TODAY IN HISTORY - NOVEMBER 12TH

1840 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor and illustrator, created The Thinker (d. 1917) is born.

1889 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher and philanthropist, co-founded Reader's Digest (d. 1981) is born.

1892 – William "Pudge" Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.

1912 – The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

1928 – SS Vestris sinks approximately 200 miles (320 km) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing at least 110 passengers, mostly women and children who die after the vessel is abandoned.

1929 – Grace Kelly, American actress, later Princess Grace of Monaco (d. 1982) is born.

1936 – In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.

1958 – A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.

1970 – The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached Sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous "exploding whale" incident.

1971 – Vietnam War: As part of Vietnamization, US President Richard Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.

1979 – Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.

1980 – The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn and takes the first images of its rings.

1988 – Russell Westbrook, American basketball player is born.

1990 – Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.

1997 – Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

2001 – In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.