August in History

1981

Culture

MTV begins broadcasting, playing music videos around the clock.

MTV launched in 1981 and changed the music business, making videos essential for stars. It later moved towards reality shows.

Sources: Wikipedia — MTV · Wikidata — Q43359

2002

Culture

M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, about crop circles and an alien invasion, opens in US cinemas.

Signs was released in 2002 and was one of that year's biggest hits. It was filmed in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Sources: Wikipedia — Signs (film) · Wikidata — Q22432

2004

Exploration

NASA launches MESSENGER, which becomes the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury.

MESSENGER launched in 2004, reached Mercury's orbit in 2011 and mapped the whole planet. It crashed into Mercury in 2015 after running out of fuel.

Sources: Wikipedia — MESSENGER · Wikidata — Q182539

2007

Exploration

NASA launches the Phoenix lander, which later digs up water ice near the Martian north pole.

Phoenix launched in 2007 and landed in May 2008. It confirmed water ice just below the Martian surface before freezing in the winter.

Sources: Wikipedia — Phoenix (spacecraft) · Wikidata — Q129091

1966

Culture

The Beatles release Revolver, an album full of studio experiments.

Revolver came out in 1966 and is often ranked among the greatest albums ever made. Its cover was drawn by the band's friend Klaus Voormann.

Sources: Wikipedia — Revolver (Beatles album) · Wikidata — Q185121

1961

Exploration

Gherman Titov launches on Vostok 2 and becomes the first person to spend a full day in orbit.

Vostok 2 launched in 1961, four months after Yuri Gagarin's flight, and orbited Earth 17 times. Titov was the second person to orbit Earth.

Sources: Wikipedia — Vostok 2 · Wikidata — Q221678

2006

Nature

Robert McNaught spots a faint new comet from Australia that would blaze into one of the brightest comets in decades.

The comet peaked the following January, when it could be seen near the Sun in daylight. Its broad, streaked tail spread across the southern sky, and the Ulysses spacecraft even flew through the tail far from Earth.

Sources: Wikipedia — Comet McNaught · Wikidata — Q4705

1967

Society

Five Southeast Asian nations sign the Bangkok Declaration, founding the regional bloc known as ASEAN.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations began as a modest diplomatic pact during the Cold War. It gradually expanded across the region and became a major forum for trade, diplomacy and cooperation among its members.

Sources: Wikipedia — ASEAN · Wikidata — Q7768

1930

Culture

Betty Boop makes her screen debut in the Fleischer Studios cartoon Dizzy Dishes.

Within two years the character had become fully human. Her popularity faded after Hollywood's Production Code toned down her flirty style, but she remains one of the most recognisable cartoon characters ever.

Meanwhile in art: Early Modernism

Sources: Wikipedia — Betty Boop · Wikidata — Q583810

1793

Culture

The Louvre opens as a public museum in Paris, displaying art from the former royal collections.

The revolutionary government timed the opening to the first anniversary of the monarchy's fall. The Louvre grew into the most visited art museum in the world, and its glass pyramid entrance was added about two centuries later.

Meanwhile in art: Neoclassicism

Sources: Wikipedia — Louvre · Wikidata — Q19675

1991

Culture

Rugrats premieres on Nickelodeon, showing the world through the eyes of a group of babies.

Rugrats premiered in 1991 as one of Nickelodeon's first three "Nicktoons." It ran for nine seasons and spawned three feature films and a spin-off, All Grown Up!

Sources: Wikipedia — Rugrats · Wikidata — Q304290

1981

Technology

IBM introduces its Personal Computer, the machine that set the standard for desktop PCs.

The IBM PC was built quickly from off-the-shelf parts, which made it easy to copy. Clone makers and Microsoft's DOS soon dominated the market, shaping personal computing for decades.

Sources: Wikipedia — IBM Personal Computer · Wikidata — Q202712

1898

Science

Gustav Witt in Berlin discovers 433 Eros, the first asteroid found to come close to Earth.

Because Eros passes relatively close to Earth, astronomers used it to measure the distance to the Sun more precisely. The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft orbited it for a year and then touched down on its surface.

Meanwhile in art: Post-Impressionism

Sources: Wikipedia — 433 Eros · Wikidata — Q16711

1991

Science

Physicist Paul Ginsparg starts the arXiv preprint server for sharing research papers.

arXiv later moved to Cornell University and expanded into mathematics, computer science, biology and more. Posting a preprint there is now a standard first step for research in many fields.

Sources: Wikipedia — ArXiv · Wikidata — Q118398

1977

Science

The Big Ear radio telescope in Ohio detects the "Wow! signal," a strong radio burst never detected again.

The Wow! signal was detected in 1977 and lasted 72 seconds. Despite many searches, it has never been detected again, and its source is still unknown.

Sources: Wikipedia — Wow! signal · Wikidata — Q33297

1993

Technology

Ian Murdock announces Debian, a new Linux distribution to be built by volunteers.

