The Phonautograph and Precursors to Edison's Phonograph. An 1859 Koenig phonautograph. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.) While Thomas Edison is rightly credited with the invention of the cylinder phonograph and the means of playing back sound, his ideas were clearly influenced by numerous others who preceded him.
The best time to go whale watching in Oahu is November through May, as these months see the arrival of the humpback whales on their migration from Alaska. These creatures can weigh up to 45 tons, and marine specialists estimate that some 10,000 of them spend their winters near the Hawaiian islands.
Hawaii's Winter Visitors. Whale watching is a seasonal and very popular activity during the winter time in Hawaii. There are at about 10,000 to 15,000 humpback whales in the world, and over 1,000 of them visit the tropical waters of Hawaii every year at the end of November. They stay until the end of April; some are even seen until the middle of May before they make their long way back to Alaska.