August 2
| August 2 in recent years |
| 2010 (Monday) |
| 2009 (Sunday) |
| 2008 (Saturday) |
| 2007 (Thursday) |
| 2006 (Wednesday) |
| 2005 (Tuesday) |
| 2004 (Monday) |
| 2003 (Saturday) |
| 2002 (Friday) |
| 2001 (Thursday) |
| 2000 (Wednesday) |
August 2 is the 214th day of the year (215th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 151 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
- 338 BC – A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean.
- 216 BC – Second Punic War: Battle of Cannae – The Carthaginian army lead by Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army under command of consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro.
- 1377 – Russian troops are defeated in the Battle on Pyana River because of drunkenness.
- 1610 – Henry Hudson sails into what it is now known as Hudson Bay thinking he had made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean.
- 1790 – The first US Census is conducted.
- 1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: the Battle of the Nile concludes in a British victory.
- 1869 – Japan's samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant class system (Shinōkōshō) is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese date: June 25, 1869).
- 1870 – Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London.
- 1903 – Fall of the Ottoman Empire: an unsuccessful uprising led by the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization against Ottoman Turkey, also known as the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, takes place.
- 1916 – World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.
- 1918 – Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World War I.
- 1932 – The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
- 1934 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
- 1937 – The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
- 1939 – Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan project to develop a nuclear weapon.
- 1943 – Rebellion in the Nazi death camp of Treblinka.
- 1943 – World War II: the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sinks. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. President, saves all but two of his crew.
- 1944 – ASNOM: birth of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, celebrated as Day of the Republic in the Republic of Macedonia.
- 1945 – World War II: the Potsdam Conference, at which the Allied Powers discuss the future of defeated Germany, is concluded.
- 1964 – Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin Incident – North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fire on the U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy.
- 1968 – An earthquake hits Casiguran, Aurora, Philippines killing more than 270 people and wounding 261.
- 1973 – A flash fire kills 51 at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas, Isle of Man.
- 1980 – A bomb explodes at the railway station in Bologna, Italy, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
- 1985 – Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport killing 137.
- 1989 – Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restoring democracy for the first time since 1972.
- 1989 – A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians.
- 1990 – Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
- 2005 – Air France Flight 358, landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport, and ran off the runway causing the plane to burst into flames. There were 12 serious injuries and no fatalities.
Births
- 1455 – John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1499)
- 1533 – Theodor Zwinger, Swiss scholar (d. 1588)
- 1612 – Saskia van Uylenburgh, wife of Rembrandt van Rijn (d. 1642)
- 1672 – Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (d. 1733)
- 1674 – Philip II, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France (d. 1723)
- 1696 – Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1754)
- 1702 – Dietrich of Anhalt-Dessau, German Prince (d. 1769)
- 1703 – Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (d. 1775)
- 1740 – Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux, French general (d. 1817)
- 1788 – Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (d. 1853)
- 1815 – Adolf Friedrich von Schack, German writer (d. 1894)
- 1820 – John Tyndall, British physicist (d. 1893)
