Today in Technology History Archives

The Center's daily history e-mail - which you can join here - is indexed and archived below.

2001

• December 21 - The first humans to spend one year in space (1987 & 1988)

• December 20 -R. Van de Graaff born; invented an electrostatic generator (1901)

• December 19 - Mark Twain patents elastic suspenders (1871)

• December 18 - Death of neglected computer pioneer Konrad Zuse (1995)

• December 17 - Birth of Willard Libby, inventor of carbon-14 dating (1908)

• December 14 - The last time humans walked on the Moon (1972)

• December 13 - Death of Allen Breed, inventor of an early airbag sensor (1999)

• December 12 - Marconi successfully sends a radio signal across the ocean (1901)

• December 11 - Marconi first tries to send a transatlantic radio signal (1901)

• December 10 - The first Nobel Prizes (1901)

• December 7 - The attack on Pearl Harbor (1941)

• December 6 - Death of N.-J. Conté, inventor of the modern pencil (1805)

• December 5 - The birth of animation innovator Walt Disney (1901)

• December 4 - The first mass-produced electric car (1996)

• December 3 - Two heart surgery breakthroughs (1967 & 1982)
   

• November 30 - Birth of electrical experimenter E. Kinnersley (1711)

• November 29 - The first underground nuclear explosion (1951)

• November 28 - Birth of plastics pioneer John W. Hyatt (1837)

• November 27 - Anders Celsius was born (1701)

• November 26 - France becomes the third country to launch a satellite (1965)

• November 21 - The word "anesthesia" was coined (1846)

• November 20 - Death of crackpot biologist Trofim D. Lysenko (1976)

• November 19 - Birth of NASA astronaut Eileen Collins (1956)

• November 16 - N.E. Guerin receives the first life preserver patent (1841)

• November 15 - The first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 (1971)

• November 14 - An airplane takes off from a ship for the first time (1910)

• November 13 - The first successful cloud-seeding (1946)

• November 12 - The ancient abacus defeats the fastest calculator (1946)

• November 9 - Birth of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr (1913?)

• November 8 - Harvey Hubbell gets a patent for the electric plug (1904)

• November 7 - The collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge (1940)

• November 6 - Birth of Alois Senefelder, inventor of lithography (1771)

• November 5 - Birth of Raymond Loewy, father of industrial design (1893)

• November 2 - Only flight of "Spruce Goose," a giant wooden plane (1947)

• Administrative Note - 200th message and minor format change

• November 1 - Inventor and helicopter designer Anton Flettner born (1885) 
   

• October 31 - J. W. Swan born; he worked on photography and lighting (1828)

• October 30 - The first patent for a ballpoint pen (1888)

• October 29 - The healing effect of electricity on bones is first reported (1971)

• October 26 - A dying newborn baby is given a baboon's heart (1984)

• October 25 - Death of inventor and astronomer Benjamin Banneker (1806)

• October 24 - Death of the great astronomer Tycho Brahe (1601)

• October 23 - History's first military use of an airplane (1911)

• October 22 - A.-J. Garnerin makes the first manned parachute jump (1797)

• October 19 - Death of English inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone (1875)

• October 18 - Thomas Edison's last breath (1931)

• October 17 - Birth of NASA astronaut Mae Carol Jemison (1956)

• October 16 - The first public demonstration of anesthesia in surgery (1846)

• October 15 - The first traffic jam in Russian history (1941)

• October 12 - Coup in Pakistan and terrorism against the U.S. (1999 & 2000)

• October 11 - Factoring a 100-digit number, using 400 computers (1988)

• October 10 - Dedication of the Very Large Array radio telescope (1980)

• October 9 - A motor-powered flying machine gets off the ground (1890)

• October 8 - Birth of early refrigeration expert Mary Pennington (1872)

• October 5 - Death of Tupperware creator Earl S. Tupper (1983)

• October 4 - Sputnik: The first man-made object to orbit Earth (1957)

• October 3 - Death of Sony co-founder Akio Morita (1999)

• October 2 -  Birth of Charles Draper, inventor of navigation systems (1901)

• October 1 - Birth of William Boeing, founder of the Boeing Company (1881)
   

