1944: Joseph Kennedy, Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy and U.S. Navy pilot during WWII, was killed when his airplane crashed while on a mission.

1877: This date is popularly given for Thomas Alva Edison's completion of the model for the first phonograph, a device that recorded sound onto tinfoil cylinders. It is more likely, however, that work on the model was not finished until November or December of that year, since Edison did not file for the patent until December 24, 1877. While working to improve the efficiency of a telegraph transmitter, Edison noted that the tape of the machine gave off a noise resembling spoken words when played at a high speed. Edison began experimenting with the diaphragm of a telephone receiver by attaching a needle to it. His experiments led him to try a stylus on a tinfoil cylinder, which, to his great surprise, played back the short message he recorded, "Mary had a little lamb." (Source: Library of Congress)