MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2012

Today is Monday, August 13, the 226th day of 2012. There are 140 days left in the year.

1521 ― Spanish conquerors captured Mexico City from Aztecs

1642 ― Christiaan Huygens discovers Martian south polar cap

1868 ― Quakes kill 25,000 and causes $300 million damages (Peru and Ecuador)

1907 ― First taxicab (NYC)

1923 ― Mustapha Kemal elected president of Turkey

1928 ― Soviet Union Spartacan Games begins

1945 ― Thirty-five Jews sacrifice their lives to blow up Nazi rubber plant in Silesia

1946 ― Britain transfers illegal immigrants bound to Palestine, to Cyprus

1961 ― Construction on Berlin Wall begins in East Germany (Dark day)

1977 ― First test glide of the shuttle