Today is Thursday, May 17, the 138th day of 2012. There are 228 days left in the year.

1630 ― Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi, first to see two belts on Jupiter surface

1845 ― Rubber band patented

1846 ― Saxophone is patented by Antoine Joseph Sax

1884 ― Alaska becomes a U.S. territory

1916 ― British Summer Time (Daylight Savings), first introduced

1949 ― British government recognizes Republic of Ireland

1960 ― First atomic reactor system to be patented, J.W. Flora, Canoga Park, Calif.

1961 ― Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers

1973 ― Stevie Wonder releases ``You are the Sunshine of my Life"

1993 ― Intel's new Pentium processor is unveiled