Today in History: First Ship Passed Through the Panama Canal

August 15 is the 227th (228th in leap years) day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. The number of days left until the end of the year is 138.

Railways

• 15 August 1885 Fire broke out in Mersin-Adana railway construction.
• August 15, 1888 Deutsche Bank General Manager Siemens applied to the German Foreign Office and asked for his attitude on the Anatolian Railway concession. In his reply on September 2, 1888, the German Foreign Office stated that it did not see any objection to the concession request, but that all risks belonged to Deutsche Bank.

Events

• 1080 – Capture of Kars.
• 1261 – Byzantine Emperor VIII. Michael Paleologos was crowned in Constantinople.
• 1461 – Mehmet the Conqueror took Trabzon. Thus, the Empire of Trebizond was ended.
• 1914 - The first ship passes through the Panama Canal.
• 1935 - Adolf Hitler outlawed German-Jewish marriages.
• 1945 – II. World War II: Japan surrenders. Korean Liberation Day
• 1947 - India gained its independence. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India.
• 1947 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was sworn in as Governor-General in Karachi and took office.
• 1951 – Nâzım Hikmet was stripped of his Turkish citizenship by the decision of the Council of Ministers.
• 1952 – Flooding in Devon, UK: 34 dead.
• 1956 – A parliamentary investigation was requested against İsmet İnönü regarding the shooting of 1943 citizens in Van, Özalp in 33.
• 1960 - The Republic of the Congo declared its independence from France.
• 1962 – Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Spider Man published.
• 1969 – The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival kicks off at a dairy near New York with 400 people attending. The festival lasted for three days.
• 1971 – In Turkey, the “Renault 1971” brand cars, which were started to be produced by Oyak-Renault in February 12, were put on sale.
• 1973 – Vietnam War: The US stops bombing Cambodia.
• 1974 – Cyprus Operation: Continuing to advance, Turkish troops entered Famagusta, the island's second largest city.
• 1975 – Military coup in Bangladesh: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with all his family members. Mustak Ahmet was appointed as the President of the Republic.
• 1977 – TEKEL products were increased up to 160%.
• 1984 – PKK started its armed actions by attacking Eruh and Şemdinli districts of Hakkari and Şırnak provinces.
• 1986 – Turkish warplanes entered Iraqi territory and bombarded PKK camps.
• 1989 – Aziz Nesin, Mina Urgan, Rasih Nuri İleri, Mehmet Ali Aybar and Emil Galip Sandalcı started a 48-hour hunger strike to support the hunger strikes in prisons.
• 1996 – President of the time, Süleyman Demirel, approved the casino ban law.
• 2000 – Turkey signed the United Nations Covenant on Individual and Political Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
• 2007 – Earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter scale in Peru: 514 people were killed and 1090 people were injured.
• 2021 - The Taliban take over the administration of Afghanistan.

