On this day in 1877, the U.S. Patent Office received an application for a “Phonograph or Speaking Machine” from inventor Thomas Edison. He had demonstrated the device for the first time a few weeks earlier, when he played his recorded (and sometimes unintelligible) voice to magazine staffers in New York City. 1877.
Indian cricketer Virat Kohli scored his first century, in a one-day international match against Sri Lanka. 2009.
Hijackers took control of Indian Airlines flight 814 and demanded that it be rerouted from New Delhi to Lahore. Days later, negotiations between the Indian government and the hijackers, who were linked a Pakistan-based Islamist group, resulted in an exchange of jailed militants for passengers being held hostage. 1999.
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to aid the Afghan communist government in its conflict with anti-communist Muslim guerrillas during the Afghan War. 1979.
Stephenie Meyer—author of the popular Twilight Saga, a series of vampire-themed novels for teenagers—was born in Hartford, Connecticut. 1973.
Idris I became the first king of newly independent Libya. 1951.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force during World War II. 1943.
American manufacturer, aviator, and film producer Howard Hughes, who became better known for his reclusiveness than for the uses to which he put his vast wealth, was born in Houston, Texas. 1905
The United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium, ending the War of 1812. The treaty did not resolve the issues that led to war, but a newfound sense of patriotism in many Americans, who were convinced that they had won, pushed the U.S. to pursue its national goals. 1814.
Co. Hesive Magazine 