On this day: November 2
POSTED: 05:44 PM PDT Nov 01, 2012
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PDT Nov 01, 2012
Gen. George Washington says goodbye to his troops, cheerleading is born, the "Spruce Goose" takes off, Truman defeats Dewey, and a federal holiday is created to honor Martin Luther King Jr., all on this day.
DuPont
1931: The DuPont company announces the first synthetic rubber. It's initially known as DuPrene, but DuPont would discontinue that trade name on Dec. 16, 1936, in favor of the generic "neoprene" to signify that the material is an ingredient, not a finished consumer product. Today, neoprene is used in a wide variety of applications, such as laptop sleeves, orthopedic braces, electrical insulation and automotive fan belts.
