August 8

1854: Metal bullet cartridges were patented by Smith & Wesson. 1876: Thomas Edison received a patent for his mimeograph. 1899: The refrigerator was patented by A.T. Marshall. 1901: Ernest Lawrence, inventor of the cyclotron, and after whom the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was named, was born. 1902: : English physicist Paul Dirac, who shared a Nobel Prize with Erwin Schrödinger, and after whom the Dirac delta function is named, was born. 1911: Patent #1,000,000 was issued to Francis Holton for a vehicle tire. 1929: The German airship Graf Zeppelin began an around-the-world flight. 1940: The German Luftwaffe began a series of daylight air raids on Great Britain, aka the Battle of Britain. 1945: The Soviet Union declared war against Japan during WWII. 1963: The "Great Train Robbery" took place in Britain, where a gang of 15 thieves stole 2.6 million pounds in bank notes. 1979: Iraqi president Saddam Hussein executed 22 political opponents. 1979: The temperature hit a high of 88°F on 8/8/88 in NY City. 1991: British countryman John McCarthy was set free after being held captive in Lebanon by Islamic Jihad for over five years. 1991: The Warszawa Radio mast, the tallest structure in the world, collapsed during maintenance.  1996: Sir Frank Whittle, aircraft jet propulsions pioneer, died.