Loomis Day is observed annually across the nation on May 30. Washington, DC dentist, Mahlon Loomis, received US patent number 129,971 titled “An Improvement in Telegraphing” on wireless telegraphy in July of 1872.

Born on July 21, 1826, Mahlon Loomis was a dentist, the inventor of artificial teeth and one of the earliest inventors of wireless communication. Loomis died on October 13, 1886.

Leading up to his patent, Loomis conducted many experiments in electricity using kites flying miles apart in the mountains of Virginia. Then in 1868 before several scientists and Congressmen, he demonstrated his wireless telegraphic system. While he couldn’t explain how he was able to produce the transmission, he appealed to Congress for an appropriation to incorporate the Loomis Aerial Telegraph Company for research. Senator Charles Sumner introduced the bill, and on May 30 in 1872, the Committee on Commerce reported poorly on the measure. Stripped of its appropriations, it eventually passed in 1873 strictly as a bill of incorporation.