August 7 is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 146 days remaining until the end of the year.
This day marks the approximate midpoint of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and of winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
- 322 BC – Battle of Crannon between Athens and Macedon.
- 461 – Roman Emperor Majorian is beheaded near the river Iria in north-west Italy following his arrest and deposition by the magister militum Ricimer.
- 626 – The Avar and Slav armies leave the siege of Constantinople.
- 936 – Coronation of King Otto I of Germany.
- 1420 – Construction of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore begins in Florence.
- 1427 – The Visconti of Milan's fleet is destroyed by the Venetians on the Po River.
- 1461 – The Ming Dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor.
- 1679 – The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the south-eastern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.
- 1714 – The Battle of Gangut: the first important victory of the Russian Navy.
- 1782 – George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.
- 1789 – The United States Department of War is established.
- 1791 – American troops destroy the Miami town of Kenapacomaqua near the site of present-day Logansport, Indiana in the Northwest Indian War.
- 1794 – U.S. President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
- 1819 – Simón Bolívar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá.
- 1879 – The opening of the Poor Man's Palace in Manchester, England.
- 1890 – Anna Månsdotter becomes the last woman in Sweden to be executed, for the 1889 Yngsjö murder.
- 1909 – Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.
- 1927 – The Peace Bridge opens between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York.
- 1930 – The last confirmed lynching of blacks in the Northern United States occurs in Marion, Indiana. Two men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, are killed.
- 1933 – The Simele massacre: The Iraqi government slaughters over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Simele. The day becomes known as Assyrian Martyrs Day.
- 1938 – The Holocaust: The building of Mauthausen concentration camp begins.
- 1940 – World War II: Alsace-Lorraine is annexed by the Third Reich.
- 1942 – World War II: the Battle of Guadalcanal begins – United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
- 1944 – IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
- 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
- 1947 – The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
- 1955 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the precursor to Sony, sells its first transistor radios in Japan.
- 1959 – The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny goes into circulation. It replaces the "sheaves of wheat" design, and was minted until 2008.
- 1959 – Explorer program: Explorer 6 launches from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- 1960 – Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.
- 1964 – Vietnam War: the U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.
- 1965 – The infamous first Reyes party between Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and motorcycle gang the Hells Angels takes place at Kesey's estate in La Honda, California introducing psychedelics to the gang world and forever linking the hippie movement to the Hell's Angels.
- 1966 – Race riots occur in Lansing, Michigan.
- 1967 – Vietnam War: China agrees to give North Vietnam an undisclosed amount of aid in the form of a grant.
- 1970 – California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during in an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
- 1974 – Philippe Petit performs a high wire act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center 1,368 feet (417 m) in the air.
- 1976 – Viking program: Viking 2 enters orbit around Mars.
- 1978 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been negligently disposed of.
- 1979 – Several tornadoes strike the city of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada and the surrounding communities.
- 1981 – The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.
- 1985 – Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
- 1985 – The White House Farm murders took place near the English village of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, England.
- 1989 – U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
- 1998 – The United States embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people.
- 1999 – The Chechnya-based Islamic International Brigade invades the neighboring Russian Dagestan.
- 2007 – Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks baseball great Hank Aaron's record by hitting his 756th home run.
- 2008 – Georgia launches a large-scale military offensive against South Ossetia, in an attempt to reclaim the territory from Russia, starting the 2008 South Ossetia war.
- 2012 – 3 gunmen kill 19 people in a church near Okene, Nigeria.
