Born on August 2
August 2 birthdays & history
If you were born on August 2, you share a birthday with Shimon Peres, Peter O'Toole and Isabel Allende. August 2 babies are Leo, with peridot as their birthstone and the gladiolus as their birth flower. August 2 is the 215th day of the year in leap years (214th in other years).
Famous people born on August 2
- 1923Shimon Peres, Polish-Israeli lawyer and politician, 9th President of Israel
- 1932Peter O'Toole, British-Irish actor and producer
- 1942Isabel Allende, Chilean-American novelist, essayist, essayist
- 1924James Baldwin, American novelist, poet, and critic
- 1976Sam Worthington, English-Australian actor and producer
- 1992Charli XCX, English singer-songwriter
- 1939Wes Craven, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1941Jules A. Hoffmann, Luxembourgish-French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1970Kevin Smith, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1964Mary-Louise Parker, American actress
What happened on August 2
- 1790The first United States census was officially completed, with the nation's residential population enumerated to be 3,929,214.
- 1858The Government of India Act 1858 replaces Company rule in India with that of the British Raj.
- 1869Japan's Edo society class system is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms.
- 1870One of the world's earliest underground tube railways opened in the Tower Subway (interior depicted), a tunnel beneath the River Thames in London.
- 1873The Clay Street Hill Railroad begins operating the first cable car in San Francisco's famous cable car system.
- 1932At the California Institute of Technology, American physicist Carl David Anderson proved the existence of antimatter with the discovery of the positron, for which he would receive the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 1932The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
- 1971The English rock band the Who released Who's Next, their only album to top the UK charts.
- 1982The Helsinki Metro, the first rapid transit system of Finland, is opened to the general public.
- 1986The animated film Castle in the Sky, the first from Studio Ghibli, was released.
- 1989Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restored democracy for the first time since 1972.
- 1991Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-43 to deploy the TDRS-5 satellite.
Also observed on August 2
- Day of Azerbaijani cinema (Azerbaijan)
- Our Lady of the Angels Day (Costa Rica)
- Republic Day (North Macedonia)
Questions, answered
What star sign is August 2?
People born on August 2 are Leo. Their birthstone is peridot and their birth flower is the gladiolus.
Which famous people were born on August 2?
Shimon Peres (1923), Peter O'Toole (1932), Isabel Allende (1942), James Baldwin (1924), Sam Worthington (1976), Charli XCX (1992) were all born on August 2.
What happened on August 2 in history?
Among other things: in 1986, The animated film Castle in the Sky, the first from Studio Ghibli, was released; in 1989, Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restored democracy for the first time since 1972; in 1991, Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-43 to deploy the TDRS-5 satellite.
Can I get a newspaper front page from August 2?
Yes. The Birthday Gazette makes a personalised vintage-style front page for any August 2 birth year, with their name in the headline, events, famous birthdays and typical US prices. The preview is free and the print files cost $9.
Events, birthdays and observances are adapted from Wikipedia contributors, “August 2”, English Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0 (shortened and filtered). Ranking uses Wikidata (CC0). Sources.