Inventors

Eli Whitney was born on December 8, 1765, in Westborough, Province of Massachusetts Bay. Most well-known for his invention of the cotton gin, he was also pioneer in mass production.

Adding to his long list of inventions, Thomas Edison tested his first motion picture film on October 6, 1889.

On September 6, 1916, the first self-service grocery store as we know it today opened in Memphis, Tennessee.  The store was Piggly Wiggly, and it revolutionized the way people bought groceries.

Frederic Eugene Ives was born on February 17, 1856, in Litchfield, Connecticut. He developed the first successful half-tone process and invented the “Kromskop,” which projected three identical images through different colored filters to produce some of the first color photographs.

On February 15, 1946, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was unveiled to the public. It’s considered the first general-purpose electronic digital computer.

On September 4, 1882, Thomas Edison began providing electricity to a portion of New York City, an event often considered the start of the electrical age.

On August 20, 1920, Detroit’s 8MK radio station began daily broadcasts. Still in operation today, the station often claims to be the first commercial radio station, though a few others have also staked their claim on that title.

On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee published the first-ever website, heralding the start of the world wide web. The web has grown to over 1.8 billion websites today, and continues to grow every day.

Inventor William Kennedy-Laurie Dickson was born on August 3, 1860, in Le Minihic-sur-Rance, Brittany, France. Dickson helped invent the Kinetoscope and Mutoscope, early steppingstones in the motion picture industry.