On this day in history

August 6

26 births · 11 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

World Wide Web Goes Public

35 years ago

Born this day

1928

Andy Warhol

Would be 98

Oldest record

389th

Ben Jonson

death anniversary

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Famous births26

1638 · 388 yrs

Nicolas Malebranche

Nicolas Malebranche (6 August 1638 – 13 October 1715) was a French Oratorian Catholic priest and rationalist philosopher. In his works, he sought to synthesise the thought of St.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PhilosophyDied aged 77

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Photo: Paul Jourdy / After Jean-Baptiste Santerre · Public domain

1651 · 375 yrs

François Fénelon

François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, P.S.S. (French:), more commonly known as François Fénelon (6 August 1651 – 7 January 1715), was a French Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. Today, he is remembered mostly as the author of The Adventures of Telemachus, first published in 1699.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 63

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Photo: Joseph Vivien · Public domain

1697 · 329 yrs

Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles VII (6 August 1697 – 20 January 1745) was elector of Bavaria from 26 February 1726 and Holy Roman Emperor from 24 January 1742 to his death on 20 January 1745. He was also King of Bohemia (as Charles Albert) from 1741 to 1743.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 47

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Photo: Workshop of Georg Desmarées · CC0

1715 · 311 yrs

Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues

Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (French:; 6 August 1715 – 28 May 1747) was a French writer and moralist. He died at age 31, in broken health, having published the year prior—anonymously—a collection of essays and aphorisms with the encouragement of Voltaire, his friend (20 years his senior).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 31

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Photo: Charles-Amédée Colin · CC0

1766 · 260 yrs

William Hyde Wollaston

William Hyde Wollaston (6 August 1766 – 22 December 1828) was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering the chemical elements palladium and rhodium.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 62

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Photo: John Jackson · Public domain

1775 · 251 yrs

Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême

Louis Antoine of France, Duke of Angoulême (6 August 1775 – 3 June 1844) was the elder son of Charles X of France and the last Dauphin of France from 1824 to 1830. He was a petit-fils de France at birth, and was initially known as Louis Antoine d'Artois.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 68

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Photo: Thomas Lawrence · Public domain

1809 · 217 yrs

Alfred Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 83

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Photo: Julia Margaret Cameron / Adam Cuerden · Public domain

1861 · 165 yrs

Edith Roosevelt

Edith Kermit Roosevelt (née Carow; August 6, 1861 – September 30, 1948) was the second wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and the first lady of the United States from 1901 to 1909. She had previously been the second lady of the United States in 1901 and the first lady of New York from 1899 to 1900.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsDied aged 87

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Photo: Brady-Handy Collection (Library of Congress) · Public domain

1881 · 145 yrs

Alexander Fleming

Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish physician and microbiologist. He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 145

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Photo: Official photographer · Public domain

1911 · 115 yrs

Lucille Ball

Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American comedian, actress, producer, and studio executive. She was recognized by Time in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for her work in all four of these areas.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 115

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Photo: CBS Television · Public domain

1917 · 109 yrs

Robert Mitchum

Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor and singer. He is known for his antihero roles and film noir appearances.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 109

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Photo: J. Fred Henry Publications · Public domain

1928 · 98 yrs

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol (born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist and filmmaker. Widely regarded as the most important artist of the second half of the 20th century, Warhol's practice spanned various media, including painting, filmmaking, photography, publishing, and performance art.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtWould be 98

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Photo: Bernard Gotfryd · Public domain

Showing 12 of 26

Famous deaths11

1637 · 389 yrs

Ben Jonson

Ben Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – 6 or 18 August 1637) was an English playwright, poet and actor.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 65

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Photo: After Abraham van Blijenberch · Public domain

1660 · 366 yrs

Diego Velázquez

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 1599 – 6 August 1660) was a Spanish Baroque painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He is generally considered one of the greatest artists in the history of Western art.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 61

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Photo: Diego Velázquez · Public domain

1969 · 57 yrs

Theodor W. Adorno

Theodor W. Adorno (German:; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, cultural, and music critic.

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PhilosophyWould be 123

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Photo: Jeremy J. Shapiro · CC BY-SA 3.0

1973 · 53 yrs

Fulgencio Batista

Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; 16 January 1901 – 6 August 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944, and again from 1952 to his resignation in 1959, when he was overthrown in the Cuban Revolution.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 125

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Photo: Harris & Ewing · Public domain

1978 · 48 yrs

Paul VI

Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 1897 – 6 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionWould be 129

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Photo: Fotografia Felici · Public domain

1979 · 47 yrs

Feodor Lynen

Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen (German pronunciation:; 6 April 1911 – 6 August 1979) was a German biochemist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 115

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Photo: Huttig-Foto, Starnberg · CC BY 3.0

1994 · 32 yrs

Domenico Modugno

Domenico Modugno (Italian pronunciation:; 9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, songwriter, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicWould be 98

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Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

2001 · 25 yrs

Jorge Amado

Jorge Leal Amado de Faria ( ZHOR-zhee; Brazilian Portuguese:; 10 August 1912 – 6 August 2001), known as Jorge Amado, was a Brazilian writer of the modernist school.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 114

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Photo: Bernard Gotfryd · Public domain

2007 · 19 yrs

Atle Selberg

Atle Selberg (14 June 1917 – 6 August 2007) was a Norwegian mathematician known for his work in analytic number theory and the theory of automorphic forms, and in particular for bringing them into relation with spectral theory. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1950 and an honorary Abel Prize in 2002.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 109

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Photo: Konrad Jacobs, Erlangen · CC BY-SA 2.0 de

2018 · 8 yrs

Joël Robuchon

Joël Robuchon (French pronunciation:, 7 April 1945 – 6 August 2018) was a French chef and restaurateur. He was named "Chef of the Century" by the guide Gault Millau in 1989, and awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (France's best worker) in cuisine in 1976.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 81

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Photo: Ohconfucius · CC BY 2.5

2019 · 7 yrs

Sushma Swaraj

Sushma Swaraj (née Sharma; 14 February 1952 – 6 August 2019) (Hindi pronunciation:) was an Indian lawyer, politician and diplomat who served as the 5th Chief Minister of Delhi, and also the Minister of External Affairs of India in the First Modi ministry from 2014 to 2019.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 74

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Photo: U.S. Department of State from United States · Public domain

Events5

1945 · 81 yrs

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, during the final days of World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1991 · 35 yrs

World Wide Web Goes Public

Tim Berners-Lee publicly announces the World Wide Web project and makes it available outside CERN.

Technology

2005 · 21 yrs

2005 World Championships in Athletics

The 10th World Championships in Athletics (Finnish: Yleisurheilun maailmanmestaruuskilpailut 2005, Swedish: Världsmästerskapen i friidrott 2005), under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (6 August 2005 – 14 August 2005),…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

2011 · 15 yrs

2011 England riots

A series of riots took place between 6 and 11 August 2011 in cities and towns across England, which saw looting and arson, as well as mass deployment of police and the deaths of five people.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

2024 · 2 yrs

Kursk campaign

On 6 August 2024, during the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched an incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast and clashed with the Russian Armed Forces and Russian border guard. A state of emergency was declared in Kursk Oblast, and Russian reserves were rushed to the area.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

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