On Monday, May 21, we celebrate seven years since we first shared YouTube with the world. To commemorate this occasion, here’s an updated video with some of the crazy statistics and incredible things you’ve been a part of in that time. Thanks for the amazing things you watch, create, and share!

1903
Richard Pearse of New Zealand reputedly flies a powered, heavier-than-air machine, nine months before the Wright Brothers make their famous and well-documented flight at Kitty Hawk. Accounts vary, but his flight may have traveled as far as 350 yards through the air before striking a large hedge. If true, the aircraft is the first to use modern ailerons, rather than inferior wing warping system that the Wrights’ early designs will use. Pearse’s machine also has a modern tricycle undercarriage permitting it to takeoff without ramps. Some sources will mark this as the anniversary of his flight, others will claim the event occurred some months later.

1930
The Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA) institutes the Motion Pictures Production Code. Also known as the Hays Code or simply the Production Code, the code a set of censorship guidelines concerning crime, religion, sex, and violence in films.

John Logie Baird achieves the synchronization of sound with television pictures.

1932
The Ford Motor Company publicly unveils its V-8 engine.

1939
Harvard and International Business Machines (IBM) sign an agreement for the construction of the Mark I, also known as the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC). The computer will weigh nearly five tons and contain more than 750,000 separate components. The system will read instructions from paper tape and data from punch cards.

1951
The United States Census Bureau officially accepts delivery of the UNIVersal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC I), the first commercial computer, the day after its unveiling by John William Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert of the Sperry Rand Corporation. Though it will be put into immediate use, it won’t actually be moved to the Census Bureau for months to come. The system is capable of performing 1,905 operations per second and storing data on magnetic tapes. It weighs sixteen thousand pounds and contains 5,000 vacuum tubes. It will remain in operation through 1963.

1956
The first test of the first space cabin simulator in the United States is successfully completed when Airman D. F. Smith emerges from a twenty-four hour stay in the cabin. Smith passed the time performing psychological evaluations while he was physically monitored with instruments which tracked his heartbeat, respiration, and temperature. The cabin itself is about one hundred cubic feet in size and contains only a standard aircraft seat and a mock-control panel with displays, lights, and switches. It is equipped with air conditioning, a carbon dioxide absorption system, an oxygen supply, and a urine distillation and recycling system. This test receives national publicity which comes to a climax when, on February 16, 1958, Smith emerges from a seven day stay in the simulator to be greeted by Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and the press. The tests are held at the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM) in San Antonio, Texas.

1958
The United States Navy establishes its first atomic submarine division comprised of six submarines, three of which are atomic: the Nautilus, Seawolf, and Skate.

1903
Richard Pearse of New Zealand reputedly flies a powered, heavier-than-air machine, nine months before the Wright Brothers make their famous and well-documented flight at Kitty Hawk. Accounts vary, but his flight may have traveled as far as 350 yards through the air before striking a large hedge. If true, the aircraft is the first to use modern ailerons, rather than inferior wing warping system that the Wrights’ early designs will use. Pearse’s machine also has a modern tricycle undercarriage permitting it to takeoff without ramps. Some sources will mark this as the anniversary of his flight, others will claim the event occurred some months later.

1930
The Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA) institutes the Motion Pictures Production Code. Also known as the Hays Code or simply the Production Code, the code a set of censorship guidelines concerning crime, religion, sex, and violence in films.

John Logie Baird achieves the synchronization of sound with television pictures.

1932
The Ford Motor Company publicly unveils its V-8 engine.

1939
Harvard and International Business Machines (IBM) sign an agreement for the construction of the Mark I, also known as the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC). The computer will weigh nearly five tons and contain more than 750,000 separate components. The system will read instructions from paper tape and data from punch cards.

1951
The United States Census Bureau officially accepts delivery of the UNIVersal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC I), the first commercial computer, the day after its unveiling by John William Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert of the Sperry Rand Corporation. Though it will be put into immediate use, it won’t actually be moved to the Census Bureau for months to come. The system is capable of performing 1,905 operations per second and storing data on magnetic tapes. It weighs sixteen thousand pounds and contains 5,000 vacuum tubes. It will remain in operation through 1963.

1956
The first test of the first space cabin simulator in the United States is successfully completed when Airman D. F. Smith emerges from a twenty-four hour stay in the cabin. Smith passed the time performing psychological evaluations while he was physically monitored with instruments which tracked his heartbeat, respiration, and temperature. The cabin itself is about one hundred cubic feet in size and contains only a standard aircraft seat and a mock-control panel with displays, lights, and switches. It is equipped with air conditioning, a carbon dioxide absorption system, an oxygen supply, and a urine distillation and recycling system. This test receives national publicity which comes to a climax when, on February 16, 1958, Smith emerges from a seven day stay in the simulator to be greeted by Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and the press. The tests are held at the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM) in San Antonio, Texas.

