This Day in History – August 12, 2011

30 BC Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, commits suicide, allegedly by means of an asp bite. 1508 Ponce de Le¢n arrives in Puerto Rico 1851 Isaac Singer granted patent for his sewing machine 1862 Gen John Hunt Morgan & his raiders capture Gallatin, TX 1863 1st cargo of lumber leaves Burrard Inlet (Vancouver, BC area) 1867 President A Johnson defies Congress suspending Secretary of War Edwin Stanton 1877 Thomas Edison invents the Edisonphone, a sound recording device 1879 1st National Archery Association tournament (Chicago) 1888 Bertha, wife of inventor Karl Benz, makes 1st motor tour 1898 Hawaii formally annexed to US 1898 Peace protocol ends Spanish-American War, signed 1915 “Of Human Bondage,” by William Somerset Maugham, published 1923 Enrico Tiraboschi is 1st to swim English Channel westward 1936 Diver Marjorie Gestring is youngest Olympic gold medalist (13y 268d) 1952 The Night of the Murdered Poets: 13 prominent Jewish intellectuals are murdered in Moscow. 1953 Ann Davidson, 1st woman to sail solo across Atlantic, arrives Miami 1953 Soviet Union conducts secret test of its 1st hydrogen bomb 1959 1st ship firing of a Polaris missile, Observation Island 1960 Echo 1, 1st communications satellite, is launched 1967 New Orleans Saints 1st pre-season victory, beat St Louis 23-14 1969 Boston Celtics sold for an NBA record $6 million 1972 Last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam 1974 Nolan Ryan strikes-out 19 Red Sox 1974 Yankees Mickey Mantle & Whitey Ford become 1st teammates elected to hall of fame on the same day 1976 1st approach & lands test (ALT) of orbiter Enterprise 1977 High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1 launched into Earth orbit 1977 Space shuttle Enterprise makes 1st atmospheric flight 1978 Arron Marshall completes a record shower of 336 hours 1978 ICE is launched 1978 The Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People’s Republic of China is signed. 1981 IBM introduces the PC and PC-DOS version 1.0 1981 Jon Erikson (US) becomes 1st to triple cross English Channel (38:27) 1982 Mexico announces it is unable to pay its enormous external debt, marking the beginning of a debt crisis that spreads to all of Latin America and the Third World. 1985 Japanese Boeing 747 crashes, 520 die (worst in-flight toll) 1986 Don Baylor gets hits by a pitch for a record 25th time in a season 1990 Iraq President Saddam Hussein says he is ready to resolve the Gulf crisis if Israel withdraws from occupied territories 1992 Canada, Mexico and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). 1994 Major League Baseball players go on strike. This will force the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. 2005 Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, is fatally shot by an LTTE sniper at his home. 2007 The bulk carrier M/V New Flame collides with the oil tanker Torm Gertrud at the southernmost tip of Gibraltar, ending up partially submerged.]]]]> ]]>