Learn an interesting fact to share with friends and increase your Geek Cred!
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 1924, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) was founded by Thomas Watson. IBM’s predecessor was Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, or C-T-R. Thomas Watson began expanding overseas—beyond the UK, Canada and Germany where its products were already sold—taking tiny C-T-R global. He renamed C-T-R with the more expansive
In 1923, Chuck Yeager was born. On October 14th, 1947 he became the first person to attain supersonic flight when he flew the Bell XS-1 (named Glamorous Glennis) past the sound barrier. Learn more at http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/jet%20age/top%20speed.htm In 1980, Apollo Computer Inc. was incorporated. Apollo made
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.
In 1870, the United States Weather Bureau was authorized by Congress. The weather bureau is officially known as the National Weather Service (NWS) and is a department of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Learn more at http://www.history.noaa.gov/noaa.htm
In 1924, John Joseph Carty of the Bell Telephone System spoke in Chicago, IL. His speech was carried across the nation on the first coast-to-coast radio hookup. An estimated fifty million people heard the speech. Read more about John Carty at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Carty
In 1984, U.S. astronaut Bruce McCandless made the first untethered space walk. Bruce McCandless helped to develop the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), a rocket-propelled backpack that was worn by an astronaut during shuttle spacewalks. During STS-41-B, aboard the Challenger space shuttle as a Mission Specialist,
In 1923, Edward E. Barnard, discoverer of Jupiter’s fifth moon, died at age 65. Jupiter’s moon, Amalthea, was the last satellite to be found without a photographic aid. He also discovered a nearby star that now bears his name, Bernard’s Star (shown here). Learn more