1958
The United States Navy establishes its first atomic submarine division comprised of six submarines, three of which are atomic: the Nautilus, Seawolf, and Skate.

1791
After a proposal in the journal Académie des sciences by Borda, Condorcet, Lagrange, Laplace, and Monge, the French National Assembly decides that a metre will be defined as ten millionth of the distance between the North Pole and the equator.

1842
Physician Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Georgia first uses ether as an anesthetic in surgery. The patient is James Venable, and the surgery is to remove a tumor from the man’s neck.

1858
Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is granted the first U.S. patent for a lead pencil with an eraser. (US No. 19,783) One-fourth of the length of the pencil contains a piece of india-rubber, so that cutting one end prepares the pencil for writing and cutting the other end prepares it for erasing.

1950
The invention of the phototransistor is announced by Bell Telephone Laboratories of Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was invented by Dr. John Northrup Shive.

1951
The first commercial computer, the UNIVersal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC I), is unveiled by John William Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, formally of the University of Pennsylvania. The computer was manufactured under the company name of Sperry Rand Corporation for the United States Census Bureau. Although the Census Bureau will begin using the computer at the end of March, it won’t actually be moved to the Census Bureau for months. The system is capable of performing 1,905 operations per second and storing data on magnetic tapes. The event raises concerns at International Business Machines (IBM) because the new computer will replace many of the punch card machines previously supplied by IBM. The UNIVAC will remain in operation through 1963, and it will also be sold to companies such as General Electric and Sylvania.

1953
Albert Einstein announces his revised unified field theory.

1955
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea two Oscars, one for Art Direction – Set Decoration and one for Special Effects. The film is the third cinematic rendition of the classic Jules Verne science fiction novel.

1961
The International Business Machines (IBM) Data Processing Division (DPD) introduces the IBM 1203 unit for preparing checks for automated demand deposit accounting. Visit the official IBM website.

1964
The Merv Griffin’s game show Jeopardy! debuts on the NBC network with Art Fleming as host.
Visit the official Jeopardy! website.

1976
The International Business Machines (IBM) Data Processing Division (DPD) announces new teller terminals and powerful, advanced controllers for the IBM 3600 finance communication system. Visit the official IBM website.

1978
The International Business Machines (IBM) Data Processing Division (DPD) introduces a powerful, dual-processor version of the IBM 3033. Visit the official IBM website.

1990
IBM releases version 1.2 of its proprietary AIX/370 and AIX PS/2 operating systems.

1992
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The First Duty” first airs. (No. 519) In it, Wesley is investigated after a Starfleet Academy flight training accident. Memory Alpha entry

1993
AT&T Graphics Software Labs closes. It had been responsible for the development of such software as Comet CG, Panorama, Rio, StudioMaster, and Topas.

Microsoft announces the availability of the MS-DOS 6.0 Upgrade.

1994
Nintendo names Rare and Williams as partners and a self-described “dream team” in the development of Project Reality, a modification for the computer game Battlefield 2 that produces a more realistic combat environment. Visit the official Project Reality website.

1791
After a proposal in the journal Académie des sciences by Borda, Condorcet, Lagrange, Laplace, and Monge, the French National Assembly decides that a metre will be defined as ten millionth of the distance between the North Pole and the equator.

1842
Physician Dr. Crawford W. Long of Jefferson, Georgia first uses ether as an anesthetic in surgery. The patient is James Venable, and the surgery is to remove a tumor from the man’s neck.

1858
Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is granted the first U.S. patent for a lead pencil with an eraser. (US No. 19,783) One-fourth of the length of the pencil contains a piece of india-rubber, so that cutting one end prepares the pencil for writing and cutting the other end prepares it for erasing.

1950
The invention of the phototransistor is announced by Bell Telephone Laboratories of Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was invented by Dr. John Northrup Shive.

1951
The first commercial computer, the UNIVersal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC I), is unveiled by John William Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, formally of the University of Pennsylvania. The computer was manufactured under the company name of Sperry Rand Corporation for the United States Census Bureau. Although the Census Bureau will begin using the computer at the end of March, it won’t actually be moved to the Census Bureau for months. The system is capable of performing 1,905 operations per second and storing data on magnetic tapes. The event raises concerns at International Business Machines (IBM) because the new computer will replace many of the punch card machines previously supplied by IBM. The UNIVAC will remain in operation through 1963, and it will also be sold to companies such as General Electric and Sylvania.

1953
Albert Einstein announces his revised unified field theory.

1955
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea two Oscars, one for Art Direction – Set Decoration and one for Special Effects. The film is the third cinematic rendition of the classic Jules Verne science fiction novel.

1961
The International Business Machines (IBM) Data Processing Division (DPD) introduces the IBM 1203 unit for preparing checks for automated demand deposit accounting. Visit the official IBM website.

1964
The Merv Griffin’s game show Jeopardy! debuts on the NBC network with Art Fleming as host.
Visit the official Jeopardy! website.

