who is flying back to the capital, Rabat, at the time.
- 1974 – The Ramones play their first show in a New York club named CBGB's.
- 1975 – Police arrest serial killer Ted Bundy.
- 1976 – A magnitude 7.9 earthquake strikes the island of Mindanao, Philippines.
- 1976 – ABBA's hit single Dancing Queen is released.
- 1977 – Singer, musician and actor Elvis Presley dies at the age of 42, leading to a worldwide outpouring of grief.
- 1987 – A McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft of Northwest Airlines crashes in Detroit, killing 154 people, leaving only one survivor.
- 1988 – The dam of the Bagauda Reservoir in Nigeria breaks, killing 23 people.
- 2004 – Heavy rains cause a river to flood the small coastal town of Boscastle in Cornwall, England.
- 2004 – The Cassini Huygens space probe discovers two moons of Saturn.
- 2005 – A West Caribbean Airlines plane crashes near Machiques in Northwestern Venezuela, killing all 160 people on board.
- 2007 – Tropical Storm Erin makes landfall near Lamar, Texas
[change] Births
- 1378 – Hongxi Emperor, Chinese Emperor (d. 1425)
- 1397 – Albert II of Germany, nobleman (d. 1439)
- 1557 – Agostino Carracci, Italian painter (d. 1602)
- 1573 – Anna of Austria, Queen of Poland (d. 1598)
- 1596 – Frederick V, Elector Palatine (d. 1632)
- 1645 – Jean de la Bruyere, French writer (d. 1696)
- 1650 – Vincenzo Coronelli, Italian mapmaker (d. 1718)
- 1682 – Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1712)
- 1744 – Pierre Mechain, French physician (d. 1804)
- 1761 – Yevstingney Fomin, Russian composer (d. 1800)
- 1815 – John Bosco, Italian Catholic priest (d. 1888)
- 1832 – Wilhelm Wundt, German psychologist (d. 1920)
- 1845 – Gabriel Lippmann, French physicist (d. 1921)
- 1856 – Aparicio Saravia, Uruguayan politician and military leader (d. 1904)
- 1860 – Jules Laforgue, French poet (d. 1887)
- 1876 – Ivan Bilibin, Russian illustrator (d. 1942)
- 1882 – Christian Mortensen, Danish-American supercentenarian (d. 1998)
- 1887 – Hugh Dalton, British politician (d. 1962)
- 1888 – T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), British writer and soldier (d. 1935)
- 1892 – Otto Messmer, American cartoonist (d. 1983)
- 1895 – Albert Cohen, Swiss novelist (d. 1981)
- 1902 – Georgette Heyer, British writer (d. 1974)
- 1904 – Minoru Genda, Japanese military aviator and politician (d. 1989)
- 1904 – Wendell Meredith Stanley, American chemist (d. 1971)
- 1905 – Marian Rejewski, Polish mathematician (d. 1980)
- 1906 – Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein (d. 1989)
- 1911 – E. F. Schumacher, German-British economist (d. 1977)
- 1913 – Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1992)
- 1924 – Fess Parker, American actor (d. 2010)
- 1929 – Helmut Rahn, German footballer (d. 2003)
- 1930 – Robert Culp, American actor (d. 2010)
- 1930 – Frank Gifford, American football player and announcer
- 1933 – Stuart Roosa, American astronaut (d. 1994)
- 1934 – Diana Wynne Jones, British author (d. 2011)
- 1935 – Andreas Stamatiadis, Greek footballer and coach
- 1939 – Sean Brady, Irish cardinal and Archbishop of Armagh
- 1945 – Suzanne Farrell, American ballet dancer
- 1946 – Massoud Barzani, First President of Iraqi Kurdistan
- 1947 – Ephraïm Inoni, Prime Minister of Cameroon
- 1947 – Carol Moseley Braun, American lawyer and politician
- 1948 – Earl Blumenauer, American politician
- 1949 – Scott Asheton, American musician (The Stooges)
- 1950 – Jack Unterweger, Austrian murderer (d. 1994)
- 1951 – Umaru Yar'Adua, President of Nigeria (d. 2010)
- 1954 – James Cameron, Canadian film director
- 1954 – George Galloway, British politician
- 1957 – Laura Innes, American actress
- 1958 – Madonna, American singer and actress
