June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 206 days remain until the end of the year.
We have some interesting facts & historic events all about June 8th, including areas in religion, crime, health and more.
Keep reading for more interesting facts about June 8th in history!
Table of Contents
Global Celebrations
- World Oceans Day
- National Best Friends Day
- World Oceans Day
- National Upsy Daisy Day
- World Brain Tumor Day
Historic Events
What Happened On This Day – June 8
1987: New Zealand becomes a nuclear-free zone
The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987 barred any nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships from entering the country. New Zealand was the first country to legislate towards a nuclear-free zone in the 1950s.
1972: Nick Út takes his famous “napalm girl” photo
The Pulitzer Prize-winning image officially entitled “The Terror of War” depicts nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc and other Vietnamese children fleeing a napalm attack. It has become one of the best-known symbols for the indescribable sufferings in armed conflicts.
1949: George Orwell publishes Nineteen Eighty-Four
Orwell’s nightmarish description of a totalitarian society set in the year 1984 is one of the most significant works of English literature and one of the best-known novels of all time. The phrase, Big Brother is watching you, stems from this work.
1937: Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is premiered
The cantata, especially Orff’s breathless rendition of the medieval poem O Fortuna, has been featured in countless works of popular culture, including The Simpsons, Last of the Mohicans, and Jackass: The Movie.
1887: Herman Hollerith patents his punch card calculator
The U.S. data processing pioneer, one of the grandfathers of the technology company IBM, used his revolutionary machine to process the large amount of data collected during the U.S. census of 1890/1891.
1988: New York City in the shadow of the Twin Towers, 1988

1945: Allied officers standing next to a gargantuan 31.5 inch shell fired by the Schwerer Gustav canon. Germany 1945.

1905: US President Theodore Roosevelt sends identical notes to Japan and Russia urging them to negotiate and end hostilities, offering his personal services.
452: Italy was invaded by Attila the Hun.
Famous Birthdays
Births On This Day, June 8
1983: Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player
1977: Kanye West, American rapper, producer, director, fashion designer
1921: Suharto, Indonesian soldier, politician, 2nd President of Indonesia
1916: Francis Crick, English biologist, biophysicist, neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate
1867: Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower, Fallingwater
Bonnie Tyler was born.
Shilpa Shetty was born.
Frank Grillo was born.
Heartbreaking Deaths
Deaths On This Day, June 8
2009: Omar Bongo, Gabonese politician, President of Gabon
1982: Satchel Paige, American baseball player
1924: George Mallory, British mountaineer
1809: Thomas Paine, English/American theorist, author
632: Muhammad, Islamic prophet
Thomas Paine died.
Abraham Maslow died.
Sani Abacha died.