1976
The International Business Machines (IBM) Data Processing Division (DPD) announces new teller terminals and powerful, advanced controllers for the IBM 3600 finance communication system. Visit the official IBM website.

1978
The International Business Machines (IBM) Data Processing Division (DPD) introduces a powerful, dual-processor version of the IBM 3033. Visit the official IBM website.

1990
IBM releases version 1.2 of its proprietary AIX/370 and AIX PS/2 operating systems.

1992
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The First Duty” first airs. (No. 519) In it, Wesley is investigated after a Starfleet Academy flight training accident. Memory Alpha entry

1993
AT&T Graphics Software Labs closes. It had been responsible for the development of such software as Comet CG, Panorama, Rio, StudioMaster, and Topas.

Microsoft announces the availability of the MS-DOS 6.0 Upgrade.

1994
Nintendo names Rare and Williams as partners and a self-described “dream team” in the development of Project Reality, a modification for the computer game Battlefield 2 that produces a more realistic combat environment. Visit the official Project Reality website.

1886
The first batch of Coca-Cola is brewed over a fire in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia by Dr. John Pemberton as a cure for hangovers, stomach aches, and headaches. He markets the drink as a “brain tonic and intellectual beverage,” and first sells it to the public a few weeks later on May 8th. Coke contains cocaine as an ingredient until 1904, when the drug will be banned by Congress.

1903
The first transatlantic news service between New York and London begins, making use of Marconi’s wireless. On March 30 1903, The Times in London becomes the first newspaper to establish an ongoing arrangement with the Marconi Telegraph Company for the regular transmission of news between the United States and the UK. Shortly thereafter, the The New York Times requests that it be part of the arrangement. Despite extensive teething problems, the importance of wireless as a cheap form of communication will quickly become obvious.

1910
In Monaco, the world’s largest oceanographic museum is opened as part of the Oceanographic Institute, which was founded in 1906. The grandiose facade of the museum overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. It is founded with donations from Prince Albert I of Monaco.

1941
At 3am EST, eighty percent of American AM radio stations change frequencies on what is dubbed “Moving Day.” The move is made under the terms of the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement treaty (NARBA), which seeks to standardize radio throughout the Western Hemisphere.

1956
Soviet scientists in the U.K. announce the development of a new form of electron microscope that enables atoms to be seen by the human eye for the first time.

1974
The NASA spaceprobe Mariner 10 takes the first close-up pictures of the planet Mercury. It was launched November 3, 1973. On its way to Mercury, Mariner 10 made its first flyby of Venus on February 5, 1974 and discovered evidence of rotating clouds. The mission requires more course corrections than any previous mission and is the first spacecraft to use the gravitational pull of one planet to help it reach another planet. In three flybys over Mercury, it maps about half of the planet’s surface, finding a thin atmosphere and a magnetic field. This craft is also the first to use the solar wind as a means of locomotion. When the probe’s thruster fuel runs low, scientists use the solar panels as sails to make course corrections. Read NASA’s Mariner 10 Mission Profile.

1982
According to Twin Galaxies, Allen Toney, age 23, scores a record-setting 583,750 points playing the Atari arcade game Warlords after playing the game for one hour at Scratch & Tilt in Huntington, West Virginia. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.

1983
Federal Court Judge Albert Bryan issues a temporary restraining order barring Atari from requiring its distributors to deal exclusively in Atari merchandise.

Radio Shack introduces the TRS-80 Model 100, the industry’s first portable computer. The system features a 2.4MHz Intel 80C85 Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) microprocessor, 8 – 24KB RAM, a full-sized 56-key keyboard, an 8 line, 40 column Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a built-in 300 baud modem, a parallel and serial interface, and a cassette tape interface to load and save programs at 1500 baud. The system also comes equipped with five built-in applications with 32K of ROM, including an address book, Microsoft BASIC, a schedule book, a telecommunications package, and a text editor. The system is based on the same platform as the NEC PC-8201 and the Olivetti M-10 portable computers, all three being manufactured by Kyoto Ceramics (Kyocera). The TRS-80 be highly successful, especially among businessmen and journalists, due to the unrivaled convenience of its light weight and bundled software package. Visit the official RadioShack website. Price: US$799 (8K RAM) – US$1,134 (24K RAM) Weight: 3.9lb

1886
The first batch of Coca-Cola is brewed over a fire in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia by Dr. John Pemberton as a cure for hangovers, stomach aches, and headaches. He markets the drink as a “brain tonic and intellectual beverage,” and first sells it to the public a few weeks later on May 8th. Coke contains cocaine as an ingredient until 1904, when the drug will be banned by Congress.

1903
The first transatlantic news service between New York and London begins, making use of Marconi’s wireless. On March 30 1903, The Times in London becomes the first newspaper to establish an ongoing arrangement with the Marconi Telegraph Company for the regular transmission of news between the United States and the UK. Shortly thereafter, the The New York Times requests that it be part of the arrangement. Despite extensive teething problems, the importance of wireless as a cheap form of communication will quickly become obvious.

