On this day: February 4
POSTED: 01:03 AM PST Feb 03, 2013
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PST Feb 03, 2013
George Washington is elected America's first president, the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst, Fleetwood Mac releases "Rumours," and Facebook is launched, all on this day.
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1941: Roy Plunkett receives a U.S. patent for "Tetrafluoroethylene Polymers," now known under the trade name Teflon, which he assigned to his employer, Kinetic Chemicals Inc. of Wilmington, Del. The material is used as a non-stick coating for pans and other cookware. Teflon was discovered by accident on June 6, 1938, when Plunkett noticed a lining of the solid polymer had formed inside containers that had stored tetrafluoroethylene gas under pressure.
