The French astronomer, Pierre Janssen discovers helium. Despite being the second most abundant element in the observable universe, helium is relatively rare on Earth, the…
17 August 1962
Peter Fechter is shot and bleeds to death while trying to cross the new Berlin Wall. Peter Fechter, an 18-year-old bricklayer, is one of the…
16 August 2012
Police in South Africa fatally shoot 34 miners and wound 78 more during an industrial dispute at Marikana near Rustenburg. MARIKANA will for ever be…
15 August 1695
French forces end the bombardment of Brussels. This anonymous work, with its beautiful ochre-red-orange colours, offers an apocalyptic vision of the Grand-Place in Brussels in…
14 August 1975
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the longest-running release in film history, opens in London. It’s astounding, or at least it must be reviewers who panned…
13 August 1645
Sweden and Denmark sign Peace of Brömsebro. The Second Treaty of Brömsebro or the Peace of Brömsebro was signed on 13 August 1645, and ended…
12 August 1865
Joseph Lister performs 1st antiseptic surgery. On the 12th August 1865 Joseph Lister carried out the world’s first antiseptic surgery using the chemical phenol, otherwise…
11 August 1972
The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam (Vietnam War). SAIGON, South Vietnam, Aug. 11—The last American ground?combat unit in Viet nam was…
10 August 1557
The Battle of St. Quentin in which the Spanish have a victory over the French in the Italian War of 1551–59. The Battle of Saint-Quentin…
9 August 1969
The Manson Family commits the Tate murders. In the early morning hours of August 9, 1969, actress Sharon Tate, who was 8 1/2 months pregnant,…