On this day in 1997, NASA's Pathfinder space probe landed on the surface of Mars. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. In 1950, Radio Free Europe first broadcasted. In 1934, Leo Szilard patented the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb. In 1927, the Lockheed Vega first flew. In 1886, the first scheduled Canadian transcontinental train arrived in Port Moody, British Columbia. In 1840, the Cunard Line's 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departed from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end. In 1837, Grand Junction Railway--the world's first long-distance railway--opened between Birmingham and Liverpool. And in 1054, the Chinese, the Arabs and possibly Amerindians observed a bright supernova, the remnants of which form the Crab Nebula. Happy Bithday signing gorilla Koko (1971), tennis players Henri Leconte and Pam Shriver (1963), video game designer Richard Garriott (1961), reporter Geraldo Rivera (1943), playwright Neil Simon and actor Gina Lollobrigida (1927), advice columnist Ann Landers (1918-2002), gangster Meyer Lansky (1902-1983), cartoonist Rube Goldberg (1883-1970), film producer Louis B. Mayer (1882-1957), U.S. President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), songwriter Stephen Foster (1826-1864), distiller Hiram Walker (1816-1899) and writer Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864). RIP singer Barry White (d. 2003), television presenter Charles Kuralt (1997) and actor Eva Gabor (1995). "Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to experience it." - Max Frisch </FRIDAY>