1876 – Thomas Edison received a US patent for a mimeograph, which combined with an invention by A. B. Dick led to the first widely successful mimeograph machine.
http://museumofprinting.org/pdfs/MOPWinter07.pdf
1908 – For the first time in public, Wilbur Wright showed off the Wright Brothers’ flying machine at the racecourse in Le Mans, France. French doubts about the Wright Brothers’ claims to flight were put to rest for the time being.
http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/1908-the-year-the-airplane-went-public-8791602/?no-ist
2007 – Barbara Morgan became the first educator to safely reach space on the US. Space Shuttle Endeavour.
http://idahoptv.org/productions/specials/barbaramorgan/2007Aug8.cfm
Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.