July 14

Today is Bastille Day. 1827: Optics researcher Augustin Fresnel died. 1850: The first public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration in took place in the U.S. 1847: The first Rotary Printing Press was patented (#5199) by Richard Hoe. 1853: The first U.S. World's Fair opened in New York. 1857: Fred Maytag, a pioneer of automatic washing machines, was born. 1867: Alfred Nobel demonstrated dynamite for the first time  1885: Sarah Goode became first black woman to receive a U.S. patent. 1911: Harry Atwood landed an airplane on the lawn of the White House to accept an award from U.S. President William Taft. 1914: The first patent for a liquid-fueled rocket design was granted to Dr. Robert Goddard. 1918: Jay Forrester, inventor of magnetic RAM, was born. 1933: Germany outlawed all political parties except the Nazi Party. 1948: Six Royal Air Force (RAF) Vampires land after completing the first transatlantic flight made by jet aircraft. 1965: Mariner 4 spacecraft sent first close-up photograph of Mars. 1989: The first kill by an F-16 was scored by an Israeli Air Force pilot shooting down a Syrian MIG-21. 1995: The MP3 format was named. 2000: A Florida jury ordered five major tobacco companies to pay smokers a record $145 billion in punitive damages (later reversed).