• September 28 -  Flogging abolished in the U.S. Navy (1850)

• September 27 -  The Taliban captured Afghanistan's capital, Kabul (1996)

• September 26 -  A U.S. patent was granted for portland cement (1871)

• September 24 - USS Enterprise, first nuclear aircraft carrier, launched (1960)

• September 21 -  Birth of paving innovator John L. McAdam (1756)

• September 20 -  German rocket scientists move to the U.S. (1945)

• September 19 -  Birth of soap magnate William Hesketh Lever (1851)

• September 18 -  The first edition of the New York Times (1851)

• September 17 -  A patent for an important electrical light (1901)

• September 14 -  ...the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air...  (1814)

• September 13 - Wen Ho Lee, physicist and suspected spy, set free (2000)

• September 12 -  Birth of occasional technology critic H.L. Mencken (1880)

• September 11 -  Birth of cosmonaut Titov and astronaut Crippen (1935 & 1937)

• September 10 -  Birth of Dr. John Kidd, the man behind the mothball (1775)

• September 7 -  The first electronic television image (1927)

• September 6 -  Birth of engineer Ernst Weber, who helped develop radar (1901)

• September 5 -  Birth of Frank B. Jewett, first president of Bell Labs (1879)

• September 4 -  First U.S. live transcontinental TV & Japan's tech economy (1951)
   

• August 31 -  Edison patents the motion picture camera (1897)

• August 30 - A telephone hotline connects Soviet and American leaders (1963)

• August 29 - The pope speaks out about cloning and stem cells (2000)

• August 28 - The first successful oil well in the U.S. (1859)

• August 27 - Nobel-winning industrial chemist Carl Bosch born (1874)

• August 24 - Death of Bernard Castro, inventor of the unfolding sofa-bed (1991)

• August 23 - Two Moon missions: a failure and a success (1961 & 1966)

• August 22 - The birth of industrial research pioneer Willis R. Whitney (1868)

• August 21 - The effort to fix an exploding lake (1986)

• August 20 - The first dogs to return alive from a trip into space (1960)

• August 17 - Death of Robert Gilruth, important NASA administrator (2000)

• August 16 - Birth of inventor Hugo Gernsback, "father of science fiction" (1884)

• August 15 - The birth of Crisco, the famous hydrogenated shortening (1911)

• August 14 - A patent for the modern internal-combustion engine (1877)

• August 13 - Discovery of the first near-Earth asteroid (1898)

• August 10 - Synthesis of the world's most popular drug (1897)

• August 9 - The death of John Gates, who brought barbed wire out west (1911)

• August 8 - The birth of Ernest Lawrence, American physicist and inventor (1901)

• August 7 - Two men who helped automate the textile business (1783 & 1834)

• August 6 - An atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima (1945)

• August 3 - Birth of Joseph Paxton, botanist who transformed architecture (1801)

• August 2 - A snapped cable sets back the effort to wire the world (1865)

• August 1 - Birth of artificial insemination pioneer Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov (1870)
   

• July 31 - The U.S. government grants its first patent (1790)

• July 30 - The first lunar rover lands on the Moon (1971)

• July 27 - The "polywater" controversy begins (1969)

• July 26 - Birth of Isaac Babbitt, American metallurgist and inventor (1799)

• July 25 - Death of mysterious British surgeon Dr. James Barry (1865)

• July 24 - Death of Albert Barnes, inventor and art collector (1951)

• July 23 - The first commercial HDTV broadcast (1996)

• July 20 - Pioneering embryo researcher Arthur Hertig died (1990)

• July 19 - Nobel-winning biophysicist Rosalyn Yalow was born (1921)

• July 18 - American astronaut and politician John Glenn was born (1921)

• July 17 - "Wrong Way Corrigan" crossed the Atlantic -- "accidentally" (1938)

• July 16 - The first atomic bomb exploded in New Mexico (1945)

• July 13 - New York City's second Great Blackout (1977)

• July 12 - George Eastman, inventor of photographic film, was born (1854)

• July 11 - Theodore Maiman, who built the first laser, was born (1927)

• July 10 - Telstar I, the first true communications satellite, was launched (1962)

