August 6
Events
Pre-1600
1601–1900
1901–present
- 1901 - Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.
- 1914 - World War I: U-boat campaign: Two days after the United Kingdom had declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea.
- 1914 - World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia.
- 1915 - World War I: Battle of Sari Bair: The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
- 1917 - World War I: Battle of Mărășești between the Romanian and German armies begins.
- 1926 - Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
- 1926 - First public screening using the Vitaphone process
- 1940 - Estonia is annexed by the Soviet Union.
- 1942 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.
- 1945 - World War II: Hiroshima, Japan is devastated when the atomic bomb "Little Boy" is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning.
- 1956 - After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena in New York in the Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena series.
- 1958 - Law of Permanent Defense of Democracy, outlawing the Communist Party of Chile and banning 26,650 persons from the electoral lists, is repealed in Chile.
- 1960 - Cuban Revolution: Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
- 1962 - Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- 1965 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
- 1986 - A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimeters of rain in a day on Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- 1990 - Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
- 1991 - Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW makes its first appearance as a publicly available service on the Internet.
- 1991 - Takako Doi, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.
- 1996 - NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.
- 1997 - Korean Air Flight 801 crashed at Nimitz Hill, Guam, killing 229 of the 254 people on board.
- 2001 - Erwadi fire incident: Twenty-eight mentally ill persons tied to a chain are burnt to death at a faith based institution at Erwadi, Tamil Nadu.
- 2008 - A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
- 2010 - Flash floods across a large part of Jammu and Kashmir, India, damages 71 towns and kills at least 255 people.
- 2011 - War in Afghanistan: A United States military helicopter is shot down, killing 30 American special forces members and a working dog, seven Afghan soldiers, and one Afghan civilian. It was the deadliest single event for the United States in the War in Afghanistan.
- 2012 - NASA's Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars.
- 2015 - A suicide bomb attack kills at least 15 people at a mosque in the Saudi city of Abha.
Births
Pre-1600
1601–1900
- 1605 - Bulstrode Whitelocke, English lawyer
- 1609 - Richard Bennett, English-American politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia
- 1619 - Barbara Strozzi, Italian composer and singer-songwriter
- 1622 - Tjerk Hiddes de Vries, Dutch admiral
- 1638 - Nicolas Malebranche, French priest and philosopher
- 1644 - Louise de La Vallière, French mistress of Louis XIV
- 1651 - François Fénelon, French archbishop and poet
- 1656 - Claude de Forbin, French general
- 1666 - Maria Sophia of Neuburg
- 1667 - Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician
- 1697 - Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor
- 1715 - Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French author
- 1765 - Petros Mavromichalis, Greek general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Greece
- 1766 - William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist and physicist
- 1768 - Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French general and politician
- 1775 - Daniel O'Connell, Irish lawyer and politician, Lord Mayor of Dublin
- 1809 - Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English poet
- 1826 - Thomas Alexander Browne, English-Australian author
- 1835 - Hjalmar Kiærskou, Danish botanist
- 1844 - Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- 1844 - James Henry Greathead, South African-English engineer
- 1848 - Susie Taylor, American writer and first black Army nurse
- 1846 - Anna Haining Bates, Canadian-American giant
- 1868 - Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright
- 1874 - Charles Fort, American author
- 1877 - Wallace H. White Jr., American lawyer and politician
- 1880 - Hans Moser, Austrian actor and singer
- 1881 - Leo Carrillo, American actor
- 1881 - Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1881 - Louella Parsons, American journalist
- 1883 - Constance Georgina Adams, South African botanist
- 1883 - Scott Nearing, American economist and educator
- 1886 - Edward Ballantine, American composer and academic
- 1886 – Florence Goodenough, American child psychologist
- 1887 - Dudley Benjafield, English racing driver
