Geek Facts

In 1931, Fred Brooks, computer engineer, was born. Fred Brooks worked at IBM during the early supercomputer era. He coined the term “computer architecture”, and later oversaw development of the IBM System/360 and managed the software team that designed the OS/360 operating system. He is […]

In 1945, John Ambrose Fleming, inventor of the vacuum tube, died. John Ambrose Fleming was an electronics pioneer. His invention would help make radios, televisions, telephones and even early electronic computers possible. Fleming patented the vacuum tube in 1904. This is often considered to be

In 1986, IBM produced the first megabit-chip. A megachip is a memory chip capable of storing 1 million bits of information. Read more about IBM’s history of chipmaking at http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/power/library/pa-powerppl/

In 1972, Apollo 16, the 5th manned lunar landing, launched. The crew consisted of Captain John W. Young, commander; Lt. Commander Thomas K. Mattingly II, Command Module pilot; and Lt. Colonel Charles M. Duke Jr., Lunar Module pilot. Young and Duke were on for lunar

In 1982, Apollo Computer announced the DN400, DN420 and landscape display. Apollo Computer, Inc. was founded 1980 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts by William Poduska. Along with Symbolics and Sun Microsystems, Apollo was one of the first vendors of graphical workstations in the 1980s. From 1980 to

In 1956, Ampex Corporation demonstrated the first commercial magnetic tape recorder for sound and picture. The VR-1000 was the first practical broadcast-quality recorder. It recorded a black and white picture with a mono audio channel on a 2″ wide video tape. Learn more at http://www.vtoldboys.com/editingmuseum/index.htm

In 1869, George Westinghouse patented the steam power brake. The new braking system was to replace the standard manual braking system, which was often faulty. He incorporated the Westinghouse Air Brake Company that same year. The 1893 Railroad Safety Appliance Act made air brakes compulsory

In 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit Earth. Yuri Gagarin made a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space less than a month later. The Space Race was in

In 1984, Challenger astronauts completed the first in-space satellite repair. Shuttle astronauts George Nelson and James van Hoften used the Remote Manipulator System robot arm to retrieve the malfunctioning Solar Max astronomy satellite, fix it and send it back into orbit. The Solar Maximum Mission

In 1953, the IBM 701 was formally unveiled to the public. The IBM 701 was the first IBM large-scale electronic computer manufactured in quantity as well as IBM’s first commercially available scientific computer. It was also the first IBM machine in which programs were stored

In 1983, the first spacewalk of the Shuttle program occurred as part of the STS-6 mission. The spacewalk was performed by Mission Specialists Donald H. Peterson and F. Story Musgrave and lasted about 4 hours and 17 minutes. Learn more at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-6.html