- 1960 – Timothy Hutton, American actor
- 1960 – Franz Welser-Moest, Austrian conductor
- 1962 – Steve Carell, American actor and comedian
- 1967 – Ulrika Jonsson, Swedish-British television personality
- 1970 – Fabio Casartelli, Italian cyclist (d. 1995)
- 1970 – Manisha Koirala, Nepalese Bollywood actress
- 1971 – Dirk Lehmann, German footballer
- 1971 – Stefan Klos, German footballer
- 1972 – Stan Lazaridis, Australian footballer
- 1972 – Emily Robison, American country music singer (Dixie Chicks)
- 1974 – Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Guyanese cricketer
- 1974 – Ivan Hurtado, Ecuadorean footballer
- 1975 – Didier Agathe, French footballer
- 1976 – Jonatan Johansson, Finnish footballer
- 1979 – Cleo Lemon, American NFL player
- 1980 – Vanessa Carlton, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1980 – Robert Hardy, British musician (Franz Ferdinand)
- 1981 – Roque Santa Cruz, Paraguayan footballer
- 1982 – Joleon Lescott, English footballer
- 1984 – Candice Dupree, American basketball player
- 1987 – Carey Price, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Wang Hao, Chinese athlete
- 1991 – Evanna Lynch, Irish actress
- 1991 – Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, Canadian actress
[change] Deaths
- 1027 – King Giorgi I of Georgia (b. 998)
- 1297 – John II of Trebizond (b. 1262)
- 1358 – Albert II, Duke of Austria (b. 1298)
- 1419 – Wenceslaus, King of the Romans, King of Bohemia (b. 1361)
- 1443 – Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1434)
- 1445 – Margaret of Scotland, Consort of Louis XI of France (b. 1424)
- 1532 – John, Elector of Saxony (b. 1468)
- 1705 – Jakob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and scientist (b. 1654)
- 1836 – Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician (b. 1755)
- 1886 – Ramakrishna, Bengali saint (b. 1836)
- 1888 – John Pemberton, American inventor of Cocoa Cola (b. 1831)
- 1893 – Jean-Martin Charcot, French neurologist (b. 1825)
- 1899 – Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, German chemist (b. 1811)
- 1900 – Eca de Queiroz, Portuguese writer (b. 1845)
- 1921 – Peter I of Serbia (b. 1844)
- 1938 – Robert Johnson, American musician (b. 1911)
- 1945 – Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese naval leader (b. 1891)
- 1948 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player (b. 1895)
- 1949 – Margaret Mitchell, American writer (b. 1900)
- 1957 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist (b. 1881)
- 1959 – Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (b. 1879)
- 1961 – Maulvi Abdul Haq, Indian Urdu educator and linguist (b. 1870)
- 1973 – Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-American biochemist (b. 1888)
- 1975 – Vladimir Kuts, Ukrainian distance runner (b. 1927)
- 1977 – Elvis Presley, American singer and actor (b. 1935)
- 1979 – John Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1895)
- 1986 – Jaime Saenz, Bolivian writer (b. 1921)
- 1991 – Luigi Zampa, Italian film director (b. 1905)
- 2002 – Abu Nidal, Palestinian political leader (b. 1937)
- 2003 – Idi Amin, Dictator of Uganda (b. around 1928)
- 2004 – Ivan Hlinka, Czech ice hockey coach (b. 1950)
- 2005 – Frere Roger, Swiss monk and mystic (b. 1915)
- 2006 – Alfredo Stroessner, President of Paraguay (b. 1912)
- 2007 – Max Roach, American musician and composer (b. 1924)
- 2008 – Ronnie Drew, Irish singer (The Dubliners) (b. 1934)
- 2010 – Dimitrios Ioannidis, Greek military officer (b. 1923)
- 2010 – Nicola Cabibbo, Italian physicist (b. 1935)
- 2011 – Andrej Bajuk, Slovenian banker and poltician (b. 1943)
- 2012 – Abune Paulos, Ethiopian Orthodox Church Patriarch (b. 1935)
