History of 16 August
1923 – Carnegie Steel corporation put into place the eight-hour workday for its employees.
1930 – The first British Empire Games were held at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The event is now called the British Commonwealth Games.
1937 – Harvard University became the first school to have graduate courses in traffic engineering and administration.
1954 – Sports Illustrated was published for the first time. It was claimed that 250,000 subscriptions had been sold before the first issue came off of the presses.
1954 – Jack Paar replaced Walter Cronkite as host of “The Morning Show” on CBS-TV.
1960 – Cyprus was granted independence by Britain.
1960 – The free-fall world record was set by Joseph Kittinger. He fell more than 16 miles (about 84,000 feet) before opening his parachute over New Mexico.
1978 – Xerox was fined for excluding Smith-Corona Mfg. from the copier market. The fine was $25.6 million.
1984 – The U.S. Jaycees voted to admit women to full membership in the organization.
1995 – Voters in Bermuda rejected independence from Great Britain.
1999 – In Russia, Vladimir V. Putin was confirmed as prime minister by the lower house of parliament.
2005 – West Caribbean Airways Flight 708, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashes in Machiques, Venezuela, killing all 160 people on board.
2008 – The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is topped off at 1,389 feet (423 m), at the time becoming the world’s highest residence above ground-level.
2012 – South African police fatally shoot 34 miners and wound 78 more during an industrial dispute at Marikana near Rustenburg.
2013 – The ferry St. Thomas Aquinas collides with a cargo ship and sinks at Cebu, Philippines, killing 61 people with 59 others missing.
2015 – More than 96 people are killed and hundreds injured following a series of air-raids by the Syrian Arab Air Force on the rebel-held market town of Douma.
2015 – Trigana Air Flight 267, an ATR 42, crashes in Oksibl, Pegunungan Bintang, killing all 54 people on board.
2017 – The Minamata Convention on Mercury enters in force.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Roque Santa Cruz, Paraguayan footballer
- 1982 – Joleon Lescott, English footballer
- 1983 – Nikolaos Zisis, Greek basketball player
- 1984 – Matteo Anesi, Italian speed skater
- 1984 – Didier Cuche, Swiss skier
- 1984 – Candice Dupree, American basketball player
- 1984 – Konstantin Vassiljev, Estonian footballer
- 1985 – Cristin Milioti, American actress
- 1986 – Yu Darvish, Japanese baseball player
- 1987 – Carey Price, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Eri Kitamura, Japanese voice actress, and singer.
- 1988 – Ismaïl Aissati, Moroccan footballer
- 1989 – Wang Hao, Chinese race walker
- 1989 – Moussa Sissoko, French footballer
- 1990 – Godfrey Oboabona, Nigerian footballer
- 1991 – José Eduardo de Araújo, Brazilian footballer
- 1992 – Diego Schwartzman, an Argentinian tennis player
- 1993 – Cameron Monaghan, American actor, and model
- 1996 – Caeleb Dressel, American swimmer
- 1997 – Greyson Chance, American musician
- 1999 – Karen Chen, American figure skater