- 317 – Constantius II, Roman emperor (d. 361)
- 1282 – Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (d. 1316)
- 1533 – Alonso de Ercilla, Spanish soldier and poet (d. 1595)
- 1560 – Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian countess and serial killer (d. 1614)
- 1571 – Thomas Lupo, English composer and viol player (d. 1627)
- 1574 – Robert Dudley, English explorer and writer (d. 1649)
- 1598 – Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish poet (d. 1672)
- 1726 – James Bowdoin, American politician, 2nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1790)
- 1734 – Duchess Maria Anna Josepha of Bavaria (d. 1776)
- 1742 – Nathanael Greene, American general (d. 1786)
- 1751 – Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange (d. 1820)
- 1779 – Louis de Freycinet, French explorer (d. 1842)
- 1779 – Carl Ritter, German geographer (d. 1859)
- 1783 – Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom (d. 1810)
- 1844 – Auguste Michel-Lévy, French geologist (d. 1911)
- 1860 – Alan Leo, English astrologer (d. 1917)
- 1862 – Victoria of Baden (d. 1931)
- 1867 – Emil Nolde, German painter (d. 1956)
- 1868 – Ladislaus Bortkiewicz, Russian mathematician (d. 1931)
- 1876 – Mata Hari, Dutch spy (d. 1917)
- 1877 – Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (d. 1949)
- 1879 – Johannes Kotze, South African cricketer (d. 1931)
- 1884 – Billie Burke, American actress (d. 1970)
- 1890 – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, American activist (d. 1964)
- 1901 – Ann Harding, American actress (d. 1981)
- 1903 – Louis Leakey, Kenyan-English archaeologist (d. 1972)
- 1904 – Ralph Bunche, American diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- 1907 – Albert Kotin, American painter (d. 1980)
- 1911 – István Bibó, Hungarian lawyer and politician (d. 1979)
- 1911 – Nicholas Ray, American director and scenarist (d. 1979)
- 1913 – George Van Eps, American guitarist (d. 1998)
- 1917 – Budd Lynch, Canadian sportscaster (d. 2012)
- 1918 – C. Buddingh', Dutch poet (d. 1985)
- 1918 – Gordon Zahn, American sociologist, pacifist, and author (d. 2007)
- 1921 – Manitas de Plata, French guitarist
- 1925 – Felice Bryant, American songwriter (d. 2003)
- 1925 – M. S. Swaminathan, Indian scientist
- 1926 – Stan Freberg, American voice actor
- 1926 – Géza Kádas, Hungarian swimmer (d. 1979)
- 1927 – Edwin Edwards, American politician
- 1927 – Art Houtteman, American baseball player (d. 2003)
- 1927 – Carl Switzer, American actor (d. 1959)
- 1928 – Betsy Byars, American author
- 1928 – Romeo Muller, American screenwriter (d. 1992)
- 1928 – James Randi, Canadian-American magician
- 1929 – Don Larsen, American baseball player
- 1931 – Charles E. Rice, American scholar and author
- 1932 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian runner (d. 1973)
- 1932 – Edward Hardwicke, English actor (d. 2011)
- 1932 – Rien Poortvliet, Dutch draughtsman and painter (d. 1995)
- 1932 – Maurice Rabb, Jr., American ophthalmologist
- 1933 – Eddie Firmani, South African footballer and manager
- 1933 – Jerry Pournelle, American author and journalist
- 1934 – Sándor Simó, Hungarian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
- 1936 – Rahsaan Roland Kirk, American saxophonist (d. 1977)
- 1937 – Zoltán Berczik, Hungarian table tennis player (d. 2011)
- 1937 – Don Wilson, England cricketer
- 1939 – Anjanette Comer, American actress
- 1940 – Jean-Luc Dehaene, Belgian politician
- 1942 – Tobin Bell, American actor
- 1942 – Garrison Keillor, American writer and radio host
- 1942 – Carlos Monzón, Argentine boxer (d. 1995)
- 1942 – B. J. Thomas, American singer
- 1942 – Caetano Veloso, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1943 – Lana Cantrell, Australian-American singer and lawyer