1910
In Monaco, the world’s largest oceanographic museum is opened as part of the Oceanographic Institute, which was founded in 1906. The grandiose facade of the museum overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. It is founded with donations from Prince Albert I of Monaco.

1941
At 3am EST, eighty percent of American AM radio stations change frequencies on what is dubbed “Moving Day.” The move is made under the terms of the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement treaty (NARBA), which seeks to standardize radio throughout the Western Hemisphere.

1956
Soviet scientists in the U.K. announce the development of a new form of electron microscope that enables atoms to be seen by the human eye for the first time.

1974
The NASA spaceprobe Mariner 10 takes the first close-up pictures of the planet Mercury. It was launched November 3, 1973. On its way to Mercury, Mariner 10 made its first flyby of Venus on February 5, 1974 and discovered evidence of rotating clouds. The mission requires more course corrections than any previous mission and is the first spacecraft to use the gravitational pull of one planet to help it reach another planet. In three flybys over Mercury, it maps about half of the planet’s surface, finding a thin atmosphere and a magnetic field. This craft is also the first to use the solar wind as a means of locomotion. When the probe’s thruster fuel runs low, scientists use the solar panels as sails to make course corrections. Read NASA’s Mariner 10 Mission Profile.

1982
According to Twin Galaxies, Allen Toney, age 23, scores a record-setting 583,750 points playing the Atari arcade game Warlords after playing the game for one hour at Scratch & Tilt in Huntington, West Virginia. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.

1983
Federal Court Judge Albert Bryan issues a temporary restraining order barring Atari from requiring its distributors to deal exclusively in Atari merchandise.

Radio Shack introduces the TRS-80 Model 100, the industry’s first portable computer. The system features a 2.4MHz Intel 80C85 Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) microprocessor, 8 – 24KB RAM, a full-sized 56-key keyboard, an 8 line, 40 column Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a built-in 300 baud modem, a parallel and serial interface, and a cassette tape interface to load and save programs at 1500 baud. The system also comes equipped with five built-in applications with 32K of ROM, including an address book, Microsoft BASIC, a schedule book, a telecommunications package, and a text editor. The system is based on the same platform as the NEC PC-8201 and the Olivetti M-10 portable computers, all three being manufactured by Kyoto Ceramics (Kyocera). The TRS-80 be highly successful, especially among businessmen and journalists, due to the unrivaled convenience of its light weight and bundled software package. Visit the official RadioShack website. Price: US$799 (8K RAM) – US$1,134 (24K RAM) Weight: 3.9lb

1922
The world’s first microfilm device is introduced.

1935
Robert H. Goddard successfully uses gyroscopes to correct the course of a rocket’s flight for the first time. The Goddard A series rocket achieves an altitude of 4,800 feet or 0.91 miles (1.46km) at an average speed of 550mph over twenty seconds.

1938
German manufacturer Arnold & Richter delivers the world’s first motion picture camera with a mirror-reflex shutter to stores. Its shutter allows filmmakers to view the exact image being captured on the film where previous cameras had featured viewfinders that were affected by parallax distortion. The camera also features a battery unit which doubles as a handle, a rotating turret with three lenses, and quick-release daylight-loading magazines.

1941
Universal Pictures releases the science fiction film Man Made Monster, directed by George Waggner and starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Lionel Atwill, to U.S. theaters. In it, a mad scientist transforms a man into a monster which does his bidding. It is a Chaney’s horror debut, but he will go on to become famous for his roles in monster movies. IMDB listing Running Time: 59 mins

1946
The United States Census Bureau and the National Bureau of Standards meet to discuss the possibility of acquiring a computer. The agencies will ultimately agree to purchase UNIVAC, the world’s first general all-purpose business computer, from J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly for US$225,000. However, UNIVAC cost far more than US$225,000 to develop. Eckert and Mauchly’s venture will fail as the company continues to build and program UNIVAC computers for less than development costs.

1947
The last episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century airs after fifteen years on the radio. The Buck Rogers, which began with as a comic strip, is a forerunner of many later popular science fiction franchises.

1955
Thomas Watson, Jr., the president of IBM, is featured on the cover of Time magazine.

1963
NASA launches the Saturn I rocket from Cape Canaveral on its fourth successful suborbital test. The S-I Saturn stage reaches an altitude of 80 miles (129km) and a peak velocity of 3,660mph (5,906kph).

1964
Radio Caroline, the first UK off-shore pirate radio station, begins broadcasting. The rock station will quickly garner an enormous following across Britain by offering a hipper, more lively alternative to BBC radio, while stymieing attempts to shut it down by remaining outside the jurisdiction of authorities. Read more about the history of Radio Caroline at the station’s official website.