- 1889 - George Kenney, Canadian-American general
- 1889 - John Middleton Murry, English poet and author
- 1891 - William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, English field marshal and politician, 13th Governor-General of Australia
- 1895 - Frank Nicklin, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Queensland
- 1900 - Cecil Howard Green, English-American geophysicist and businessman, co-founded Texas Instruments
1901–present
- 1901 - Dutch Schultz, American gangster
- 1903 - Virginia Foster Durr, American civil rights activist
- 1904 - Jean Dessès, Greek-Egyptian fashion designer
- 1904 - Henry Iba, American basketball player and coach
- 1906 - Vic Dickenson, American trombonist
- 1908 - Maria Ludwika Bernhard, Polish classical archaeologist and a member of WWII Polish resistance
- 1908 - Helen Jacobs, American tennis player and commander
- 1908 - Lajos Vajda, Hungarian painter and illustrator
- 1909 - Diana Keppel, Countess of Albemarle
- 1910 - Adoniran Barbosa, Brazilian musician, singer, composer, humorist, and actor
- 1910 - Charles Crichton, English director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1911 - Lucille Ball, American actress, television producer and businesswoman
- 1911 - Norman Gordon, South African cricketer
- 1911 - Constance Heaven, English author and actress
- 1912 - Richard C. Miller, American photographer
- 1914 - Gordon Freeth, Australian lawyer and politician, 24th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs
- 1916 - Richard Hofstadter, American historian and academic
- 1916 - Dom Mintoff, Maltese journalist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Malta
- 1917 - Barbara Cooney, American author and illustrator
- 1917 - Robert Mitchum, American actor
- 1918 - Norman Granz, American-Swiss record producer and manager
- 1919 - Pauline Betz, American tennis player
- 1920 - John Graves, American author
- 1920 - Ella Raines, American actress
- 1922 - Freddie Laker, English businessman, founded Laker Airways
- 1922 - Dan Walker, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Illinois
- 1923 - Jess Collins, American painter
- 1923 - Paul Hellyer, Canadian engineer and politician, 16th Canadian Minister of Defence
- 1924 - Samuel Bowers, American white supremacist, co-founded the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
- 1924 - Ella Jenkins, American folk singer
- 1926 - Elisabeth Beresford, English journalist and author
- 1926 - Frank Finlay, English actor
- 1926 - Clem Labine, American baseball player and manager
- 1926 - János Rózsás, Hungarian author
- 1926 - Norman Wexler, American screenwriter
- 1928 - Herb Moford, American baseball player
- 1928 - Andy Warhol, American painter, photographer and film director
- 1929 - Mike Elliott, Jamaican saxophonist
- 1929 - Roch La Salle, Canadian politician, 42nd Canadian Minister of Public Works
- 1930 - Abbey Lincoln, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1931 - Chalmers Johnson, American scholar and author
- 1932 - Michael Deeley, English screenwriter and producer
- 1932 - Howard Hodgkin, English painter
- 1932 - Charles Wood, English playwright and screenwriter
- 1933 - A. G. Kripal Singh, Indian cricketer
- 1934 - Piers Anthony, English-American soldier and author
- 1934 - Chris Bonington, English mountaineer and author
- 1934 - Billy Boston, Welsh rugby player and soldier
- 1935 - Fortunato Baldelli, Italian cardinal
- 1935 - Octavio Getino, Spanish-Argentinian director and screenwriter
- 1937 - Baden Powell de Aquino, Brazilian guitarist and composer
- 1937 - Charlie Haden, American bassist and composer
- 1937 - Barbara Windsor, English actress
- 1938 - Paul Bartel, American actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1938 - Peter Bonerz, American actor and director
- 1938 - Bert Yancey, American golfer
- 1940 - Mukhu Aliyev, Russian philologist and politician, 2nd President of Dagestan
- 1940 - Egil Kapstad, Norwegian pianist and composer
- 1940 - Louise Sorel, American actress
- 1941 - Ray Culp, American baseball player
- 1942 - Byard Lancaster, American saxophonist and flute player
- 1943 - Jon Postel, American computer scientist and academic
- 1944 - Inday Badiday, Filipino journalist and actress
- 1944 - Michael Mingos, English chemist and academic
- 1944 - Martin Wharton, English bishop
- 1945 - Ron Jones, English director and production manager
- 1946 - Allan Holdsworth, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1947 - Radhia Cousot, French computer scientist and academic
- 1949 - Dino Bravo, Italian-Canadian wrestler
- 1950 - Dorian Harewood, American actor
- 1951 - Catherine Hicks, American actress
- 1951 - Daryl Somers, Australian television host and singer
- 1952 - Pat MacDonald, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1952 - David McLetchie, Scottish lawyer and politician
