Daily Calendar for Friday, August 2, 2024
Died
- King William II of England –
- Wild Bill Hickok (frontiersman) –
- Alexander Graham Bell (inventor) –
- Warren G. Harding (29th U.S. president) –
- Shari Lewis (actress and puppeteer, best known for Lamb Chop) –
- Francis "Frank" Gouin (plant physiologist) –
Born
- Pierre-Charles L'Enfant (architect) –
- Leopold Gmelin (chemist) –
- Jack Warner (the man behind the development of Warner Brothers Studios) –
- James Baldwin (author) –
- Caroll O'Connor (actor) –
- Peter O'Toole (actor) –
- Mary Louise Parker (actress) –
- Tim Wakefield (baseball player) –
- Jacinda Barrett (model & actress) –
- Hallie Kate Eisenberg (actress) –
Events
- Official signing of enlarged copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence –
- Street letter boxes installed in Boston and N.Y.C., first in U.S. –
- In San Francisco, California, at four o’clock in the morning, Andrew Smith Hallidie successfully tested the world’s first cable car –
- The Oleomargarine Act established the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) laboratory system –
- The Lincoln Cent was issued to replace the Indian Head Cent –
- Adolf Hitler appointed himself dictator of Germany –
- Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President FDR explaining the possibility of an atomic bomb, thus marking the beginning of atomic weaponry –
- Olivia Newton-John’s “Magic” topped charts –
- Iraq invaded Kuwait –
- Viking ship replica Gaia arrived at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland –
- Library of Congress announced Charles Simic to be the 15th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry –
- Yasmin Fudakowska-Gow began 32-hour yoga marathon in Quebec –
Weather
- Offshore hurricane battered fishing fleet and lightship near Nantucket, Massachusetts –
- It was 107 degrees F in Massachusetts, 105 degrees in Maine and New Hampshire, and 104 degrees in Rhode Island –
- Both New Bedford and Chester, Massachusetts, reported a high temperature of 107F (42C), setting a new state record. –
- During a heat wave, Sandi Fontaine successfully baked cookies on her vehicle’s dashboard in Bedford, New Hampshire –