On this day in history

August 7

26 births · 13 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Russo-Georgian War

18 years ago

Born this day

1966

Jimmy Wales

Turns 60

Photo (modified): PhilipRomano · CC BY-SA 4.0

Oldest record

1909th

Trajan

death anniversary

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Famous births26

AD 317 · 1709 yrs

Constantius II

Constantius II (Latin: Flavius Julius Constantius; Ancient Greek: Κωνστάντιος, romanized: Kōnstántios; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 44

View profile Photo (modified): Mary Harrsch · CC BY-SA 2.0

1560 · 466 yrs

Elizabeth Báthory

Countess Elizabeth Báthory of Ecsed (Hungarian: Báthory Erzsébet, pronounced; Slovak: Alžbeta Bátoriová; 7 August 1560 – 21 August 1614) was a Hungarian noblewoman, aristocrat, and alleged serial killer from the powerful House of Báthory, who owned land in the Kingdom of Hungary.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 54

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1631 · 395 yrs

John Dryden

John Dryden (19 August 1631 – 12 May 1700) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): John Richardson · CC BY-SA 4.0

1779 · 247 yrs

Carl Ritter

Carl Ritter (August 7, 1779 – September 28, 1859) was a German geographer. Along with Alexander von Humboldt, he is considered one of the founders of modern geography, as they established it as an independent scientific discipline.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ExplorationDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Rudolph Hoffmann · Public domain

1867 · 159 yrs

Emil Nolde

Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the early 20th century to explore color.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ArtDied aged 88

View profile Photo (modified): Minya Diez-Dührkoop (* 21. Juni 1873; † 17. November 1929), deutsche Fotografin · Public domain

1876 · 150 yrs

Mata Hari

Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle, Dutch:; 7 August 1876 – 15 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari ( MAH-tə HAR-ee, Dutch:; Indonesian for 'sun', lit. 'eye of the day'), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleWould be 150

View profile Photo (modified): Koene & Com / Batavia-Amsterdam · Public domain

1903 · 123 yrs

Louis Leakey

Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai Gorge with his wife, fellow palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 123

View profile Photo (modified): Smithsonian Institution from United States · No restrictions

1904 · 122 yrs

Ralph Bunche

Ralph Johnson Bunche ( BUNCH; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in the Arab–Israeli conflict. He was the first Black Nobel laureate.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 122

View profile Photo (modified): U.S. Information Agency. · CC BY-SA 2.0

1928 · 98 yrs

James Randi

James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author, and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 98

View profile Photo (modified): James Randi Educational Foundation Photographer: Eduardo Aparicio · CC BY-SA 3.0

1932 · 94 yrs

Abebe Bikila

Shambel Abebe Bikila (Amharic: ሻምበል አበበ ቢቂላ; August 7, 1932 – October 25, 1973) was an Ethiopian marathon runner who was a back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. He was the first Ethiopian Olympic gold medalist, winning his first gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsWould be 94

View profile Photo (modified): Jack de Nijs for Anefo · CC0

1933 · 93 yrs

Elinor Ostrom

Elinor Claire "Lin" Ostrom (née Awan; August 7, 1933 – June 12, 2012) was an American political scientist and political economist whose work was associated with New Institutional Economics and the resurgence of political economy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 93

View profile Photo (modified): Holger Motzkau · CC BY-SA 3.0

1944 · 82 yrs

Robert Mueller

Robert Swan Mueller III (August 7, 1944 – March 20, 2026) was an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served as a U.S.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MilitaryWould be 82

View profile Photo (modified): Federal Bureau of Investigation · Public domain

Showing 12 of 26

Famous deaths13

AD 117 · 1909 yrs

Trajan

Trajan ( TRAY-jən; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53 – c. 9 August 117) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 63

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown artist · Public domain

1106 · 920 yrs

Henry IV

Henry IV (German: Heinrich IV; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor (1084–1105), King of Germany (1054–1105), and King of Italy and Burgundy (1056–1105). A Salian ruler, he was the son of Henry III and Agnes of Poitou.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 55