• July 9 - Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine, was born (1819)

• July 6 - Thomas Davenport, a forgotten pioneer of electricity, died (1851)

• July 5 - The birth of Dolly the cloned sheep (1996)

• July 3 - 4 - Thomas Jefferson, inventor (1776 & 1826)

• July 2 - Amelia Earhart and her navigator disappeared (1937)
   

• June 29 - Three record-setting cosmonauts died during their voyage home (1971)

• June 28 - Death of Vannevar Bush, eminent inventor and technologist (1974)

• June 27 - Troubled Canadian Abraham Gesner patented kerosene (1854)

• June 26 - Completion of the first useable bridge near the Niagara Falls (1848)

• June 25 - The final days of the true inventor of the steamboat (1798)

• June 22 - The official meter and kilogram were put in France's archives (1799)

• June 21 - Birth of Charles Jackson; he claimed others' inventions were his (1805)

• June 20 - Morse patents his telegraph -- and Morse code (1840)

• June 19 - The birth and death of two great American shipbuilders (1816 & 1915)

• June 18 - The first genetically engineered vaccine (1981)

• June 15 - The first blood transfusion involving a human (1667)

• June 14 - The first UNIVAC was unveiled (1951)

• June 13 - The first man-made object to leave the solar system (1983)

• June 12 - Birth of early radio innovator Sir Joseph Lodge (1851)

• Administrative Note - 100th message and corrections

• June 11 - Death of the first U.S. "right-to-die" patient (1985)

• June 8 - Birth of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867)

• June 7 - Death of Alan Turing, the "Father of Computer Science" (1954)

• June 6 - The first drive-in movie theater opened (1933)

• June 5 - Birth of Dennis Gabor, the inventor of holography (1900)

• June 4 - Announcement of the first clones of an extinct animal (1984)

• June 1 - The first hovercraft goes for its first ride (1959)
   

• May 31 - Birth of quirky inventor Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744)

• May 30 - Launch of the first man-made object to orbit another planet (1971)

• May 29 - Three men who brightened our world (1767, 1829 & 1908)

• May 25 - President Kennedy's famous "man on the Moon" speech (1961)

• May 24 - The birth of Fahrenheit, of thermometer fame (1686)

• May 23 - The birth of transistor co-inventor and Nobelist John Bardeen (1908)

• May 22 - The U.S. tests-launches a ballistic missile for the first time (1947)

• May 21 - Amelia Earhart flies solo across the Atlantic (1932)

• May 18 - Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to fly faster than sound (1953)

• May 17 - The World Wide Web turns 10 years old (1991)

• May 16 - The death of high-tech puppeteer Jim Henson (1990)

• May 15 - The first airline flight with stewardesses aboard (1930)

• May 14 - Edward Jenner conducts the first vaccination (1796)

• May 11 - A landmark in the history of computer memory (1951)

• May 10 - The completion of America's transcontinental railroad (1869)

• May 9 - The famous speech denouncing TV as a "vast wasteland" (1961)

• May 8 - The first U.S. patent related to photography was issued (1840)

• May 7 - The birth of Polaroid camera inventor Edwin H. Land (1909)

• May 4 - Patents were issued for the first improved phonograph (1886)

• May 3 - The historic chess rematch between Kasparov and Deep Blue (1997)

• May 2 - A major U.S. effort to extract oil from rock abruptly ended (1982)

• May 1 - The opening of the first world's fair (1851)
   

• April 30 - Birth of the "Father of Information Theory" (1916)

• April 27 - America's worst maritime disaster, the sinking of the Sultana (1865)

• April 26 - At Chernobyl, the world's worst nuclear accident (1986)

• April 25 - The birth of tunnel builder Marc Isambard Brunel (1769)

• April 24 - The death of drug discoverer Gerhard Domagk (1964)

• April 23 - American inventor Granville T. Woods was born (1856)

• April 20 - The important Surveyor 3 spacecraft landed on the Moon (1967)

• April 19 - America's Revolution, with its muskets and bayonets, began (1775)

• April 18 - The death of scientist/anti-nuclear campaigner Albert Einstein (1955)

