August 24 is the 236th day of the year (237th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 129 days remaining until the end of the year.
- 49 BC - Julius Caesar's general Gaius Scribonius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River by the Numidians under Publius Attius Varus and King Juba of Numidia. Curio commits suicide to avoid capture.
- 79 - Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash.
- 410 - The Visigoths under Alaric begin to pillage Rome for three days.
- 1200 - John of England, famous for issuing the first Magna Carta, married Isabella of Angouleme at the Bordeaux Cathedral.
- 1215 - Pope Innocent III declares Magna Carta invalid.
- 1349 - Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz after being blamed for the bubonic plague.
- 1391 - Jews massacred in Palma de Mallorca.
- 1456 - The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.
- 1511 - Alfonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Sultanate of Malacca.
- 1561 - Willem of Orange marries duchess Anna of Saxony.
- 1572 - Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre: On the orders of king Charles IX of France, a massacre of Huguenots (French Protestants) begins.
- 1608 - The first official English representative to India lands in Surat.
- 1662 - Act of Uniformity requires England to accept the Book of Common Prayer.
- 1682 - William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
- 1690 - Calcutta, India is founded.
- 1814 - British troops invade Washington, D.C. and burn down the White House and several other buildings.
- 1816 - The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 1820 - Constitutionalist insurrection at Oporto, Portugal; see Portugal's crises of the Nineteenth Century.
- 1821 - The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, now in Veracruz, Mexico, concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.
- 1831 - Charles Darwin is asked to travel on HMS Beagle.
- 1857 - The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in U.S. history.
- 1858 - In Richmond, Virginia, 90 blacks are arrested for learning.
- 1870 - The Wolseley Expedition reaches Manitoba to end the Red River Rebellion.
- 1875 - Captain Matthew Webb became first person to swim English Channel
- 1891 - Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.
- 1909 - Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.
- 1912 - Alaska becomes a United States territory.
- 1914 - World War I: German troops capture Namur.
- 1929 - Turkey and Persia sign a friendship treaty.
- 1929 - Riots in Palestine of 1929: 18 Jews in Safed, 67 in Hebron, and 22 in Jerusalem killed by Arab Palestinians.
- 1931 - France and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality/no attack treaty.
- 1931 - Resignation of the United Kingdom's Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.
- 1932 - Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).
- 1936 - The Australian Antarctic Territory is created.
- 1937 - In the Spanish Civil War, the Basque Army surrenders to the Italian Corpo Truppe Volontarie following the Santoña Agreement.
- 1939 - The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (also known as Nazi-Soviet Pact) is signed between German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
- 1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō is sunk and US carrier Enterprise heavily damaged.
- 1944 - World War II: Allied troops start the attack on Paris.
- 1949 - The treaty creating NATO goes into effect.
- 1950 - Edith Sampson becomes the first black U.S. delegate to the UN.
- 1954 - The Communist Control Act goes into effect. The American Communist Party is outlawed.
- 1954 - Getúlio Dornelles Vargas, president of Brazil, commits suicide and is succeeded by João Café Filho.
- 1960 - A temperature of −88°C (−127°F) is measured in Vostok, Antarctica — a world-record low.
- 1963 - The 200-metre freestyle is swum in less than 2 minutes for the first time by Don Schollander (1:58).
- 1967 - Led by Abbie Hoffman, a group of hippies temporarily disrupt trading at the NYSE by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing a cease in trading as the brokers scramble to grab them up.
- 1968 - France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.
- 1981 - Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.
- 1989 - Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
- 1989 - Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose is banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.
- 1989 - Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
- 1990 - A judge rules that Judas Priest are not responsible for the deaths of two youths who committed suicide after listening to the band's music.
- 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 1991 - Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
- 1992 - Diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and South Korea.
- 1992 - Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida as a Category 5 Hurricane.
- 1994 - Initial accord between Israel and the PLO about partial self-rule of the Palestinians on the West Bank.
- 1998 - The Netherlands is selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 Pan Am bombing.
- 1998 - First RFID human implantation tested in the United Kingdom.
- 2000 - Argon fluorohydride, the first Argon compound ever known, is discovered at the University of Helsinki by Finnish scientists.
- 2001 - Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from Toronto) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores.
- 2004 - 89 passengers die after two airliners explode after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow. The explosions were caused by suicide bombers (reportedly female) from the Russian Republic of Chechnya.
- 2006 - The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is considered a Dwarf Planet.
