August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 132 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

Pre-1600

• 959 – Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège.
• 1140 – Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song Wars.
• 1169 – Battle of the Blacks: Uprising by the black African forces of the Fatimid army, along with a number of Egyptian emirs and commoners, against Saladin.
• 1192 – Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Sei-i Taishōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: the 12th day of the seventh month in the third year of the Kenkyū (建久) era).
• 1331 – King Stefan Uroš III, after months of anarchy, surrenders to his son and rival Stefan Dušan, who succeeds as King of Serbia.
• 1415 – Henry the Navigator leads Portuguese forces to victory over the Marinids at the Conquest of Ceuta.

1601–1900

• 1680 – Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.
• 1689 – The Battle of Dunkeld in Scotland.
• 1716 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The arrival of naval reinforcements and the news of the Battle of Petrovaradin force the Ottomans to abandon the Siege of Corfu, thus preserving the Ionian Islands under Venetian rule.
• 1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
• 1772 – King Gustav III completes his coup d'état by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing himself as an enlightened despot.
• 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondichéry.
• 1791 – A Vodou ceremony, led by Dutty Boukman, turns into a violent slave rebellion, beginning the Haitian Revolution.
• 1808 – Battle of Vimeiro: British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War.
• 1810 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.
• 1821 – Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances.
• 1831 – Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, which will claim the lives of 55 to 65 whites and about twice that number of blacks.
• 1852 – Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.
• 1858 – The first of the Lincoln–Douglas debates is held in Ottawa, Illinois.
• 1862 – The Stadtpark, the first public park in Vienna, opens to the public.
• 1863 – Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by pro-Confederate guerrillas known as Quantrill's Raiders.
• 1878 – The American Bar Association is founded in Saratoga Springs, New York.
• 1879 – The locals of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland report their having seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The apparition is later named “Our Lady of Knock” and the spot transformed into a Catholic pilgrimage site.
• 1883 – An F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.
• 1888 – The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.

1901–present

• 1901 – Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.
• 1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee.
• 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Charleroi, a successful German attack across the River Sambre that pre-empted a French offensive in the same area.
• 1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.
• 1942 – World War II: The Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.
• 1944 – Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.
• 1944 – World War II: Canadian and Polish units capture the strategically important town of Falaise, Calvados, France.
• 1945 – Physicist Harry Daghlian is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
• 1957 – The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.
• 1959 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii's admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day.
• 1963 – Xá Lợi Pagoda raids: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalizes Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
• 1965 – The Socialist Republic of Romania is proclaimed, following the adoption of a new constitution.
• 1968 – Cold War: Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.
• 1968 – James Anderson Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.
• 1971 – A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.
• 1982 – Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization's withdrawal from Lebanon.
• 1983 – Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. is assassinated at Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor).
• 1986 – Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometre (12 mi) range.
• 1988 – The 6.9 M_w  Nepal earthquake shakes the Nepal–India border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 709–1,450 people killed and thousands injured.
• 1991 – Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after its occupation by the Soviet Union since 1940.
• 1991 – Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.
• 1993 – NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.
• 1994 – Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 crashes in Douar Izounine, Morocco, killing all 44 people on board.
• 1995 – Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, attempts to divert to West Georgia Regional Airport after the left engine fails, but the aircraft crashes in Carroll County near Carrollton, Georgia, killing nine of the 29 people on board.
• 2000 – American golfer Tiger Woods wins the 82nd PGA Championship and becomes the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in a calendar year.
• 2013 – Hundreds of people are reported killed by chemical attacks in the Ghouta region of Syria.
• 2017 – A solar eclipse traverses the continental United States.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1165 – Philip II of France (d. 1223)
• 1481 – Jorge de Lencastre, Duke of Coimbra (d. 1550)
• 1535 – Shimazu Yoshihiro, Japanese general (d. 1619)
• 1552 – Muhammad Qadiri, Founder of the Naushahia branch of the Qadri order (d. 1654)
• 1567 – Francis de Sales, Swiss bishop and saint (d. 1622)
• 1579 – Henri, Duke of Rohan (d. 1638)
• 1597 – Roger Twysden, English historian and politician (d. 1672)

