^{Hedy Lamarr publicity photograph for the 1944 film The Heavenly Body}

Today in History

• The Mesoamerican “Long Count” calendar, used by the Maya and other pre-Columbian civilizations, begins (3114 BCE)
• Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 career home runs (1929)
• Alcatraz receives its first prisoners (1934)
• Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency-hopping spread spectrum communications system that forms part of the basis for modern wireless telephones and wi-fi (1942)
• The Soviet Vostok 3 launches, and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity (1962)
• The Watts Riots begin in Los Angeles (1965)
• The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from quarantine (1969)
• The last US ground combat forces leave Vietnam (1972)
• A Ronald Reagan joke, “We begin bombing in five minutes,” is accidentally broadcast on NPR radio. Many are not amused (1984)
• NATO takes command of Afghanistan peacekeeping forces, the first-ever major NATO operation outside Europe (2003)

Birthdays

• Enid Blyton, poet (1897)
• Mike Douglas, singer and talk show host (1920)
• Alex Haley, author of Roots (1921)
• Arlene Dahl, actress and game show panelist (1925)
• Jerry Falwell, televangelist (1933)
• Ian McDiarmid, actor (1944)
• Marilyn vos Savant, highest recorded IQ; syndicated columnist (1946)
• Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple (1950)
• Hulk Hogan, wrestler (1953)
• Chris Hemsworth, actor (1983)

Deaths

• Hamnet Shakespeare, playwright’s son (1596)
• Andrew Carnegie, steel maker and philanthropist (1919)
• Edith Wharton, author (1937)
• Jean Bugatti, car designer (1939)
• Jackson Pollock, painter (1956)
• Alfred A. Knopf Sr., publisher (1984)
• Peter Cushing, actor (1994)
• Mike Douglas, singer and talk show host (2006)
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics (2009)
• Robin Williams, actor and comedian (2014)

Holidays and Observances

• Flag Day (Pakistan)
• Independence Day (Chad)
• Mountain Day (Japan)

August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years). There are 142 days remaining until the end of the year.