May 23

1785: Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter that he had invented bifocals. 1848: Otto Lilienthal, who accomplished some of the first controlled glider flights, was born. 1908: Nobel physicist John Bardeen, co-inventor of the transistor along with William Shockley and Walter Brattain, was born. 1916: Thomas Edison was issued three patents for his "Phonograph or Talking Machine." 1922: "Daylight Saving Time" was the topic in the first debate ever to be heard on radio in Washington, DC. 1934: Bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in a police ambush. 1949: The Republic of West Germany was established. 1949: William Hansen, inventor of the klystron tube, died. 1960: Georges Claude, inventor of the neon light, died. 1968: The first decimal coins were distributed in Britain in preparation for replacing the current system of pounds, shillings and pence. 2007: The world's demographic makeup shifted from mostly rural to mostly urban.