One of the final 2010 Pontiac G6 sedans moves down the
line at General Motors Orion assembly plant in Michigan.

On April 27, 2009, the struggling American auto giant General
Motors (GM) says it plans to discontinue production of its more
than 80-year-old Pontiac brand.

Pontiac’s origins date back to the Oakland Motor Car, which
was founded in 1907 in Pontiac, Michigan, by Edward Murphy,
a horse-drawn carriage manufacturer.

Guitarist Duane Eddy had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically “twangy”
sound, including “Rebel-‘Rouser“, “Peter Gunn“, and “Because
They’re Young“.^[ He had sold 12 million records by 1963.

Duane Eddy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1994, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008.

On April 26, 1954, the Salk polio vaccine field trials, involving 1.8
million children, began at the Franklin Sherman Elementary School
in McLean, Virginia. Children in the United States, Canada and
Finland participated in the trials, which used for the first time the
now-standard double-blind method, whereby neither the patient
nor attending doctor knew if the inoculation was the vaccine or a placebo.

One year later, on April 12, 1955, researchers announced the vaccine
was safe and effective and it quickly became a standard part of childhood immunizations in America.

SANDY KOZEL

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into low Earth orbit in
1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope,
but it is one of the largest and most versatile, renowned both as a
vital research tool and as a public relations boon for astronomy.

The Hubble telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble
(below) and is one of NASA’s Great Observatories.

Edwin Powell Hubble
(November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953)