SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2012

Today is Saturday, November 24, the 329

th

day of 2012. There are 37 days left in the year.

1639 ― First observation of transit of Venus occurred (only two, record event)

1642 ― Abel Janzoon Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)

1859 ― Charles Darwin publishes "On the Origin of Species"

1874 ― Joseph F. Glidden patents barbed wire

1944 ― U.S. bombers based on Saipan, first attack Tokyo

1949 ― Britain nationalizes its steel and iron industry

1952 ― Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" opens in London

1966 ― 400 die of respiratory failure and heart attack in killer NYC smog

1983 ― PLO exchanges six Israeli prisoners for 4,500 Palestinians and Lebanese

1989 ― Communist Party resigns in Czechoslovakia