1877 – Thomas Edison invents the phonograph, a machine capable of recording and re-broadcasting recorded voices.
1912 – Discovering the statue of the ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti, wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten at Tal al-Amarna area in southern Egypt.
1941 – Japanese Navy forces launch attack on the US military base at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu Hawaii; the attack destroys the entire US fleet.
2004 – Hamid Karzai swears in as President of Afghanistan, after his victory in the first presidential elections held in the country.
International Civil Aviation Day.
Independence day in Cote d’Ivoire.