27 August

410      The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days.

1172    Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned as junior king and queen of England.

1521    Josquin des Prez (died), Flemish composer (born 1450)

1577    Titian (died), Italian painter (born 1488)

1590    Pope Sixtus V (died) (born 1521)

1593    Pierre Barrière fails in his attempt to assassinate King Henry IV of France.

1664    Francisco de Zurbarán (died), Spanish painter (born 1598)

1724    John Joachim Zubly (born), Swiss-American pastor, planter, and politician (died 1781)

1770    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (born), German philosopher (died 1831)

1776    Battle of Long Island: in what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.

1803   Edward Beecher (born), American theologian (died 1895)

1809   Hannibal Hamlin (born), American politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (died 1891)

1828   Eise Eisinga (died), Dutch astronomer, built the Eisinga Planetarium (born 1744)

1832   Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrenders to U.S. authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.

1859    Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world’s first commercially successful oil well.

1861    American Civil War: Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

1865    James Henry Breasted (born), American archaeologist and historian (died 1935)

1871    Theodore Dreiser (born), American journalist and author (died 1945

1874    Carl Bosch (born), German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1940)

1875    Katharine McCormick (born), American biologist, philanthropist, and activist (died 1967)

1875    William Chapman Ralston (died), American businessman and financier, founded the Bank of California (born 1826)

1877    Charles Rolls (born), English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (died 1910)

1896   Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history (09:00 to 09:45), between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.

1904   John Hay Whitney (born), American businessman, publisher, and diplomat, founded J.H. Whitney & Company (died 1982)

1908   Kurt Wegner (born), German painter (died 1985)

1908   Lyndon B. Johnson (born), American commander and politician, 36th President of the United States (died 1973)

1909   Emil Christian Hansen (died), Danish physiologist and mycologist (born 1842)

1927    Five Canadian women file a petition to the Supreme Court of Canada, asking, “Does the word ‘Persons’ in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?”

1928   Joan Kroc (born), American philanthropist (died 2003)

1939    Edward Patten (born), American singer-songwriter and producer (Gladys Knight & the Pips) (died 2005)

1939    First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world’s first jet aircraft.

1942    Daryl Dragon (born), American keyboard player and songwriter (Captain & Tennille)

1943    Tuesday Weld (born), American actress and singer

1943    World War II: Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.

1949    Jeff Cook (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Alabama)

1950    Neil Murray (born), Scottish bass player and songwriter (Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Colosseum II, and Gogmagog)

1953    Alex Lifeson (born), Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Rush and Big Dirty Band)

1954    Derek Warwick (born), English race car driver

1957    Malaysia’s constitution comes into force.

1959    Gerhard Berger (born), Austrian race car driver

1961    Mark McConnell (born), American drummer (Blackfoot, Madam X, and Southern Rock Allstars) (died 2012)

1962    The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA.

1963    W. E. B. Du Bois (died), American sociologist, historian, and activist (born 1868)

1964    Gracie Allen (died), American actress and singer (born 1895)

1964    The Walt Disney musical film Mary Poppins is released.

1965    Le Corbusier (died), Swiss-French architect, designed the Philips Pavilion (born 1887)

1967    Brian Epstein (died), English businessman and manager (born 1934)

1969    Cesar Millan (born), Mexican-American dog trainer

1971    Bennett Cerf (died), American publisher, co-founded Random House (born 1898)

1975    Haile Selassie I (died), Ethiopian emperor (born 1892)

1976    Mark Webber (born), Australian race car driver

1979    A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills British retired admiral Louis Mountbatten and three others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Shortly after, 18 British Army soldiers are killed in an ambush near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland.

1979    Louis Mountbatten (died), 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, English admiral and politician, 44th Governor-General of India (born 1900)

1990   Stevie Ray Vaughan (died), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1954)

1991    Moldova declares independence from the USSR.

2003   Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.

2012   Russell Scott (died), American clown (born 1921)

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EO Smith

Interests include biological anthropology, evolution, social behavior, and human behavior. Conducted field research in the Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya and on Angaur, Palau, Micronesia, as well as research with captive nonhuman primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Institute for Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya.
EO Smith
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