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August 24 is the 236th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (237th in leap years), with 129 days remaining.
- 79 - Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae[?] are buried in volcanic ash.
- 410 - The Visigoths capture Rome.
- 1215 - Pope Innocent III declares the Magna Carta invalid.
- 1349 - 6,000 Jews are killed in Mainz because they are blamed for the bubonic plague.
- 1391 - Jews massacred in Palma de Mallorca.
- 1456 - The printing of the Gutenberg Bible[?] is completed.
- 1511 - The Portuguese conquer Malacca.
- 1572 - Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre[?]: On the orders of king Charles IX of France, a massacre of Huguenots (French Protestants) begins.
- 1608 - The first official British representative to India lands in Surat.
- 1662 - Act of Uniformity requires England to accept the Book of Common Prayer
- 1682 - William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
- 1690 - Calcutta, India is founded
- 1814 - British troops invade Washington, D.C. and burn down the White House and several other buildings.
- 1831 - Charles Darwin is asked to travel on the HMS Beagle.
- 1847 - Charlotte Brontë finishes Jane Eyre.
- 1853 - Potato chips first prepared.
- 1857 - Beginning of the Panic of 1857[?], one of the most severe economic crises in US history.
- 1858 - In Richmond, Virginia, 90 blacks are arrested for learning.
- 1891 - Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
- 1909 - Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
- 1912 - Alaska becomes a United States territory
- 1914 - German troops capture Namur.
- 1929 - Turkey and Persia sign a friendship treaty.
- 1931 - France and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality/no attack treaty.
- 1932 - Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).
- 1936 - The Australian Antarctic Territory is created.
- 1939 - USSR and Germany sign Non-aggression Pact[?]
- 1942 - The Battle of the East Solomon Islands[?]. Japanese aircraft carrier Ryuho[?] is sunk.
- 1944 - French and allied troops start the attack on Paris.
- 1949 - The treaty creating NATO goes into effect.
- 1950 - Edith Sampson[?] is the first black US delegate to the UN.
- 1954 - The Communist Control Act goes into effect. The American Communist Party is outlawed.
- 1960 - A temperature of -88°C (-127°F) is measured in Vostok, Antarctica - a world-record low.
- 1963 - The 200 meter freestyle is swum in less than 2 minutes for the first time (Don Schollander[?] in 1:58).
- 1968 - France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.
- 1979 - In Central Park, New York a concert is given by cars.
- 1981 - Mark David Chapman[?] is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.
- 1989 - Colombian drugs barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
- 1989 - Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose[?] is banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti
- 1989 - Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
- 1990 - A judge rules that Judas Priest is not responsible for the deaths of two youths who committed suicide after listening to the band's music.
- 1990 - Sinead O'Connor[?] refuses to perform at the Garden State Arts Plaza in Homdel NJ if The Star Spangled Banner is played before her show, as is customary.
- 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Soviet Communist Party.
- 1991 - Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
- 1992 - Diplomatic relations are established between China and South Korea.
- 1992 - Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida
- 1994 - Initial accord between Israel and the PLO about partial self-rule of the Palestinians on the West Bank.
- 1995 - Windows 95 becomes available.
- 1998 - The Netherlands is selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 PanAm bombing.
- 1113 - Geoffrey Plantaget[?], Count of Anjou, father of Henry II of England
- 1198 - Alexander II of Scotland
- 1591 - Robert Herrick, English poet
- 1759 - William Wilberforce, campaigner against slavery
- 1772 - King William I of the Netherlands (1814-1840)
- 1787 - James Weddell[?], Antarctic explorer
- 1817 - Aleksei Tolstoi[?], novelist and poet
- 1865 - King Ferdinand I of Romania
- 1873 - Max Beerbohm, theater critic (+ 1956)
- 1880 - Joshua Lionel Cowen[?], inventor of the toy electric train
- 1884 - Earl Derr Biggers, author (+ 1933)
- 1890 - Duke Kahanamoku, swimmer, surfer (+ 1968)
- 1898 - Malcolm Cowley[?], literary critic, writer, editor (+ 1989)
- 1899 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian writer (+ 1986)
- 1901 - Preston Foster[?], actor
- 1915 - James Tiptree, Jr., writer
- 1929 - Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader
- 1934 - Kenny Baker, actor
- 1936 - A. S. Byatt[?], novelist
- 1938 - David Freiburg[?], bass guitar player (Jefferson Starship)
- 1943 - John Cipollina[?]
- 1944 - Jim Capaldi[?], singer
- 1945 - Ken Hensley[?], rock musician (Uriah Heep)
- 1945 - Vince McMahon[?], professional wrestling entrepreneur
- 1951 - Orson Scott Card, novelist
- 1952 - Joe Strummer, musician
- 1957 - Stephen Fry, English comedian, author, and actor
- 1958 - Steve Guttenberg[?], actor
- 1960 - Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball player
- 1963 - John Bush[?], singer (Anthrax)
- 1965 - Marlee Matlin, Academy Award winning actress
- 1971 - Claudia Schiffer, model
- 1988 - Rupert Grint, actor
- 1103 - Magnus III Berbein[?], king of Norway (1093-1103)
- 1313 - Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, (1312-1313)
- 1680 - Thomas Blood[?], thief of the British Crown Jewels
- 1832 - Sadi Carnot, mathematician
- 1940 - Paul Nipkow[?], television pioneer
- 1967 - Henry Kaiser[?], industrialist
- 1967 - Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles
- 1975 - Eamon de Valera, Irish politician and patriot
- 1978 - Louis Prima, band leader
- 1991 - Bernard Castro[?], inventor of the convertible couch
- 1998 - E.G. Marshall[?], actor
- 2002 - Hoyt Wilhelm, Baseball Hall of Fame member
See Also:
August 23 - August 25 - July 24 - September 24 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December