August 7

Today is National Lighthouse Day. 1802: Germain Hess, early thermochemistry researcher who developed Hess's law of constant heat summation, was born. 1886: Alan Hazeltine, inventor of the "neutrodyne" receiver that eliminated squeaks and howls of early radio receivers, was born. 1888: Theophilus Van Kannel received a patent for the revolving door. 1909: The first Lincoln penny was issued. 1919: Captain Ernest Hoy became the first pilot to fly over the Canadian Rockies. 1927: The Peace Bridge between the U.S. & Canada was dedicated. 1928: The U.S. Treasury Department issued a new bill that was one third smaller than the previous bills. 1942: U.S. Marines launched America's first offensive in World War II, landing on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal. 1959: Explorer 6 transmitted the first TV photo of Earth from space. 1994: The first telephone link was made between Israel and Jordan. 1996: More than six million America Online (AOL) customers worldwide were left stranded when the system crashed for almost 19 hours. 1998: U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Tanzania were bombed killing 224 people - Osama bin Laden was later indicted for the attacks.