Births

• 1195 – Antonio of Padova, Franciscan priest, spiritual doctrinaire, prominent preacher and miracle worker (d. 1231)
• 1702 – Francesco Zuccarelli, Italian Rococo painter (d. 1788)
• 1744 – Conrad Moench, German botanist (d. 1805)
• 1750 – Sylvain Maréchal, French poet, philosopher, and revolutionary (d. 1803)
• 1769 – Napoleon Bonaparte, French soldier and Emperor (d. 1821)
• 1771 Walter Scott, Scottish writer (d. 1832)
• 1807 Jules Grévy, French statesman (d. 1891)
• 1822 – Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, American author (d. 1847)
• 1878 – Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian counter-revolutionary (d. 1928)
• 1879 – Ethel Barrymore, American film and stage actress (d. 1959)
• 1881 – Celal Nuri İleri, Turkish politician (d. 1938)
• 1889 Jan Mankes, Dutch painter (d. 1920)
• 1892 – Louis de Broglie, French physicist and Nobel Prize laureate in Physics (d. 1987)
• 1899 – Mehmet Cavit Baysun, Turkish academic and historian (d.1968)
• 1912 – Julia Child, American chef (d. 2004)
• 1913 – Ali Saim Ülgen, Turkish architect and restorer (d. 1963)
• 1913 – Muharrem Gürses, Turkish screenwriter, actor and film director (d. 1999)
• 1919 – Mehmet Seyda, Turkish writer (d. 1986)
• 1925 – Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-French pianist (d. 2015)
• 1925 – Münir Özkul, Turkish cinema and theater artist (d. 2018)
• 1925 – Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Kadir Savun, Turkish film actor (d. 1995)
• 1926 – Necip Torumtay, Turkish soldier and 20th Chief of General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces (d. 2011)
• 1928 – Selim Naşit Özcan, Turkish cinema and theater artist (d. 2000)
• 1928 – Nicolas Roeg, English film and cinematographer (d. 2018)
• 1935 – Régine Deforges, French writer and film director (d. 2014)
• 1938 – Stephen Breyer, former US Supreme Court Justice
• 1940 – Gudrun Ensslin, co-founder of the Red Army Faction (d. 1977)
• 1941 – Ahmet Fahri Özok, Turkish academic
• 1942 – Sevda Ferdağ, Turkish cinema, TV series actress and singer
• 1944 – Sylvie Vartan, Bulgarian pop singer
• 1945 – Alain Marie Juppé, French centre-right politician
• 1945 – Begum Halide Ziya, Bangladesh's first female prime minister serving from 1991-1996 and 2001-2006
• 1945 – Jill Haworth, English-American actress (d. 2011)
• 1948 – Bircan Pullukçuoğlu, Turkish musician (d. 2016)
• 1948 – Selami Şahin, Turkish musician
• 1950 – Anne, II. Elizabeth and Prince Philip's only daughter
• 1954 – Stieg Larsson, Swedish writer and journalist (d. 2004)
• 1955 – Afak Beşirkızı, Azerbaijani actress
• 1955 – Asım Can Gündüz, Turkish guitarist (d. 2016)
• 1957 – Željko Ivanek, Slovenian-American actor
• 1959 - Scott Altman, Retired NASA astronaut
• 1962 – Rıdvan Dilmen, Turkish football player
• 1963 – Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mexican film director
• 1963 – Mevlüt Karakaya, Turkish academic and politician
• 1964 – Şenol Demir, Turkish football player and coach
• 1964 – Melinda Gates, American philanthropist
• 1965 – Levent Ünsal, Turkish actor, presenter and voice actor
• 1966 – Tülay Selamoğlu, Turkish politician
• 1968 - Debra Messing, American actress
• 1969 – Erdal Taşçı, Turkish surgeon
• 1969 – Yetkin Dikinciler, Turkish actor
• 1969 – Carlos Roa, retired Argentine national football player
• 1970 – Anthony Anderson, American actor and writer
• 1972 – Ben Affleck, American actor
• 1973 – Natallia Sazanovic, Belarusian heptathlete
• 1974 - Natasha Henstridge, Canadian actress and model
• 1976 – Alp Kucukvardar, Turkish football player
• 1976 – Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch football player
• 1977 – Radoslav Batak, Montenegrin football player
• 1978 – Liliya Podkopayeva, Ukrainian former artistic gymnast
• 1979 – Cassandra Lynn, American model (d. 2014)
• 1982 – Lia Quartapelle, Italian economist and politician
• 1984 – Salih Bademci, Turkish actor
• 1985 – Nipsey Hussle, American hip hop musician, rapper, and songwriter (d. 2019)
• 1985 – Emily Kinney, American actress and singer
• 1988 – Usama es-Saidi, Moroccan football player
• 1989 – Joe Jonas, American singer
• 1989 – Ryan McGowan, Australian international football player
• 1989 - Carlos Pena, American actor, singer, and dancer
• 1990 – Jennifer Lawrence, American actress
• 1993 – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, English football player
• 1994 – Hideyuki Nozawa, Japanese football player
• 1995 – Chief Keef, American rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer

Deaths

• 423 – Honorius, first Roman Emperor, later Western Roman Emperor (b. 384)
• 465 – Libius Severus, Roman Emperor of Lucanian origin who sat on the throne of the Western Roman Empire between 461-465
• 1038 – István I, last grand prince of the Hungarians and first King of Hungary from 1000 or 1001 until his death in 1038 (b.
• 1057 – Macbeth, King of Scots (b. 1005)
• 1118 – Alexios Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1048)
• 1257 – Hyacinth, Polish Dominican priest and missionary (b. 1185)
• 1274 – Robert de Sorbon, French theologian and founder of the Sorbonne University in Paris (b. 1201)
• 1885 – Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae, Danish archaeologist and prehistoricist (b. 1821)
• 1909 – Euclid da Cunha, Brazilian writer and sociologist (b. 1866)
• 1935 – Will Rogers, American vaudeville performer, humorist, social commentator, and film actor (b. 1879)
• 1935 – Paul Signac, French neo-impressionist painter (b. 1863)
• 1936 – Grazia Deledda, Italian writer and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)
• 1949 – Kanji Ishiwara, Japanese soldier and politician (b. 1889)
• 1952 – Dora Diamant, Polish actress (b. 1898)
• 1961 – Otto Ruge, Norwegian general (b. 1882)
• 1967 – René Magritte, Belgian painter (b. 1898)
• 1971 – Paul Lukas, American actor (b. 1891)
• 1974 – Clay Shaw, American businessman (b. 1913)
• 1975 – Harun Karadeniz, student leader of the Turkish 1968 generation (b. 1942)
• 1975 – Mujibur Rahman, Founder and first President of Bangladesh (b. 1920)
• 1978 – Nusret Suman, Turkish sculptor and painter (b. 1905)
• 1982 – Hugo Theorell, Swedish biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
• 1990 – Viktor Tsoy, rock musician of the Soviet Union (b. 1962)
• 1993 – Macit Gökberk, Turkish philosopher and writer (b. 1908)
• 2001 – Yavuz Çetin, Turkish musician (b. 1970)
• 2004 – Semiha Berksoy, Turkish opera singer (b. 1910)
• 2004 – Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1916)
• 2011 – Nejat Biyedic, Bosnian-Turkish coach and former football player (b. 1959)
• 2012 – Harry Harrison, American science fiction writer (b. 1925)
• 2012 – Ralph Holman, American scientist (b. 1917)
• 2012 – Müşfik Kenter, Turkish actor (b. 1932)
• 2013 – Jane Harvey, American jazz singer (b.1925)
• 2013 – Sławomir Mrożek, Polish playwright, writer and cartoonist (b. 1930)
• 2013 – August Schellenberg, Canadian Indian-American actor (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Jacques Vergès, French lawyer (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Jane Harvey, American singer (b. 1925)
• 2014 – Yalçın Otağ, Turkish actor and comedian (b. 1936)
• 2016 – Dick Assman, Canadian gas station owner (b. 1934)
• 2016 – Dalian Atkinson, English football player (b. 1968)
• 2016 – Bambi Sheleg, Chilean-born Israeli female journalist and columnist (b. 1958)
• 2017 – Eberhard Jäckel, German historian (b. 1929)
• 2018 – Rita Borsellino, Italian activist and politician (b. 1945)
• 2018 – Marisa Porcel, Spanish actress, film and television actress (b. 1943)
• 2019 – Devran Çağlar, Turkish arabesque musician and actor (b. 1963)
• 2019 – Luigi Lunari, Italian playwright and dramaturge (d. 1934)
• 2019 – Antonio Rastrelli, Italian politician, mayor, and lawyer (b. 1927)
• 2019 – Vidya Sinha, Indian actress (b. 1947)
• 2020 – Murtaja Baseer, Bangladeshi painter (b. 1932)
• 2020 – Bill Bowman, American politician (b. 1946)
• 2020 – Ruth Gavison, Israeli lawyer and academic (b. 1945)
• 2020 – Vimala Devi Sharma, Indian social worker, human rights activist, and politician (b. 1927)
• 2020 – Robert Trump, American businessman (b. 1948)

Holidays and special occasions

• India Independence Day
• Korean Liberation Day
• Feast of the Assumption of Mary