1970
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) introduces the PDP-11 microcomputer, featuring 16-bit words and an Unibus for attaching peripherals. This architecture will remain popular for decade, selling over a quarter of a million units in a variety of configurations. Read more about the history of the PDP at Hampage.

1979
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a reactor cooling system pump fails in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, resulting in the evaporation of contaminated water and a series of equipment failures that bring the plant close to a Uranium core meltdown. Officials decide against officially ordering an evacuation of the surrounding population, but over a hundred thousand people flee Middletown, Pennsylvania and the surrounding are by the end of the twelve day incident. No injuries will occur directly as a result of radiation, but the incident raises public awareness of the dangers of nuclear plants.

1984
In Melbourne, Australia, Zoe Leyland becomes the first child born from a frozen embryo.

With the production of the last TI 99/4A, Texas Instruments (TI) officially exits the home computer market after loosing millions. Visit the official Texas Instruments website.

1985
The International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft measures solar wind ahead of Halley’s Comet.

1991
U.S. District Court Judge Fern Smith grants Nintendo’s request for a preliminary injunction against Atari Games, in the lawsuits over Atari Games’ compatible security chip for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game cartridges. The injunction bars Atari Games from selling or copying copyrighted Nintendo programs for use in video game cartridges. Smith accuses Atari Games of lying to obtain Nintendo’s 10NES security program from the Copyright Office, then lying that it had independently developed a compatible code.

1922
The world’s first microfilm device is introduced.

1935
Robert H. Goddard successfully uses gyroscopes to correct the course of a rocket’s flight for the first time. The Goddard A series rocket achieves an altitude of 4,800 feet or 0.91 miles (1.46km) at an average speed of 550mph over twenty seconds.

1938
German manufacturer Arnold & Richter delivers the world’s first motion picture camera with a mirror-reflex shutter to stores. Its shutter allows filmmakers to view the exact image being captured on the film where previous cameras had featured viewfinders that were affected by parallax distortion. The camera also features a battery unit which doubles as a handle, a rotating turret with three lenses, and quick-release daylight-loading magazines.

1941
Universal Pictures releases the science fiction film Man Made Monster, directed by George Waggner and starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Lionel Atwill, to U.S. theaters. In it, a mad scientist transforms a man into a monster which does his bidding. It is a Chaney’s horror debut, but he will go on to become famous for his roles in monster movies. IMDB listing Running Time: 59 mins

1946
The United States Census Bureau and the National Bureau of Standards meet to discuss the possibility of acquiring a computer. The agencies will ultimately agree to purchase UNIVAC, the world’s first general all-purpose business computer, from J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly for US$225,000. However, UNIVAC cost far more than US$225,000 to develop. Eckert and Mauchly’s venture will fail as the company continues to build and program UNIVAC computers for less than development costs.

1947
The last episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century airs after fifteen years on the radio. The Buck Rogers, which began with as a comic strip, is a forerunner of many later popular science fiction franchises.

1955
Thomas Watson, Jr., the president of IBM, is featured on the cover of Time magazine.

1963
NASA launches the Saturn I rocket from Cape Canaveral on its fourth successful suborbital test. The S-I Saturn stage reaches an altitude of 80 miles (129km) and a peak velocity of 3,660mph (5,906kph).

1964
Radio Caroline, the first UK off-shore pirate radio station, begins broadcasting. The rock station will quickly garner an enormous following across Britain by offering a hipper, more lively alternative to BBC radio, while stymieing attempts to shut it down by remaining outside the jurisdiction of authorities. Read more about the history of Radio Caroline at the station’s official website.

1970
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) introduces the PDP-11 microcomputer, featuring 16-bit words and an Unibus for attaching peripherals. This architecture will remain popular for decade, selling over a quarter of a million units in a variety of configurations. Read more about the history of the PDP at Hampage.

1979
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a reactor cooling system pump fails in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, resulting in the evaporation of contaminated water and a series of equipment failures that bring the plant close to a Uranium core meltdown. Officials decide against officially ordering an evacuation of the surrounding population, but over a hundred thousand people flee Middletown, Pennsylvania and the surrounding are by the end of the twelve day incident. No injuries will occur directly as a result of radiation, but the incident raises public awareness of the dangers of nuclear plants.

1984
In Melbourne, Australia, Zoe Leyland becomes the first child born from a frozen embryo.

With the production of the last TI 99/4A, Texas Instruments (TI) officially exits the home computer market after loosing millions. Visit the official Texas Instruments website.

1985
The International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft measures solar wind ahead of Halley’s Comet.

1991
U.S. District Court Judge Fern Smith grants Nintendo’s request for a preliminary injunction against Atari Games, in the lawsuits over Atari Games’ compatible security chip for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game cartridges. The injunction bars Atari Games from selling or copying copyrighted Nintendo programs for use in video game cartridges. Smith accuses Atari Games of lying to obtain Nintendo’s 10NES security program from the Copyright Office, then lying that it had independently developed a compatible code.

