June 11

Today is King Kamehameha Day (Hawaii). 1644: Evangelista Torricelli described in a letter to Michelangelo Ricci the invention of a barometer, which he termed the "torricellian tube." 1770: Capt. James Cook, commander of the British ship Endeavour, discovered the Great Barrier Reef off Australia by running onto it. 1895: The first patent for a gasoline-powered automobile was issued to Charles Duryea. 1910: Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau was born. 1927: Charles Lindberg was presented the first Distinguished Flying Cross. 1937: Reginald Mitchell, designer of the famous Spitfire airplane that beat back the German Luftwaffe in WWII, died. 1963: The Mercury space capsule was patented by 7 civilians and assigned to NASA. 1985: The USSR's Vega 1 deposited a lander on surface of Venus. 1987: Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term of office.