On August 11, 1942 Hollywood actress Hedy Lamar received a patent for her “Secret Communication System.” She along with American pianist, George Antheil developed a method that would make it more difficult for the enemy to detect Allied radio-guided torpedoes.

Image: Hedy Lamar in 1940 by MGM via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On August 11, 1929 Babe Ruth became the first major leaguer to hit 500 home runs.

Image: Baseball players Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees surrounded by a group of boy football players and adults in 1927
by Chicago Daily News via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

American anatomist and member of the American Anthropometric Society, who is believed to be the first person to use the term “neuron” was born on August 11, 1841 in Boston, Massachusetts.

After serving as a surgeon during the American Civil War he became a professor at Cornell University where he started collection of human brains for the purposes of scientific research.
After his death, his own brain was added to his collection.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On August 11, 1934 the first group of 137 prisoners arrived at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay. The facility was open for 29 years and had an average yearly prison population of 263. The cost of running Alcatraz was three times that of the average prison, leading to its closure in 1963.

Image via NPS via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US

American forester & 28th Governor of Pennsylvania Gifford Pinchot was born on August 11, 1865 in Simsbury, Connecticut.

A photo of Gifford Pinchot and his family outdoors c. 1918

via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

John Bradford who founded the first newspaper in Kentucky named The Kentucky Gazette on August 11, 1787.

via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The largest shopping mall in the U.S., the Mall of America, opened on August 11, 1992 in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Image from René Sinn via Wikimedia Commons

On August 11, 1902 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. received a recess appointment from President Theodore Roosevelt to serve as Associate Justice of The Supreme Court of The United States. He was confirmed 4 months later.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

A woman sitting inside a wooden shack with a sign that says
“Wilson’s Modern Business College”, Washington State, August 11, 1917

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Chief Engraver of The U.S. Mint James B. Longacre was born on August 11, 1794 in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

Among his various engravings of U.S. coins such as the Liberty Head double eagle and the two-cent piece was the Indian Head cent which was first produced in 1859.

Longacre also designed the Flying Eagle cent before the Indian Head cent went into circulation.

Born August 11, 1921 Alex Haley found his writing voice during WW2 while serving in the US Coast Guard. Widely known for writing Roots: The Saga of an American Family and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Haley also wrote for popular American magazines in the 1960s.

Image from UTA Libraries Digital Gallery via Wikimedia Commons via CCA 4.0 International

The Green Bay Packers were founded on August 11, 1919 by Curly Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun.

Image: Curly Lambeau in 1919 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

A cover to sheet music for a song that was titled
“A Lesson In Flirtation”
dated August 11, 1901.

Image via NYPL Digital Collections, public domain

A marker in Otego, New York near the spot where Sullivan-Clinton forces camped on August 11, 1779.

George Washington ordered the Sullivan-Clinton expedition in response to attacks by the British and Native Americans on forts and settlements in Pennsylvania and New York.

Image from Opusiv via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA 4.0

American composer Carrie Jacobs-Bond was born on August 11, 1862 in Janesville, Wisconsin.

She wrote the song “I Love You Truly” which was sung in the movie It’s A Wonderful Life when Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed arrived at the drafty old house on the night of their wedding.

Image: Carrie Jacobs-Bond in 1913 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain