November 06: Fun Facts about Today in History

(November 06, 1492)
During his expedition of the New World, Christopher Columbus made the first documented mention of tobacco smoking. The indigenous people wrapped the plants, known as tabacos, in dried leaves and lighted one end. They felt sleepy or drunk after inhaling the smoke. Rodrigo de Jerez is considered as Europe's first smoker. photo source: wikimedia.org

(November 06, 1814)
Adolphe Sax, a Belgian musician and inventor, invented the saxophone in the early 1840s and patented it in 1846. photo source: wikimedia.org

(November 06, 1860)
On this day in 1860, Americans elected Abraham Lincoln as president, resulting in the secession of Southern states and the lengthy and brutal Civil War that ended slavery in the United States in 1865. photo source: wikimedia.org

(November 06, 1861)
James Naismith is widely known as the creator of basketball. He was also the first full-time athletics instructor at McGill University, and he founded the basketball programme at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he taught and resided for 41 years before his death. In 1959, Naismith was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for the first time. photo source: wikimedia.org

(November 06, 1899)
Engineer James Packard was disappointed with the Winton automobile owned by Winton investor George Lewis Weiss. When he offered improvement recommendations to the Winton's maker, they told him that if he thought he could create a better car, he should do so - so he did! He and his brother William formed the Packard Motor Car Company with Weiss. Packards were the first automobiles to include factory-installed air conditioning. photo source: wikimedia.org

(November 06, 1928)
Colonel Jacob Schick is the first to patent an electric razor. Schick became renowned as "The Father of Electric Razors" after founding the Schick Dry Shaver, Inc. razor firm. photo source: wikimedia.org