1601–1900

• 1625 – John Claypole, English politician (d. 1688)
• 1643 – Afonso VI of Portugal (d. 1683)
• 1660 – Hubert Gautier, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1737)
• 1665 – Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer and mathematician (d. 1729)
• 1670 – James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, French general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire (d. 1734)
• 1725 – Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter and educator (d. 1805)
• 1754 – William Murdoch, Scottish engineer and inventor, created gas lighting (d. 1839)
• 1754 – Banastre Tarleton, English general and politician (d. 1833)
• 1765 – William IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1837)
• 1789 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician and academic (d. 1857)
• 1798 – Jules Michelet, French historian and philosopher (d. 1874)
• 1800 – Hiram Walden, American general and politician (d. 1880)
• 1801 – Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch historian and politician (d. 1876)
• 1813 – Jean Stas, Belgian chemist and physician (d. 1891)
• 1816 – Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, French chemist and academic (d. 1856)
• 1823 – Nathaniel Everett Green, English painter and astronomer (d. 1899)
• 1826 – Carl Gegenbaur, German anatomist and academic (d. 1903)
• 1829 – Otto Goldschmidt, German composer, conductor and pianist (d. 1907)
• 1840 – Ferdinand Hamer, Dutch bishop and missionary (d. 1900)
• 1851 – Charles Barrois, French geologist and palaeontologist (d. 1939)
• 1856 – Medora de Vallombrosa, Marquise de Morès, American heiress (d. 1921)
• 1858 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (d. 1889)
• 1862 – Emilio Salgari, Italian journalist and author (d. 1911)
• 1869 – William Henry Ogilvie, Scottish-Australian poet and author (d. 1963)
• 1872 – Aubrey Beardsley, English author and illustrator (d. 1898)
• 1878 – Richard Girulatis, German footballer and manager (d. 1963)
• 1879 – Claude Grahame-White, English pilot and engineer (d. 1959)
• 1884 – Chandler Egan, American golfer and architect (d. 1936)
• 1885 – Édouard Fabre, Canadian runner (d. 1939)
• 1886 – Ruth Manning-Sanders, Welsh-English author and poet (d. 1988)
• 1887 – James Paul Moody, English sailor (d. 1912)
• 1891 – Emiliano Mercado del Toro, Puerto Rican-American soldier (d. 2007)
• 1892 – Charles Vanel, French actor and director (d. 1989)
• 1894 – Christian Schad, German painter (d. 1982)
• 1895 – Blossom Rock, American actress (d. 1978)
• 1897 – Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott, Scottish soldier and peer (d. 1966)

