From A Word A Day at wordsmith.org:

Today when we spell the word "catalog" instead of "catalogue" we can thank a crotchety, humorless man for saving the wear on our fingers, not to mention savings on paper and those obscenely expensive inkjet printer cartridges. Oct 16 marks the birth anniversary of Noah Webster (1758-1843), who compiled the 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, the first authoritative lexicon of American English.

Webster believed in establishing cultural independence from Britain and as such he emphasized a distinct American spelling and pronunciation. His dictionary listed various unusual and shortened spellings of the words. He would have hardly imagined how the tide would turn one day. According to reports, more British and Australian children spell "color" instead of "colour", for example. Webster's suggestion of using "tung" instead of "tongue" didn't stick, though. As he said, "the process of a living language is like the motion of a broad river which flows with a slow, silent, irresistible current."

Today Webster's name is synonymous with dictionaries and the date of his birth is observed as Dictionary Day.

Happy Dictionary Day!