1884
The first long-distance telephone phone call is made between Boston, Massachusetts and New York City by branch managers of the American Bell Telephone Company over the first copper phone lines. The new copper lines offer greater attenuation of the signal than the standard galvanized iron lines, which were used in the 1881 connection of Boston and Providence. However, while sound is carried satisfactorily over the line, maintaining a clear connection over long distance will remain extremely difficult into the turn of the century. The cost of a connection between the two cities will be two dollars during the day and one dollar during the night. New York and Philadelphia will be connected in 1885. Atlanta and Chicago will be connected in 1890, and New York and Chicago will be connected in 1892.

1893
American Bell Telephone Company places the first long distance telephone call to its branch office in New York.

1899
Guglielmo Marconi receives the first wireless signal transmitted across the English Channel, between Boulogne, France and his ship-to-shore station at the South Foreland Lighthouse outside Dover, England. The signal is a test held at the request of the French Government, which is considering licensing the invention in France, and it is observed by representatives of the French government at both stations.

1914
The first successful blood transfusion takes place in Brussels.

1930
The first radio broadcast from a ship at sea is transmitted.

1955
NBC dedicates the first television studio in history constructed exclusively for the purpose of producing color broadcasts on West Alameda Avenue in Burbank, California, just north of Hollywood. The facility will be dubbed “Color City.”

1956
Southern Bell, which serves Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas, installs its five-millionth telephone in the office of the governor of Georgia.

1957
The 29th Academy Awards are held. Around the World in Eighty Days wins the Oscar for Best Picture, beating out both The King and I and The Ten Commandments.

1961
The first mobile computer center, a UNIVAC Solid-State 90 computer loaded into a motor van, is used by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina. The mobile center was created by Remington Rand UNIVAC, a division of Sperry Rand.

1969
Mariner 7 is launched on a mission to Mars.

1972
The Soviet space probe Venera 8 is launched on a mission to Venus.

1976
Bill Gates, age 20, gives the opening address as one of the principal developers of BASIC for at the First Annual World Altair Computer Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1982
The Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia album Pac-Man Fever peaks at the number nine position on the pop singles charts. Read the lyrics of Pac-Man Fever.

1983
According to Twin Galaxies, Ben Gold scores a record-setting 17,899,325 points playing the Gottlieb arcade game Q*bert at the Pro Video Game Center arcade in Dallas, Texas. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.

1884
The first long-distance telephone phone call is made between Boston, Massachusetts and New York City by branch managers of the American Bell Telephone Company over the first copper phone lines. The new copper lines offer greater attenuation of the signal than the standard galvanized iron lines, which were used in the 1881 connection of Boston and Providence. However, while sound is carried satisfactorily over the line, maintaining a clear connection over long distance will remain extremely difficult into the turn of the century. The cost of a connection between the two cities will be two dollars during the day and one dollar during the night. New York and Philadelphia will be connected in 1885. Atlanta and Chicago will be connected in 1890, and New York and Chicago will be connected in 1892.

1893
American Bell Telephone Company places the first long distance telephone call to its branch office in New York.

1899
Guglielmo Marconi receives the first wireless signal transmitted across the English Channel, between Boulogne, France and his ship-to-shore station at the South Foreland Lighthouse outside Dover, England. The signal is a test held at the request of the French Government, which is considering licensing the invention in France, and it is observed by representatives of the French government at both stations.

1914
The first successful blood transfusion takes place in Brussels.

1930
The first radio broadcast from a ship at sea is transmitted.

1955
NBC dedicates the first television studio in history constructed exclusively for the purpose of producing color broadcasts on West Alameda Avenue in Burbank, California, just north of Hollywood. The facility will be dubbed “Color City.”

1956
Southern Bell, which serves Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas, installs its five-millionth telephone in the office of the governor of Georgia.

1957
The 29th Academy Awards are held. Around the World in Eighty Days wins the Oscar for Best Picture, beating out both The King and I and The Ten Commandments.

1961
The first mobile computer center, a UNIVAC Solid-State 90 computer loaded into a motor van, is used by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina. The mobile center was created by Remington Rand UNIVAC, a division of Sperry Rand.

1969
Mariner 7 is launched on a mission to Mars.

1972
The Soviet space probe Venera 8 is launched on a mission to Venus.

1976
Bill Gates, age 20, gives the opening address as one of the principal developers of BASIC for at the First Annual World Altair Computer Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1982
The Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia album Pac-Man Fever peaks at the number nine position on the pop singles charts. Read the lyrics of Pac-Man Fever.

1983
According to Twin Galaxies, Ben Gold scores a record-setting 17,899,325 points playing the Gottlieb arcade game Q*bert at the Pro Video Game Center arcade in Dallas, Texas. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.

