August 11

Events

• 3114 BC - The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Maya, begins.
• 2492 BC - Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation.
• 106 - The south-western part of Dacia becomes a Roman province: Roman Dacia.
• 355 - Claudius Silvanus, accused of treason, proclaims himself Roman Emperor against Constantius II.
• 490 - Battle of Adda: The Goths under Theodoric the Great and his ally Alaric II defeat the forces of Odoacer on the Adda River, near Milan.
• 1309 - Siege of Almería: James II of Aragon and his forces landed near Almería, beginning an unsuccessful siege of the Muslim-held city.
• 1332 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Dupplin Moor: Scots under Domhnall II, Earl of Mar are routed by Edward Balliol.
• 1473 - The Battle of Otlukbeli: Mehmed the Conqueror of the Ottoman Empire decisively defeats Uzun Hassan of Aq Qoyunlu.
• 1675 - Franco-Dutch War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire defeat the French in the Battle of Konzer Brücke.
• 1786 - Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.
• 1804 - Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria.
• 1812 - Peninsular War: French troops engage British-Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda.
• 1813 - In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia.
• 1858 - The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.
• 1898 - Spanish–American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
• 1918 - World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends.
• 1919 - Germany's Weimar Constitution is signed into law.
• 1920 - The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence.
• 1929 - Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.
• 1934 - The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.
• 1942 - Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.
• 1945 - Poles in Kraków engage in a pogrom against Jews in the city, killing one and wounding five.
• 1952 - Hussein bin Talal is proclaimed King of Jordan.
• 1959 - Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens.
• 1960 - Chad declares independence.
• 1961 - The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
• 1962 - Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity.
• 1965 - Race riots begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California.
• 1969 - The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the moon.
• 1972 - Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.
• 1975 - East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
• 1979 - Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard both airliners.
• 1982 - A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others.
• 1984 - "We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.
• 2000 - An air rage incident occurs on board Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 when 19-year-old Jonathan Burton attempts to storm the cockpit, but he is subdued by other passengers and dies from his injuries.
• 2003 - NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
• 2003 - Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.
• 2006 - The oil tanker MT Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill.
• 2012 - At least 306 people are killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran.
• 2017 - At least 41 people are killed and another 179 injured after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt.