1901–present

• 1902 – Angel Karaliychev, Bulgarian author (d. 1972)
• 1903 – Kostas Giannidis, Greek pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1984)
• 1904 – Count Basie, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1984)
• 1905 – Bipin Gupta, Indian actor and producer (d. 1981)
• 1906 – Friz Freleng, American animator, director, and producer (d. 1995)
• 1907 – P. Jeevanandham, Indian lawyer and politician (d. 1963)
• 1909 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1992)
• 1912 – Toe Blake, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1995)
• 1914 – Doug Wright, English cricketer and coach (d. 1998)
• 1916 – Bill Lee, American actor and singer (d. 1980)
• 1916 – Consuelo Velázquez, Mexican pianist and songwriter (d. 2005)
• 1917 – Leonid Hurwicz, Russian economist and mathematician (d. 2008)
• 1918 – Billy Reay, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2004)
• 1921 – Reuven Feuerstein, Romanian-Israeli psychologist and academic (d. 2014)
• 1922 – Albert Irvin, English soldier and painter (d. 2015)
• 1923 – Keith Allen, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
• 1924 – Jack Buck, American sportscaster (d. 2002)
• 1924 – Jack Weston, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1926 – Can Yücel, Turkish poet and translator (d. 1999)
• 1927 – Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader, 16th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 2018)
• 1928 – Addison Farmer, American bassist (d. 1963)
• 1928 – Art Farmer, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1999)
• 1928 – Bud McFadin, American football player (d. 2006)
• 1929 – Herman Badillo, Puerto Rican-American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
• 1929 – X. J. Kennedy, American poet, translator, anthologist, editor
• 1929 – Ahmed Kathrada, South African politician and political prisoner (d. 2017)
• 1930 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (d. 2002)
• 1930 – Frank Perry, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
• 1932 – Menashe Kadishman, Israeli sculptor and painter (d. 2015)
• 1932 – Melvin Van Peebles, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2021)
• 1933 – Janet Baker, English soprano and educator
• 1933 – Michael Dacher, German mountaineer (d. 1994)
• 1933 – Barry Norman, English author and critic (d. 2017)
• 1933 – Erik Paaske, Danish actor and singer (d. 1992)
• 1934 – Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian lawyer and politician, 13th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2001)
• 1934 – Paul Panhuysen, Dutch composer (d. 2015)
• 1936 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player and coach (d. 1999)
• 1936 – Radish Tordia, Georgian painter and educator
• 1937 – Donald Dewar, Scottish politician, first First Minister of Scotland (d. 2000)
• 1937 – Gustavo Noboa, Ecuadorian academic and politician, 51st President of Ecuador (d. 2021)
• 1937 – Robert Stone, American novelist and short story writer (d. 2015)
• 1938 – Steve Cowper, American politician, 6th Governor of Alaska
• 1938 – Kenny Rogers, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (d. 2020)
• 1938 – Mike Weston, English rugby player (d. 2023)
• 1939 – James Burton, American Hall of Fame guitarist
• 1939 – Festus Mogae, Botswana economist and politician, third President of Botswana
• 1939 – Clarence Williams III, American actor (d. 2021)
• 1940 – Dominick Harrod, English journalist, historian, and author (d. 2013)
• 1940 – Endre Szemerédi, Hungarian-American mathematician and computer scientist
• 1941 – Jackie DeShannon, American singer-songwriter
• 1943 – Patrick Demarchelier, French photographer (d. 2022)
• 1943 – Jonathan Schell, American journalist and author (d. 2014)
• 1943 – Lucius Shepard, American author and critic (d. 2014)
• 1943 – Hugh Wilson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
• 1944 – Perry Christie, Bahamian politician, third Prime Minister of the Bahamas
• 1944 – Peter Weir, Australian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1945 – Basil Poledouris, Greek-American composer, conductor (d. 2006)
• 1945 – Celia Brayfield, English journalist and author
• 1945 – Jerry DaVanon, American baseball player
• 1945 – Willie Lanier, American football player
• 1945 – Patty McCormack, American actress
• 1947 – Carl Giammarese, American singer-songwriter and musician
• 1949 – Loretta Devine, American actress and singer
• 1949 – Daniel Sivan, Israeli scholar and academic
• 1950 – Patrick Juvet, Swiss singer-songwriter and model (d. 2021)
• 1950 – Arthur Bremer, American attempted assassin of George Wallace
• 1951 – Eric Goles, Chilean mathematician and computer scientist
• 1951 – Glenn Hughes, English musician
• 1951 – Yana Mintoff, Maltese politician, economist and educator
• 1951 – Chesley V. Morton, American businessman and politician
• 1952 – Keith Hart, Canadian firefighter, wrestler, and trainer
• 1952 – Jiří Paroubek, Czech soldier and politician, sixth Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
• 1952 – Bernadette Porter, English nun and educator
• 1952 – Joe Strummer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
• 1953 – Ivan Stang, American author, publisher, and director
• 1954 – Archie Griffin, American football player
• 1954 – Steve Smith, American drummer
