Eli Whitney, American engineer and theorist, invented the cotton gin (born 1765)

Eli Whitney Jr. was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin in 1793, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South.

A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation. The separated seeds may be used to grow more cotton or to produce cottonseed oil.

January 8 is the eighth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 357 days remain until the end of the year.