Today in History

• 2013 Pope Benedict XVI resigns

  The pope whose birth name is Joseph Ratzinger was the first leader of the Catholic Church to resign since 1415.

• 1991 The first Gulf War ends

  The armed conflict had lasted a little over half a year and claimed over 100,000 civilian casualties.

• 1986 Swedish prime minister Olof Palme is assassinated

  Even though over 130 people have confessed to the murder, the case has never been solved.

• 1975 A London underground train crashes into the end of the tunnel at Moorgate station

  The Moorgate tube crash claimed 43 lives and was the deadliest accident in the London Underground in during peacetime.

• 1935 Nylon is invented

  Wallace Carothers first produced the polymer at the DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware, United States.