Geek Facts

In 1879, Thomas Alva Edison succeeded in producing a working prototype of the electric incandescent lamp. While, contrary to popular belief, Edison did not invent the light bulb, he developed the first one that was remotely practical for home use. He eventually invented an electric […]

In 1906, 
Dr. Lee DeForest announced his three-element electrical vacuum tube. Later known as the triode, it ushered in a new age of electronics through its use in the amplification of electrical signals. Learn more at http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Lee_De_Forest.

In 1941, the Smith-Putnam Wind Turbine became the first wind turbine to feed AC power to the electric grid. In a 25 mph wind, the wind turbine fed electricity into the grid of the Central Vermont Public Service Corporation. In 1943, a main bearing failure

In 1931, U.S. inventor Thomas Edison died. The most prolific inventor in U.S. history, he registered 1,093 U.S. patents over the course of his lifetime. Learn more at http://www.thomasedison.com/biography.html.         In 1954, 
Texas Instruments (TI) announced the first transistor radio, the Regency

In 1985, Intel introduced the 32-bit 80386 microcomputer chip. The 80386 microcomputer chip the was first Intel/*86 chip to handle 32-bit data sets and was backwards compatible with previous generations of 80×86 CPUs. Learn more at http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/80386/index.html.

In 1959, Control Data Corporation (CDC) released the model 1604 computer. Designed by electrical engineer Seymour Cray, the model 1604 computer was the most powerful computer on the market.  It became the world’s first commercially successful transistorized computer. Learn more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDC_1604.

In 2002, Toshiba launched the Pocket PC e335 handheld computer. The Pocket PC e335 had a 300 MHz Intel PXA250 XScale processor, a 3.5 inch color screen, and 64MB RAM and an introductory price of $349 after a $50 rebate. Learn more at http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/toshiba-pocket-pc-e335/4505-3126_7-20537616.html.

In 1947, Chuck Yeager made the first supersonic flight. Yeager broke the sound barrier while flying his plane named “Glamorous Glennis” in honor of his wife. He achieved a speed of Mach 1.06 (807.2 mph or 1299.06 kph) at 43,000 feet (13.11 km). Learn more

In 1994, Netscape Communications Corporation offered its new Netscape Navigator browser free to users via the Internet. Netscape advertised that “the web is for everyone” and stated one of its goals was to “level the playing field” by providing a consistent web browsing experience across

In 1964, the U.S.S.R. launched the Voskhod 1, the first spacecraft to carry multiple crew members. It was also the first mission to carry either a scientist or a physician into space. In the rush to launch the mission before the NASA Gemini flights, the

In 1979, Visicalc was released. VisiCalc was the first computer spreadsheet program and ran on an Apple II computer.  VisiCalc introduced a new level in application software. Learn more at http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa010199.htm. In 1984, several ‘firsts’ occurred during the Space Shuttle Challenger mission. Marc Garneau became

In 1796, according to tradition, the metric system began to be used. The date,  October 10th (10/10), was chosen because it was symbolic of the base 10 method of measuring with metric. Read about efforts to adopt the metric system in the U.S. at http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/usmetric.html.

In 2009, NASA’s LCROSS and a companion rocket stage impacted the Moon’s Cabeus crater. LCROSS stands for Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite.  The dual impact lifted a plume of material, including grains of mostly pure water ice, that traveled nearly ten miles above the

In 1997, Yahoo! acquired Four11. Four11 was the creator Internet-based communications services such as net-phone software tools and RocketMail, a free Web-based service. Yahoo! Mail is based on RocketMail technology. Learn more at http://investor.yahoo.net/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=173315.