On this day:
1858 First use of fingerprints as a means of identification is made by Sir William James Herschel of the Indian Civil Service
1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act (NASA) is established
Gone on this day:
1741 Antonio Vivaldi, Italian violinist, composer
1968 Otto Hahn, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
2004 Francis Crick, English biologist, biophysicist, neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate
2016 Mahasweta Devi, Indian Bengali writer and activist, dies at 90
