Louis Braille (January 4, 1809 – January 6, 1852)  

Braille was a French educator and inventor of a system of reading and
writing for use by the blind or visually impaired. His system remains
virtually unchanged to this day, and is known worldwide simply as
braille.

ED DANAHUE

Thomas Edison gave his first public demonstration of incandescent lighting to an audience in Menlo Park, NJ. on this day in 1879.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company ran special trains to Menlo Park on the
day of the demonstration in response to public enthusiasm over the event.

Although the first incandescent lamp had been produced 40 years earlier, no inventor had been able to come up with a practical design until Edison, after
countless tests, developed a high-resistance carbon-thread filament that
burned steadily for hours and an electric generator sophisticated enough to
power a large lighting system.

Thomas Edison’s greatest contribution to the modern industrial world came
from his work in electricity. He acquired 1,093 patents in his lifetime and
died in 1931 at the age of 84.

The 1879-Thomas-Edison -Longines-Wittnauer-
Bronze-Commemorative-Medal.

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins is 81 years old today.

Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins is best known for his portrayal
of the ingenious serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence
of the Lambs (1991), a role that won him the Academy Award
for Best Actor. He has also played roles in The Mask of Zorro 
(1998), and Nixon (1995). He turned to TV in 2016 upon landing
a starring role on HBO’s Westworld.

Anthony Hopkins portraying Hannibal Lecter from The Silence
of the Lambs.

ED DANAHUE

Approximately 600 people died when fire broke out at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, IL. on this day in 1903. The theater was billed
as being fire proof, much the same way the Titanic was said to be 
unsinkable. The fire one of the most horrific events in Chicago’s
history.

Drawing depicts the scene inside the lobby when fire broke out in the
Iroquois Theater.

On this day in 1936, the United Auto Workers union staged its first
sit-down strike, at the Fisher Body Plant in Flint, MI. The Flint Sit–
Down Strike is known as the most important strike in American
history because it changed the United Automobile Workers (UAW)

The UAW was founded as part of the
Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO) in the 1930s and grew rapidly
from 1936 to the 1950s.

ROSS SIMPSON

Actor Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is 63 years old today.

Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for Best Actor for
his role in the 2001 film Training Day. He has starred in several
films based on true events such as Remember the Titans (2000), 
Cry Freedom (1987), American Gangster (2007), Flight (2012), 
and Malcolm X (1992). 

2004

2012

ROSS SIMPSON

The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore (" ‘Twas
the night before Christmas…") was published on this day in 1823.