1609 – Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
1804 – Alicia Meynell completed a four-mile racecourse in York, Britain, to become the first known female jockey.
1825 – Uruguay declared its independence from Brazil.
1837 – Henry William Crawford of London patented the process of producing galvanized iron.
1917 – The first significant step toward the Indianization of the British Indian Army was initiated when seven Indians serving in the British Indian Army were granted the King’s Commission in the infantry and the Cavalry.
1919 – The first scheduled international air service begins between Paris and London.
1944 – Paris was liberated by Allies countries in World War II.
1960 – 16th Rome Olympics started in Rome, Italy.
1980 – Zimbabwe merged into United Nations.
1991 – Linux Torvalds announced the first version of Linux.
Famous Birthdays – August 25
1530 – Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV), Russia tsar who executed more than 3000, including the royal heir.
1819 – Allan Pinkerton, Scottish founder of the famous Pinkerton National Detective Agency in America, which specialized in railway theft.
1930 – Sean Connery, the Scottish actor who played the leading role in seven James Bond movies. He won Oscars for best supporting actor in The Untouchables.
1936 – Giridharilal Kedia. Indian businessman and founder of the Image Institute of Technology and Management (IITM).
1941 – Ashok Patki, Indian music director and composer. He especially contributed to the Marathi film industry. He is famous for composing the song ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’.
1962 – Taslima Nasrin, Bangladeshi Swedish writer, author, feminist, human rights activist. She is famous for her writings on women’s oppression and criticism of religion.
1994 – Vinesh Phogat, Indian woman Wrestler. Sister of Geeta Phogat and Babita Phogat. She is the first woman wrestler to win the Gold medal in both Commonwealth and Asian Games.
Death Anniversaries – August 25
1819 – James Watt, Scottish English engineer and instrument maker.
1822 – William Herschel, German English astronomer, and composer. Famous for founding Uranus Planet.
1867 – Michel Faraday, British physicist, and chemist. Best known for his discoveries of electromagnetic induction and electrolysis.
1892 – William Champ, First premier of Tasmania.
1900 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher. He was known for his critical writings on religion, morality, and contemporary culture.
1908 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist, and chemist. Noble prize laureate. First-person to discover evidence of radioactivity.
2000 – Carl Barks, American cartoonist, author, and painter. Best known for his work in Disney comic book, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck Stories and as the creator of Scrooge McDuck.
2008 – Ahmad Faraz, Pakistani Urdu poet. Famous for his Gazals such as Tanha Tanha, Ranjish Hi Sahi, and Silsiley Tor Gaya.
2012 – Neil Armstrong, an American astronaut and the first person to walk on Moon.
1945 : Vince McMahon, American wrestler, and entrepreneur, co-founder of WWE.
Death Anniversaries – August 24
1101 : Su Shi, Chinese author and poet.
1889 : Jan Ernst Matzeliger, Dutch shoemaker and entrepreneur. Known for his invention of the machine that allowed for the production of up to 700 pairs of shoes per day.
1943 : Simone Weil, French philosopher.
1967 : Henry J. Kaiser, American businessman, founded Kaiser Shipyards and Kaiser Aluminium.
1993 : D. B. Devdhar, Indian cricket player.
2000 : Kalyanji Virji shah, Indian music composer, an elder brother from the duo of musician Kalyan-Anand.
2014 : Richard Attenborough, British actor and film director best known for his Academy Award-winning movie, ‘Gandhi’.
2019 : Arun Jaitley, Indian politician and former minister of Law and Justice.
1933 : Mahatma Gandhi was released from Poona jail after his hunger strike (against the Government’s attitude to Untouchables) almost kills him.
1966 : Lunar Orbiter I took a photograph of the Earth from orbit around the moon.
1991 : The World Wide Web opened to the public.
1995 : Chief Minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu ushers in the cell phone revolution in India by making the first call to Union Telecom Minister Sukh Ram.
2011 : Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown.
Famous Birthdays – August 23
1754 : Louis XVI, French monarch responsible for the revolution and the last king of France.
1850 : Radha Gobinda Kar, eminent physician, and philanthropist of Bengal.
1944 : Saira Banu, Indian actress.
1947 : Willey Russell, English playwright from Liverpool.
1951 : Queen Noor, Queen of Jordan.
1973 : Vani Kapoor, Indian actress, and model.
Death Anniversaries – August 23
93 AD : Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman general, renowned for his conquest in Britain.
1892 : Deodoro da Fonseca, Brazilian field marshal, and politician, 1st President of Brazil.
1926 : Rudolf Valentino, screen actor, the idol of millions.
1982 : Stanford Moore, American biochemist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate.
1994 : Arti Saha, first Indian female swimmer who swam across English Chanel.
1997 : John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate.
