1942 – Major General Eugene Reybold of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizes the construction of facilities that would house the "Development of Substitute Materials" project, better known as the Manhattan Project.

On this day in history, August 13, 2004, iconic American chef Julia Child dies

2017 - The Unite the Right rally occurs in Charlottesville, Virginia, leading to the deaths of 3 and injuring nearly 50 more.

1994 – Major League Baseball players go on strike, eventually forcing the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.

1981 – The IBM Personal Computer is released.

1883 – The last quagga dies at the Natura Artis Magistra, a zoo in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

1865 – Joseph Lister, British surgeon and scientist, performs the first antiseptic surgery.

On this day in history, August 12, 1877, Thomas Edison invents the phonograph

1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi.

1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

On this day in history, August 11, 1964, Beatles' iconic film 'A Hard Day's Night' is released

On this day in history, August 10, 1776, Declaration of Independence reaches London

1945 – World War II: Nagasaki is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. Thirty-five thousand people are killed outright, including 23,200–28,200 Japanese war workers, 2,000 Korean forced workers, and 150 Japanese soldiers.

On this day in history, August 9, 1854, influential 'Walden' by Henry David Thoreau is published

2004 – A tour bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band dumps approximately 800 pounds of human waste onto a boat full of passengers.

1988 – The first night baseball game in the history of Chicago's Wrigley Field (game was rained out in the fourth inning).

1969 – At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the iconic photo that becomes the cover image of the Beatles' album Abbey Road.

1576 – The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on the island of Hven.

On this day in history, August 8, 1974, President Nixon announces his resignation

1944 – IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).