Geek Facts

In 1963, the touch-tone telephone was introduced. The Western Electric 1500 model featured 10 push buttons that replaced the standard rotary dial. The first commercial service was available in Carnegie and Greensburg, Pennsylvania, for an extra charge. Learn more about the history of the telephone […]

The Soviet moon rover, Lunokhod 1, became the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another celestial body, namely the Moon. At the time, Time magazine described the robot’s historic landing: Three hours after reaching the Moon aboard the latest unmanned Russian Moon probe, Luna

In 1908
, Albert Einstein presented his quantum theory of light. Einstein developed a theory that light carries energy in quanta, known as photons, and showed that light consists of particles. Learn more at http://www.ehow.com/facts_5731774_albert-einstein_s-quantum-theory-light.html.

In 1980, U.S. spacecraft Voyager I sent back the first close-up pictures of Saturn. Voyager 1 found that about seven percent of the volume of Saturn’s upper atmosphere is helium while almost all the rest is hydrogen. Learn more at http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/science/saturn.html.

In 1981, for the first time, a spacecraft was launched twice. The second Space Shuttle mission was STS-2. Its mission objectives included safe re-launch and return of the crew as well as verification of the performance of the Space Shuttle vehicle. Learn more at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-2.html.

In 1851, the telescope was patented by Alvan Clark of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Alvan Clark and his two sons had almost no formal training but learned how to build the finest refracting telescopes in the world at that time. Learn more at http://www.oneminuteastronomer.com/66/alvan-clark-master-telescope-maker/.

In 1951, the first long distance telephone call without operator assistance was made. The mayor of Englewood, New Jersey, M. Leslie Downing dialed 10 digits and, eighteen seconds later, reached the mayor of Alameda, California, Frank Osborne. Learn more at http://www.corp.att.com/attlabs/reputation/timeline/51trans.html.

In 1934, astronomer Carl Sagan was born. Carl Sagan was a consultant and adviser to NASA since the 1950s. He briefed the Apollo astronauts before their flights to the Moon, and was an experimenter on the numerous expeditions to the planets.   He hosted the

In 1895, Wilhelm Röntgen discovered x-rays. A week after his discovery, Rontgen took an X-ray photograph of his wife’s hand which clearly revealed her wedding ring and her bones. Learn more at http://inventors.about.com/od/xyzstartinventions/a/x-ray.htm. Photo credit: NASA

In 1994, radio station WXYC launched the world’s first internet radio broadcast. WXYC 89.3 FM is the non-commercial student-run radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Learn more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WXYC.

In 1928, the first Motogram machine was installed on the New York Times Building in Times Square. Invented by Frank C. Reilly, the Motogram was one of the earliest outdoor incandescent message reader boards that provided the passing public with breaking news as it happened.

In 1967
, NASA launched the ATS-3 communications satellite. The ATS-3 satellite provided emergency communications links during the 1987 Mexican earthquake and the Mt. St. Helens volcano eruption and supported the Apollo moon landings with real-time TV transmissions for broadcasting by Radio Caracas in Venezuela.` Learn

In 1982, Compaq announced the Compaq Portable. Weighing 28 lbs. and nicknamed “the sewing machine”, the Compaq Portable was the first successful IBM PC clone. Featuring a 4.77MHz Intel 8088 processor, 128 to 640KB RAM, a nine-inch monochrome monitor and a 320KB 5.25-inch disk drive,

In 1973
, NASA launched Mariner 10, the first space probe to reach Mercury. Mariner 10 was also the first spacecraft to use the gravitational pull of one planet (Venus) to reach another (Mercury) as well as the first spacecraft mission to visit two planets. Learn