- 1943 – Alain Corneau, French director {d. 2010}
- 1944 – John Glover, American actor
- 1944 – Robert Mueller, American attorney, 6th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- 1944 – David Rasche, American actor
- 1945 – Alan Page, American football player and jurist
- 1946 – Ed Seykota, American financier
- 1947 – Suthivelu, Indian actor (d. 2012)
- 1947 – Franciscus Henri, Dutch-Australian singer-songwriter
- 1948 – Marty Appel, American public relations executive and author
- 1948 – Greg Chappell, Australian cricketer and coach
- 1949 – Walid Jumblatt, Lebanese politician
- 1950 – Alan Keyes, American diplomat and activist
- 1951 – Joachim Thiel, German footballer
- 1952 – Kees Kist, Dutch footballer
- 1952 – Alexei Sayle, English comedian, actor, and author
- 1953 – Anne Fadiman, American author
- 1954 – Jonathan Pollard, Israeli-American spy
- 1955 – Diane Downs, American convicted murderer
- 1955 – Wayne Knight, American actor
- 1955 – Greg Nickels, American politician
- 1955 – Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodríguez, Cuban librarian
- 1955 – Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
- 1955 – Gregoris Valtinos, Greek actor and director
- 1956 – Sharon Isbin, American guitarist
- 1957 – Caroline Aaron, American actress
- 1957 – Daire Brehan, Irish journalist and actress (d. 2012)
- 1957 – Alexander Dityatin, Soviet gymnast
- 1958 – Russell Baze, Canadian-American jockey
- 1958 – Bruce Dickinson, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1958 – Alberto Salazar, American runner
- 1959 – Koenraad Elst, Belgian writer and orientalist
- 1959 – Ali Shah, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1960 – David Duchovny, American actor
- 1960 – Jacquie O'Sullivan, English singer-songwriter
- 1961 – Brian Conley, English comedian, actor, and singer
- 1961 – Yelena Davydova, Soviet gymnast
- 1961 – Maggie Wheeler, American actress
- 1962 – Alison Brown, American musician, songwriter, and producer
- 1962 – Bruno Pelletier, Canadian singer
- 1962 – Alain Robert, French climber
- 1963 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, American son of John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)
- 1963 – Harold Perrineau, American actor
- 1963 – Marcus Roberts, American pianist
- 1964 – John Birmingham, Australian author
- 1964 – Michael Weishan, American television host
- 1966 – Kristin Hersh, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1966 – Jimmy Wales, American businessman, co-founded Wikipedia
- 1966 – Shobna Gulati, Asian-British actress
- 1967 – Jason Grimsley, American baseball player
- 1968 – Lynn Strait, American singer-songwriter
- 1969 – Paul Lambert, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1970 – Eric Namesnik, American swimmer (d. 2006)
- 1971 – Dominic Cork, England cricketer
- 1971 – Sydney Penny, American actress
- 1971 – Rachel York, American actress and singer
- 1972 – Greg Serano, American actor
- 1973 – Danny Graves, American baseball player
- 1973 – Zane Lowe, New Zealand radio and television host
- 1973 – Kevin Muscat, Australian footballer
- 1974 – Chico Benymon, American actor
- 1974 – Michael Shannon, American actor
- 1974 – Andrejs Štolcers, Latvian footballer
- 1975 – Gaahl, Norwegian singer-songwriter
- 1975 – Koray Candemir, Turkish singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (Kargo)
- 1975 – David Hicks, Australian alleged terrorist
- 1975 – Hans Matheson, Scottish Actor
- 1975 – Edgar Rentería, Colombian baseball player
- 1975 – Vanessa Stacey, New Zealand actress
- 1975 – Charlize Theron, South African model and actress
- 1976 – Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos, Greek footballer
- 1976 – Shane Lechler, American football player
- 1977 – Charlotte Ronson, English fashion designer
