Historical Events
- Aug 8 W.K. Kellogg invents corn flakes cereal
Historic Invention
Aug 9 Rudolf Diesel of Germany obtains patent #608,845 for his internal combustion engine, later known as the diesel engine
- Aug 12 Hawaii is formally annexed to US
Spain Declares War Against the United States
Aug 12 Peace protocol ends Spanish–American War, signed
Victory in Battle
Aug 13 US forces under Admiral George Dewey captures Manila during Spanish–American War
- Aug 16 Edwin Prescott patents roller coaster
- Aug 22 US National Championship Men's Tennis, Newport, RI: Malcolm Whitman wins first of 3 straight US singles titles; beats Dwight F. Davis 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
- Aug 25 700 Greeks and 15 Englishmen are slaughtered by the Turks in Heraklion, Greece.
- Aug 28 Caleb Bradham renames his carbonated soft drink "Pepsi-Cola".
- Aug 29 The Goodyear tire company founded
Famous Birthdays
- Aug 1 Morris Stoloff, American violinist, Academy Award-winning composer, music director (Columbia Pictures, 1938-62), and orchestra leader (Moonglow/Theme from Picnic), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1980)
- Aug 3 Karl Kehrle, Benedictine monk and beekeeper, born in Mittelbiberach, Germany (d. 1996)
- Aug 4 Ernesto Maserati, Italian auto racer and engineer (director, chief engineer Maserati of Modena), born in Bologna, Italy (d. 1975)
- Aug 8 Paul Belmondo, French sculptor (Bathing Woman, Orleans), born in Algiers, French Algeria (d. 1982)
- Aug 8 Alexis Minotis [Alexandros Minotakis], Greek actor (The Merchant of Venice, King Lear), born in Chania, Crete, Greece (d. 1990)
- Aug 9 David de Jong, Dutch writer (Mutiny on the Canal)
Jack Haley
Aug 10 (John Joseph) "Jack" Haley, American vaudevillle and screen actor, singer, and dancer (The Wizard of Oz -"Tin Man"; Higher and Higher), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1979)
- Aug 11 Arthur Leslie Noel Douglas Houghton, politician/trade unionist
- Aug 12 Oscar Homolka, Hungarian actor (Sabotage, The Seven Year Itch, Ball of Fire, I Remember Mama), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1978)
- Aug 13 Jean Borotra, French tennis player (Wimbledon 1924, 26), born in Biarritz, France (d. 1994)
- Aug 13 Regis Toomey, American actor (Burke's Law, Petticoat Junction), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1991)
- Aug 15 Lillian Carter, US President Jimmy Carter's (1977-1981) mom, born in Richland, Georgia (d. 1983)
- Aug 15 Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet (The Beetle), born in Zhmerynka, Ukraine (d. 1966)
- Aug 17 Gerard Schmook, Flemish librarian/historian/custodian
- Aug 20 Gerard Kraus, Dutch psychiatrist and director Santpoort (Insanity in Netherlands) (d. 1956)
- Aug 20 Leopold Infeld, Polish nuclear physicist (Whom the God's Love), born in Kraków, Poland (d. 1968)
- Aug 20 Vilhelm Moberg, Swedish author (The Emigrants) and historian, born in Moshultamåla, Sweden (d. 1973)
- Aug 22 Francine Larrimore, French actress (John Meade's Woman), born in Verdun, France (d. 1975)
- Aug 24 Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and physician (Nobel 1974), born in Longlier, Belgium (d. 1983)
- Aug 24 Malcolm Cowley, American author (Flowering of New England), born in Belsano, Pennsylvania (d. 1989)
- Aug 25 Helmut Hasse, German mathematician, born in Kassel, Germany (d. 1979)
- Aug 25 Arthur Wood, English cricket wicketkeeper (4 Tests, 11 dismissals), born in Bradford, England (d. 1973)
- Aug 26 Peggy Guggenheim, American art patron & collector, born in NYC, New York (d. 1979)
- Aug 26 Clem Beauchamp, American film actor, stuntman, and production manager (Tarzan; Dick Tracy; The Adventures of Superman), born in Bloomfield, Iowa (d. 1992)
- Aug 28 Ludwig Turek, German writer, born in Stendal, Germany (d. 1975)
- Aug 29 Preston Sturges [Edmund Biden], American director and screenwriter (Sullivan's Travels), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1959)
Shirley Booth
Aug 30 Shirley Booth, American actress (Hazel), born in NYC, New York (d. 1992)
- Aug 30 Kiki Cuyler, American Baseball HOF right fielder (World Series 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates; 4 × NL stolen base leader; MLB All Star 1934 Chicago Cubs), born in Harrisville, Michigan (d. 1950)
Famous Deaths
- Aug 8 Eugène Boudin, French painter (beach scenes), dies at 74
- Aug 9 Gardner Quincy Colton, American lecturer who was the first to use nitrous oxide as an anesthetic in dentistry, dies at 84
- Aug 17 Carl Johann Adam Zeller, Austrian composer, dies at 56
- Aug 21 Niccolò van Westerhout, Italian composer, dies at 40
- Aug 23 Joseph Robinson, Irish singer, organist and composer, dies at 82
- Aug 27 John Hopkinson, British physicist and electrical engineer (Hopkinson's Law) dies with three of his children in a mountaineering accident in the Pennine Alps, Switzerland at 49