In 1989, the first ring of Neptune was discovered. The ring was confirmed by NASA’s Voyager 2 which was the first spacecraft to observe the planet Neptune. Learn more at http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/image/neptune.html.

In 1888, 
William Seward Burroughs was granted a patent for the “Calculating-Machine.” In 1886, Burroughs was a founder of the American Arithmometer Company which, in 1904, became the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. In 1953, it became the Burroughs Corporation and in 1986, merged with Sperry

In 1985, the Xerox 914 copier took its place at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The culmination of inventor Chester Carlson’s work on the xerographic process, the Xerox 914 copier was introduced in 1959. It was one of Xerox’s most successful products

In 1985, Microsoft released the first version of QuickBASIC (QB). It was released on a single 5.25″ 360KB floppy disk. QuickBASIC versions 2.0 and later contained an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Learn more at http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/QuickBASIC.htm. In 1993, Version 2.00 of the MS-DOS bulletin board system

In 1877, Asaph Hall discovered Mars’ moon, Phobos. Phobos is named after the Greek god, Phobos, whose name means fear. Learn more at http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Mar_Phobos.

In 1988, IBM introduced software for artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is the study of man-made computational devices and systems which can be made to act in a manner which would be considered to be intelligent. Learn more at http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~isb9112/dept/phil341/wisai/WhatisAI.html.