August 21
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1911: Theft of the Mona Lisa
On this day in 1911, a woman with a mysterious smile went missing. At the time, almost no one knew her name. Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre by Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian housepainter and handyman, and two accomplices. She wasn’t found for two years. In that time, though, her story made its way ’round the world. The media sensation surrounding the theft helped take the painting from relative obscurity to one of the world’s most famous artworks.
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Featured Event
Joseph Matus—MSFC/NASA
Total solar eclipse in the United States
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the continental United States experienced a total solar eclipse, which was viewed from Oregon to South Carolina. [When will an eclipse come to your part of the world? Check our calendar.]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
© David Redfern—Redferns/Getty Images
Oh my, marvelous town, Kansas City. Clubs, clubs, clubs. I mean that was all Kansas City was made up of. The cats just played. They played all day and tomorrow morning they went home and went to bed. The next day the same thing.
American jazz musician Count Basie, who was born this day in 1904, was noted for his spare, economical piano style and is regarded as one of the most important and influential bandleaders in the history of jazz.
Famous Birthdays
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1991
© 1987 Artisan Entertainment
1987
The romantic drama Dirty Dancing, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, was released in American theaters, and it became a huge—and enduring—hit. [How much do you know about movies?]
© Clement Tjomb—AFP/Getty Images
1986
A massive release of carbon dioxide from Cameroon’s Lake Nyos—a freshwater lake located in a volcanic caldera—killed more than 1,700 people and thousands of animals.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1959
Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about U.S. states.]
© The Walt Disney Company
1942
The animated film Bambi had its theatrical release in the United States, and it became a classic in the Disney canon, noted for its lush hand-drawn animation and sensitive affective narrative. [Take our Disney quiz.]
Kean Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1858
Debates between Abraham Lincoln, Republican Party nominee for the U.S. Senate, and incumbent Senator Stephen A. Douglas of the Democratic Party began; their focus was the question of whether slavery was to be extended to America’s western territories.
© North Wind Picture Archives
1831
Nat Turner, an enslaved Black American, began a rebellion that killed between 55 and 60 white Virginians before being stopped by a 3,000-man militia. [Read Nat Turner’s explanation of why he staged a revolt.]
The Granger Collection, New York
1808
British General Arthur Wellesley used his “thin red line” of infantry to defeat French General Andoche Junot’s forces at the Battle of Vimeiro, leading to British control of Portugal. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about European history.]