August 20

1896: The dial telephone was patented. 1911: The first cable message was sent around the world by the NY Time from the U.S. via 29,000 miles of commercial telegraph wires; it read "This message sent around the world." 1923: Vilfredo Pareto, the economist who created the Pareto chart, died. 1930: Philo Farnsworth patented his television system. 1936: : Edward Weston, founder of the Weston Electrical Instrument Company, was born., founder of the Weston Electrical Instrument Company, died. 1953: The Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb. 1977: The United States launched Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature. 2001: Sir Fred Hoyle, the astronomer who coined the term "Big Bang," died.