- 1952 - Ton Scherpenzeel, Dutch keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
- 1954 - Mark Hughes, English-Australian rugby league player
- 1956 - Bill Emmott, English journalist and author
- 1957 - Bob Horner, American baseball player
- 1957 - Jim McGreevey, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New Jersey
- 1958 - Randy DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1959 - Rajendra Singh, Indian environmentalist
- 1959 - Joyce Sims, American singer
- 1960 - Dale Ellis, American basketball player
- 1961 - Mary Ann Sieghart, English journalist and radio host
- 1962 - Michelle Yeoh, Malaysian-Hong Kong actress and producer
- 1963 - Charles Ingram, English soldier, author, and game show contestant
- 1963 - Kevin Mitnick, American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker
- 1964 - Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo, Nigerian journalist, activist, social media expert, and pharmacist
- 1965 - Stéphane Peterhansel, French racing driver
- 1965 - Yuki Kajiura, Japanese pianist and composer
- 1965 - David Robinson, American basketball player and lieutenant
- 1968 - Jack de Gier, Dutch footballer
- 1969 - Simon Doull, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
- 1969 - Elliott Smith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1970 - M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1972 - Geri Halliwell, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1972 - Jason O'Mara, Irish actor
- 1973 - Vera Farmiga, American actress
- 1973 - Stuart O'Grady, Australian cyclist
- 1975 - Jason Crump, English-Australian motorcycle racer
- 1975 - Renate Götschl, Austrian skier
- 1975 - Víctor Zambrano, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1976 - Soleil Moon Frye, American actress
- 1976 - Melissa George, Australian-American actress
- 1977 - Leandro Amaral, Brazilian footballer
- 1977 - Jimmy Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager
- 1977 - Luciano Zavagno, Argentinian footballer
- 1979 - Francesco Bellotti, Italian cyclist
- 1979 - Jaime Correa, Mexican footballer
- 1979 - Travis Reed, American basketball player
- 1981 - Leslie Odom Jr., American actor and singer
- 1981 - Diána Póth, Hungarian figure skater
- 1983 - Robin van Persie, Dutch footballer
- 1984 - Vedad Ibišević, Bosnian footballer
- 1984 - Maja Ognjenović, Serbian volleyball player
- 1984 - Jesse Ryder, New Zealand cricketer
- 1985 - Mickaël Delage, French cyclist
- 1985 - Bafétimbi Gomis, French footballer
- 1985 - Garrett Weber-Gale, American swimmer
- 1986 - Raphael Pyrasch, German rugby player
- 1987 - Leanne Crichton, Scottish footballer
- 1991 - Wilmer Flores, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1991 - Jiao Liuyang, Chinese swimmer
- 1995 - Rebecca Peterson, Swedish tennis player
- 1999 - Hunter Greene, American baseball player
- 1999 - Rebeka Masarova, Spanish-Swiss tennis player
- 2002 - Nessa Barrett, American singer-songwriter
- 2004 - Takhmina Ikromova, Uzbekistani rhythmic gymnast
Deaths
Pre-1600
- 258 - Pope Sixtus II
- 523 - Pope Hormisdas
- 750 - Marwan II, Umayyad general and caliph
- 1027 - Richard III, Duke of Normandy
- 1162 - Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona
- 1195 - Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria
- 1221 - Saint Dominic, Spanish priest, founded the Dominican Order
- 1272 - Stephen V of Hungary
- 1384 - Francesco I of Lesbos
- 1412 - Margherita of Durazzo, Queen consort of Charles III of Naples
- 1414 - Ladislaus of Naples
- 1458 - Pope Callixtus III
- 1530 - Jacopo Sannazaro, Italian poet
- 1553 - Girolamo Fracastoro, Italian physician
- 1588 - Josias I, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg
1601–1900
- 1628 - Johannes Junius, German lawyer and politician
- 1637 - Ben Jonson, English poet and playwright
- 1645 - Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, English merchant and politician
- 1657 - Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ukrainian soldier and politician, 1st Hetman of Zaporizhian Host
- 1660 - Diego Velázquez, Spanish painter and educator
- 1666 - Tjerk Hiddes de Vries, Frisian naval hero and commander
- 1679 - John Snell, Scottish-English soldier and philanthropist, founded the Snell Exhibition
- 1694 - Antoine Arnauld, French mathematician and philosopher
- 1695 - François de Harlay de Champvallon, French archbishop
- 1753 - Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Estonian-Russian physicist and academic
- 1757 - Ádám Mányoki, Hungarian painter
- 1794 - Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, English lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
- 1815 - James A. Bayard, American lawyer and politician
- 1828 - Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and diplomat
- 1850 - Edward Walsh, Irish poet
- 1866 - John Mason Neale, English priest, scholar, and hymnwriter
- 1881 - James Springer White, American religious leader, co-founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church