- 2008 - Closing Ceremony of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing.
- 1113 - Geoffrey of Anjou, Count of Anjou (d. 1151)
- 1198 - King Alexander II of Scotland (d. 1249)
- 1358 - King John I of Castile (d. 1390)
- 1393 - Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (d. 1458)
- 1552 - Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter (d. 1614)
- 1580 - John Taylor, English poet (d. 1654)
- 1591 - Robert Herrick, English poet (d. 1674)
- 1635 - Peder Griffenfeld, Danish statesman (d. 1699)
- 1669 - Alessandro Marcello, Italian composer (d. 1747)
- 1707 - Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, English Evangelical Revivalist (d. 1791)
- 1750 - Letizia Ramolino, mother of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1836)
- 1758 - Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1794)
- 1759 - William Wilberforce, English abolitionist (d. 1833)
- 1772 - King William I of the Netherlands (d. 1840)
- 1787 - James Weddell, English explorer of Antarctica (d. 1834)
- 1817 - Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (d. 1875)
- 1837 - Théodore Dubois, French composer and teacher (d. 1924)
- 1845 - James C. Calhoun, American soldier, brother-in-law of George Armstrong Custer (d. 1876)
- 1851 - Tom Kendall, Australian cricketer (d. 1924)
- 1852 - Deacon White, American baseball player (d. 1919)
- 1863 - Dragutin Lerman, Croatian explorer (d. 1918)
- 1865 - King Ferdinand I of Romania (d. 1927)
- 1872 - Max Beerbohm, British caricaturist (d. 1956)
- 1880 - Joshua Lionel Cowen, American entrepreneur (d. 1965)
- 1884 - Earl Derr Biggers, American author (d. 1933)
- 1887 - Harry Hooper, American baseball player (d. 1974)
- 1890 - Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaiian swimmer and surfer (d. 1968)
- 1890 - Jean Rhys, British writer (d. 1979)
- 1895 - Richard Cardinal Cushing, archbishop of Boston (d. 1970)
- 1897 - Fred Rose, American songwriter and publishing executive (d. 1954)
- 1898 - Malcolm Cowley, American literary critic (d. 1989)
- 1899 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (d. 1986)
- 1899 - Albert Claude, Belgian biologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1983)
- 1899 - Gaylord DuBois, American comic book writer (d. 1993)
- 1901 - Preston Foster, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1902 - Fernand Braudel, French historian (d. 1985)
- 1902 - Carlo Gambino, Sicilian-born American mafioso (d. 1976)
- 1903 - Karl Hanke, Nazi official (d. 1945)
- 1904 - Alice White, American actress (d. 1983)
- 1905 - Arthur Crudup, American singer and guitarist (d. 1976)
- 1905 - Siaka Stevens, President of Sierra Leone (d. 1988)
- 1909 - Ronald Grieveson, South African cricketer (d. 1998)
- 1911 - Lofty England, English automotive engineer and race team manager (d. 1995)
- 1912 - Durward Kirby, American television personality (d. 2000)
- 1915 - James Tiptree, Jr., American writer (d. 1987)
- 1916 - Léo Ferré, French composer and singer (d. 1993)
- 1916 - Hal Smith, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1917 - Dennis James, American game show host (d. 1997)
- 1918 - Sikander Bakht, Governor of Kerala (d. 2004)
- 1919 - Enrique Llanes, Mexican professional wrestler (d. 2004)
- 1920 - Alex Colville, Canadian painter
- 1921 - Sam Tingle, Zimbabwean racing driver
- 1922 - René Lévesque, Premier of Quebec (d. 1987)
- 1922 - Howard Zinn, American historian and activist
- 1923 - Arthur Jensen, American psychologist
- 1927 - David Ireland, Australian author
- 1927 - Harry Markowitz, American economist, Nobel laureate
- 1929 - Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader (d. 2004)
- 1929 - Betty Dodson, American feminist and sex educator
- 1932 - Robert D. Hales, LDS apostle
- 1934 - Kenny Baker, English actor
- 1936 - A. S. Byatt, English novelist
- 1936 - Kenny Guinn, American Governor, Nevada
- 1937 - Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, Nigerian politician (d. 1998)
- 1938 - Halldór Blöndal, Icelandic politician
- 1938 - David Freiberg, American bassist (Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Starship)
