On This Day for August 2 - Kuwait invaded, Peter O'Toole is featured, and more

This message contains graphics. If you do not see the graphics, click here to view. August 02 FEATURED BIOGRAPHY Peter O'Toole READ MORE   FEATURED EVENT 1990 Kuwait invaded READ MORE   Advertisement Advertisement   MORE EVENTS ON THIS DAY 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 in Pasadena, California. [ Take our quiz about the Nobel Prize.] 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 in Kansas. [ Test your knowledge of American writers.] 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.] 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.] 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. 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.] SEE ALL EVENTS ON THIS DAY ALSO BORN ON THIS DAY 1964 Mary-Louise Parker American actress 1932 Peter O'Toole Irish actor 1939 Wes Craven American director and screenwriter 1924 James Baldwin American author 1905 Myrna Loy American actress 1942 Isabel Allende Chilean-American author SEE ALL BIOS ON THIS DAY   Advertisement   FOLLOW: To unsubscribe from Britannica e-mails, click here. Encyclopædia Britannica 325 N. LaSalle Street, Suite 200 Chicago, Illinois 60654 United States © 2020 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Privacy Policy • Help