- 1893 - Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss lawyer and politician
1901–present
- 1904 - Eduard Hanslick, Austrian author and critic
- 1906 - George Waterhouse, English-New Zealand politician, 7th Prime Minister of New Zealand
- 1915 - Jennie de la Montagnie Lozier, American physician
- 1920 - Stefan Bastyr, Polish pilot and author
- 1925 - Surendranath Banerjee, Indian academic and politician
- 1925 - Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, Italian mathematician
- 1931 - Bix Beiderbecke, American cornet player, pianist, and composer
- 1945 - Richard Bong, American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient
- 1945 - Hiram Johnson, American lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of California
- 1946 - Tony Lazzeri, American baseball player and coach
- 1952 - Betty Allan, Australian statistician and biometrician
- 1959 - Preston Sturges, American director, screenwriter, and playwright
- 1964 - Cedric Hardwicke, English actor and director
- 1968 - Ye Gongchuo, Chinese politician, poet, and calligrapher
- 1969 - Theodor W. Adorno, German sociologist and philosopher
- 1970 - Nikos Tsiforos, Greek director and screenwriter
- 1973 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban colonel and politician, 9th President of Cuba
- 1976 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian-American cellist and educator
- 1978 - Pope Paul VI
- 1978 - Edward Durell Stone, American architect, designed Radio City Music Hall and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
- 1979 - Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1983 - Klaus Nomi, German singer-songwriter and actor
- 1985 - Forbes Burnham, Guyanese politician, 2nd President of Guyana
- 1986 - Emilio Fernández, Mexican actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1987 - Ira C. Eaker, American general
- 1990 - Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist and politician
- 1991 - Shapour Bakhtiar, Iranian soldier and politician, 74th Prime Minister of Iran
- 1991 - Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Governor General of Canada
- 1991 - Harry Reasoner, American journalist, co-created 60 Minutes
- 1992 - Leszek Błażyński, Polish boxer
- 1993 - Tex Hughson, American baseball player
- 1994 - Domenico Modugno, Italian singer-songwriter and politician
- 1997 - Shin Ki-ha, South Korean lawyer and politician
- 1998 - André Weil, French-American mathematician and academic
- 2001 - Jorge Amado, Brazilian novelist and poet
- 2001 - Adhar Kumar Chatterji, Indian Naval officer
- 2001 - Wilhelm Mohnke, German general
- 2001 - Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic
- 2001 - Dorothy Tutin, English actress
- 2002 - Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch physicist, computer scientist, and academic
- 2003 - Julius Baker, American flute player and educator
- 2004 - Rick James, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 2004 - Donald Justice, American poet and academic
- 2005 - Robin Cook, Scottish educator and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
- 2005 - Creme Puff, tabby domestic cat, oldest recorded cat
- 2007 - Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian guitarist
- 2008 - Angelos Kitsos, Greek lawyer and author
- 2009 - Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author
- 2009 - Willy DeVille, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 2009 - John Hughes, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 2011 - Fe del Mundo, Filipino pediatrician and educator
- 2012 - Richard Cragun, American-Brazilian ballet dancer and choreographer
- 2012 - Marvin Hamlisch, American pianist, composer, and conductor
- 2012 - Robert Hughes, Australian-American author and critic
- 2012 - Bernard Lovell, English physicist and astronomer
- 2012 - Mark O'Donnell, American playwright
- 2012 - Ruggiero Ricci, American violinist and educator
- 2012 - Dan Roundfield, American basketball player
- 2013 - Stan Lynde, American author and illustrator
- 2013 - Mava Lee Thomas, American baseball player
- 2013 - Jerry Wolman, American businessman
- 2014 - Ralph Bryans, Northern Irish motorcycle racer
- 2014 - Ananda W.P. Guruge, Sri Lankan scholar and diplomat
- 2014 - John Woodland Hastings, American biochemist and academic
- 2015 - Ray Hill, American football player
- 2015 - Orna Porat, German-Israeli actress
- 2017 - Betty Cuthbert, Australian sprinter
- 2017 - Darren Daulton, American baseball player
- 2018 - Joël Robuchon, French Chef
- 2018 - Margaret Heckler, American politician
- 2018 - Anya Krugovoy Silver, American poet
- 2020 - Vern Rumsey, American bass guitarist
- 2024 - Billy Bean, American baseball player
- 2024 - Connie Chiume, South African actress and filmmaker
- 2024 - James Bjorken, American theoretical physicist
Holidays and observances