September 21

 

1853: Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who discovered superconductivity, was born. 1866: H.G. Wells, of War of the Worlds fame, was born. 1895: The Duryea Motor Wagon Company became the first auto manufacturer in America. 1895: Juan de la Ciervra, inventor of the autogiro, was born. 1897: The New York Sun ran a famous editorial that answered a question from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon: ''Is there a Santa Claus?'' 1913: The first aerobatic maneuvers were publicly performed by Adolphe Pégoud in his Blériot XI. 1921: Donald Glaser, who won the Nobel Prize for his invention of the bubble chamber for observing subatomic particles, was born. 1931: Britain abandoned the gold standard. 1936: Frank Hornby, English toy manufacturer who patented the Meccano construction set, died. 1942: The B-29 Superfortress made its maiden flight. 1955: Britain annexed the islet of Rockall, 300 miles west of Scotland, to stop the Soviets spying on missile tests. 1961: Earle Dickson, inventor of the Band-aid, died. 1972: Texas Instruments announced the TI-2500, the TI-3000, and the TI-3500 DATAMATH calculators. The TI-2500  2003: The NASA Galileo space probe ended its eight-year mission to Jupiter as planned.