1895
Charles Francis Jenkins receives a patent for The Phantoscope, an early motion picture projector that enlarges film images for group exhibitions. (US No. 536,569) It will first be demonstrated at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia in October. Armat will later sell the rights to his invention to Thomas Edison, and Edison use the device as the basis of the Vitascope projector.

1923
The BBC introduces a daily weather forecast. Visit the official BBC website.

1936
The first two hundred inch diameter reflecting mirror used in the construction of the Hale telescope is shipped from Corning, New York, to Mt. Palomar Observatory in California. The lens alone weighs twenty tons.

1954
The United States detonates the second Hydrogen bomb in four weeks on Bikini Island in the Marshall Islands. The fifteen megaton bomb is 750 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The blast contaminates the neighboring island of Rongelap and exposes almost one hundred people on the island and other downwind atolls to radiation.

1958
The United States Army launches Explorer III satellite, America’s third successful satellite.

1969
The Soviet weather satellite Meteor 1 is launched.

1975
The International Business Machines (IBM) Data Processing Division (DPD) introduces new versions of the IBM System/370 Models 158 and 168. Visit the official IBM website.

1976
The First Annual World Altair Computer Convention is held at the Airport Marina Hotel near Albuquerque, New Mexico, over three days. It is the first such convention for the microcomputer industry. Bill Gates will explain his position on software piracy in his opening address on March 27. Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the developer of the Altair 8800, was established in the southwestern city to develop its kit computer, which became a runaway hit among hobbyists after it was featured by Popular Mechanic magazine. In the hotel’s penthouse suite, the Processor Technology Corporation holds establishes a “booth” to promote their 4KB memory boards for the Altair.

1980
The European Space Agency (ESA) creates the French company Arianespace, the world’s first commercial space transportation company. Visit the official Arianespace website.

1981
The French newspaper Le Parisien Libere, one of the largest and most influential in France, publishes its first online edition on Teletel, videotex network.

1987
NASA launches the Fltsatcom-6 communications satellite for the U.S. Navy, but it fails to reach orbit when lightning strikes and destroys the rocket.

1989
The science fiction television series Quantum Leap premieres with the episode “Genesis” on the NBC network. The series follows the adventures of Dr. Sam Beckett, a scientist who has built a time travel device that allows him to travel through time by “leaping” into the bodies of people from the past. The series will run for ninety-six episodes over five seasons. TV.com entry

1990
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Allegiance” first airs. (No. 318) In it, following a bout of strange behavior, the crew discovers that Picard has been replaced by an alien doppleganger. Memory Alpha entry

1994
A photo of the first moon discovered in orbit around an asteroid is released. The potato-shaped asteroid Ida and its newly-discovered moon, Dactyl, were imaged by the NASA Galileo spacecraft, about fourteen minutes before its closest approach to the asteroid on August 28, 1993. Ida is approximately thirty-six miles long and fourteen miles wide, and it is pocked with craters. Dactyl is about one mile (1.5km) wide. The moon is named for the Dactyli, a group of mythological beings who lived on Mount Ida, where they hid and protected Zeus as an infant.

1895
Charles Francis Jenkins receives a patent for The Phantoscope, an early motion picture projector that enlarges film images for group exhibitions. (US No. 536,569) It will first be demonstrated at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia in October. Armat will later sell the rights to his invention to Thomas Edison, and Edison use the device as the basis of the Vitascope projector.

1923
The BBC introduces a daily weather forecast. Visit the official BBC website.

1936
The first two hundred inch diameter reflecting mirror used in the construction of the Hale telescope is shipped from Corning, New York, to Mt. Palomar Observatory in California. The lens alone weighs twenty tons.

1954
The United States detonates the second Hydrogen bomb in four weeks on Bikini Island in the Marshall Islands. The fifteen megaton bomb is 750 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The blast contaminates the neighboring island of Rongelap and exposes almost one hundred people on the island and other downwind atolls to radiation.

1958
The United States Army launches Explorer III satellite, America’s third successful satellite.

1969
The Soviet weather satellite Meteor 1 is launched.

1975
The International Business Machines (IBM) Data Processing Division (DPD) introduces new versions of the IBM System/370 Models 158 and 168. Visit the official IBM website.

1976
The First Annual World Altair Computer Convention is held at the Airport Marina Hotel near Albuquerque, New Mexico, over three days. It is the first such convention for the microcomputer industry. Bill Gates will explain his position on software piracy in his opening address on March 27. Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the developer of the Altair 8800, was established in the southwestern city to develop its kit computer, which became a runaway hit among hobbyists after it was featured by Popular Mechanic magazine. In the hotel’s penthouse suite, the Processor Technology Corporation holds establishes a “booth” to promote their 4KB memory boards for the Altair.

1980
The European Space Agency (ESA) creates the French company Arianespace, the world’s first commercial space transportation company. Visit the official Arianespace website.

1981
The French newspaper Le Parisien Libere, one of the largest and most influential in France, publishes its first online edition on Teletel, videotex network.

