August 1: The day oxygen was discovered

1774: Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen when he obtained a colourless gas by heating red mercuric oxide. He called it "dephlogisticated air".

• 1774: Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen when he obtained a colourless gas by heating red mercuric oxide. He called it "dephlogisticated air".

HT Image

• 1849: The Great Indian Peninsular Railway (GIP) was formed by an act of the British Parliament. It is now the Central Railway.

• 1931: The Congress Working Committee adopted Mahatma Gandhi's design of the national flag with certain changes. (Saffron for courage and sacrifice; white for peace and truth; green for faith and strength and the charkha for welfare of the masses.)

• 1981: MTV (Music Television) made its debut at 12:01 am, and the first music video shown on the rock-video cable channel was appropriately, 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by the Buggles.

• 1996: Michael Johnson of America became the first athlete to win both the 200 and 400-metre races at the same Olympics (Atlanta) when he won the 200-metre gold medal.

• 2001: The first book was ceremonially placed in the new Bibliotheca Alexandria in Egypt, located approximately on the site of the ancient Library at Alexandria; included among the first volumes are a hand-written 7th- century Koran, a Bible, and the Microsoft Excel 2000 handbook.