TODAY IN HISTORY - JANUARY 18TH

1854 – Thomas A. Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (d. 1934) is born.

1862 – John Tyler, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 10th President of the United States (b. 1790) dies.

1882 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1956) is born.

1886 – Modern hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.

1896 – An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith.

1903 – A transmitter in Wellfleet, Massachusetts sends the first transatlantic radio transmission to originate in the United States.

1911 – Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.

1933 – Ray Dolby, American engineer and businessman, founded Dolby Laboratories (d. 2013) is born.

1936 – Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865) dies.

1955 – Kevin Costner, American actor, director, and producer is born.

1958 – Willie O'Ree, the first African Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.

1952 – Curly Howard, American actor, The Three Stooges (b. 1903) dies.

1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler", is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

1977 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.

1981 – Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs).

1983 – The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals to his family.

1990 – Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.

1993 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 states.

2015 – Tony Verna, American director and producer, invented instant replay (b. 1933) dies.

2016 – Glenn Frey, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1948) dies.