Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 24
August 24: Independence day in Ukraine (1991)
- 79 - Mount Vesuvius erupted. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae were buried in volcanic ash.
- 1572 - St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre: a massacre of Huguenots began. An estimated 70,000 people were killed in France in the following weeks.
- 1814 - Washington, DC was burnt down during the War of 1812. The walls of the White House were subsequently painted white to cover the smoke damage.
- 1995 - Windows 95 became available.
- 2003 - US Spacecraft Voyager 2 was 71 astronomical units distant from Earth and is escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.3 AU per year (ca. 15 km/s). It will be approximately 40,000 years before Voyager 2 approaches another planetary system.