- 1938 - Mason Williams, American guitarist and composer
- 1940 - Francine Lalonde, Quebec politician
- 1942 - Max Cleland, American politician
- 1942 - Howard Jacobson, British novelist and newspaper columnist
- 1943 - John Cipollina, American guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (d. 1989)
- 1943 - Pini Zahavi, Israeli football agent
- 1944 - Bill Goldsworthy, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1996)
- 1944 - Gregory Jarvis, American astronaut (d. 1986)
- 1944 - Rocky Johnson, Canadian professional wrestler
- 1945 - Ken Hensley, English musician (Uriah Heep)
- 1945 - Vince McMahon, American professional wrestling promoter
- 1947 - Anne Archer, American actress
- 1947 - Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author
- 1947 - Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist
- 1947 - Vladimir Masorin, Russian admiral
- 1948 - Jean-Michel Jarre, French musician
- 1948 - Kim Sung-Il, Chief of Staff of Republic of Korea Air Force
- 1949 - Joe Regalbuto, American actor
- 1949 - Charles Rocket, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1950 - Tim White, American anthropologist
- 1951 - Orson Scott Card, American writer
- 1951 - Oscar Hijuelos, American author
- 1952 - Bob Corker, American politician, junior senator of Tennesee
- 1952 - Mike Shanahan, American football coach
- 1953 - Ron Holloway, American tenor saxophonist
- 1954 - Philippe Cataldo, French singer
- 1954 - Alain Daigle, French Canadian ice hockey player
- 1955 - Mike Huckabee, American politician, Governor/Presidential candidate
- 1956 - John Culberson, American politician
- 1956 - Dick Lee, Singaporean singer-songwriter
- 1957 - Jeffrey Daniel, American dancer and singer (Shalamar)
- 1957 - Stephen Fry, English comedian and actor
- 1958 - Steve Guttenberg, American actor
- 1958 - Tracy Harris, American artist
- 1958 - Chris Offutt, American author
- 1959 - Adrian Kuiper, former South African cricketer
- 1960 - Kim Christofte, Danish footballer
- 1960 - Takashi Miike, Japanese filmmaker
- 1960 - Cal Ripken, Jr., American baseball player
- 1961 - Ingrid Berghmans, Belgian judoka
- 1961 - Jared Harris, English actor
- 1962 - Craig Kilborn, American talk show host
- 1962 - David Koechner, American actor
- 1963 - John Bush, American singer (Anthrax)
- 1963 - Hideo Kojima, Japanese video game director
- 1964 - Dana Gould, American comedian and writer
- 1964 - Salizhan Sharipov, Russian cosmonaut
- 1965 - Marlee Matlin, American actress
- 1965 - Reggie Miller, American basketball player
- 1965 - Brian Rajadurai, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1967- Michael Thomas, English footballer
- 1968 - Benoît Brunet, French Canadian ice hockey player
- 1968 - Shoichi Funaki, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1968 - Andreas Kisser, Brazilian guitarist (Sepultura)
- 1968 - Tim Salmon, American baseball player
- 1970 - Dan Henderson, American Mixed martial artist
- 1970 - Tugay Kerimoğlu, Turkish footballer
- 1971 - Pierfrancesco Favino, Italian actor
- 1972 - Jean-Luc Brassard, Canadian freestyle skier
- 1973 - Andrew Brunette, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 - Dave Chappelle, American actor and Comedian
- 1973 - Inge de Bruijn, Dutch swimmer
- 1973 - Carmine Giovinazzo, American actor
- 1974 - Orla Fallon, Irish Vocalist for Celtic Woman
- 1974 - Jennifer Lien, American actress
- 1975 - Mark de Vries, Surinamese-Dutch footballer
- 1976 - Nordin Wooter, Dutch footballer
- 1977 - Denílson, Brazilian footballer
- 1977 - Robert Enke, German footballer
- 1977 - Per Gade, Danish footballer
- 1977 - John Green, American author/Nerdfighter
- 1977 - Jürgen Macho, Austrian footballer
- 1978 - Rafael Furcal, Dominican baseball player
- 1978 - Derek Morris, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 - Elva Hsiao, Taiwanese singer
- 1979 - Michael Redd, American basketball player
- 1979 - Orlando Engelaar, Dutch International Footballer
- 1980 - Sonja Bennett, Canadian actress
- 1981 - Jiro Wang Dong Cheng, Taiwanese singer, actor
- 1981 - Chad Michael Murray, American actor
- 1981 - Mercedes Scelba - Shorte, American model
