Day in Engineering History Archive - July 8

July 8

1695: Christiaan Huygens, discoverer of the wave theory of light and of Saturn's moon Titan, died. 1831: John Pemberton, the pharmacist who invented Coca-Cola, was born. 1838: Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, of airship fame, was born. 1856: Charles Barnes patented a crank operated machine gun. 1862: Theodore Timby patented the revolving gun turret. 1873: Anna Nichols became the first woman patent examiner. 1889: The Wall Street Journal was first published. 1932: At the low point of The Great Depression, the DJIA hit 41.22. 1937: England began its 999 emergency phone system. 1947: The Roswell Daily Record headline read, "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region." 1958: The first gold record album was presented by the RIAA for the soundtrack "Oklahoma!" 1969: The withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam began. 1994: Kim Il Sung, North Korea's communist leader since 1948, died at age 82, and was succeeded by the maniacal little pot-bellied Kim Jung Il. 1999: Astronaut Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr., the third man to walk on the moon, died in a motorcycle accident.