• 1954 – Mark Williams, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter
• 1956 – Kim Cattrall, English-Canadian actress
• 1956 – Jon Tester, American farmer and politician
• 1957 – Frank Pastore, American baseball player and radio host (d. 2012)
• 1958 – Steve Case, American businessman, co-founder of America Online (AOL)
• 1958 – Mark Williams, Australian footballer and coach
• 1959 – Anne Hobbs, English tennis player and coach
• 1959 – Jim McMahon, American football player and coach
• 1961 – Gerardo Barbero, Argentinian chess player and coach (d. 2001)
• 1961 – V. B. Chandrasekhar, Indian cricketer and coach (d. 2019)
• 1961 – Stephen Hillenburg, American marine biologist, cartoonist, animator and creator of SpongeBob SquarePants (d. 2018)
• 1962 – Cleo King, American actress
• 1962 – John Korfas, Greek-American basketball player and coach
• 1962 – Gilberto Santa Rosa, Puerto Rican bandleader and singer of salsa and bolero
• 1962 – Pete Weber, American bowler
• 1963 – Mohammed VI of Morocco, King of Morocco
• 1963 – Nigel Pearson, English footballer and manager
• 1964 – Gary Elkerton, Australian surfer
• 1965 – Jim Bullinger, American baseball player
• 1966 – John Wetteland, American baseball player and coach
• 1967 – Darren Bewick, Australian footballer
• 1967 – Charb, French journalist and cartoonist (d. 2015)
• 1967 – Carrie-Anne Moss, Canadian actress
• 1967 – Serj Tankian, Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer
• 1968 – Dina Carroll, English singer-songwriter
• 1968 – Goran Ćurko, Serbian footballer
• 1968 – Laura Trevelyan, English journalist and author
• 1969 – Bruce Anstey, New Zealand motorcycle racer
• 1969 – Josée Chouinard, Canadian figure skater
• 1970 – Craig Counsell, American baseball player and coach
• 1970 – Erik Dekker, Dutch cyclist and manager
• 1970 – Cathy Weseluck, Canadian actress
• 1971 – Mamadou Diallo, Senegalese footballer
• 1971 – Robert Harvey, Australian footballer and coach
• 1971 – Liam Howlett, English keyboard player, DJ, and producer
• 1973 – Sergey Brin, Russian-American computer scientist and businessman, co-founded Google
• 1973 – Steve McKenna, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1974 – Martin Andanar, Filipino journalist and radio host
• 1974 – Paul Mellor, Australian rugby league player and referee
• 1975 – Simon Katich, Australian cricketer and manager
• 1975 – Alicia Witt, American actress and musician
• 1976 – Alex Brooks, American ice hockey player and scout
• 1976 – Jeff Cunningham, Jamaican-American soccer player
• 1976 – Robert Miles, Australian rugby league player
• 1976 – Ramón Vázquez, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
• 1978 – Peter Buxton, English rugby player and manager
• 1978 – Reuben Droughns, American football player and coach
• 1978 – Lee Gronkiewicz, American baseball player and coach
• 1978 – Alan Lee, Irish footballer and coach
• 1978 – Jason Marquis, American baseball player
• 1979 – Kelis, American singer-songwriter, producer, chef and author
• 1979 – Diego Klattenhoff, Canadian actor
• 1980 – Bryan Allen, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Burney Lamar, American race car driver
• 1980 – Paul Menard, American race car driver
• 1980 – Jasmin Wöhr, German tennis player
• 1981 – Jarrod Lyle, Australian golfer (d. 2018)
• 1981 – Cameron Winklevoss, American rower and businessman, co-founded ConnectU
• 1981 – Tyler Winklevoss, American rower and businessman, co-founded ConnectU
• 1981 – Ross Thomas, American actor
• 1982 – Jason Eaton, New Zealand rugby player
• 1982 – Omar Sachedina, Canadian television journalist, correspondent, and news anchor
• 1983 – Brody Jenner, American television personality and model
• 1983 – Scott McDonald, Australian footballer
• 1984 – Neil Dexter, South African cricketer
• 1984 – Melvin Upton, Jr., American baseball player
• 1985 – Nicolás Almagro, Spanish tennis player
• 1985 – Aleksandra Kiryashova, Russian pole vaulter
• 1985 – Alizée, French singer
• 1986 – Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter
• 1986 – Wout Brama, Dutch footballer
• 1986 – Koki Sakamoto, Japanese gymnast
• 1986 – Brooks Wheelan, American comedian and actor
• 1987 – DeWanna Bonner, American-Macedonian basketball player
• 1987 – Cody Kasch, American actor
• 1987 – J. D. Martinez, American baseball player
• 1987 – Jodie Meeks, American basketball player and coach
• 1988 – Robert Lewandowski, Polish footballer
• 1988 – Kacey Musgraves, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1989 – Charlison Benschop, Dutch footballer
• 1989 – James Davey, English rugby league player
• 1989 – Matteo Gentili, Italian footballer
• 1989 – Hayden Panettiere, American actress
• 1989 – Aleix Vidal, Spanish footballer
• 1990 – Bo Burnham, American comedian, musician, actor, filmmaker and poet
• 1990 – Christian Vázquez, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1991 – Leandro Bacuna, Dutch footballer
• 1992 – Brandon Drury, American baseball player
• 1992 – RJ Mitte, American actor
• 1992 – Felipe Nasr, Brazilian race car driver
• 1993 – Millie Bright, English footballer
• 1993 – Mike Evans, American football player
• 1995 – Dominik Kubalík, Czech ice hockey player
• 1996 – Karolína Muchová, Czech tennis player
• 1999 – Maxim Knight, American actor
• 2000 – Corbin Carroll, American baseball player

