August 11

3114 BC The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begun on August 11, 3114 BC. All Mesoamerican cultures used a 260-day ritual calendar that had no confirmed correlation to astronomical or agricultural cycles. These were used in combination with a separate 365-day calendar to create a 52-year cycle known as a calendar round.

0 The phrase "dog days" has nothing to do with dogs. It dates back to Roman times, when it was believed that Sirius, the Dog Star, added its heat to that of the sun from July 3 to August 11, creating exceptionally high temperatures. The Romans called the period dies caniculares, or "days of the dog."

106 The earliest known inhabitants in what is now Romania were the Dacians, various Thracian peoples located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. About half of Dacia became a Roman province. The province was fully integrated into the Roman Empire on August 11, 106 AD, and a sizable part of the population were newcomers from other provinces. Historian estimates of the population of Roman Dacia range from 650,000 to 1,200,000.

1253 In 1214 the 17 year old Chiara Offreduccio, a heiress of Assisi, heard Francis of Assisi preach the Lenten Sermon in San Rufino. She was so struck by what he said that she begun to meet with the Saint to discuss her vocation. As a result she and Francis formed a sister order, the Poor Clares, which devoted themselves to nursing. Chiara died on August 11, 1253 and was canonized two years later as Saint Clare of Assisi.

1492 The first papal conclave to be held in the Sistine Chapel met in August 1492.  It was convened after the death of Pope Innocent VIII on July 25, 1492. The cardinals met in the Sistine Chapel on August 6 and elected Cardinal Roderigo Borja as Pope Alexander VI on August 11. Borja was a controversial figure, and his election was tainted by allegations of bribery. However, he was a strong and capable leader, and he played a significant role in the Italian Renaissance.

1786 Captain Francis Light was an English trader-adventurer working for the Madras-based firm, Jourdain Sullivan and de Souza and the East India Company. On August 12, 1786, Light named the island Prince of Wales Island (now Penang Island) in honor of the birthday of the Prince of Wales, later King George IV. and named the new settlement George Town in honor of King George III. This begun 170 years of British involvement in Malaysia.

1897 Children's author Enid Mary Blyton was born on August 11, 1897 in East Dulwich, London to Thomas Carey Blyton, a cutlery salesman, and his wife Theresa Mary Harrison Blyton. She was educated at St. Christopher's School in Beckenham leaving as head girl. In 1922 Enid Blyton published her first book, Child Whispers, a collection of verse, but it was in the late 1930s that she began writing her many children's stories featuring such characters as Noddy, the Famous Five, and the Secret Seven.

1929 The first Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic, the oldest and largest African American parade in the United States, was held in Chicago on August 11, 1929. The parade was founded by Robert S. Abbott, the founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender newspaper. Abbott created the fictional character of Bud Billiken, a wise and benevolent black man, to serve as a role model for African-American youth. The parade was originally intended to be a celebration of Bud Billiken and his message of self-improvement.

1934 Alcatraz Island was an uninhabited seabird haven in San Francisco Bay when it was first explored by the Spanish in 1775. It was named "Isla de los Alcatraces" or "Island of the Pelicans." In 1934, Alcatraz was fortified into a high-security federal penitentiary designed to hold the most dangerous prisoners in the U.S. penal system, especially those with a penchant for escape attempts. The first batch of 137 prisoners arrived at Alcatraz at 9:40 am in the morning of August 11, 1934.

1942 Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil received a patent for their "Secret Communications System" on August 11, 1942. An early technique of frequency-hopping spread spectrum, it later became the basis for many forms of today's wireless communication systems.

1947 The national flag of Pakistan was adopted in its present form during a meeting of the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947, just four days before the country's independence, when it became the official flag of the Dominion of Pakistan.

                Pakistan flag

1949 On August 11, 1949 the author of Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell, was crossing an Atlanta street on her way to the theater when she was hit by an off-duty cab driven by a man named Hugh Dorsey Gravitt. She died of her injuries five days later. aged 48.  Gravitt was charged with drunken driving, speeding and driving on the wrong side of the road. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and served about 10 months in prison. 

1949 Francis Crick married artist Odile Speed on August 11, 1949. Four years later Crick co-authored with James Watson the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. They asked Odile Crick to draw an illustration of the double helix for their paper on DNA for Nature in 1953. The sketch was reproduced widely in textbooks and scientific articles and has become the symbol for molecular biology.

Odile Crick DNA

1956 The American Abstract Expressionist artist Jackson Pollack died on August 11, 1956. Pollack was known for his "drip and splash" technique, in which he laid his canvas on the floor and poured paint from a can instead of using an easel. Critics, dubbed him "Jack the Dripper." The art critic Harold Rosenberg introduced the term "action painting" in 1952 to describe the form of abstract art popularized by Jackson Pollock.

1968 The 1T57 'Fifteen Guinea Special' was the last main-line passenger train to be hauled by steam locomotive power on British Rail on August 11, 1968 before the introduction of a steam ban that started the following day. It was a special railway tour excursion train organized for the occasion from Liverpool to Carlisle and back.

1973 Many believe that August 11, 1973 represents the birthplace of hip hop. DJ Kool Herc was the disc jockey on that day at his sister's back-to-school party in the west Bronx, New York City. He extended the beat of a record by using two record players, isolating the percussion "breaks" by using a mixer to switch between the two records. Herc's experiments with making music with record players became what we now know as breaking or "scratching."

1986 The helicopter world speed record was set on August 11, 1986 when a a specially modified Westland Lynx averaged 249 mph (400kmph) over the Somerset Levels, with newly-designed blades made of plastic with a steel leading edge. The helicopter was flown by Trevor Egginton and Derek Clews. This record excludes compound helicopters, which have additional propulsion systems like propellers and are considered to be in a different category.

1992 The Mall of America opened its doors to the public in Bloomington, Minnesota, on August 11, 1992.  When it opened, the complex held the title of largest shopping mall on earth. The sprawling complex comprises 530 stores spread out over 4.9 million square feet. The Mall of America's 42 million annual visitors equal roughly eight times the population of the state of Minnesota.

2012 The world’s largest omelette was made in Ferreira do Zêzere, Portugal on August 11, 2012. It weighed 6,466 kilograms (14,225 lb) and was made with 145,000 eggs, 880 pounds of oil, and 220 pounds of butter. It was cooked in a 10.3 meter (33 ft 8 in) diameter pan over an open fire. The dish took six hours to cook — with 55 chefs using gigantic flat scrapers to keep the mix moving.

2014 The comedian Robin Williams was an alcoholic and also addicted to cocaine.  One month before his death, Williams went to rehab for his alcoholism. At the time he was suffering from severe depression. On August 11, 2014, at age 63, Williams committed suicide by hanging at his home in Paradise Cay, California. The autopsy attributed his suicide to his struggle with Lewy body disease.

2014 The day after Robin Williams's suicide on August 11, 2014, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline fielded the greatest number of calls in its history. Suicides nationwide increased by 10 percent after Robin Williams’ death; researchers found a convincing parallel between the increase and sensationalized coverage/headlines of his death that violated CDC guidelines, focusing on the method of death.