- 1828 – Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque, Spanish general (d. 1895)
- 1834 – Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor (d. 1904)
- 1835 – Elisha Gray, American inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1901)
- 1858 – Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Queen of the Netherlands (d. 1934)
- 1865 – Irving Babbitt, American literary critic (d. 1933)
- 1865 – John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist (d. 1955)
- 1868 – King Constantine I of Greece (d. 1923)
- 1871 – John French Sloan, American artist (d. 1951)
- 1872 – George E. Stewart, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1946)
- 1875 – Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian painter (d. 1957)
- 1878 – Aino Kallas, Finnish-born Estonian author (d. 1956)
- 1882 – Red Ames, American baseball player (d. 1936)
- 1884 – Rómulo Gallegos, 46th President of Venezuela (d. 1969)
- 1886 – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy Canadian aviator (d. 1961)
- 1887 – Tommy Ward, South African cricketer (d. 1936)
- 1890 – Marin Sais, American actress (d. 1971)
- 1891 – Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian and linguist (d. 1971)
- 1892 – Jack Warner, Canadian-born American film producer (d. 1978)
- 1895 – Matt Henderson, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1970)
- 1896 – Lorenzo Herrera, Venezuelan singer and composer (d. 1960)
- 1897 – Karl Otto Koch, German SS officer (d. 1945)
- 1897 – Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1974)
- 1899 – Charles Bennett, British screenwriter (d. 1995)
- 1902 – Helen Morgan, American actress (d. 1941)
- 1905 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (d. 1963)
- 1905 – Myrna Loy, American actress (d. 1993)
- 1907 – Mary Hamman, American writer (d. 1984)
- 1910 – Roger MacDougall, Scottish writer (d. 1993)
- 1912 – Palle Huld, Danish actor
- 1912 – Ann Dvorak, American actress (d. 1979)
- 1912 – Vladimir Zerjavic, Croatian statistician (d. 2001)
- 1914 – Félix Leclerc, Quebec singer, songwriter and writer (d. 1988)
- 1914 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1915 – Gary Merrill, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1919 – Nehemiah Persoff, American actor
- 1920 – Louis Pauwels, French journalist and writer (d. 1997)
- 1923 – Shimon Peres, Israeli politician, Prime Minister of Israel and the ninth President of the State of Israel
- 1924 – James Baldwin, American writer (d. 1987)
- 1924 – Joe Harnell, American pianist, composer and arranger (d. 2005)
- 1924 – Carroll O'Connor, American actor (d. 2001)
- 1925 – John Dexter, English stage and film director (d. 1990)
- 1925 – John McCormack, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1925 – Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentinian dictator, 43rd President of Argentina
- 1925 – Alan Whicker, British journalist and broadcaster
- 1926 – Betsy Bloomingdale, American socialite
- 1928 – Malcolm Hilton, English cricketer (d. 1990)
- 1930 – Vali Myers, Australian painter (d. 2003)
- 1931 – Pierre DuMaine, American Catholic bishop
- 1931 – Viliam Schrojf, Slovak footballer (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Eddie Fuller, South African cricketer (d. 2008)
- 1932 – Lamar Hunt, American sports executive (d. 2006)
- 1932 – Peter O'Toole, Irish actor
- 1933 – Ioannis Varvitsiotis, Greek politician
- 1934 – Valery Bykovsky, Soviet cosmonaut
- 1935 – Hank Cochran, American country music singer and songwriter (d. 2010)
- 1937 – Billy Cannon, American football player
- 1937 – Garth Hudson, Canadian organist and keyboardist (The Band)
- 1938 – Dave Balon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
- 1938 – Pierre de Bané, French-Canadian politician
- 1938 – Terry Peck, Falkland Islands-born British soldier (d. 2006)
- 1939 – Benjamin Barber, American political theorist
- 1939 – Wes Craven, American film director
- 1939 – John W. Snow, American 73rd United States Secretary of the Treasury
- 1940 – Will Tura, Belgian singer
- 1941 – Doris Coley, American singer (Shirelles) (d. 2000)
- 1942 – Isabel Allende, Chilean author
- 1943 – Tom Burgmeier, American baseball player
- 1943 – Max Wright, American actor
- 1944 – Jim Capaldi, British drummer and songwriter (Traffic) (d. 2005)
- 1944 – Naná Vasconcelos, Brazilian jazz percussionist and vocalist
- 1945 – Joanna Cassidy, American actress
