August 11 - Definition and Overview

August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 142 days remaining.

Events

3200 BC-AD 1899

• 3114 BC - beginning of our current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar
• 480 BC - Persians under Xerxes defeat Spartans under King Leonidas in the Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans fought to the last man.
• 480 BC - The Persian and Greek fleets also fight the indecisive Battle of Artemisium.
• AD 1858 - First ascent of the Eiger.

1900-1999

• 1918 - Great War - Battle of Amiens ends
• 1919 - Constitution of Weimar Republic adopted
• 1934 - Federal prison opened at Alcatraz Island
• 1943 - World War II - First Quebec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, T. V. Soong and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
• 1948 - Olympic games open in London
• 1951 - René Pleven becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1952 - Hussein proclaimed king of Jordan
• 1960 - Chad declares independence
• 1965 - Race riots begin in Watts area of Los Angeles, California
• 1966 - John Lennon held a press conference in Chicago excusing himself from the "Jesus affair"
• 1970 - A trademark application by the Van Brode Milling Company for the word Spork was published by the USPTO.
• 1972 - Last United States ground combat unit departs South Vietnam
• 1999 - A total solar eclipse visible from Europe and Asia.

2000-2099

• 2003 - NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
• 2003 - Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand.

Births

1700-1899

• 1718 - Sir Frederick Haldimand - professional soldier
• 1794 - James Barton Longacre - engraver and designer of United States Indian Head cent
• 1807 - David Rice Atchison, American politician (d. 1886)
• 1833 - Robert G. Ingersoll, American political leader and orator, atheist, American Civil War Colonel (d. 1899)
• 1833 - Kido Takayoshi, Japanese politician, one of the main actors of the Meiji restoration (d. 1877)
• 1872 - Shidehara Kijuro, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1951)
• 1892 - Yoshikawa Eiji, novelist (d. 1962)
• 1897 - Louise Bogan, American poet (d. 1970)

1900-1999

• 1902 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (d. 1986)
• 1902 - Lloyd Nolan, actor (d. 1982)
• 1905 - Erwin Chargaff, biochemist (d. 2002)
• 1912 - Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, astronomer (d. 1954)
• 1913 - Angus Wilson, British novelist (d. 1991)
• 1921 - Alex Haley, historian, novelist (d. 1992)
• 1925 - Carl Rowan, journalist
• 1932 - Fernando Arrabal, playwright, novelist
• 1933 - Jerry Falwell, Christian preacher and politician
• 1943 - Abigail Folger, Coffee heiress (d. 1969)
• 1943 - Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and leader
• 1944 - Ian McDiarmid, actor
• 1946 - Marilyn vos Savant, newspaper columnist
• 1950 - Gennidy Nikonov, designer of the AN-94 assault rifle
• 1950 - Steve Wozniak, personal computer pioneer
• 1953 - Hulk Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea), professional wrestler
• 1954 - Joe Jackson, singer
• 1954 - Juan Maria Solare, music composer and pianist
• 1955 - Sylvia Hermon, UK politician
• 1967 - Joe Rogan, comedian, television host
• 1972 - Jonathon Prandi, American male model
• 1974 - Audrey Mestre, freediver
• 1980 - Lee Suggs, American football player

Deaths

500 BC-AD 1899

• 480 BC - Leonidas, king of Sparta
• 1890 - John Henry Cardinal Newman, English Cardinal

1900-1999

• 1919 - Andrew Carnegie, industrialist
• 1937 - Edith Wharton, author
• 1953 - Tazio Nuvolari, racecar driver
• 1956 - Jackson Pollock, artist
• 1977 - Frederick Williams, inventor of the mercury tube
• 1984 - Alfred A. Knopf, American publisher
• 1996 - Rafael Kubelik, conductor and composer (b. 1914)

2000-2099

• 2003 - Kieran Kelly, Irish jump jockey after a racing accident
• 2003 - Diana Mitford, widow of British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley
• 2003 - Herb Brooks, coach of 1980 "Miracle on Ice" US Hockey team

Holidays and observances

August 10 - August 12 - July 11 - September 11 -- listing of all days