- 1977 – Samantha Ronson, English DJ and songwriter
- 1978 – Alexandre Aja, French director
- 1978 – Jamey Jasta, American singer-songwriter
- 1978 – Cirroc Lofton, American actor
- 1978 – Mark McCammon, English-Barbadian footballer
- 1978 – Vanness Wu, American-Taiwanese singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
- 1978 – Shirley Yeung, Hong Kong actress
- 1979 – Eric Johnson, American actor
- 1979 – Nicole Tubiola, American actress
- 1979 – Wendy van der Plank, English actress
- 1979 – Birgit Zotz, Austrian writer and anthropologist
- 1980 – Anomie Belle, American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer
- 1980 – Carsten Busch, German footballer
- 1980 – Aurélie Claudel, French model
- 1980 – Seiichiro Maki, Japanese footballer
- 1980 – Tácio Caetano Cruz Queiroz, Brazilian footballer
- 1981 – Randy Wayne, American actor
- 1982 – Ángeles Balbiani, Argentine actress
- 1982 – Abbie Cornish, Australian actress
- 1982 – Edwin Dewees, American mixed martial artist
- 1982 – Juan Martín Hernández, Argentine rugby player
- 1982 – Marquise Hill, American football player (d. 2007)
- 1982 – Yana Klochkova, Ukrainian swimmer
- 1982 – Jasmin Mäntylä, Finnish model and singer
- 1982 – Brit Marling, American actress, screenwriter, producer, and director
- 1982 – Marco Melandri, Italian motorcycle racer
- 1982 – Vassilis Spanoulis, Greek basketball player
- 1982 – Martin Vučić, Macedonian singer and drummer
- 1983 – Christian Chávez, Mexican singer and actor (RBD)
- 1983 – Andriy Hryvko, Ukrainian cyclist
- 1983 – Tina O'Brien, English actress
- 1984 – Stratos Perperoglou, Greek basketball player
- 1984 – Tooba Siddiqui, Pakistani model
- 1986 – Paul Biedermann, German swimmer
- 1986 – Valter Birsa, Slovenian footballer
- 1986 – Juan de la Rosa, Mexican boxer
- 1986 – Altair Jarabo, Mexican actress
- 1986 – Nancy Sumari, Tanzanian model, Miss World Africa 2005
- 1987 – Sidney Crosby, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Mustapha Dumbuya, English footballer
- 1987 – Ryan Lavarnway, American baseball player
- 1987 – Mimi Paley, American actress
- 1987 – Rouven Sattelmaier, German footballer
- 1988 – Liz Cochran, American model, Miss Alabama 2009
- 1988 – Melody Oliveria, American blogger
- 1988 – Erik Pieters, Dutch footballer
- 1988 – Christoph Watrin, German singer and dancer (US5)
- 1988 – Beanie Wells, American football player
- 1989 – DeMar DeRozan, American basketball player
- 1990 – Helen Flanagan, English actress
- 1991 – Mike Trout, American baseball player
- 1991 – Mitchell te Vrede, Dutch footballer
- 1993 – Zaur Sizo, Russian footballer
- 1996 – Tessa Allen, American actress
- 1996 – Liam James, Canadian actor
- 461 – Majorian, Roman emperor (b. 420)
- 479 – Emperor Yūryaku of Japan
- 1106 – Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1050)
- 1485 – Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany (b. 1454)
- 1613 – Thomas Fleming, English judge (b. 1544)
- 1616 – Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect, designed Teatro Olimpico (b. 1548)
- 1635 – Friedrich Spee, German writer (b. 1591)
- 1639 – Martin van den Hove, Dutch scientist (b. 1605)
- 1661 – Jin Shengtan, Chinese writer, editor, and critic (b. 1608)
- 1817 – Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, French economist and politician (b. 1739)
- 1823 – Mátyás Laáb, Burgenland Croatian writer and translator (b. 1746)
- 1834 – Joseph Marie Jacquard, French weaver and inventor, invented the Jacquard loom (b. 1752)
- 1848 – Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (b. 1779)
- 1855 – Mariano Arista, Mexican politician, 19th President of Mexico (b. 1802)
- 1864 – Li Xiucheng, Chinese general (b. 1823)
- 1893 – Alfredo Catalani, Italian composer (b. 1854)
- 1899 – Jacob Maris, Dutch painter (b. 1837)
