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.

SHIRLEY SMITH

Thomas A. Edison announced the invention of his phonograph on
this day in 1877.

On this day in 1973, President Richard M. Nixon‘s attorney, J. Fred
Buzhardt, announced the presence of an 18½-minute gap in one of
the White House tape recordings related to the Watergate case.

President Nixon (seated) and H.R. Haldeman in 1972.

On this day in 1934, the Cole Porter musical "Anything
Goes" opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre (now
known as the Neil Simon Theatre). The musical has
been revived several times in the U.S. and Britain and
has been filmed twice. It has long been a popular
choice for school and community productions.

Ethel Merman (Ethel Agnes Zimmermann)
(January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984)

MIKE GRACIA

Thomas Edison perfected a workable electric light bulb on this
day in 1877. It would last 13 1/2 hours before it burned out.

Thomas Alva Edison
(February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931)

On this day in 1805, The Battle of Trafalgar occurred off the coast of Spain during the Napoleonic Wars. The British defeated the French
and Spanish fleet. It was the greatest battle in British naval history.

British Admiral Horatio Nelson was shot and killed during battle.

Admiral Horatio Nelson was one of
Great Britain’s greatest war heroes.