View profile Photo (modified): Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain

1834 · 192 yrs

Joseph Marie Jacquard

Joseph Marie Charles dit (called or nicknamed) Jacquard (French:; 7 July 1752 – 7 August 1834) was a French weaver and merchant.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyDied aged 82

View profile Photo (modified): Bonnefond, Claude, 1796-1860, artist; Carquillat, François Michel-Marie, 1803-1884. · Public domain

1848 · 178 yrs

Jöns Jacob Berzelius

Jöns Jacob Berzelius (Swedish:; 20 August 1779 – 7 August 1848) was a Swedish chemist. Berzelius is considered, along with Robert Boyle, John Dalton, and Antoine Lavoisier, to be one of the founders of modern chemistry.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1921 · 105 yrs

Alexander Blok

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok (Russian: Александр Александрович Блок, IPA:; 28 November 1880 – 7 August 1921) was the most well-known Russian lyrical poet during the Silver Age of Russian Poetry.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 145

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1937 · 89 yrs

Takeo Wakabayashi

Takeo Wakabayashi (若林竹雄, Wakabayashi Takeo; 29 August 1907 – 7 August 1937) was a Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsWould be 119

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1938 · 88 yrs

Constantine Stanislavsky

Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski (Russian: Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, IPA:; né Alekseyev; 17 January 1863 – 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian and Soviet theatre practitioner.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmDied aged 75

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1941 · 85 yrs

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali:; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali poet, author, playwright, musician, composer, philosopher, social reformer, painter, and one of the foremost figures of the Bengal Renaissance.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 80

View profile Photo (modified): Generalstabens litografiska anstalt · Public domain

1957 · 69 yrs

Oliver Hardy

Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 134

View profile Photo (modified): Harry Warnecke, 1900 - 1984 · CC0

1974 · 52 yrs

Virginia Apgar

Virginia Apgar (June 7, 1909 – August 7, 1974) was an American physician, obstetrical anesthesiologist and medical researcher, best known as the inventor of the Apgar score, a way to quickly assess the health of a newborn child immediately after birth in order to combat infant mortality.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Notable PeopleWould be 117

View profile Photo (modified): March of Dimes · Public domain

1987 · 39 yrs

Nobusuke Kishi

Nobusuke Kishi (岸信介, Kishi Nobusuke; 13 November 1896 – 7 August 1987) was a Japanese bureaucrat and politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1957 to 1960.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 129

View profile Photo (modified): 外務省 · CC BY 4.0

2019 · 7 yrs

Kary Mullis

Kary Banks Mullis (December 28, 1944 – August 7, 2019) was an American biochemist. In recognition of his role in the invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith and was awarded the Japan Prize in the same year.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 81

View profile Photo (modified): Dona Mapston · CC BY-SA 3.0

Showing 12 of 13

Events5

1941 · 85 yrs

Battle of Kiev

The First Battle of Kiev or Kiev operation, known as the Battle of Kiev on the German side (German: Schlacht bei Kiew), was a major battle that resulted in an encirclement of Soviet troops in the vicinity of Kiev during World War II, the capital and most populous city of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1942 · 84 yrs

Guadalcanal campaign

The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by the United States, was an Allied offensive against forces of the Empire of Japan in the Solomon Islands during the Pacific Theater of World War II.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

1983 · 43 yrs

1983 World Championships in Athletics

The 1st World Championships in Athletics (Finnish: Yleisurheilun maailmanmestaruuskilpailut 1983; Swedish: Världsmästerskapen i friidrott 1983) were run under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations and were held at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland between 7 and 14 August 1983.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

2008 · 18 yrs

Russo-Georgian War

The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia, was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the Russian-backed separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The fighting took place in the strategically important South Caucasus region.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

War

2020 · 6 yrs

Air India Express Flight 1344

Air India Express Flight 1344 was a scheduled international flight operated by a Boeing 737-800 on 7 August 2020 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to Kozhikode, India, landing at Calicut International Airport.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Disaster

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