- 1945 – Alex Jesaulenko, Australian rules footballer
- 1947 – Massiel, Spanish singer
- 1948 – Andy Fairweather Low, Welsh guitarist (Amen Corner)
- 1948 – Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
- 1949 – James Fallows, American journalist
- 1950 – Lance Ito, American judge
- 1950 – Sue Rodriguez, Canadian assisted suicide advocate (d. 1994)
- 1951 – Andrew Gold, American singer-songwriter
- 1951 – Joe Lynn Turner, American singer (Deep Purple, Rainbow)
- 1951 – Freddie Wadling, Swedish singer and musician (The Leather Nun, Fleshquartet)
- 1951 – Per Westerberg, Swedish politician
- 1953 – Marjo, Quebec singer
- 1953 – Butch Patrick, American actor
- 1954 – James Charles Kopp, American anti-abortion militant, murderer of Barnett Slepian
- 1954 – Sammy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer and manager
- 1955 – Caleb Carr, American novelist and military historian
- 1955 – Tim Dunigan, American actor
- 1955 – Tony Godden, English footballer
- 1956 – Fulvio Melia, Italian-born American physicist, astrophysicist and author
- 1956 – Jim Neidhart, American professional wrestler
- 1956 – Isabel Pantoja, Spanish singer
- 1957 – Mojo Nixon, American singer, lyricist and actor
- 1957 – Butch Vig, American record producer and drummer (Garbage)
- 1958 – Arshad Ayub, Indian cricketer
- 1959 – Victoria Jackson, American comedian
- 1959 – Apollonia Kotero, American singer and actress
- 1960 – Neal Morse, American keyboardist and vocalist (Spock's Beard, Transatlantic)
- 1960 – David Yow, American vocalist (Scratch Acid, The Jesus Lizard)
- 1961 – Graham Dye, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Scarlet Party, The Alan Parsons Project)
- 1961 – Linda Fratianne, American figure skater
- 1961 – Cold 187um, American rapper (Above the Law)
- 1962 – Cynthia Stevenson, Canadian actress
- 1963 – Daniel Pelosi, American convicted murderer
- 1963 – Laura Bennett, American architect and designer
- 1964 – Frank Biela, German racing driver
- 1964 – Mary-Louise Parker, American actress
- 1965 – Hisanobu Watanabe, Japanese baseball player and coach
- 1966 – Takayuki Iizuka, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1966 – Tim Wakefield, American baseball player
- 1966 – M.V. Sridhar, Indian cricketer
- 1967 – Aaron Krickstein, American tennis player
- 1967 – Aline Brosh McKenna, American screenwriter
- 1968 – Stefan Effenberg, German footballer
- 1968 – John Stanier, American drummer Helmet
- 1969 – Cedric Ceballos, American basketball player
- 1969 – Fernando Couto, Portuguese footballer
- 1969 – Jan Axel Blomberg Norwegian drummer (Dimmu Borgir, Winds, Mayhem)
- 1969 – Richard Hallebeek, Dutch jazz guitarist
- 1970 – Tony Amonte, American ice hockey player
- 1970 – Kevin Smith, American director and screenwriter
- 1970 – Philo Wallace, Barbiadian West Indies cricketer
- 1971 – Alice Evans, English actress
- 1971 – Michael Hughes, Irish footballer
- 1972 – Mohamed Al-Deayea, Saudi Arabian footballer
- 1972 – Jacinda Barrett, Australian model and actress
- 1972 – Daniele Nardello, Italian cyclist
- 1972 – Justyna Steczkowska, Polish singer
- 1973 – Hiroyuki Goto, Japanese game designer
- 1973 – Danie Keulder, Namibian cricketer
- 1973 – Susie O'Neill, Australian swimmer
- 1974 – Angie Cepeda, Colombian actress
- 1975 – Mineiro, Brazilian footballer
- 1975 – Xu Huaiwen, Chinese-born German badminton player
- 1975 – Ingrid Rubio, Spanish actress
- 1976 – Reyes Estévez, Spanish mid-distance runner
- 1976 – Sam Worthington, Australian actor
- 1976 – Jay Heaps, American footballer
- 1976 – Michael Weiss, American figure skater
- 1976 – Mohammad Zahid, Pakistani cricketer
- 1977 – Edward Furlong, American actor
- 1978 – Goran Gavrančić, Serbian footballer
- 1978 – Matt Guerrier, American baseball player
- 1979 – Marco Bonura, Italian footballer
- 1979 – Reuben Kosgei, Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner
- 1979 – Donna Air, English television presenter
- 1980 – Ivica Banović, Croatian footballer
- 1980 – Nadia Bjorlin, American actress
- 1981 – Aleksander Emelianenko, Russian MMA fighter, brother of Fedor Emelianenko
- 1982 – Hélder Postiga, Portuguese footballer
- 1982 – Sara Foster, American actress
- 1982 – Kerry Rhodes, American football player
- 1982 – Grady Sizemore, American baseball player
- 1983 – Nick Diaz, American MMA fighter
- 1984 – Giampaolo Pazzini, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Harry Smith, Canadian professional wrestler
