Inventor Ottmar Mergenthaler was born on May 11, 1854, in Hatchel, Kingdom of Württemberg (present-day Baden-Württemberg). Mergenthaler invented the linotype machine, which made it quicker and easier to set complete lines of type for printing presses, revolutionizing printing in the 19th century.
On March 16, 1926, Robert H. Goddard launched his first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts. Though his work went largely unrecognized during his lifetime, today he’s known as the father modern rocketry.
Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in Smiljan, Austrian Empire (present-day Croatia).
On March 27, 1884, the first long-distance phone call between New York and Boston was made.
On July 25, 1909, Louis Blériot became the first person to fly across the English Channel. Born in Cambrai, France, on July 1, 1872, Blériot was the first of five children. At the age of 10, he attended the Institute of Notre Dame in Cambrai, where he often won prizes for his engineering drawings.
The father of American musical comedy, George Michael Cohan was born on July 3, 1878, in Providence, Rhode Island. The son of traveling Vaudeville performers, Cohan joined his parents on stage when he was just a baby. Cohan learned to dance and sing shortly after learning to walk and talk. Along with his parents and sister, the family toured under the name The Four Cohans, with George writing skits and songs in his teens.
Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio.
On April 2, 1872, telegraph inventor Samuel Morse died. President Woodrow Wilson address Congress on April 2, 1917, asking to declare war and join World War I.
On March 14, 1794, Eli Whitney received the patent for his cotton gin nearly five months after first applying for it.