Today in History: Lascaux cave paintings discovered

Today is Thursday, Sept. 12, the 256th day of 2024. There are 110 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 12, 1940, the Lascaux cave paintings, estimated to be 17,000 years old, were discovered in southwestern France.

Also on this date:

In 1857, the S.S. Central America (also known as the “Ship of Gold”) sank off the coast of South Carolina after sailing into a hurricane in one of the worst maritime disasters in American history; 425 people were killed and thousands of pounds of gold sank with the ship to the bottom of the ocean.

In 1958, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Cooper v. Aaron, unanimously ruled that Arkansas officials who were resisting public school desegregation orders could not disregard the high court’s rulings.

In 1959, the Soviet Union launched its Luna 2 space probe, which made a crash landing on the moon.

In 1962, in a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed his support for the manned space program, declaring: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

In 1977, South African Black student leader and anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, 30, died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry.

In 1994, truck driver Frank Eugene Corder piloted a stolen single-engine Cessna airplane into restricted airspace in Washington, D.C., and crashed it into the South Lawn of the White House.

In 2003, in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, U.S. forces mistakenly opened fire on vehicles carrying police, killing eight of them.

In 2008, a Metrolink commuter train struck a freight train head-on in Los Angeles, killing 25 people.

In 2011, Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal to win his first U.S. Open championship.

In 2013, Voyager 1, launched 36 years earlier, became the first man-made spacecraft ever to leave the solar system.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Linda Gray is 84. Singer Maria Muldaur is 82. Author Michael Ondaatje is 81. Actor Joe Pantoliano is 73. Photographer Nan Goldin is 71. Composer Hans Zimmer is 67. Actor Rachel Ward is 67. TV host-commentator Greg Gutfeld is 60. Actor-comedian Louis C.K. is 57. Golfer Angel Cabrera is 55. Country singer Jennifer Nettles (Sugarland) is 50. Rapper 2 Chainz is 47. Singer Ruben Studdard is 46. Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming is 44. Singer-actor Jennifer Hudson is 43. Actor Alfie Allen is 38. Actor Emmy Rossum is 38. Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is 35. Country singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini is 31. Actor Sydney Sweeney is 27.