Geek Facts

In 1627, chemist Robert Boyle was born in Ireland. He is best known for Boyle’s Law aka the Ideal Gas Law. We all remember it from our high school chemistry class. The law states for a gas of constant temperature, changes in pressure are inversely

In 1984, following up the ‘1984’ commercial that aired two days earlier, Apple Computer unveiled its Macintosh personal computer. Apple was so adamant that you use the mouse that the original Macintosh keyboard had no arrow keys. Learn more at http://lowendmac.com/history/1984dk.shtml   In 1986, Voyager

In 1959, Robert Noyce conceived of the idea of an integrated circuit, aka microchip. It was at Fairchild Semiconductor, where he was the General Manager, that Robert Noyce invented the microchip for which he received patent #2,981,877. In 1968, Noyce founded Intel with Gordon Moore

In 1979, Neptune became the outermost planet as Pluto moved closer to the Sun. Back in the days when Pluto was still a planet, Neptune began a 20-year run as the outermost planet in the solar system as Pluto’s elliptical orbit carried it closer in

In 1997, Comet Hale-Bopp crossed Mars’ orbit . The comet is named for its discoverers. On July 23, 1995, an unusually bright comet outside of Jupiter’s orbit was discovered independently by Alan Hale, New Mexico and Thomas Bopp, Arizona. Learn more at http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/halebopp.html

In 1736, James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, was born. The discovery that steam could be harnessed and made to work is not credited to James Watt. In fact, the ancient Greeks had crude steam engines. James Watt, however, is credited with inventing

In 1989, astronomers discovered pulsar in remnants of Supernova 1987A. It was the first supernova seen in 1987, so it was officially dubbed Supernova 1987A, or SN87A for short. The star that blew up (Sanduleak -69 202) was the first blue supergiant ever seen to

In 1968, Soyuz 4 and 5 completed the first docking of two manned spacecraft. Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 carried out the original mission of the first Soyuz mission in 1967 — docking between two manned spacecraft and transfer of crew members between the crafts.

In 1967, Robert J Van De Graaff, U.S. nuclear physicist, died at age 65. He developed a high-voltage electrostatic generator (later called the Van de Graaff generator). You’ll remember it from your local science museum. It is the metal ball that you put your hands