August 11
3114 BC – The
Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the
Mayans, begins.
1858 – The
Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by
Charles Barrington accompanied by
Christian Almer and Peter Bohren.
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.
1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrive at the
Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.
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 and
Wi-Fi.
1968 – The last steam hauled train runs on
British Rail.
1972 – Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves
South Vietnam.
1984 –
"We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President
Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on
National Public Radio.
2003 – NATO takes over command of the
peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.
2006 – The oil tanker M/T Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing
the country's worst oil spill.
2015 – For the first time in
Major League Baseball history,
all 15 home teams won their game. Prior to this happening, the record was 12 which was reached over a century ago in 1914.
Births
1794 – James B. Longacre; 1897 – Enid Blyton;
1920 – Mike Douglas; 1921 – Alex Haley (
Roots); 1925 – Arlene Dahl; 1926 – Claus von Bülow; 1933 – Jerry Falwell; 1943 – Jim Kale

(The Guess Who), Pervez Musharraf, Denis Payton♪ ♫; 1946 – John Conlee♪ ♫, Marilyn vos Savant; 1949 – Eric Carmen♪ ♫; 1950 – Erik Brann

(Iron Butterfly); 1950 – Steve Wozniak

; 1952 – Bob Mothersbaugh

(Devo); 1953 – Hulk Hogan; 1954 – Bryan Bassett

(Wild Cherry, Foghat, and Molly Hatchet), Joe Jackson♪ ♫; 1957 – Richie Ramone

; 1965 – Embeth Davidtz, Viola Davis, Duane Martin, Shinji Mikami (created video game
Resident Evil); 1967 – Joe Rogan; 1968 – Anna Gunn (
Breaking Bad); 1978 – Chris Kelly♪ ♫(Kris Kross); 1983 – Chris Hemsworth
Deaths
1596 – Hamnet Shakespeare (Bill's boy); 1919 – Andrew Carnegie; 1937 – Edith Wharton; 1954 – Santo Trafficante, Sr. (mob boss); 1956 – Jackson Pollock

; 1984 – Alfred A. Knopf, Sr.; 1988 – Anne Ramsey (
Throw Momma from the Train);
1991 – J. D. McDuffie
; 1994 – Peter Cushing; 1995 – Phil Harris♪ ♫ (the singer, not the captain of the
Cornelia Marie); 1996 – Mel Taylor

(The Ventures);
2006 – Mike Douglas; 2009 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver; 2011 – Jani Lane

(Warrant); 2012 – Michael Dokes

; 2014 – Robin Williams