What are the important events that happened on August 2? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
August 2: Facts & Myths About This Day
August 2 is the 215th day of the year 2020 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 151 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is July 20, 2020 – a Sunday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 26,605,440 minutes 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 ‘dihectadecapentagon’ 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 194 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 2,781 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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August 2 Historical Events
- 338 BC –A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean.
- 1830 –Charles X of France abdicates the throne in favor of his grandson Henri.
- 1870 –Tower Subway, the world’s first underground tube railway, opens in London.
- 1903 –Fall of the Ottoman Empire: an unsuccessful uprising led by the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization against Ottoman Turkey, also known as the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, takes place.
- 1916 –World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.
- 1918 –Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World War I.
- 1937 –The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
- 1944 –ASNOM: birth of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, celebrated as Day of the Republic in the Republic of Macedonia.
- 1945 –World War II: the Potsdam Conference, at which the Allied Powers discuss the future of defeated Germany, is concluded.
- 1964 –Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin incident – North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fire on the U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy.
Who were born on August 2?
- 1674 –Philip II, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France (d. 1723)
- 1828 –Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque, Spanish general (d. 1895)
- 1924 –James Baldwin, American writer (d. 1987)
- 1945 –Joanna Cassidy, American actress
- 1949 –James Fallows, American journalist
- 1960 –David Yow, American vocalist (Scratch Acid, The Jesus Lizard)
- 1961 –Pete de Freitas, born in Trinidad, drummer with Echo & the Bunnymen (d. 1989)
- 1973 –Jay Meetze, American conductor and impresario
- 1980 –Ugur Rifat Karlova, Turkish TV and stage entertainer
- 1988 –Rob Kwiet, Canadian ice hockey player
Who died on August 2?
- 1589 –King Henry III of France (b. 1551)
- 1849 –Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Egyptian military officer and statesman (b. 1769)
- 1889 –Eduardo Gutiérrez, Argentinian writer (b. 1851)
- 1922 –Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born Canadian inventor (b. 1847)
- 1929 –Mae Costello, American actress (b. 1882)
- 1967 –Walter Terence Stace, British philosopher (b. 1886)
- 1976 –Fritz Lang, Austrian film director (b. 1890)
- 1978 –Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (b. 1899)
- 2007 –Chauncey Bailey, American journalist and editor (b. 1950)
- 2007 –Holden Roberto, Angolan politician (b. 1923)
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