What are the important events that happened on August 21? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
August 21: Facts & Myths About This Day
August 21 is the 233rd day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 132 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Thursday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is August 8, 2025 – a Thursday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 487,704 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectatriacontatrigon’ day.
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Leo is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 180 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,626 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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August 21 Historical Events
- 1831 –Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion.
- 1911 –The Mona Lisa is stolen by a Louvre employee.
- 1918 –World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.
- 1942 –World War II: a Nazi flag is installed atop the Mount Elbrus.
- 1942 –World War II: the Guadalcanal campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.
- 1945 –Physicist Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
- 1969 –An Australian, Michael Dennis Rohan, sets the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire, a major catalyst of the formation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
- 1979 –Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.
- 2001 –NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
- 2001 –The Red Cross announces that a famine is striking Tajikistan, and calls for international financial aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Who were born on August 21?
- 1670 –James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, French military leader (d. 1734)
- 1951 –Eric Goles, Chilean mathematician and computer scientist
- 1957 –Steve Smith, American drummer (Journey)
- 1965 –Jim Bullinger, American baseball player
- 1973 –Sergey Brin, Co-founder of Google
- 1978 –Alan Lee, Irish footballer
- 1981 –Cameron Winklevoss, American Rower and Entrepeneur
- 1981 –Collie Buddz, (Colin Harper) Reggae & Dancehall artist
- 1982 –Jason Eaton, New Zealand All Black rugby player
- 1983 –Josh Harrington, American professional BMX rider
Who died on August 21?
- 1762 –Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English writer (b. 1689)
- 1943 –Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer, Nobel Prize (b. 1857)
- 1951 –Constant Lambert, British composer and conductor (b. 1905)
- 1957 –Nels Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
- 1971 –George Jackson, American Black Panther Party figure (b. 1941)
- 1979 –Giuseppe Meazza, Italian footballer (b. 1910)
- 1992 –Dai Vernon, Canadian magician (b. 1894)
- 1997 –Yuri Nikulin, Russian clown and actor (b. 1921)
- 2000 –Daniel Lisulo, Prime Minister of Zambia (b. 1930)
- 2000 –Tomata du Plenty, artist and lead singer of The Screamers. (b. 1948)
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