- 1904 – Louis Dutfoy, French target shooter (b. 1860)
- 1912 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss scientist (b. 1841)
- 1917 – Edwin Harris Dunning, English pilot (b. 1891)
- 1938 – Constantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (b. 1863)
- 1941 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
- 1945 – Yi Wu, Korean prince (b. 1912)
- 1946 – George Wilkinson, English water polo player (b. 1879)
- 1948 – Charles Bryant, English actor and director (b. 1879)
- 1953 – Abner Powell, American baseball player (b. 1860)
- 1957 – Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (b. 1892)
- 1960 – Luis Ángel Firpo, Argentine Boxer (b. 1894)
- 1969 – Joseph Kosma, French composer (b. 1905)
- 1970 – Harold Haley, American judge (b. 1904)
- 1970 – Jonathan P. Jackson, bodyguard and negotiator of the Marin County Civic Center shootout (b. 1953)
- 1972 – Joi Lansing, American model and actress (b. 1929)
- 1972 – Aspasia Manos, Greek wife of king Alexander of Greece (b. 1896)
- 1973 – Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (b. 1895)
- 1974 – Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet (b. 1925)
- 1974 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
- 1984 – Esther Phillips, American singer (b. 1935)
- 1985 – Grayson Hall, American actress (b. 1923)
- 1987 – Camille Chamoun, Lebanese politician, 7th President of Lebanon (b. 1900)
- 1989 – Mickey Leland, American politician (b. 1944)
- 1991 – Billy T. James, New Zealand comedian and actor (b. 1944)
- 1992 – John Anderson, American actor (b. 1922)
- 1994 – Larry Martyn, English actor (b. 1934)
- 1995 – Brigid Brophy, English author (b. 1929)
- 1999 – Brion James, American actor (b. 1945)
- 2003 – Mickey McDermott, American baseball player (b. 1929)
- 2004 – Red Adair, American firefighter (b. 1915)
- 2004 – Colin Bibby, English ornithologist (b. 1948)
- 2005 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist (b. 1938)
- 2006 – Mary Anderson Bain, American politician (b. 1911)
- 2007 – Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, and producer (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Hal Fishman, American journalist (b. 1931)
- 2007 – Angus Tait, New Zealand businessman, founded Tait Communications (b. 1919)
- 2008 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (b. 1931)
- 2008 – Andrea Pininfarina, Italian engineer (b. 1957)
- 2009 – Louis E. Saavedra, American politician, 48th Mayor of Albuquerque (b. 1933)
- 2009 – Mike Seeger, American singer-songwriter and musician (New Lost City Ramblers) (b. 1933)
- 2010 – Roberto Cantoral, Mexican singer-songwriter (b. 1935)
- 2010 – John Nelder, British statistician (b. 1924)
- 2011 – Mark Hatfield, American politician, 29th Governor of Oregon (b. 1922)
- 2011 – Nancy Wake, New Zealand-English war agent (b. 1912)
- 2011 – Joe Yamanaka, Japanese singer and actor (Flower Travellin' Band and The Wailers Band) (b. 1946)
- 2012 – Murtuz Alasgarov, Azerbaijani politician (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Judith Crist, American critic (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Vladimir Vasilyevich Kobzev, Russian footballer and coach (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Anna Piaggi, Italian writer (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Veljko Rogošić, Croatian swimmer (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Hans Hammond Rossbach, Norwegian politician (b. 1931)
- 2012 – John Joseph Swaine, Hong Kong politician (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Marvin Lee Wilson, American convicted murderer (b. 1958)
- 2012 – Mayer Zald, American sociologist
- 2012 – Dušan Zbavitel, Czech indologist and author (b. 1925)
Holidays and observances[edit]
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