- 12 August 1908 – The first Ford Model T (pictured), generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, is assembled
- 20 August 1989 – The O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, the world's longest guided busway, opens
- 26 August 1939 – A game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds becomes the first ever Major League Baseball telecast
- 29 August 1949 – The nuclear arms race begins after the Soviet Union becomes the second nation to test a nuclear weapon