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 672 – Emperor Kōbun of Japan (b. 648)
• 784 – Alberic, archbishop of Utrecht
• 913 – Tang Daoxi, Chinese general
• 1131 – King Baldwin II of Jerusalem
• 1148 – William II, Count of Nevers (b. c. 1089)
• 1157 – Alfonso VII of León and Castile (b. 1105)
• 1245 – Alexander of Hales, English theologian
• 1271 – Alphonse, Count of Poitiers (b. 1220)
• 1534 – Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, 44th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1464)
• 1568 – Jean Parisot de Valette, 49th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1495)

1601–1900

• 1614 – Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian countess and purported serial killer (b. 1560)
• 1622 – Juan de Tassis, 2nd Count of Villamediana, Spanish poet and politician (b. 1582)
• 1627 – Jacques Mauduit, French composer and academic (b. 1557)
• 1673 – Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford, English soldier (b. 1599)
• 1689 – William Cleland, Scottish poet and soldier (b. 1661)
• 1762 – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1689)
• 1763 – Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1710)
• 1775 – Zahir al-Umar, Arabian ruler (b. 1690)
• 1796 – John McKinly, American physician and politician, first Governor of Delaware (b. 1721)
• 1814 – Benjamin Thompson, American-English physicist and colonel (b. 1753)
• 1835 – John MacCulloch, Scottish geologist and academic (b. 1773)
• 1836 – Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist and engineer (b. 1785)
• 1838 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German botanist and poet (b. 1781)
• 1853 – Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, French general (b. 1783)
• 1854 – Thomas Clayton, American lawyer and politician (b. 1777)
• 1867 – Juan Álvarez, Mexican general and president (1855) (b. 1790)
• 1870 – Ma Xinyi, Chinese general and politician, Viceroy of Liangjiang (b. 1821)
• 1888 – James Farnell, Australian politician, eighth Premier of New South Wales (b. 1825)

1901–present

• 1905 – Alexander von Oettingen, Estonian theologian and statistician (b. 1827)
• 1910 – Bertalan Székely, Hungarian painter and academic (b. 1835)
• 1911 – Mahboob Ali Khan, sixth Nizam of Hyderabad State (b. 1866)
• 1919 – Laurence Doherty, English tennis player (b. 1875)
• 1935 – John Hartley, English tennis player (b. 1849)
• 1940 – Hermann Obrecht, Swiss lawyer and politician (b. 1882)
• 1940 – Ernest Thayer, American poet and author (b. 1863)
• 1940 – Leon Trotsky, Russian theorist and politician, founded the Red Army (b. 1879)
• 1943 – Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
• 1947 – Ettore Bugatti, Italian-French engineer and businessman, founded Bugatti (b. 1881)
• 1951 – Constant Lambert, English composer and conductor (b. 1905)
• 1957 – Mait Metsanurk, Estonian author and playwright (b. 1879)
• 1957 – Nels Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
• 1957 – Harald Sverdrup, Norwegian meteorologist and oceanographer (b. 1888)
• 1960 – David B. Steinman, American engineer, designed the Mackinac Bridge (b. 1886)
• 1964 – Palmiro Togliatti, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Justice (b. 1893)
• 1968 – Germaine Guèvremont, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1893)
• 1971 – George Jackson, American activist and author, co-founded the Black Guerrilla Family (b. 1941)
• 1974 – Buford Pusser, American police officer (b. 1937)
• 1974 – Kirpal Singh, Indian spiritual master (b. 1894)
• 1978 – Charles Eames, American architect, co-designed the Eames House (b. 1907)
• 1979 – Giuseppe Meazza, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1910)
• 1981 – Kaka Kalelkar, Indian Hindi Writer(b. 1885)
• 1983 – Benigno Aquino Jr., Filipino journalist and politician (b. 1932)
• 1988 – Teodoro de Villa Diaz, Filipino guitarist and songwriter (b. 1963)
• 1988 – Ray Eames, American architect, co-designed the Eames House (b. 1912)
• 1989 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1945)
• 1993 – Tatiana Troyanos, American soprano and actress (b. 1938)
• 1995 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-American astrophysicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
• 1995 – Chuck Stevenson, American race car driver (b. 1919)
• 1996 – Mary Two-Axe Earley, Canadian indigenous women's rights activist (b. 1911)
• 2000 – Tomata du Plenty, American singer-songwriter and playwright (b. 1948)
• 2000 – Daniel Lisulo, Zambian politician, third Prime Minister of Zambia (b. 1930)
• 2000 – Andrzej Zawada, Polish mountaineer and author (b. 1928)
• 2001 – Calum MacKay, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1927)
• 2003 – John Coplans, British artist (b. 1920)
• 2003 – Kathy Wilkes, English philosopher and academic (b. 1946)
• 2004 – Sachidananda Routray, Indian Oriya-language poet (b. 1916)
• 2005 – Martin Dillon, American tenor and educator (b. 1957)
• 2005 – Robert Moog, American businessman, founded Moog Music (b. 1934)
• 2005 – Dahlia Ravikovitch, Israeli poet and translator (b. 1936)
• 2005 – Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1925)
• 2006 – Bismillah Khan, Indian musician, Bharat Ratna recipient (b. 1916)
• 2006 – Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, Dutch businessman and philanthropist (b. 1941)
• 2007 – Frank Bowe, American academic (b. 1947)
• 2007 – Siobhan Dowd, British author (b. 1960)
• 2007 – Elizabeth P. Hoisington, American general (b. 1918)
• 2008 – Jerry Finn, American engineer and producer (b. 1969)
• 2009 – Rex Shelley, Singaporean engineer and author (b. 1930)
• 2010 – Rodolfo Enrique Fogwill, Argentinean sociologist and author (b. 1941)
• 2012 – Georg Leber, German soldier and politician, Federal Minister of Defence for Germany (b. 1920)
• 2012 – J. Frank Raley Jr., American soldier and politician (b. 1926)
• 2012 – Don Raleigh, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1926)
• 2012 – Guy Spitaels, Belgian academic and politician, seventh Minister-President of Wallonia (b. 1931)
• 2012 – William Thurston, American mathematician and academic (b. 1946)
• 2013 – Jean Berkey, American lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Sid Bernstein, American record producer (b. 1918)
• 2013 – C. Gordon Fullerton, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Fred Martin, Scottish footballer (b. 1929)
• 2013 – Enos Nkala, Zimbabwean politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Defence (b. 1932)
• 2014 – Gerry Anderson, Irish radio and television host (b. 1944)
• 2014 – Helen Bamber, English psychotherapist and academic (b. 1925)
• 2014 – Steven R. Nagel, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1946)
• 2014 – Jean Redpath, Scottish singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
• 2014 – Albert Reynolds, Irish businessman and politician, ninth Taoiseach of Ireland (b. 1932)
• 2015 – Colin Beyer, New Zealand lawyer and businessman (b. 1938)
• 2015 – Wang Dongxing, Chinese commander and politician (b. 1916)
• 2015 – Jimmy Evert, American tennis player and coach (b. 1924)
• 2017 – Bajram Rexhepi, First Kosovan Prime Ministers of UN mission administration in Kosovo (b. 1954)
• 2018 – Stefán Karl Stefánsson, Icelandic actor and singer (b. 1975)
• 2019 – Celso Piña, Mexican singer, composer, arranger, and accordionist (b. 1953)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abraham of Smolensk (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • Euprepius of Verona
  • Maximilian of Antioch
  • Our Lady of Knock
  • Pope Pius X
  • Sidonius Apollinaris
  • August 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Ninoy Aquino Day (Philippines)
• Youth Day (Morocco)
• World Senior Citizen's Day