Major Events
- 1758 French astronomer Charles Messier mistakenly identifies the Crab Nebula, and begins his Messier Catalogue
- 1909 World's first patent for synthetic rubber granted to German chemist Fritz Hofmann
- 1933 Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives idea of a nuclear chain reaction
- 1940 Four teens, following their dog down a hole near Lascaux, France and discover 17,000 year old drawings now known as the Lascaux Cave Paintings
- 1958 US Supreme Court orders the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas to integrate
- 1959 Luna 2 launched by USSR; 1st spacecraft to impact on the Moon
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Sep 12 in Film & TV
- 1981 "The Smurfs" animated cartoon series by Hanna-Barbera first broadcasts in North America
Sep 12 in Music
- 1910 Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony ("Symphony of A Thousand") premieres in Munich with 1028 musicians
Sep 12 in Sport
- 1992 Stefan Edberg beats Michael Chang 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 in the longest match in US Open history (5 hours, 26 minutes)
Did You Know?
1st submarine publicly tested in London on the Thames for King James I
Fun Fact About September 12
United States' 1st known female cop appointed, Alice Stebbins Wells by LAPD
Famous Weddings
- 1812 Revolutionary leader Jose de San Martin (33) weds María de los Remedios de Escalada at Buenos Aires Cathedral in Argentina
- 1840 German pianist and composer Robert Schumann (30) marries German pianist and composer Clara Wieck (20), until his death in 1856
- 1846 Poet and playwright Robert Browning (34) weds fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett (40) at Marylebone Church in London
Famous Divorces
- 1967 American actress and singer Rosemary Clooney (39) divorces Puerto Rican actor José Ferrer (54) for the second time, after she found out his affair with Stella Magee
- 2017 Actress Scarlett Johansson divorces advertising agency owner Romain Dauriac
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