This Day in Geek History: November 20
1906
A US patent is issued to inventor Greenleaf Whittier Pickard, an electrical engineer, for the crystal detector, one of the first devices widely used for receiving radio broadcasts, until the later development of the later triode vacuum tube. His patent describes the device as “a means for receiving intelligence communicated by electric waves.”
1920
KDKA becomes the first radio station credited with broadcasting regularly scheduled professional programming.
1931
The first commercial teletype service was introduced by American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).
1947
A permanent television is installed on a seagoing vessel for the first time.
1950
The NTSC color television system comes into effect as a standard in the US.
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An airplane takes off from a ship for the first time, piloted by