Latest update September 8th, 2026 10:25 AM
Latest News
This Day in History February 19, 1878
Thomas Edison patents the phonograph
The technology that made the modern music business possible came into existence in the New Jersey laboratory where Thomas Edison created the first device to both record sound and play it back.
Thomas Edison demonstrating his tinfoil phonograph, photograph by Mathew Brady, 1878.
He was awarded U.S. Patent No. 200,521 for his invention—the phonograph—on February 19, 1878.
The patent awarded to Edison on February 19, 1878, specified a particular method—embossing—for capturing sound on tin-foil-covered cylinders. The next critical improvement in recording technology came courtesy of Edison’s competitor in the race to develop the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. His newly established Bell Labs developed a phonograph based on the engraving of a wax cylinder, a significant improvement that led directly to the successful commercialization of recorded music in the 1890s and lent a vocabulary to the recording business—e.g., “cutting” records and “spinning wax”—that has long outlived the technology on which it was based.
Soured from: history.com
February 19, 1945
U.S. Marines invade Iwo Jima
Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines’ invasion of Iwo Jima, is launched. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away.
Marines risk sniper fire atop Mount Suribachi as they gather to the great attraction of the day—5th Division Marines raise the American flag. Photo by Marine Pvt. Bob Campbell. National Archives identifier: 100310761.
The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of the island in June 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers raided the island for 74 days. It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of the extent to which the Japanese—21,000 strong—fortified the island, above and below ground, including a network of caves. Underwater demolition teams (“frogmen”) were dispatched by the Americans just before the actual invasion. When the Japanese fired on the frogmen, they gave away many of their “secret” gun positions.
The amphibious landings of Marines began the morning of February 19 as the secretary of the navy, James Forrestal, accompanied by journalists, surveyed the scene from a command ship offshore. As the Marines made their way onto the island, seven Japanese battalions opened fire on them. By evening, more than 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded. The capture of Mount Suribachi, the highest point of the island and bastion of the Japanese defense, took four more days and many more casualties. When the American flag was finally raised on Iwo Jima, the memorable image was captured in a famous photograph that later won the Pulitzer Prize.
Sourced from: history.com
February 19, 1985
Iberia Airlines Flight 610 crashes
Firefighters extinguish the flames after the crash. (El Correo Español)
On the 19th of February 1985, a Boeing 727 flying for Spain’s national airline clipped a mountain top television antenna on approach to Bilbao, sending the plane plummeting into a ravine from which it would never emerge. The crash killed all 148 passengers and crew and plunged Basque Country into mourning.
Sourced from: https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/
Fidel Castro formally resigned as president of Cuba
Cuban leader Fidel Castro speaks at the 30th anniversary of the communist revolution on Jan. 1, 1989, in Havana. Castro died Friday at age 90.
In February 2008, just days before the National Assembly was to vote for the country’s leader, Fidel Castro (who had not appeared in public for 19 months) officially declared that he would not accept another term as president. His announcement that he was stepping down was made through a letter that was addressed to the country and posted on the Web site of the official Communist Party newspaper, Granma. In part it read, “I do not bid you farewell. My only wish is to fight as a soldier of ideas.”
He was succeeded by his brother Raúl.
Sourced from: Britannica.com
February 19, 2010
Tiger Woods apologizes for extra-marital affairs
On February 19, 2010, professional golfer, Tiger Woods gives a televised news conference in which he apologizes for his marital infidelities and admits to “selfish” and “foolish” behavior.
Tiger Woods makes a statement at the Sawgrass Players Club, Friday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Joe Skipper The Associated Press, Pool
The 34-year-old Woods, one of the greatest players in the history of golf as well as one of the world’s highest-paid athletes, read a scripted statement at PGA headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, before a pre-selected audience that included his mother but not his Swedish-born wife, Elin Nordegren. Members of the media were present but were not allowed to ask questions.
Woods’ statement marked the first time he had spoken publicly since crashing his car into a fire hydrant and tree near his home in Windermere, Florida, an Orlando suburb, around 2:30 a.m. on November 27, 2009. The low-speed, single-car crash left him briefly hospitalized.
Sourced from: history.com
Share this:
Discover more from Kaieteur News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Similar Articles
Website Hits
Blunt of the day
Sports
Features/Columnists
Sir. Ronald Sanders
The GHK Lall Column
Weekend Cartoon
