August 6th

Curiosity, a SUV-size rover, successfully landed on Mars. The rover's research has been planned for the next two years, but since Curiosity's electricity is powered by plutonium, it could be operational and provide insight into Mars for decades to come.

Insurgents shot down a U.S. military helicopter in Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the elite Navy commando unit that had slain Osama bin Laden. seven Afghan commandos also died.

Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice by a Senate vote of 68-31.

The government declared that Army scientist Bruce Ivins was solely responsible for the anthrax attacks that killed five in 2001. (Ivins had committed suicide on July 29.).

The Crandall Canyon Mine in central Utah collapsed, trapping six coal miners. (All six miners died, along with three rescuers.).

Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy to replace Gray Davis as governor of California to Jay Leno on the Tonight Show.

British prime minister Tony Blair and Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams meet—the first time in 76 years that a British leader and an IRA ally meet.

NASA announces that life may have existed on Mars after examining meteorite ALH84001, thought to be from Mars.

Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet.

Pope Paul VI died at age 80.

President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed the poll taxes and literacy tests that had restricted black voter registration in the South.

Jamaica became an independent dominion within the Commonwealth of Nations.

Voting Rights Act Becomes Law in the United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act, which prohibited any discrimination in voting. The act enforces the 14th and 15th amendments to the US Constitution.

Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the US B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay".

Gertrude Ederle became the first U.S. woman to swim across the English Channel.

Austria-Hungary declared war against Russia, and Serbia declared war against Germany at the outbreak of World War I.

The electric chair was used for the first time, to execute a convicted murderer at Auburn State Prison in New York.

Upper Peru became the autonomous republic of Bolivia.

The Holy Roman Empire ended with the abdication of Emperor Francis II.

The Treaty of The Hague is signed whereby the Dutch Republic sells New Holland (Brazil) for 63 tonnes of gold to Portugal.