Learn an interesting fact to share with friends and increase your Geek Cred!
In 1958, Sputnik 1 reentered the earth’s atmosphere and burned up. Launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, it was the first artificial satellite in history. Learn more about Sputnik 1 at http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/sputnik.html In 1959, Luna 1 became the first spacecraft to reach […]
In 1825, the first engineering college in the United States, Rensselaer School, opened in Troy, New York. The school opened on Monday, January 3, 1825 at the Old Bank Place. It is now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Learn more about Rensselaer at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Rensselaer_Polytechnic_Institute In
In 1839, the first photo of the Moon was taken by French photographer Louis Daguerre. This is the earliest known photograph of the Moon, a daguerrotype photograph taken in 1851 by John Adams Whipple. Daguerre’s photograph was destroyed in 1839 when a fire burned his
In 1992, computer scientist Admiral Grace Murray Hopper died. Born December 9th, 1906, perhaps her best-known contribution to computing was the invention of the compiler, the intermediate program that translates English language instructions into the language of the target computer. Learn more about Admiral Hopper
In 1744, James Bradley announced the discovery of Earth’s motion of nutation, or wobble. James Bradley discovered nutation, the oscillation of the earth’s axis, caused by the changing direction of the gravitational pull of the moon on the equatorial bulge. Learn more at http://www.answers.com/topic/james-bradley
In 1938, the electronic television system was patented by Vladimir K. Zworykin. Throughout the 1920s, RCA’s Vladimir Zworykin was busy developing the Iconoscope camera tube that would become the foundation for the all-electronic systems that would follow. Zworykin’s work was based on a CRT receiver
In 1800, Charles Goodyear was born in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1843, Charles Goodyear discovered that if you removed the sulphur from rubber then heated it, it would retain its elasticity. This process called vulcanization made rubber waterproof and winter-proof and opened the door for
In 1877, John Stevens applied for a patent for flour rolling mill. Theodore R. Hazen had this to say about the flour rolling mill: Milling was founded on sound information and tradition passed on from one generation to another. This is the way it was