  Births

• 1086 - Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1384 - Yolande of Aragon
• 1472 - Nikolaus von Schönberg, Catholic cardinal
• 1510 - Margaret Paleologa, Sovereign Marchioness of Montferrat
• 1673 - Richard Mead, English physician and astrologer
• 1718 - Frederick Haldimand, Swiss-English general and politician, 22nd Governor of Quebec
• 1722 - Richard Brocklesby, English physician
• 1748 - Joseph Schuster, German composer
• 1778 - Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, Prussian gymnast, educator, and politician
• 1794 - James B. Longacre, American engraver
• 1807 - David Rice Atchison, American general, lawyer, and politician
• 1808 - William W. Chapman, American lawyer and politician
• 1816 - Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania
• 1833 - Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier, lawyer, and politician
• 1833 - Kido Takayoshi, Japanese samurai and politician
• 1836 - Warren Brown, American historian and politician
• 1837 - Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 4th President of the French Republic
• 1855 - John Hodges, Australian cricketer
• 1858 - Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1860 - Ottó Bláthy, Hungarian engineer and chess player
• 1870 - Tom Richardson, English cricketer
• 1874 - Princess Louise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg
• 1877 - Adolph M. Christianson, American lawyer and judge
• 1878 - Oliver W. F. Lodge, English poet and author
• 1881 - Aleksander Aberg, Estonian wrestler
• 1884 - Hermann Wlach, Austrian-Swiss actor
• 1885 - Stephen Butterworth, English physicist and engineer
• 1891 - Stancho Belkovski, Bulgarian architect and educator
• 1891 - Edgar Zilsel, Austrian historian and philosopher of science, linked to the Vienna Circle
• 1892 - Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet and linguist
• 1892 - Eiji Yoshikawa, Japanese author
• 1897 - Enid Blyton, English author, poet, and educator
• 1897 - Louise Bogan, American poet and critic
• 1898 - Peter Mohr Dam, Faroese educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
• 1900 - Charley Paddock, American sprinter
• 1900 - Philip Phillips, American archaeologist and scholar
• 1902 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist
• 1902 - Lloyd Nolan, American actor
• 1905 - Erwin Chargaff, Austrian-American biochemist and academic
• 1905 - Ernst Jaakson, Estonian diplomat
• 1907 - Ted a'Beckett, Australian cricketer and lawyer
• 1908 - Don Freeman, American author and illustrator
• 1908 -, Swedish sociologist and philosopher
• 1909 - Yūji Koseki, Japanese composer
• 1909 - Uku Masing, Estonian philosopher and theologian
• 1911 - Thanom Kittikachorn, Thai field marshal and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Thailand
• 1912 - Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, German astronomer and academic
• 1912 - Raphael Blau, American screenwriter and producer
• 1913 - Paul Dupuis, Canadian actor
• 1913 - Bob Scheffing, American baseball player and manager
• 1913 - Angus Wilson, English author and academic
• 1915 - Morris Weiss, American author and illustrator
• 1916 - Johnny Claes, English-Belgian race car driver and trumpet player
• 1919 - Luis Olmo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and manager
• 1920 - Mike Douglas, American singer and talk show host
• 1920 - Chuck Rayner, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1921 - Alex Haley, American historian and author
• 1922 - John "Mule" Miles, American baseball player
• 1923 - Stan Chambers, American journalist and actor
• 1925 - Floyd Curry, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
• 1925 - Arlene Dahl, American actress, businesswoman and writer
• 1926 - Aaron Klug, Lithuanian-English chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1927 - Raymond Leppard, English harpsichord player and conductor
• 1927 - Stuart Rosenberg, American director and producer
• 1932 - Fernando Arrabal, Spanish actor, director, and playwright
• 1932 - Izzy Asper, Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician, founded Canwest
• 1932 - Geoffrey Cass, English businessman
• 1932 - Peter Eisenman, American architect, designed the City of Culture of Galicia
• 1932 - John Gorrie, English director and screenwriter
• 1933 - Jerry Falwell, American minister and television host
• 1933 - Jerzy Grotowski, Polish director and producer
• 1933 - Tamás Vásáry, Hungarian pianist and conductor
• 1934 - Bob Hepple, South African lawyer and academic
• 1936 - Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist, and memoirist
• 1936 - Bill Monbouquette, American baseball player and coach
• 1936 - Jonathan Spence, English-American historian and academic
• 1937 - Anna Massey, English actress
• 1937 - Patrick Joseph McGovern, American businessman, founded International Data Group
• 1939 - Ronnie Dawson, American singer and guitarist
• 1940 - Glenys Page, New Zealand cricketer
• 1941 - John Ellison, American-Canadian musician and songwriter
• 1942 - Mike Hugg, English drummer and keyboard player
• 1943 - Jim Kale, Canadian bass player
• 1943 - Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and politician, 10th President of Pakistan
• 1943 - Denis Payton, English saxophonist
• 1944 - Martin Linton, Swedish-English journalist and politician
• 1944 - Frederick W. Smith, American businessman, founded FedEx
• 1944 - Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor
