February 27 1891: American communications pioneer and RCA's first general manager, David Sarnoff, was born. 1900: Felix Hoffman was awarded a patent for acetyl salicylic acid. (Aspirin). 1906: Aeronautical pioneer Samuel Langley died. 1910: American aeronautical engineer Kelly Johnson, who founded the Lockheed Skunk Works, was born. 1932: The neutron was discovered by Dr. James Chadwick. 1936: Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, of salivating dog fame, died. 1942: J.S. Hey discovered radio emissions from the Sun. 1962: Astronaut Wally Schirra, the only man to fly in America's first three space programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, blasted off from Cape Canaveral aboard the "Sigma 7" on a nine-hour flight. 1999: Colin Prescot and Andy Elson set a new hot air balloon endurance record by staying aloft for 233 hours and 55 minutes. |