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On Aug. 26, 1791, John Fitch and James Rumsey were each granted a federal patent for the steamboat. The men were rivals who devised different systems for, and battled over claims to, the invention.- On Aug. 27, 1976, the United States Tennis Association barred transgender athlete Renée Richards (born Richard Raskind) from competing in the U.S. Open as a woman, stating she needed to pass a chromosomal test. Richards failed the test, sued the USTA, and a year later was granted the right to compete following a New York Supreme Court ruling in her favor.
- On Aug. 28, 2003, pop singers Britney Spears and Madonna shared a kiss at the MTV Video Music Awards, delighting some viewers and offending others. MTV received hate mail “from the older generation,” according to network president Van Toffler, who said: “I think the beauty of the VMAs was the combustibility. You wanted to make it fun and semi-chaotic. That’s what we did.”
- On Aug. 29, 1982, Swedish-born actress and three-time Academy Award winner Ingrid Bergman died of cancer on her 67th birthday. Bergman was best known for her role as Ilsa Lund in “Casablanca” alongside Humphrey Bogart, as well as the international scandal she sparked in 1950 when she had a son with Italian director Roberto Rossellini, to whom she was not married at the time.
- On Aug. 30, 1859, Edwin L. Drake successfully drilled the first oil well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, ushering in the modern petroleum industry. His discovery of an efficient way to extract oil from the ground revolutionized energy production and would help transform the global economy.
- On Aug. 31, 1989, England’s Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, publicly announced her separation from her husband, Mark Phillips, but the couple stated they were not intending to divorce.
- On Sept. 1, 1928, groups of Boy Scouts placed approximately 2,400 concrete markers at sites along the Lincoln Highway to officially mark and dedicate it to the memory of President Abraham Lincoln.
© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.
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