Today In History
February 11
1990: Nelson Mandela was released from a South African prison after serving more than 27 years for his activism against apartheid in South Africa.
1872: The government of Japan officially set Feb. 11 as the day Japan was founded hundreds of years ago. In 1996, the day began being celebrated as National Foundation Day.
1847: Thomas Edison, prolific inventor whose first patented invention was an electrographic vote recorder that he could never sell to politicians, was born in Milan, Ohio. Edison died in 1931 having received 1,093 patents, most famously for his phonograph and electric light.