August 13

Today is International Lefthanders Day (yours truly is a south paw). 1642: Christiaan Huygens discovered the Martian south polar cap. 1814: Anders Ångström, after whom the unit of wavelength is named, was born. 1819: Sir George Gabriel Stokes, who developed the Stokes' Theorem, was born. 1866: Giovanni Agnelli, founder of the Fiat (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino) automobile company, was born. 1889: William Gray received a patent for a coin-operated telephone. 1902: Felix Wankel, inventor of the pistonless internal combustion engine, was born. 1912: The first experimental radio license was issued to St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, PA. 1960: Echo One, placed in orbit a day earlier, allowed the first two-way telephone conversation by satellite to take place. 1961: Troops in East Germany sealed off the border between East and West Berlin, and construction of the Berlin Wall began. 1990: Iraq transferred between $3 billion and $4 billion in gold bullion, foreign currencies and goods seized from Kuwait to Baghdad. 1991: Jack Ryan, inventor with more than 1,000 patents including the Barbie Doll and Hot Wheels cars, died.  1996: Microsoft released IE 3.0.