October 22

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  1659: Chemist and physician Georg Ernst Stahl born. His works on phlogiston will be accepted as an explanation for chemical processes until the late 18th century.

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  1792: Astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil dies. He discovered what are now known as the Messier objects M32, M36 and M38, as well as the nebulosity in M8, and he was the first to catalogue the dark nebula sometimes known as Le Gentil 3 (in the constellation Cygnus).

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  1879: Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric incandescent light bulb (it lasted 13½ hours before burning out).

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  1893: Cryptologist Laurance Safford born. Safford will establish the Naval cryptologic organization after World War I, and head the effort more or less constantly until shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

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  1905: Physicist and engineer Karl Guthe Jansky born. He will be one of the founding figures of radio astronomy.

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  1922: Chemist Marc Julia born. Julia (along with his colleague Jean-Marc Paris) will discover the Julia olefination reaction in 1973.

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  1927: Physicist, engineer, and inventor Nikola Tesla introduces six new inventions including single-phase electric power.