August 7 facts for kids

August 7 is a day filled with many interesting events throughout history! From ancient battles to modern space missions, people have been making history on this day for centuries. Let's explore some of the cool things that happened and important people who were born or passed away on August 7.

What Happened on August 7?

Important Events Through History

• In 626, two armies, the Avars and the Slavs, stopped their attack on the city of Constantinople (which is now Istanbul, Turkey).
• In 936, Otto I was crowned King of Germany. He later became a very powerful emperor.
• In 1679, a ship called Le Griffon made history by becoming the first ship to sail on the upper Great Lakes in North America.
• In 1714, the Russian Navy won its first big victory in the Battle of Gangut. This was a huge moment for Russia's naval power.
• In 1782, George Washington created the "Badge of Military Merit" to honor soldiers who were hurt in battle. Today, we know it as the Purple Heart.
• In 1789, the United States Department of War was created. This department was in charge of the country's military.
• In 1794, U.S. President George Washington used the military to stop the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania. This showed the power of the new federal government.
• In 1819, Simón Bolívar led his army to a big victory against Spain in the Battle of Boyacá, which was a key step for South American independence.
• In 1858, the very first game of Australian rules football was played between two schools, Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College.
• In 1909, Alice Huyler Ramsey and her friends became the first women to drive a car all the way across the United States! It took them 59 days to travel from New York to San Francisco.
• In 1927, the Peace Bridge opened, connecting Fort Erie, Ontario in Canada with Buffalo, New York in the U.S.
• In 1942, during World War II, the U.S. Marines started their first major attack of the war by landing on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. This was the start of the Guadalcanal Campaign.
• In 1944, IBM showed off the first computer that could be controlled by a program, called the Harvard Mark I. It was a huge step for computers!
• In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, finished its amazing 101-day journey across the Pacific Ocean. He wanted to show that ancient people could have traveled from South America by sea.
• In 1959, the Explorer 6 satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was part of the Explorer program to study space.
• In 1960, Ivory Coast became an independent country, gaining freedom from France.
• In 1962, a scientist named Frances Oldham Kelsey received a special award from the U.S. President. She bravely refused to approve a medicine called thalidomide because she knew it was unsafe.
• In 1964, the U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Lyndon B. Johnson more power to act in the Vietnam War.
• In 1974, Philippe Petit walked on a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, high up in the air!
• In 1976, the Viking 2 spacecraft entered orbit around the planet Mars, sending back important information.
• In 1987, Lynne Cox became the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing the chilly Bering Strait.
• In 1990, the first American soldiers arrived in Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War.
• In 1997, the Space Shuttle Discovery launched on its STS-85 mission from the Kennedy Space Center.
• In 1998, bombs exploded at United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, causing a lot of sadness and loss.
• In 2007, baseball star Barry Bonds hit his 756th career home run, breaking Hank Aaron's long-standing record.
• In 2008, the Russo-Georgian War began over the territory of South Ossetia.
• In 2020, Air India Express Flight 1344 crashed after overshooting the runway in India, sadly resulting in some lives lost.

People Born on This Day

Many famous and important people were born on August 7:

• In 1742, Nathanael Greene, an important American general during the American Revolutionary War, was born.
• In 1876, Mata Hari, a famous Dutch dancer and spy, was born.
• In 1903, Louis Leakey, a Kenyan-English scientist who studied ancient humans and their tools, was born. He made many important discoveries about human origins.
• In 1904, Ralph Bunche, an American political scientist and diplomat, was born. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the Middle East.
• In 1926, Stan Freberg, a funny American puppeteer and voice actor, was born.
• In 1928, James Randi, a Canadian-American magician and author who famously exposed fake psychics, was born.
• In 1932, Abebe Bikila, an amazing Ethiopian runner who won Olympic gold medals, was born.
• In 1942, Garrison Keillor, a well-known American humorist and radio host, was born.
• In 1942, Caetano Veloso, a famous Brazilian singer-songwriter, was born.
• In 1955, Wayne Knight, an American actor known for many roles, was born.
• In 1958, Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of the famous band Iron Maiden, was born.
• In 1960, David Duchovny, an American actor known for TV shows like The X-Files, was born.
• In 1966, Jimmy Wales, one of the co-founders of Wikipedia, was born!
• In 1975, Charlize Theron, a famous South African actress, was born.
• In 1987, Sidney Crosby, a Canadian ice hockey superstar, was born.
• In 1991, Mike Trout, one of the best American baseball players today, was born.

People Who Passed Away

Some notable people also passed away on August 7:

• In 1834, Joseph Marie Jacquard, a French inventor who created the Jacquard loom (a machine that made weaving patterns much easier), passed away.
• In 1848, Jöns Jacob Berzelius, a Swedish chemist who made many important discoveries in chemistry, passed away.
• In 1941, Rabindranath Tagore, a brilliant Indian author, poet, and playwright who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, passed away.
• In 1957, Oliver Hardy, one half of the famous comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, passed away.
• In 2005, Peter Jennings, a well-known Canadian-American journalist and news anchor, passed away.
• In 2015, Frances Oldham Kelsey, the brave Canadian pharmacologist mentioned earlier, passed away.
• In 2022, David McCullough, a famous American historian and author, passed away.
• In 2023, William Friedkin, an American film director known for classic movies, passed away.

Special Days and Celebrations

August 7 is a day for several special observances around the world:

• Assyrian Martyrs Day is a day of remembrance for the Assyrian people.
• Battle of Boyacá Day is celebrated in Colombia to remember the important battle that led to their independence.
• Emancipation Day (Saint Kitts and Nevis) is celebrated in Saint Kitts and Nevis.
• Republic Day (Ivory Coast) is celebrated in Ivory Coast to mark their independence.
• Youth Day is celebrated in Kiribati.
• National Purple Heart Day is observed in the United States to honor soldiers wounded in battle.

See also

In Spanish: 7 de agosto para niños