• 1946 - John Conlee, American singer-songwriter
• 1946 - Marilyn vos Savant, American journalist and author
• 1947 - Theo de Jong, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager
• 1947 - Georgios Karatzaferis, Greek journalist and politician
• 1948 - Don Boyd, Scottish director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1949 - Eric Carmen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1949 - Tim Hutchinson, American lawyer and politician
• 1949 - Ian Charleson, Scottish-English actor and singer
• 1950 - Erik Brann, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1950 - Gennadiy Nikonov, Russian engineer, designed the AN-94 rifle
• 1950 - Steve Wozniak, American computer scientist and programmer, co-founded Apple Inc.
• 1952 - Reid Blackburn, American photographer
• 1952 - Bob Mothersbaugh, American singer, guitarist, and producer
• 1953 - Hulk Hogan, American wrestler
• 1953 - Wijda Mazereeuw, Dutch swimmer
• 1954 - Bryan Bassett, American guitarist
• 1954 - Vance Heafner, American golfer and coach
• 1954 - Joe Jackson, English singer-songwriter and musician
• 1954 - Tarmo Rüütli, Estonian footballer, coach, and manager
• 1954 - Yashpal Sharma, Indian cricketer and umpire
• 1955 - Marc Bureau, Canadian politician, 16th Mayor of Gatineau
• 1955 - Sylvia Hermon, Northern Irish academic and politician
• 1956 - Pierre-Louis Lions, French mathematician and academic
• 1957 - Ian Stuart Donaldson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1958 - Steven Pokere, New Zealand rugby player
• 1958 - Jah Wobble, English singer-songwriter and bass player
• 1959 - Gustavo Cerati, Argentinian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1959 - Yoshiaki Murakami, Japanese businessman
• 1959 - Taraki Sivaram, Sri Lankan journalist and author
• 1959 - Richard Scudamore, English businessman
• 1959 - László Szlávics, Jr., Hungarian sculptor
• 1961 - David Brooks, American journalist and author
• 1961 - Craig Ehlo, American basketball player and coach
• 1962 - Brian Azzarello, American author
• 1962 - Charles Cecil, English video game designer and co-founded Revolution Software
• 1962 - John Micklethwait, English journalist and author
• 1962 - Rob Minkoff, American director and producer
• 1963 - Hiromi Makihara, Japanese baseball player
• 1964 - Jim Lee, South Korean-American author and illustrator
• 1964 - Grant Waite, New Zealand golfer
• 1965 - Marc Bergevin, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
• 1965 - Embeth Davidtz, American actress
• 1965 - Viola Davis, American actress
• 1966 - Nigel Martyn, English footballer and coach
• 1966 - Juan María Solare, Argentinian pianist and composer
• 1967 - Massimiliano Allegri, Italian footballer and manager
• 1967 - Enrique Bunbury, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1967 - Joe Rogan, American actor, comedian, and television host
• 1967 - Petter Wettre, Norwegian saxophonist and composer
• 1968 - Sophie Okonedo, British actress
• 1968 - Charlie Sexton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1970 - Dirk Hannemann, German footballer and manager
• 1970 - Gianluca Pessotto, Italian footballer
• 1971 - Alejandra Barros, Mexican actress and screenwriter
• 1971 - Tommy Mooney, English footballer
• 1973 - Kristin Armstrong, American cyclist
• 1974 - Marie-France Dubreuil, Canadian figure skater
• 1974 - Hadiqa Kiani, Pakistani singer, songwriter and philanthropist
• 1974 - Audrey Mestre, French biologist and diver
• 1974 - Carolyn Murphy, American model and actress
• 1975 - Chris Cummings, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1976 - Iván Córdoba, Colombian footballer and manager
• 1976 - Bubba Crosby, American baseball player
• 1976 - Will Friedle, American actor and screenwriter
• 1976 - Ben Gibbard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1976 - Ľubomír Višňovský, Slovak ice hockey player
• 1977 - Gemma Hayes, Irish singer-songwriter
• 1977 - Dênio Martins, Brazilian footballer
• 1978 - Spyros Gogolos, Greek footballer
• 1978 - Charlotte Leslie, British politician
• 1978 - Lillian Nakate, Ugandan politician
• 1978 - Isy Suttie, English comedian, musician, actress, and writer
• 1979 - Walter Ayoví, Ecuadorian footballer
• 1980 - Daniel Lloyd, English cyclist and sportscaster
• 1980 - Lee Suggs, American football player
• 1981 - Daniel Poohl, Swedish journalist
• 1983 - Chris Hemsworth, Australian actor
• 1983 - Luke Lewis, Australian rugby league player
• 1983 - Pavel 183, Russian painter
• 1984 - Melky Cabrera, Dominican baseball player
• 1984 - Lucas di Grassi, Brazilian race car driver
• 1985 - Jacqueline Fernandez, Sri Lankan actress
• 1986 - Mokhtar Benmoussa, Algerian footballer
• 1986 - Pablo Sandoval, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1987 - Dany N'Guessan, French footballer
• 1987 - Drew Storen, American baseball player
• 1988 - Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Filipino basketball player
• 1988 - Patty Mills, Australian basketball player
• 1988 - Mustafa Pektemek, Turkish footballer
• 1989 - Junior Heffernan, Irish cyclist and triathlete
• 1989 - Sebastian Huke, German footballer
• 1990 - Lenka Juríková, Slovak tennis player
• 1991 - Cristian Tello, Spanish footballer
• 1994 - Storm Sanders, Australian tennis player
• 1994 - Anton Cooper, New Zealand cross-country cyclist
• 1994 - Joseph Barbato, French footballer
• 1997 - Sarah Clelland, Scottish footballer

