Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index August 11 is the 223th day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 142 days remaining. Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances Events 480 BC - Persians under Xerxes defeat Spartans under King Leonidas in the Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans fight to the last man 480 BC - The Persian and Greek fleets also fight the indecisive Battle of Artemisium. 1918 - Great War - Battle of Amiens ends 1919 - Constitution of Weimar Republic adopted 1934 - Federal prison opened at Alcatraz Island 1943 - World War II - First Quebec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, T. V. Soong and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins. 1948 - Olympic games open in London 1951 - René Pleven becomes Prime Minister of France 1952 - Hussein proclaimed king of Jordan 1960 - Chad declares independence 1965 - Race riots begin in Watts area of Los Angeles, California 1966 - John Lennon held a press conference in Chicago excusing himself from the "Jesus affair" 1970 - Patent issued for the spork to the Van Brode Milling Company 1972 - Last United States ground combat unit departs South Vietnam 1994 - An Aviateca Boeing 737 crashes into Chichontepec volcano, El Salvador killing 65 2003 - NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history. 2003 - Jemaah Islamiah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. Births 1718 - Sir Frederick Haldimand - professional soldier 1807 - David Rice Atchison, American politician (†1886) 1833 - Robert G. Ingersoll, American political leader and orator, atheist, American Civil War Colonel († 1899) 1902 - Lloyd Nolan, actor († 1982) 1902 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist († 1986) 1905 - Erwin Chargaff, biochemist († 2002) 1921 - Alex Haley, historian, novelist († 1992) 1925 - Carl Rowan, journalist 1932 - Fernando Arrabal, playwright, novelist 1933 - Jerry Falwell, Christian preacher and politician 1943 - Abigail Folger, Coffee heiress. 1946 - Marilyn vos Savant, newspaper columnist 1950 - Steve Wozniak, personal computer pioneer 1950 - Gennidy Nikonov- Designer of the AN-94 assault rifle 1953 - Hulk Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea), professional wrestler 1954 - Joe Jackson, singer 1954 - Juan Maria Solare, music composer and pianist 1972 - Jonathon Prandi, male model 1974 - Audrey Mestre, freediver Deaths 480 BC - Leonidas, king of Sparta 1919 - Andrew Carnegie, industrialist 1937 - Edith Wharton, author 1953 - Tazio Nuvolari, racecar driver 1956 - Jackson Pollock, artist 1977 - Frederick Williams, inventor of the mercury tube Holidays and observances See Also: August 10 - August 12 - July 11 - September 11 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December\n This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.