Lunar Orbiters Take First Full Pictures of Earth
Technology that Shapes Our Lives August 1966 and 1967 The first pictures of Earth as a whole were taken, beginning with Earth-rise over the lunar surface by Lunar Orbiter 1 in August, 1966. The first full picture of the whole Earth was taken by Lunar Orbiter 5 in August, 1967. The Lunar Orbiter program was a..
First Commercially Manufactured Transistor Radio
Technology that Shapes Our Lives August 1955 A small company named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, Ltd. introduced the TR-55, the first commercially manufactured transistor radio, under the new brand name, Sony. A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver using transistor-based circuitry. Following their development in 1954 they became the most popular electronic communication device..
B-36 “PeaceMaker” Takes First Flight
Technology that Shapes Our Lives August 8, 1946 The B-36 strategic bomber took its first flight. The B-36 bomber was built by Convair solely for the United States Air Force. It was the largest mass-produced piston engine aircraft ever made. It had the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built (230 ft or 70..
Red Light, Green Light: First Traffic System Installed
Technology that Shapes Our Lives August 5, 1914 The first modern traffic light system was installed on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. The American Traffic Signal Company installed a traffic signal system that had two colors, red and green, and a buzzer, based on the design of James..
Freedom of Speech on the Airways Preserved
Technology that Shapes Our Lives August 4, 1987 The FCC abolished the Fairness Doctrine stating that because of the many media voices in the marketplace, the doctrine be deemed unconstitutional: “The intrusion by government into the content of programming occasioned by the enforcement of [the Fairness Doctrine] restricts the journalistic freedom of broadcasters … [and] actually..
Nuclear Submarine Accomplishes First Undersea Voyage to the North Pole
Technology that Shapes Our Lives August 3, 1958 On August 3, 1958, the U.S. nuclear submarine, Nautilus, accomplished the first undersea voyage to the geographic North Pole. The world’s first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus dived at Point Barrow, Alaska, and traveled nearly 1,000 miles under the Arctic ice cap to reach the top of the..
Microsoft Saves Apple?!
Technology that Shapes Our Lives August, 1997 Microsoft saves Apple from bankruptcy. . .less than 13 years later, Apple surpasses Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable tech company. The Deal Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs, received needed cash — in return for non-voting shares — and an assurance that Microsoft would support Office for the..
First Music Videos Aired in the U.S.
Technology that Shapes Our Lives August 1, 1981 The U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing “Video Killed the Radio Star” and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. With this new outlet for material, the music video would grow to play a central role in popular music marketing. Many important acts of this period, most..
NASA Is Born
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 29, 1958 U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing NASA. NASA is an executive branch agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation’s civilian space program and aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA replaced its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics..
First Lunar Rover Used on the Moon
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 1971 Apollo 15 Mission lands first lunar rover on the Moon. The Lunar Roving Vehicle, or lunar rover, was a battery-powered, four-wheeled rover used on the Moon during the last three missions of the American Apollo program (15, 16, and 17). It was popularly known as the moon buggy,..
Creator of the First Internet Worm Indicted
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 1989 Robert Tappan Morris, a Cornell University computer science graduate student, was indicted for unleashing what became known as the Morris worm, the first computer worm on the internet. A computer worm is a self-replicating malware computer program that uses a computer network to send copies of itself to other nodes (computers on the..
Satellite Telecommunications: Synchronicity At Its Finest
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 26, 1963 Syncom 2, the first geosynchronous communication satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral to test practical applications and uses of space technology, such as weather and communications. The synchronization of rotation and orbital period of such a satellite means that for an observer on the surface of the Earth, the satellite appears to constantly..
Birthday of Unheralded Co-Discoverer of DNA
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 25, 1920 Rosalind Elsie Franklin, a British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer who made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal and graphite, was born on July 25, 1920. Her DNA work achieved the most fame and controversy. Franklin was responsible for much of the research and discovery..
I Can See Clearly Now. . .Thanks to HDTV
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 22, 1996 Tomorrow marks the 15th anniversary of the first public HDTV broadcast in the United States. The Raleigh, North Carolina television station, WRAL-HD, began broadcasting from the existing tower of WRAL-TV on July 23, 1996. What Is HDTV? High Definition is nothing more than a Higher Resolution Video…
First Robot-Related Fatality
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 21, 1984 On July 21, 1984, Harry Allen, 34, a diecast operator with Diecast Corp. in Jackson, Michigan, was pinned between a factory pole and the back of an industrial robot. Allen died five days later as a result of his injuries and became the first – and so..
Walking on the Moon: Tech Celebration Sing Along!
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 landed the first humans on the Earth’s Moon on July 20, 1969, and the next day, crew members, Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Aldrin, Jr., became the first humans to walk on the Moon. The Mission Launched from Florida on July 16th,..
Rosetta Stone Found
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 19, 1799 During Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign, a French soldier discovers a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writing near the town of Rosetta, about 35 miles north of Alexandria. The irregularly shaped stone contained fragments of passages written in three different scripts: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic…
Enjoying a Little A/C Comfort? You Can Thank a Little Brooklyn Printer
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 17, 1902 Yesterday marks the 99th anniversary of the day Willis Haviland Carrier completed the schematic drawings for what will become the first successful air-conditioning system. The Problem Fluctuations in heat and humidity in one of Buffalo Forge Company’s clients, a small Brooklyn printing plant, caused its paper to..
PageMaker Is Released
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 15, 1985 PageMaker, one of the first desktop publishing programs, was introduced on July 15, 1985 by Aldus Corporation. Initially it was released for the then-new Apple Macintosh, and in 1987 for PCs running the then-new Windows 1.0. As an application relying on a graphical user interface, PageMaker helped to popularize the Macintosh..
First East-West Crossing of the Atlantic
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 13, 1919 The R34 returned from the first East-West crossing of the Atlantic on July 13, 1919. First East-West Crossing The R34 left Britain on July 2, 1919 and arrived in Mineola, Long Island on July 6 with virtually no fuel left, after a flight of 108 hours. As the landing party..
The Etch A Sketch Draws Immediate Attention
Technology That Shapes Our Lives July 12, 1960 The Etch a Sketch goes on sale in plenty of time for the holiday rush. History The Etch A Sketch toy was invented in André Cassagnes’ basement in the late 1950s. He called it “L’Ecran Magique“, the magic screen. In 1959, he took his drawing toy to the..
Customer Information Control System, CICS, Available for Mainframe
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 8, 1969 If you have ever used an ATM machine, engaged in on-line banking, or filed your taxes on-line, you have IBM and its Customer Information Control System, or CICS, to thank. On July 8, 1969, IBM made CICS generally available for the 360 mainframe computer. CICS is a..
The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
Technology That Shapes Our Lives July 7, 1928 On July 7, 1928, the expression, ‘the best thing since sliced bread’, became a reality when the first loaf of sliced bread was sold by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri. Their product, “Kleen Maid Sliced Bread”, proved a success. St. Louis baker, Gustav Papendick, set out..
First Patent for X-Ray Tube
Technology That Shapes Our Lives July 1933 William Coolidge obtained a patent for the X-Ray tube, more popularly called the Coolidge Tube. This invention revolutionized the generation of X-rays and is the model upon which all X-ray tubes for medical applications are based. Medical X-rays X-rays are capable of penetrating some thickness of matter. Medical x-rays..
Declaration of Independence: Forward Thinking
Technology that Shapes Our Lives July 4, 1776 The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is..