- 1985 – Britt Nicole, American Christian pop vocalist
- 1986 – Mathieu Razanakolona, Canadian-born Malagasy skier
- 1988 – Brittany Hargest, American singer
- 1991 – Evander Kane, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1992 – Hallie Kate Eisenberg, American actress
Deaths
- 686 – Pope John V (birth year unknown)
- 924 – King Ælfweard of Wessex (b. 904)
- 1100 – King William II of England (b. c. 1056)
- 1222 – Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (b. 1156)
- 1316 – Louis of Burgundy, Prince of Achaea (b. 1297)
- 1445 – Oswald von Wolkenstein, Austrian composer (b. 1376 or 1377)
- 1511 – Andrew Barton, Scottish naval leader (b. c. 1466)
- 1589 – King Henry III of France (b. 1551)
- 1611 – Katō Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1562)
- 1696 – Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, Scottish military commander (b. 1630)
- 1769 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician (b. 1689)
- 1776 – Louis François I, Prince of Conti, French military leader (b. 1717)
- 1788 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (b. 1727)
- 1799 – Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, French inventor (b. 1745)
- 1815 – Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, French marshal (b. 1763)
- 1823 – Lazare Carnot, French general, politician and mathematician (b. 1753)
- 1849 – Governor Muhammad Ali of Egypt (b. 1769)
- 1859 – Horace Mann, American educator and abolitionist (b. 1796)
- 1876 – Wild Bill Hickok, American gunfighter (b. 1837)
- 1889 – Eduardo Gutiérrez, Argentinian writer (b. 1851)
- 1890 – Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet (b. 1813)
- 1903 – Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian (b. 1850)
- 1920 – Ormer Locklear, American stunt pilot (b. 1891)
- 1921 – Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
- 1922 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born Canadian inventor of the first practical telephone (b. 1847)
- 1923 – Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States (b. 1865)
- 1929 – Mae Costello, American actress (b. 1882)
- 1934 – Paul von Hindenburg, German field marshal and 2nd President of Germany (b. 1847)
- 1936 – Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer (b. 1872)
- 1939 – Harvey Spencer Lewis, American Rosicrucian mystic (b. 1883)
- 1945 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b. 1863)
- 1955 – Alfred Lépine, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1901)
- 1972 – Helen Hoyt, American poet (b. 1887)
- 1972 – Brian Cole, American bass player (The Association) (b. 1942)
- 1973 – Jean-Pierre Melville, French film director (b. 1917)
- 1974 – W. Douglas Hawkes, British racing driver (b. 1893)
- 1976 – Fritz Lang, Austrian film director (b. 1890)
- 1978 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (b. 1899)
- 1979 – Thurman Munson, American baseball player (b. 1947)
- 1983 – James Jamerson, American bassist (b. 1936)
- 1986 – Roy Cohn, American politician (b. 1927)
- 1988 – Raymond Carver, American writer (b. 1938)
- 1988 – Joe Carcione, American consumer advocate (b. 1914)
- 1990 – Norman Mclean, American writer (b. 1902)
- 1990 – Edwin Richfield, British actor (b. 1921)
- 1992 – Michel Berger, French singer and songwriter (b. 1947)
- 1996 – Michel Debré, French politician (b. 1912)
- 1996 – Mohamed Farrah Aidid, Somalian warlord (b. 1934)
- 1997 – William S. Burroughs, American writer (b. 1914)
- 1997 – Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Nigerian multi-instrumentalist (b. 1938)
- 1998 – Shari Lewis, American puppeteer (b. 1933)
- 2001 – Ron Townson, American singer (The 5th Dimension) (b. 1933)
- 2003 – Don Estelle, British actor (b. 1933)
- 2003 – Mike Levey, American television personality (b. 1948)
- 2003 – Peter Safar, Austrian physician (b. 1924)
- 2004 – Don Tosti, American violinist, composer and bandleader (b. 1923)
- 2004 – François Craenhals, Belgian comics artist (b. 1926)
- 2005 – Steven Vincent, American journalist and writer (b. 1955)
- 2007 – Chauncey Bailey, American journalist and editor (b. 1950)
- 2007 – Holden Roberto, Angolan founder and leader of the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Kay Dotrice, English repertory actress (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Fujio Akatsuka, Japanese cartoonist (b. 1935)
Holidays and observances
External links