August is the eighth month of the year (between July and September) in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and one of seven months with a length of 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere.
August symbols: The birthstones of August are the peridot and sardonyx. Its birth flower is the gladiolus or poppy, meaning beauty, strength of character, love, marriage and family. The zodiac signs for the month of August are Leo (until August 22) and Virgo (from August 23 onwards).
Historical Events for August, 1962
Day of Week 5th » Apartheid in South Africa: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
Day of Week 6th » Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
Day of Week 11th » Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in Micro-g environment known as microgravity.
Day of Week 15th » James Joseph Dresnok defects to North Korea after running across the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Dresnok still resides in the capital, Pyongyang.
Day of Week 16th » Eight years after the remaining French India territories were handed to India, the ratifications of the treaty are exchanged to make the transfer official.
Day of Week 17th » East Germany or East German border guards Killing of Peter Fechter or kill Peter Fechter, 18, as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.
Day of Week 22nd » An attempt to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle fails.
Day of Week 27th » The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA.
Day of Week 30th » Japan conducts a test of the NAMC YS-11, its first aircraft since World War II and its only successful commercial aircraft from before or after the war.