- 1982 - Kim Kallstrom, Swedish footballer
- 1983 - Marcel Goc, German ice hockey player
- 1983 - Christopher Parker, British actor
- 1984 - Kyle Schmid, Canadian actor
- 1985 - Destiny Davis, American model and Playboy Playmate
- 1986 - Nick Adenhart, American baseball player
- 1987 - Anže Kopitar, Slovenian ice hockey player
- 1987 - Jon Scheyer, American basketball player
- 1988 - Rupert Grint, English actor
- 1995 - Runa Tsukishima, Japanese child model
- 2003 - Alexandre Coste, son of Albert II, Prince of Monaco
- 79 - Pliny the Elder, Roman writer and naturalist (b. 23)
- 1042 - Michael V, Byzantine Emperor) (b. 1015)
- 1103 - King Magnus III of Norway (b. 1073)
- 1217 - Eustace the Monk, French mercenary and pirate (b. c.1170)
- 1540 - Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, Italian painter (b. 1503)
- 1542 - Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (b. 1483)
- 1572 - Victims of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre:
- 1595 - Thomas Digges, English astronomer (b. 1546)
- 1647 - Nicholas Stone, English sculptor and architect (b. 1586)
- 1664 - Maria Cunitz, Silesian astronomer (b. c.1610)
- 1679 - Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz, French churchman and agitator (b. 1614)
- 1680 - Thomas Blood, Irish-born thief of the British crown jewels (b. 1618)
- 1683 - John Owen, English non-conformist theologian (b. 1616)
- 1759 - Ewald Christian von Kleist, German poet (b. 1715)
- 1779 - Saint Cosmas of Aetolia, Greek Orthodox martyr (b. 1714)
- 1798 - Thomas Alcock, English clergyman (b. 1709)
- 1818 - James Carr (Massachusetts politician), U.S. Congressman (b. 1777)
- 1831 - August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (b. 1760)
- 1832 - Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French mathematician (b. 1796)
- 1841 - Theodore Edward Hook, English author (b. 1788)
- 1888 - Rudolf Clausius, German physicist (b. 1822)
- 1921 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (b. 1886)
- 1940 - Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, German television pioneer (b. 1860)
- 1943 - Simone Weil, French philosopher and social activist (b. 1909)
- 1946 - James Clark McReynolds, U.S. Supreme Court justice (b. 1862)
- 1954 - Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (b. 1882)
- 1956 - Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese film director (b. 1898)
- 1958 - Paul Henry, Northern Irish artist (b. 1876)
- 1967 - Henry J. Kaiser, American industrialist (b. 1882)
- 1967 - Lam Bun, Hong Kong radio commentator (murdered) (b. 1930)
- 1974 - Alexander de Seversky, Russian-American aviation pioneer (b. 1894)
- 1977 - Buddy O'Connor, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1916)
- 1978 - Louis Prima, American band leader (b. 1910)
- 1979 - Hanna Reitsch, German test pilot (b. 1912)
- 1979 - Sampson Sievers, Russian Orthodox Christian monk and wonder-worker (b. 1898)
- 1980 - Yootha Joyce, British actress (b. 1927)
- 1982 - Félix-Antoine Savard, French Canadian catholic priest and novelist (b. 1896)
- 1985 - Paul Creston, American composer (b. 1906)
- 1987 - Malcolm Kirk, English wrestler (b. 1936)
- 1990 - Sergei Dovlatov, Russian writer (b. 1941)
- 1990 - Gailli AbedElrhman, Sudanese writer (b. 1931)
- 1991 - Bernard Castro, Italian inventor (b. 1904)
- 1995 - Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-born photographer (b. 1898)
- 1998 - E.G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1910)
- 1999 - Alexandre Lagoya, Greek-Italian classical guitarist (b. 1929)
- 2001 - Jane Greer, American actress (b. 1924)
- 2002 - Nikolay Guryanov Russian Orthodox Christian mystic and priest (b. 1909)
- 2003 - Sir Wilfred Thesiger, British explorer (b. 1910)
- 2004 - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (b. 1926)
- 2005 - Kaleth Morales, Colombian Vallenato singer (b. 1984)
- 2006 - Léopold Simoneau, French Canadian tenor (b. 1916)
- 2006 - Cristian Nemescu, Romanian film director (b. 1979)
- 2007 - Andrée P. Boucher, Mayor of Quebec City (b. 1937)
- 2007 - Aaron Russo, American film producer and director (b. 1943)
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