Geek Facts

In 1987, Supernova 1987A was first seen. It was the first naked-eye supernova since 1604. Because of its relative proximity to Earth, Supernova 1987A is by far the best-studied supernova of all time. Learn more at http://heritage.stsci.edu/1999/04/sn1987anino.html

In 2000, Palm introduced the Palm IIIc. When introduced, the Palm IIIc handheld computer was the first color device based on the industry-leading Palm Computing platform. Learn more at http://pressroom.palm.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=339196

In 1947, Edwin Land demonstrated the Polaroid Land Camera to the Optical Society of America in New York City. It was the first camera to take, develop and print a picture on photo paper (in black and white back then) all in about a minute.

In 1473, Nicolaus Copernicus was born. Copernicus proposed that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the Solar System. Such a model is called a heliocentric system. In this new ordering the Earth is just another planet (the third outward from the Sun),

In 1930, U.S. astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto. The existence of an unknown ninth planet was first proposed by Percival Lowell, who theorized that wobbles in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune were caused by the gravitational pull of an unknown planetary body. Learn more

In 1959, Vanguard II, the first weather satellite, was launched. Vanguard II was the first satellite designed to observe and record the cloud cover of the earth. It was a forerunner of the television infrared observation satellites (TIROS). It is still in orbit. Learn more

In 1978, the first Computer Bulletin Board System (BBS) went online. The first BBS went online in the suburban Chicago home of Walt Christensen. It operated on a North Star Horizon 4 Mhz CP/M computer with a 5 MB hard drive and a 110 Bps

In 1999, American scientist Henry W. Kendall died. Henry Kendall, together with his colleagues Richard E. Taylor and Jerome I. Friedman, won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics for experiments which proved the existence of fundamental building bricks, called quarks, as constituents of the neutron

In 1998, Intel unveiled its first graphics chip, the Intel i740. Many industry analysts predicted that the i740 would be a fixture in the PC graphics world. Competitors, however, quickly released chips that outperformed the i740. Intel had to sell the chip at fairly low

In 1847, Thomas Alva Edison was born. Edison was the most prolific inventor in American history. He amassed over 1,000 patents covering a wide range of fields, including telecommunications, electric power, sound recording, motion pictures, primary and storage batteries, and mining and cement technology. Learn

In 1996, IBM’s Deep Blue defeated chess champ Gary Kasparov. This victory marked the first time that a current world champion had ever been beaten by a computer opponent under normal tournament conditions. Kasparov had easily defeated Deep Blue’s predecessor, Deep Thought, two years earlier.