Geek Facts

In 1978, the first documented spam email was sent. A marketer at the now-defunct computer firm Digital Equipment Corporation sent an email to 393 users of Arpanet, the computer network that eventually became the Internet. The recipients were not happy. Read more at http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13777

In 1981, Radio Shack re-released Model III TRSDOS 1.3 with 2 fixes Originally released on May 1st, TRS-DOS was able to accept input/output commands that worked with disk files rather than the cassette tapes that were used by most other TRS-80 systems. Learn more at

In 1964, the first BASIC computer program was run at Dartmouth. BASIC stands for Beginners’ All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. It went on to be the most widely used computer language in the world. Learn more at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~vox/0304/0503/basic.html

In 1993, the source code for the World Wide Web was released into the public domain. The directors of CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucleaire) made it freely available to anyone, without licensing fees. This is considered by some as the single most important

In 1813, rubber is patented. J. F. Hammel received the first U.S. patent related to rubber for an India rubber varnish which made shoes waterproof. Read more about the history of rubber at http://www.rubber.org/100th-anniversary2

In 1686, the first volume of Isaac Newton’s “Principia” was published. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) was a summary of Newton’s discoveries in celestial and terrestrial mechanics. It is considered to be one of the greatest milestones in the history of

In 1936, mathematician Karl Pearson died. Karl Pearson was a leading founder of the modern field of statistics. Teaching graphical methods at University College in London formed the basis for his original interest in statistics. Learn more at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/448102/Karl-Pearson

In 1962, the U.S. rocket Ranger IV landed on the far side of the Moon. While the Russians had achieved this feat in 1959, this was the first time an American spacecraft had successfully reached the Moon. Learn more at http://www.impactlab.net/2007/04/26/1962-first-us-rocket-lands-on-moon/

In 1954, the first solar battery was announced. Funded by Bell Laboratories, three American researchers, Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin, designed a silicon solar cell capable of a six percent energy conversion efficiency with direct sunlight. Learn more at http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/solar_cell.htm

In 1981, the IBM PC was introduced. The home computer market was emerging in the early ’80s. IBM had intended this model to be a stop-gap computer that would allow them to quickly tap into this market while taking the time to develop a “real”

In 1971, Soyuz 10 launched and became the first spacecraft to dock with a space station (Salyut 1). A soft docking was accomplished. However, the crew could not achieve a secure enough docking to allow entry into the station. Learn more at http://historicspacecraft.com/soyuz.html

In 1991, Intel released its 486SX chip. At $400, the 486SX chip was designed to stimulate demand in the whole spectrum of computers, from palmtop PCs to supercomputers. Read more about the history of microprocessors at http://oz.plymouth.edu/~harding/historymicro.html Photo: Steven White

In 1828, Noah Webster published the first edition of his An American Dictionary of the English Language. In an attempt to make them more phonetic, Webster changed the spelling of many words. Many of the differences that exist today between American English and other English

In 1940, the first electron microscope was demonstrated. Vladimir Zworykin demonstrated the electron microscope at RCA in Philadelphia, PA. Zworykin is better known as a co-inventor of television. He came to the US in 1919 and worked for Westinghouse before moving to RCA. Learn more