• April 17 - The death of inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin (1790)

• April 16 - The death of DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin (1958)

• April 13 - Apollo 13 explosion: "Houston, we've had a problem here" (1970)

• April 12 - The announcement of Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine (1955)

• April 11 - Two anniversaries related to vertical flight (1943 & 1957)

• April 10 - The safety pin was first patented (1849)

• April 9 - The birth of the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806)

• April 6 - Two rear-admirals who improved naval technology died (1942 & 2000)

• April 5 - The birth of Joseph Lister, father of antiseptic surgery (1827)

• April 4 - The birth of inventor Sir William Siemens (1823)

• April 3 - The deadly crash of the airship Akron (1933)

• April 2 - The process for extracting aluminum was patented (1889)
   

• March 30 - A controversial patent was granted for the pencil eraser (1858)

• March 29 - Birth of Elihu Thomson, a founder of the electricity industry (1853)

• March 28 - An airplane lifted off from water for the first time (1910)

• March 27 - The deadliest airplane accident in history (1977)

• March 26 - The birth of Edward Bellamy, author (1850)

• March 23 - The controversy over "cold fusion" is born (1989)

• March 22 - The birth of F.W.A. Argelander, star-charter (1799)

• March 21 - The death of Frederick Taylor, efficiency expert (1915)

• March 20 - The worst known instance of chemical terrorism (1995)

• March 19 - TV cameras start covering the U.S. House of Representatives (1979)

• March 16 - Dr. Goddard launches the first liquid-fuel rocket (1926)

• March 15 - The deaths of three influential engineers (1888, 1891 & 1898)

• March 14 - Eli Whitney receives a patent for his cotton gin (1794)

• March 13 - Three amateur astronomers who hit it big (1781, 1855 & 1930)

• March 12 - The birth of William Perkin, discoverer of artificial dyes (1838)

• March 9 - The birth of Howard Aiken, computer pioneer (1900)

• March 8 - The birth of the great 18th century doctor John Fothergill (1712)

• March 7 - The birth of Niepce, who took the first photograph (1765)

• March 6 - The deaths of auto pioneers Daimler and Buick (1900 & 1929)

• March 5 - The birth of William Oughtred, inventor of the slide rule (1574)

• March 2 - The birth of Harry Soref, inventor of the "layered" padlock (1887)

• March 1 - Atomic spy Klaus Fuchs sent to prison (1950)
   

• February 28 - The birth of Nobel laureate Linus Pauling (1901)

• February 27 - The birth of Kelly Johnson, legendary airplane designer (1910)

• February 26 - A pneumatic subway opens in New York (1870)

• February 23 - The creation of the U.S. Federal Radio Commission (1927)

• February 22 - The first organic compound is synthesized in a lab (1828)

• February 21 - The first locomotive was taken for a test drive (1804)

• February 20 - Russia launches the Mir space station (1986)

• February 19 - Edison patents the phonograph (1878)

• February 16 - The first patent related to nylon (1937)

• February 15 - The birth of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the reaper (1809)

• February 14 - A man-made spacecraft first orbits an asteroid (2000)

• February 13 - France's first nuclear test (1960)

• February 12 - A great automobile race from New York to Paris (1908)

• February 9 - The deaths of two government chief astronomers (1811 & 1865)

• February 8 - The first criminal executed in a gas chamber (1924)

• February 7 - A series of attacks on major Web sites (2000)

• February 6 - The death of Aldus, a great printing innovator (1515)

• February 5 - Two inventors born on the same day (1840)

• February 2 - The death of Styrofoam inventor Ray McIntire (1996)

• February 1 - The first motion picture studio (1893)
   

• January 31 - The first monthly Social Security check (1940)

• January 30 - The death of Orville Wright (1948)

• January 29 - "The birth certificate of the automobile" (1886)

• January 26 - Two accidents kill U.S. astronauts (1967 & 1986)

• January 25 - First use of the word "robot" (1921)

• January 24 - Two U.S. nuclear bombs accidentally dropped (1961)

• January 23 - The first use of radio in a major rescue at sea (1909)

• January 22 - The death of engineer Joseph Whitworth (1887)

 

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