This Day in History

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August 11

3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begins.

1858 – The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.

1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.

1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.

1968 – The last steam hauled train runs on British Rail.

1972 – Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.

1984 – "We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.

2003 – NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.

2006 – The oil tanker M/T Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill.

2015 – For the first time in Major League Baseball history, all 15 home teams won their game. Prior to this happening, the record was 12 which was reached over a century ago in 1914.

Births

1794 – James B. Longacre; 1897 – Enid Blyton; 1920 – Mike Douglas; 1921 – Alex Haley (Roots); 1925 – Arlene Dahl; 1926 – Claus von Bülow; 1933 – Jerry Falwell; 1943 – Jim Kale(The Guess Who), Pervez Musharraf, Denis Payton♪ ♫; 1946 – John Conlee♪ ♫, Marilyn vos Savant; 1949 – Eric Carmen♪ ♫; 1950 – Erik Brann(Iron Butterfly); 1950 – Steve Wozniak; 1952 – Bob Mothersbaugh(Devo); 1953 – Hulk Hogan; 1954 – Bryan Bassett(Wild Cherry, Foghat, and Molly Hatchet), Joe Jackson♪ ♫; 1957 – Richie Ramone; 1965 – Embeth Davidtz, Viola Davis, Duane Martin, Shinji Mikami (created video game Resident Evil); 1967 – Joe Rogan; 1968 – Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad); 1978 – Chris Kelly♪ ♫(Kris Kross); 1983 – Chris Hemsworth

Deaths

1596 – Hamnet Shakespeare (Bill's boy); 1919 – Andrew Carnegie; 1937 – Edith Wharton; 1954 – Santo Trafficante, Sr. (mob boss); 1956 – Jackson Pollock; 1984 – Alfred A. Knopf, Sr.; 1988 – Anne Ramsey (Throw Momma from the Train); 1991 – J. D. McDuffie; 1994 – Peter Cushing; 1995 – Phil Harris♪ ♫ (the singer, not the captain of the Cornelia Marie); 1996 – Mel Taylor(The Ventures); 2006 – Mike Douglas; 2009 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver; 2011 – Jani Lane(Warrant); 2012 – Michael Dokes; 2014 – Robin Williams