This Day in History- August 8

1876: Patent for Autographic Printing
On August 8, 1876, Edison received a patent for his stencil duplicator, titled “Improvement in Autographic Printing”. Edison’s patent covered an electric pen for cutting stencils and the flatbed duplicating press.

1901: Invention of Cyclotron

Ernest Orlando Lawrence, an American physicist who won the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics for developing the cyclotron, the first particle accelerator capable of producing high energy, was born in Canton, South Dakota.

1929: Round-the-world flight
German airship Graf Zeppelin began a round-the-world flight on August 8, 1929. This was the only aircraft carrier launched by Germany capable of projecting German naval power far beyond the narrow confines of the Baltic and North Seas. 

1945: Harry Truman signed the United Nations Charter
President Harry Truman signed the United Nations Charter on this day. He implemented the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe and established the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain communist expansion. 

1945: Treaty of London
The US, USSR, Britain, and France signed the Treaty of London which mentioned the procedures for the Nuremberg war trials of Nazi leaders on August 8, 1945. 

1955: 26th of July Movement
Fidel Castro formed the “26th of July Movement”, a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization. The movement’s name commemorates its 26 July 1953 attack on the army barracks on Santiago de Cuba in an attempt to start the overthrowing of the dictator Batista.

1968: Richard Nixon Nominated
On August 8, 1968, the Republican convention in Miami Beach nominated Richard Nixon for president.

1982: PGA Championship Men’s Golf
Ray Floyd won his second PGA C’ship by 3 shots from fellow American Lanny Wadkins on August 8, 1982. 

1988: US Senior Open Men’s Golf
Gary Player of South Africa won by 2 strokes over New Zealander Bob Charles in an 18-hole playoff and achieved his second straight US Senior title. 

1992: Winning the Barcelona Olympics
The original USA ‘Dream Team’ won the basketball gold at the Barcelona Olympics 117-85 over Croatia, which featured superstars Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing. 

2011: Tibetan scholar Lobsang Sangay.

The first non-monk and the first person born outside of Tibet was appointed prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile: Tibetan scholar Lobsang Sangay.

2013: Recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom
Ben Bradlee was named as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Benjamin Bradlee was one of the most prominent journalists of the post-World War II United States, serving first as managing editor, then as executive editor at The Washington Post, from 1965 to 1991.

1902: Paul Dirac
He was an English physicist who won the Nobel in 1933 was born in Bristol, England. 

1907: Benny Carter

New York City was the birthplace of jazz musician Benny Carter, an original and significant alto saxophone as well as a masterful composer and arranger, significant bandleader, trumpeter, and clarinettist.

1947: Ken Dryden
He was a famous Canadian politician and former hockey player was born in Hamilton, Ontario.

1953: Nigel Mansell
A British auto racer who was the World F1 champion in 1992, was born in Upton-upon-Severn, England.