August 2
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1909: The Lincoln penny is introduced
On this day in 1909, the very first pennies featuring Abraham Lincoln’s likeness were circulated—the first widely circulated U.S. coins to feature a real person. Read on to learn more about the fanfare and controversy surrounding the currency.
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© alptraum—iStock/Getty Images; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Featured Event
U.S. Department of Defense
Iraq invades Kuwait
Iraq invaded Kuwait on this day in 1990, and Saddam Hussein’s subsequent refusal to withdraw his troops sparked the Persian Gulf War, in which an international force led by the United States quickly defeated Iraq. [How much do you know about the history of war?]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Courtesy of Columbia Pictures Corporation
When the light hits me in a certain way…I’m almost attractive.
Irish actor Peter O’Toole, born this day in 1932, began his career on the stage but rose to fame with his successful motion-picture portrayal of T.E. Lawrence in David Lean’s epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
Famous Birthdays
More on August 2
© Francois Durand/Getty Images
2016
Chemist Ahmed H. Zewail, who in 1999 became the first Egyptian and the first Arab to win a Nobel Prize in a science category (chemistry), died at age 70. [Take our quiz about the Nobel Prize.]
© Shutterstock.com
2001
Robert Mueller is unanimously confirmed as director of the FBI. [Discover the history of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.]
Michel Lipchitz—AP/Shutterstock.com
1997
American writer William S. Burroughs—whose sexual explicitness and the frankness with which he dealt with his experiences as a drug addict won him a following among writers of the Beat movement—died at age 83. [Test your knowledge of American writers.]
© Tony Duffy/Getty Images
1992
At the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, American athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, considered by many to be the greatest female athlete ever, won the heptathlon, becoming the first person to win the event in consecutive Games. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about the Olympics.]
© Gianni Giansanti—Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
1980
A bomb detonated in Bologna’s Centrale railway station, killing 85 people and injuring more than 200. It was the deadliest act of terrorism during Italy’s Years of Lead, a period of unrest that began in the late 1960s and continued through the 1980s.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1943
PT-109, a U.S. Navy torpedo boat under John F. Kennedy’s command, was sunk by a Japanese destroyer during World War II. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about World War II.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1932
The first known photo of a positron is taken. [Take our quiz and test your knowledge of physics.]
UPI/Bettmann Archive
1924
American essayist, novelist, and playwright James Baldwin, who wrote with eloquence and passion on the subject of racism in the United States, was born. [Test your knowledge of African American writers.]
UPI/Bettmann Archive
1920
Marcus Garvey, Black leader and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, reached the height of his power as he presided at an international convention in New York City.
Culver Pictures
1876
Wild Bill Hickok—a frontiersman, marksman, gambler, and legend of the American West—was murdered in the city of Deadwood, in what is now South Dakota. [Take our quiz about American personalities.]
Gianni Dagli Orti/Shutterstock.com
1830
Charles X of France abdicated the throne, unable to resist the July Revolution. [How much do you know about French history?]
Architect of the Capitol
1776
Nearly a month after it was approved, the Declaration of Independence was actually first signed. [Who was the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence?]