Geek Facts

In 1977, 
FORTRAN-80, Microsoft’s second language product, was released at a cost of $500 for an individual license. The name FORTRAN is an acronym for FORmula TRANslation, because it was designed to allow easy translation of math formulas into code. Learn more at http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Cassini-Huygens/SEMVOZ1VQUD_0.html In […]

In 1948, three scientists from Bell Telephone Laboratories demonstrated the transistor. Besides explaining that the transistor could probably replace the vacuum tube, little was said of the transistor’s future applications.  The scientists, John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain and William Shockley, were awarded a Nobel Prize

In 2007, the original iPhone was released. The iPhone featured a touchscreen, virtual keyboard, 2-megapixel camera and 8 GB of storage and sold for $599 with a 2-year contract with Cingular (now AT&T). Apple sold a mind-boggling 700,000 iPhones on its release weekend. Learn more

In 1983, NASA launched the Galaxy 1 satellite. The Galaxy 1 was used for general communications services, such as television relay, voice and data. It was dedicated to cable television transmission across the US. Learn more at http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCatalog.do?sc=1983-065A

In 1929, the first mechanically scanned color television was demonstrated by Bell Laboratories in New York City. It consisted of three complete systems of photoelectric cells, amplifiers, glow-tubes, and color filters, with a series of mirrors to superimpose the red, green, and blue images into

In 1974, the first UPC bar code reader was used. At a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, a laser beam in an NCR checkout terminal with a bar code reader read the UPC bar code symbol on a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum and automatically

In 1963, the first demonstration of a home video recorder took place at BBC Studios, London. While it was arguably a revolutionary development in home entertainment, machines were expensive and could not meet the needs brought on by the onset of color programming. Learn more

In 1912, Alan Turing, a pioneer in computer theory, was born. Alan Turing is best known for the Turing machine, a theoretical computing machine that could serve as an idealized model for mathematical calculation. Learn more at http://mathworld.wolfram.com/TuringMachine.html

In 1978, Pluto’s moon, Charon, was discovered by James Christy. Charon is almost half the size of Pluto. The little moon is so big that Pluto and Charon are sometimes referred to as a double dwarf planet system. Learn more at http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Plu_Charon

In 1948, the first stored computer program was run, on Manchester Mark I. The program was to determine the highest factor of a number. The number chosen was quite small, but within days they had built up to trying the program on 218, and the

In 2011, ICANN granted private companies the right to create new website domain suffixes. Last week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) released 1,930 proposed suffixes. A 60-day comment period is underway. Final decisions will be made based on the comment period

In 1931, the first photoelectric cell commercial installation occurred. The swinging doors between the kitchen and dining room of Wilcox’s Pier Restaurant in West Haven, Connecticut were operated by a photoelectric cell. Learn more at http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-photoelectric-cells-work.html In 1963, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman

In 1983, aboard Challenger 2, Sally Ride became the first U.S. woman in space. The first woman in space was Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who orbited the Earth 48 times in 1963. Learn more about Sally Ride at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ride-sk.html