September 24

1852: The dirigible was demonstrated in a flight from Paris to Trappe. 1870: Georges Claude, inventor of the neon light, was born. 1877: Fire destroyed many patent models in the "fire-proof" U.S. Patent Office, but the important illustrations records were saved. 1891: William Friedman, the cryptologist who broke the Japanese "Purple" code, permitting the reading of many critical Japanese messages during WWII, was born. 1929: The first all-instrument flight took place in New York when Lt. James H. Doolittle guided a Consolidated NY2 Biplane over Mitchell Field. 1930: John Young, the commander of the first Space Shuttle mission (STS-1, 1981), walked on the Moon during the Apollo 16 mission, made the first manned flight of the Gemini III spacecraft with Virgil Grissom, was born. 1945: Hans Geiger, inventor of the Geiger counter alpha particle detector, died. 1960: The first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, was launched from Newport News, VA. 1975: Dougal Haston and Doug Scott became the first Britons to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. 1986: The U.S. Congress the rose as the national flower. 1991: Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka "Dr. Seuss," died.