Calendar for July 31st, 2012

Born : Harry Potter (main character of Harry Potter series)

1790: George Washington signed the first United States Patent Grant to Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, Vermont, for a new method of making Potash

1792: David Rittenhouse, Director of the Mint, laid the cornerstone of the building being built in Philadelphia for the U.S. Mint

Born 1803: John Ericsson (engineer)

Died 1875: Andrew Johnson (17th U.S. president)

Born 1901: Jean Dubuffet (artist)

1913: Alys McKey Bryant first woman to fly a plane in Canada

1915: The first automobile, a Ford Model T, was permitted into Yellowstone National Park

Born 1919: Primo Levi (author)

Born 1921: Whitney Moore Young Jr. (civil rights activist)

1930: The Shadow radio program first aired

Born 1943: Susan Flannery (actress)

Born 1944: Geraldine Chaplin (actress)

Died 1953: Robert A. Taft (politician)

1961: IBM released the Selectric typewriter

Born 1962: Wesley Snipes (actor)

1964: U.S. probe Ranger 7 relayed first moon close-ups

Born 1965: J. K. Rowling (author)

Born 1966: Dean Cain (actor)

1971: Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin became the first people to drive a vehicle on the Moon

1974: French became the official language of Quebec

1975: Former Teamsters Union president, James R. Hoffa, was reported missing

1976: NASA released the famous "Face on Mars" photo, taken by Viking 1

Born 1977: Tim Couch (football player)

1999: The ashes of astrogeologist Eugene Shoemaker were deposited on the Moon