On this day, Aug. 12

1848 Anesthesia in the form of chloroform was used for the first time in Pittsburgh by Dr. William H. Wright in a tooth extraction. 1909 The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home to the Indianapolis 500, first opened.

1945 Pittsburgh district industries laid off 7,000 workers as the first cancellation of a war contract became effective.

1981 IBM introduced its first personal computer, the model 5150, at a news conference in New York.

2005 Gateway Center was flooded when a 36-inch water main broke Downtown.

2017 A car plowed into a crowd of people peacefully protesting a white nationalist rally in the Virginia college town of Charlottesville, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and hurting more than a dozen others. (The attacker, James Alex Fields, was sentenced to life in prison on 29 federal hate crime charges and life plus 419 years on state charges.) President Donald Trump condemned what he called an “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.”

Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).

— Compiled by Rick Nowlin Today’s birthdays: Actor George Hamilton, 81. Actor Jennifer Warren, 79. Rock singer Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), 71. Singer Kid Creole, 70. Jazz musician Pat Metheny, 66. Rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot,

57. Actor Peter Krause, 55. Actor Brent Sexton, 53. International Tennis Hall of Famer Pete Sampras, 49. Actor Rebecca Gayheart,

49. Actor Casey Affleck, 45. Rock musician Bill Uechi, 45. Actor Maggie Lawson, 40. Actor Dominique Swain, 40. Actor Leah Pipes, 32. Actor Lakeith Stanfield, 29. NBA All-Star Khris Middleton, 29. Actor Cara Delevingne, 28. Actor Imani Hakim, 27. Thought for today: “It is not love that is blind, but jealousy.”

— Lawrence Durrell, British-born author (1912-1990)