August 25

Matthew Webb becomes first person to swim across English Channel (1875); Singer Aaliyah dies in plane crash (2001); Voyager 1 becomes first human-made object to enter interstellar space (2012); Astronaut Neil Armstrong dies (2012); Sen. John McCain dies (2018).

August 24

Mount Vesuvius erupts, killing up to 15,000 people in Pompeii (79); Thomas Edison files patent for the kinetoscope, an early motion-picture viewer (1891); Brazilian author Paulo Coelho born (1947); Windows 95 released (1995).

August 23

Actor River Phoenix born (1970); Salad Bowl strike begins; largest farmworker strike in US history (1970); Kobe Bryant born (1978); 12-time Olympic swimming medalist Natalie Coughlin born (1982); India becomes fourth country to successfully land on the moon (2023).  

August 22

 First Geneva Convention held (1864); American poet Dorothy Parker born (1893); Cadillac Motor Co. founded (1902); Althea Gibson is first African American to compete in a US national tennis tournament (1950); Black Panther Party founder Huey Newton is murdered (1989).

August 21

Nat Turner leads rebellion of enslaved people (1831); "Mona Lisa" stolen from The Louvre Museum, is recovered two years later (1911); Basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain born (1936); Hawaii becomes 50th US state (1959); Usain Bolt born (1986).

August 20

First around-the-world telegram sent (1911); "Valley of the Dolls" author Jacqueline Susann is born (1918); Actress Amy Adams born (1974); NASA launches Viking 1 probe toward Mars (1975); Comedian Jerry Lewis dies (2017).

August 19

Fashion designer Coco Chanel born (1883); Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500, hosts first race (1909); Former President Bill Clinton born (1946); Comedian Groucho Marx dies (1977); Final US combat brigade leaves Iraq (2010).