October 19



1875: English physicist Sir Charles Wheatstone, who invented the resistive bridge circuit that eventually bore his name, died. 1914: The U.S. Post Office established the first fleet of government-owned autos for mail delivery to end rampant fraud by private contractors. 1937: British Nobel Prize winner Sir Ernest Rutherford, who discovered alpha and beta particles, as well as gamma radiation, died. 1941: The first wind turbine to generate energy for an alternating current central power system was placed in service in Grandpa's Knob, VT. 1953: The first jet transcontinental nonstop scheduled service began. 1987: Black Monday - the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6% in value. 1972: American engineer Philip Drinker, who invented the iron lung, died. 1973: A U.S. Federal Judge signed his decision following a lengthy court trial which declared the ENIAC patent of Mauchly and Eckert invalid and named Atanasoff the inventor of the electronic digital computer -- the Atanasoff-Berry Computer. 2006: The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed above 12,000 for the first time. 2006: Duke University researchers announced the first demonstration of a working invisibility cloak.