Debian became one of the oldest and most influential Linux distributions, and Ubuntu and many others are built on it. Its apt package tool made installing software far easier.

Sources: Wikipedia — Debian · Wikidata — Q7715973

1945

Culture

George Orwell's Animal Farm is published in London, a fable of farm animals who overthrow their human owner.

Orwell's allegory of the Russian Revolution appeared just as the Second World War was ending. It became a worldwide bestseller and paved the way for his later novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Meanwhile in art: Early Modernism

Sources: Wikipedia — Animal Farm · Wikidata — Q1396889

1868

Science

During a total solar eclipse over India, Pierre Janssen observes a mysterious yellow line that reveals helium.

The yellow line was eventually credited to a new element, helium. It was identified in the Sun decades before chemists isolated it on Earth, making helium the first element discovered in space.

Meanwhile in art: Realism, Impressionism

Sources: Wikipedia — Solar eclipse of August 18, 1868 · Wikidata — Q1343472

2008

Culture

Lady Gaga releases her debut studio album, The Fame.

The Fame was reissued with a set of new songs called The Fame Monster. It became one of the best-selling albums of its time and launched Lady Gaga as a global pop star.

Sources: Wikipedia — The Fame · Wikidata — Q131182

2024

Culture

Black Myth: Wukong, often called China's first AAA video game, is released and becomes a worldwide hit.

The game sold around ten million copies in its first three days and drew more than two million players at once on Steam. Its first trailer, shown years before release, had already made it a sensation.

Sources: Wikipedia — Black Myth: Wukong · Wikidata — Q98582386

2017

Nature

A total solar eclipse crosses the entire United States, from Oregon to South Carolina.

It was one of the most observed eclipses ever, and special viewing glasses sold out nationwide. Scientists used it to study the Sun's corona, and another total eclipse crossed the country seven years later.

Sources: Wikipedia — Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 · Wikidata — Q1437630

2016

Technology

Google releases Android Nougat, version 7.0 of its mobile operating system.

Nougat arrived first on Google's own Nexus devices. It was one of the last Android versions to carry a public dessert name, a tradition dropped with Android 10.

Sources: Wikipedia — Android Nougat · Wikidata — Q22274379

1991

Technology

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System goes on sale in North America.

The SNES became the best-selling console of the 16-bit era, with about 49 million sold. Its library included The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Metroid.

Sources: Wikipedia — Super Nintendo Entertainment System · Wikidata — Q183259

2006

Science

The International Astronomical Union votes on a definition of 'planet' that reclassifies Pluto as a dwarf planet.

The discovery of Eris, a distant world similar in size to Pluto, forced the issue. The decision left eight planets, though it is still debated by some scientists and much of the public.

Sources: Wikipedia — IAU definition of planet · Wikidata — Q2361306

2003

Science

NASA launches the Spitzer Space Telescope to observe the universe in infrared light.

Spitzer was launched in 2003 and worked until 2020, long after its coolant ran out. It was named after Lyman Spitzer, who first proposed putting telescopes in space.

Sources: Wikipedia — Spitzer Space Telescope · Wikidata — Q201953

1978

Exploration

Soyuz 31 carries Sigmund Jähn into orbit, making him the first German in space.

Soyuz 31 launched in August 1978 with Valery Bykovsky and Sigmund Jähn. Jähn became a hero in East Germany and later helped train astronauts for the reunited country.

Sources: Wikipedia — Soyuz 31 · Wikidata — Q916974

1928

Society

Fifteen nations sign the Kellogg–Briand Pact in Paris, renouncing war as a tool of national policy.

Most countries eventually joined the pact. It could not prevent the Second World War, but its principle helped shape the United Nations Charter's ban on aggressive war.

Meanwhile in art: Early Modernism

Sources: Wikipedia — Kellogg–Briand Pact · Wikidata — Q205073

1963

Society

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his 'I Have a Dream' speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

King set aside part of his prepared text to describe his dream of racial equality. The march helped build support for the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act that followed.

Sources: Wikipedia — I Have a Dream · Wikidata — Q192341

1952

Culture

John Cage's 4′33″, in which the performer plays nothing, premieres in Woodstock, New York.

4′33″ premiered in 1952, performed by David Tudor, who marked the three movements by closing and opening the piano lid. It is one of the most famous and debated works of experimental music.

Sources: Wikipedia — 4′33″ · Wikidata — Q12030

1984

Exploration

Space Shuttle Discovery launches on its first mission, STS-41-D.

Discovery first flew in 1984 and went on to fly 39 missions, more than any other shuttle, including the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Sources: Wikipedia — STS-41-D · Wikidata — Q731385

1987

Culture

Michael Jackson releases Bad, his first album since the record-breaking Thriller.

Bad was released in 1987 and sold more than 35 million copies. Its world tour was the biggest-grossing tour of its time.

Sources: Wikipedia — Bad (album) · Wikidata — Q44142