November 21st, 2008

Today in History

1964:
Second Vatican Council: The third period of the Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes.

1953:
Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announce that the skull of the "Piltdown Man", held to be one of the most famous fossil skulls in the world, was a hoax.

1922:
Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first woman United States Senator.

1877:
Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record sound (this is considered to be Edison's first great invention).

1861:
American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin secretary of war.