Saturday, August 06, 2005

On This Day: Saturday August 6, 2005 This is the 218th day of the year, with 147 days remaining in 2005. Fact of the Day: atomic bomb H.G. Wells was the first to use the term 'atomic bomb' (1914) and 'ground zero' was first used in reference to the devastation left by an atomic bomb (particularly Hiroshima). The term 'nuclear bomb' encompasses both 'atomic bomb' and 'hydrogen bomb.' Holidays Ecuador: National Day. Bolivia: Independence Day. Events 1787 - Delegates to the Constitutional Convention began debating the first complete draft of the proposed Constitution of the United States of America, in Philadelphia. 1806 - The Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist as Emperor Francis I abdicated. 1825 - Bolivia declared its independence from Peru. 1889 - The screw bottle top was patented by Dan Rylands of Hope Glass Works, Yorkshire. 1890 - At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electrocution in history was carried out against William Kemmler, who had been convicted of murdering his lover, Matilda Ziegler, with an axe. 1890 - Cy Young pitched his first professional game, and won it. 1926 - Gertrude Ederle of New York became the first American woman to swim the English Channel, in about 14.5 hours. 1926 - Warner Brothers premiered its "Vitaphone" talking movie system in New York. 1945 - The United States dropped an atomic bomb from the Enola Gay on Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 140,000 people in the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare. 1962 - Jamaica became an independent dominion within the British Commonwealth. 1965 - President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. 1992 - Tim Berners-Lee put the first website online; it explained the World Wide Web and described how to use it. Births 1809 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet laureate. 1881 - Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish Nobel Prize-winning bacteriologist, discoverer of penicillin. 1881 - Louella Parsons (Oettinger), American gossip columnist. 1911 - Lucille Ball, American Emmy Award-winning comedienne, actress. 1917 - Robert Mitchum, American actor. 1928 - Andy Warhol (Warhola), American pop artist. Deaths 1623 - Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare. 1973 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban dictator whose regime was toppled by Fidel Castro.

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