A to Z Historic Trivia - D

D

In 1963, San Diego disc jockey Dave Richards thought it would be fun to announce on-air on April Fool’s Day that the space shuttle Discovery would be landing at a small nearby airport, rather than Edwards Air Force Base. Hundreds of anxious people, including children who should have been in school, were disappointed to find that not only was the Discovery not coming to tiny Montgomery Airport, the space shuttle hadn’t even left Edwards AFB. The local police department was not impressed by the prank and billed the radio station for having to redirect traffic.

Aside from the dollar bill being the most popular note in the world, the Dollar Sign $ is the most recognized symbol for currency. Irish-American businessman Oliver Pollack is debatably credited for creating the symbol during the American Revolutionary War (1778), the financing of which left Pollack penniless and later imprisoned for his debt. Further damaging was his claim to fame coming into question while he was incarcerated. While historical documents abound stating that before the United States gained independence and began printing its own currency, the colonies used the Spanish dollar, or “Peso,” they don’t actually ascertain who it was that ultimately crafted the abbreviation of peso; lowercase letters ps, into simply an S superimposed over the stem of a P. Since Pollack was appointed Commercial Agent of the United States at New Orleans at the time, it’s a safe bet he had a hand in creating the $ sign ; - )

Freed from slavery at eight months old, little else is known about Osbourn Dorsey. But one thing is certain: he invented and successfully patented the doorknob/doorstop in 1878 when he was 16 years old.