1650: French mathematician René Descartes, after whom the Cartesian coordinate system was named, died. 1809: Robert Fulton patented the steamboat. 1812: Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed a re-districting law that favored his party (the map looked like a salamander) - giving rise to the term "gerrymandering." 1813: Swedish physicist Anders Ekeberg, discoverer of the element tantalum (Ta), was born. 1847: American inventor Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, OH. 1868: Jean Foucault, inventor of the Foucault pendulum, died. 1915: Richard Hamming, of error correction code fame, was born. 1970: Osumi, the first Japanese satellite, was launched and made Japan the fourth country to put a satellite into earth orbit. 1973: The National Inventor's Hall of Fame was founded by the USPTO, and new inductees are added on this founding date. 1975: The Tories choose Margaret Thatcher as its first woman leader. 2005: Samuel Alderson, inventor of the crash test dummy, died.