Day in History Archive August 31

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Note: These historical tidbits have been collected from various sources, mostly on the Internet. As detailed in this article, there is a lot of wrong information that is repeated hundreds of times because most websites do not validate with authoritative sources. On RF Cafe, events with hyperlinks have been verified. All will eventually be either verified or removed.
Please submit significant historical events and dates for inclusion in these lists. I will be glad to include your name and birthday. Please do not submit your death date ;-)
 
 

August 31

1821: Hermann von Helmholtz, who experimented with physiology, optics, electrodynamics, mathematics, and meteorology, and inventor of the Helmholtz coil, was born. 1842: The U.S. Naval Observatory was authorized by an act of Congress. 1887: Thomas Edison received a patent for his kinetoscope (movie projector). 1903: A Packard automobile become the first car to cross the U.S. under its own power by completing a 52-day journey from San Francisco to New York. 1956: The KC-135 Stratotanker made its first flight. 1962: President Kennedy signed the Communications Satellite Act which gave a monopoly on international communications via satellite to a new corporation called Comsat. 1988: A 5-day power blackout in downtown Seattle began. 1994: Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany.