1791: American inventor Peter Cooper, who invented the first steam locomotive, named "Tom Thumb," was born. 1804: Heinrich Lenz, Russian physicist who framed Lenz's Law to describe the direction of flow of electric current generated by a wire moving through a magnetic field, was born. 1935: Robert Van de Graaff was issued a patent for his Electrostatic Generator design which could generate direct-current voltages higher than the 700kV. 1965: John Hammond, Jr., developer of radio remote control, died. 1973: The first four metric road signs in the U.S. were erected to post metric distance along Interstate 71 in OH. 1998: A 250-car pile-up occurred in Italy, due to fog, causing 4 deaths and 50 injuries. 2000: Peanuts creator Charles Schulz died in his sleep at his home. 2001: NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown on 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid. 2004: Mattel announced the split-up of Barbie and Ken.