December 15

1791: first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights (yes, that includes the 2nd), went into effect following ratification by the state of Virginia. 1832: French architect Gustave Eiffel, of tower fame, was born. 1836: The U.S. Patent Office caught fire and burned to the ground. 1851: Charles Duryea, who along with his brother built the first commercially sold automobiles, was born. 1852: Antoine Becquerel, who discovered radiation (Becquerel rays) from uranium salts, was born. 1958: Austrian-Swiss Nobel physicist Wolfgang Pauli, of Exclusion Principal fame, died. 1964: A patent was granted to Kenneth Olsen for a magnetic core memory. 2000: The Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Ukraine shut down permanently, 14 years after its catastrophic meltdown. 2001: The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened to the public after a decade-long restoration.