Today in History – Sept. 12 – World’s First Patent For Synthetic Rubber Granted Fritz Hofmann

1758 French astronomer Charles Messier mistakenly identifies the Crab Nebula so begins his Messier Catalogue

1909 World’s first patent for synthetic rubber granted to German chemist Fritz Hofmann

1933 Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives idea of a nuclear chain reaction

1940 Four teens, following their dog down a hole near Lascaux, France discover 17,000 year old drawings now known as the Lascaux Cave Paintings

1958 US Supreme Court orders the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas to integrate

1959 Luna 2 launched by USSR; 1st spacecraft to impact on the Moon

Today in Film & TV
1981 “The Smurfs” animated cartoon series by Hanna-Barbera first broadcasts in North America

Today in Music
1910 Gustav Mahler’s 8th Symphony (“Symphony of A Thousand”) premieres in Munich with 1028 musicians

Today in Sport

1992 Stefan Edberg beats Michael Chang 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 in the longest match in US Open history (5 hours, 26 minutes)

Do you know this fact about today? Did You Know?
1st submarine publicly tested in London on the Thames for King James I

Would you believe this fact about today? Would You Believe?
United States’ 1st known female cop appointed, Alice Stebbins Wells by LAPD