Felix Hoffmann
(21 January 1868 – 8 February 1946)

The German company Bayer patents aspirin on March 6, 1899.
Now the most common drug in household medicine cabinets, acetylsalicylic acid was originally made from a chemical found
in the bark of willow trees. In its primitive form, the active
ingredient, salicin, was used for centuries in folk medicine,
beginning in ancient Greece when Hippocrates used it to relieve
pain and fever. Known to doctors since the mid-19th century, it
was used sparingly due to its unpleasant taste and tendency to
damage the stomach.

In 1897, Bayer employee Felix Hoffmann found a way to create a
stable form of the drug that was easier and more pleasant to take.
(Some evidence shows that Hoffmann’s work was really done by
a Jewish chemist, Arthur Eichengrun, whose contributions were
covered up during the Nazi era.)

Jacob Davis (left) and Levi Strauss (right)

San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada,
tailor Jacob Davis were given a patent to create work pants reinforced
with metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the world’s most
famous garments: blue jeans.

On May 20, 1873, San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and
Reno, Nevada, tailor Jacob Davis (above) were given a patent to
create work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth
of one of the world’s most famous garments: blue jeans.

MIKE GRACIA

On this day in 1868, Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent
for an invention that he called a "Type-Writer." It became the first machine to be mass-produced.

Christopher Latham Sholes
(February 14, 1819 – February 17, 1890)

The  world’s first typist was Lillian Sholes, daughter
of Christopher Sholes. The machine typed only in
capital letters.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

It was on this day in 1964.

The bodies of the three civil rights workers found in an earthen dam
in Mississippi on August 4, 1964.