  Deaths

• 480 BC - Leonidas I, Agiad King of Sparta
• 223 - Jia Xu, Chinese politician
• 353 - Magnentius, Roman usurper
• 449 - Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople
• 919 - Dhuka al-Rumi, Abbasid governor of Egypt
• 979 - Gero, Count of Alsleben
• 991 - Byrhtnoth, English soldier
• 1044 - Sokkate, king of the Pagan dynasty of Burma
• 1204 - Guttorm of Norway
• 1253 - Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi
• 1259 - Möngke Khan, Mongolian emperor
• 1268 - Agnes of Faucigny, Dame ruler of Faucigny, Countess consort of Savoy
• 1332 - Domhnall II, Earl of Mar
• 1332 - Robert II Keith, Marischal of Scotland
• 1332 - Thomas Randolph, 2nd Earl of Moray
• 1332 - Murdoch III, Earl of Menteith
• 1332 - Robert Bruce, Lord of Liddesdale
• 1456 - John Hunyadi, Hungarian general and politician
• 1464 - Nicholas of Cusa, German cardinal and mystic
• 1465 - Kettil Karlsson, regent of Sweden and Bishop of Linköping
• 1486 - William Waynflete, English Lord Chancellor and bishop of Winchester
• 1494 - Hans Memling, German-Belgian painter
• 1519 - Johann Tetzel, German preacher
• 1556 - John Bell, English bishop
• 1563 - Bartolomé de Escobedo, Spanish composer and educator
• 1578 - Pedro Nunes, Portuguese mathematician and academic
• 1596 - Hamnet Shakespeare, son of William Shakespeare
• 1614 - Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter
• 1656 - Ottavio Piccolomini, Austrian-Italian field marshal
• 1725 - Prince Vittorio Amedeo Theodore of Savoy
• 1774 - Charles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche, French physician and author
• 1813 - Henry James Pye, English poet and politician
• 1851 - Lorenz Oken, German botanist, biologist, and ornithologist
• 1854 - Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist and academic
• 1868 - Halfdan Kjerulf, Norwegian pianist and composer
• 1886 - Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet and playwright
• 1890 - John Henry Newman, English cardinal and theologian
• 1892 - Enrico Betti, Italian mathematician and academic
• 1903 - Eugenio María de Hostos, Puerto Rican-American sociologist, philosopher, and lawyer
• 1908 - Khudiram Bose, Indian Bengali revolutionary
• 1919 - Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Carnegie Steel Company and Carnegie Hall
• 1921 - Mary Sumner, English philanthropist, founded the Mothers' Union
• 1936 - Blas Infante, Spanish historian and politician
• 1937 - Edith Wharton, American novelist and short story writer
• 1939 - Jean Bugatti, German-Italian engineer
• 1939 - Siegfried Flesch, Austrian fencer
• 1945 - Stefan Jaracz, Polish actor and theater producer
• 1953 - Tazio Nuvolari, Italian race car driver and motorcycle racer
• 1956 - Jackson Pollock, American painter
• 1961 - Antanas Škėma, Lithuanian-American author, playwright, actor, and director
• 1963 - Otto Wahle, Austrian-American swimmer and coach
• 1965 - Bill Woodfull, Australian cricketer and educator
• 1969 - Miriam Licette, English soprano and educator
• 1972 - Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1974 - Vicente Emilio Sojo, Venezuelan conductor and composer
• 1977 - Frederic Calland Williams, British co-inventor of the Williams-Kilborn tube, used for memory in early computer systems
• 1978 - Berta Ruck, Indian-born Welsh romance novelist
• 1979 - J. G. Farrell, English author
• 1980 - Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher
• 1982 - Tom Drake, American actor and singer
• 1984 - Alfred A. Knopf Sr., American publisher, founded Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
• 1984 - Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian–American chemist and chess player
• 1986 - János Drapál, Hungarian motorcycle racer
• 1988 - Anne Ramsey, American actress
• 1989 - John Meillon, Australian actor
• 1991 - J. D. McDuffie, American race car driver
• 1994 - Peter Cushing, English actor
• 1995 - Phil Harris, American singer-songwriter and actor
• 1996 - Rafael Kubelík, Czech conductor and composer
• 1996 - Ambrosio Padilla, Filipino basketball player and politician
• 2000 - Jean Papineau-Couture, Canadian composer and academic
• 2001 - Percy Stallard, English cyclist and coach
• 2002 - Galen Rowell, American photographer and mountaineer
• 2003 - Armand Borel, Swiss-American mathematician and academic
• 2003 - Herb Brooks, American ice hockey player and coach
• 2006 - Mike Douglas, American singer and talk show host
• 2008 - George Furth, American actor and playwright
• 2008 - Dursun Karataş, founding leader of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front in Turkey
• 2009 - Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American activist, founded the Special Olympics
• 2012 - Red Bastien, American wrestler, trainer, and promoter
• 2012 - Michael Dokes, American boxer
• 2012 - Lucy Gallardo, Argentinian-Mexican actress and screenwriter
• 2013 - Raymond Delisle, French cyclist
• 2013 - Zafar Futehally, Indian ornithologist and author
• 2013 - David Howard, English ballet dancer and educator
• 2014 - Vladimir Beara, Croatian footballer and manager
• 2014 - Raymond Gravel, Canadian priest and politician
• 2014 - Kika Szaszkiewiczowa, Polish author and blogger
• 2014 - Robin Williams, American actor and comedian
• 2015 - Serge Collot, French viola player and educator
• 2015 - Harald Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager
• 2015 - Richard Oriani, Salvadoran-American metallurgist and engineer
• 2017 - Yisrael Kristal, Polish-Israeli supercentenarian; oldest living Holocaust survivor and one of the ten oldest men ever
• 2017 - Segun Bucknor, Nigerian musician and journalist
• 2018 - V S Naipaul, British writer
• 2019 - Sergio Obeso Rivera, Mexican Roman Catholic cardinal

  Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
• * Athracht
• * Clare of Assisi
• * Fiacre
• * Gaugericus
• * John Henry Newman
• * Philomena
• * Susanna
• * Taurinus of Évreux
• * Tiburtius and Chromatius
• * August 11
• Flag Day
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Chad from France in 1960.
• Mountain Day