1 of 6 | An Iraqi soldier stands guard during the reopening of the Al-Aima bridge which spans the Tigris River linking the centuries-old neighborhoods of Kadhimiyah and Adhamiyah on November 11, 2008, in Baghdad. Authorities in Baghdad opened the bridge linking historic Sunni and Shiite districts that was closed in 2005 after nearly 1,000 Shiite pilgrims perished in a deadly stampede. File Photo by Ali Jasim/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 31 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1897, Thomas Edison was awarded a patent for his movie camera, the Kinetograph.
In 1888, prostitute Mary Ann Nichols became the first reported victim of the London serial killer known as “Jack the Ripper.”
In 1955, William G. Cobb demonstrated the first solar car, a miniature he dubbed the sunmobile, at the General Motors car show in Chicago.
In 1972, Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut won gold in balance beam and floor exercise; and American swimmer Mark Spitz won gold by setting a world record in the 100m butterfly and another gold with John Kinsella, Fred Tyler and Steve Genter in the 4x200m freestyle relay at the Munich Summer Olympics. Spitz would go on to get a record seven gold medals during the Games.
File Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI
In 1986, an Aeromexico DC-9 collided with a single-engine plane over Cerritos, Calif., killing 82 people, including 15 on the ground.
In 1997, Britain’s Princess Diana died of injuries following a car accident in Paris that also killed her companion, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul.
In 2005, close to 1,000 people, most of whom were Shiite pilgrims, died in a stampede and the partial collapse of a bridge over the Tigris River in northern Baghdad.
In 2006, Norwegian police recovered The Scream and Madonna, paintings by artist Edvard Munch that had been stolen two years before from the Munch Museum in Oslo.
In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the end of the American combat mission in Iraq, seven years after the war began.
File Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Pool
In 2015, President Barack Obama renamed Mount McKinley to Denali, the traditional native name of North America’s highest peak. President Donald Trump changed it back in January 2025.
In 2016, Brazil’s Federal Senate voted 61-20 in favor of removing Dilma Rousseff from the presidency over accusations she broke budget laws. Vice President Michel Temer became acting president.
In 2024, the bodies of six Hamas-held hostages, including that of 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were recovered by the Israel Defense Forces in a tunnel under the Gazan city of Rafah.