1987
NASA launches the Fltsatcom-6 communications satellite for the U.S. Navy, but it fails to reach orbit when lightning strikes and destroys the rocket.

1989
The science fiction television series Quantum Leap premieres with the episode “Genesis” on the NBC network. The series follows the adventures of Dr. Sam Beckett, a scientist who has built a time travel device that allows him to travel through time by “leaping” into the bodies of people from the past. The series will run for ninety-six episodes over five seasons. TV.com entry

1990
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Allegiance” first airs. (No. 318) In it, following a bout of strange behavior, the crew discovers that Picard has been replaced by an alien doppleganger. Memory Alpha entry

1994
A photo of the first moon discovered in orbit around an asteroid is released. The potato-shaped asteroid Ida and its newly-discovered moon, Dactyl, were imaged by the NASA Galileo spacecraft, about fourteen minutes before its closest approach to the asteroid on August 28, 1993. Ida is approximately thirty-six miles long and fourteen miles wide, and it is pocked with craters. Dactyl is about one mile (1.5km) wide. The moon is named for the Dactyli, a group of mythological beings who lived on Mount Ida, where they hid and protected Zeus as an infant.

1857
Frederick Laggenheim takes the first photograph of a solar eclipse.

Leon Scott de Martinville patents the Phonautograph, the first machine to record sound, twenty years before Thomas Edison invents the first Phonograph. However, unlike the later phonograph, the device is able to record sound but unable to play it back. As such, the phonautograph will become well-known among scientists but will remain a scientific instrument used in the study of sound waves. Read more about the history of phonautograph.

1896
The first film shown in the United Kingdom outside London is given at the Pandora Gallery, in Brighton, using a cinematographe to project the film.

1902
Irving W. Colburn receives a patent for the first sheet glass drawing machine. The device makes the mass production of window glass practical for the first time in history.

1915
The first submarine wreck occurs when the USS F-4 (SS-23) sinks off the coast of Hawaii, near Honolulu harbor, killing twenty-one crew members. An investigation board will later speculate that the lead lining around the vessel’s battery tank had corroded, leading to a leak that caused the crew to loose control during a submerged run.

1922
George William Goddard achieves the first thrust from a liquid rocket engine. Goddard’s test engine produces four pounds of thrust, but only for a very brief time.

1925
John Logie Baird gives the first public demonstration of his television system at the Selfridges department store on Oxford Street in London, England. It will be ten years before the introduction of television with higher definition in Britain on November 2, 1936.

1932
MGM releases Tarzan the Ape Man, directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starring Johnny Weissmuller, Neil Hamilton, Maureen O’Sullivan, and C. Aubrey Smith, to U.S. theaters. The film was produced on a budget of US$652,675. IMDB listing Running Time: 1 hr 39 mins

1951
Edward Mills Purcell and H.I. Ewen of the Harvard physics lab first detect 21-cm radiation (1420.4 MHz) in outer space.

1954
Radio Corporation of America (RCA) begins producing the first mass-produced all-electronic color television receiver, the RCA CT-100. The release comes just months after a limited release of the first NTSC television camera, the model RCA TK-40, in 1953 and just days after RCA began shipping the first commercially available color television camera, the TK-40A, from its plant in Camden, New Jersey. The receivers, which are manufactured in Bloomington, Indiana, each feature an eleven and a half-inch wide picture produced by a fifteen-inch picture tube, thirty-six vacuum tubes, and a 12½ inch screen. Westinghouse released a model of color television several weeks earlier, but only one of the hand-assembled sets sold in the month following its release. Though RCA will loose money on every unit sold, the color television sets retail for US$1,000, roughly one-third to one-half the cost of a new car, due to the extraordinary costs involved in producing picture tubes. As a result of the model’s prince, only about 4,000 of the sets will ever be sold. It will take more than a decade for color televisions to become popular enough for color broadcasts to become a regular part of network programming. Read more about the CT-10 at the Radio-Television Museum. Visit the official RCA website.

1857
Frederick Laggenheim takes the first photograph of a solar eclipse.

Leon Scott de Martinville patents the Phonautograph, the first machine to record sound, twenty years before Thomas Edison invents the first Phonograph. However, unlike the later phonograph, the device is able to record sound but unable to play it back. As such, the phonautograph will become well-known among scientists but will remain a scientific instrument used in the study of sound waves. Read more about the history of phonautograph.

1896
The first film shown in the United Kingdom outside London is given at the Pandora Gallery, in Brighton, using a cinematographe to project the film.

1902
Irving W. Colburn receives a patent for the first sheet glass drawing machine. The device makes the mass production of window glass practical for the first time in history.

1915
The first submarine wreck occurs when the USS F-4 (SS-23) sinks off the coast of Hawaii, near Honolulu harbor, killing twenty-one crew members. An investigation board will later speculate that the lead lining around the vessel’s battery tank had corroded, leading to a leak that caused the crew to loose control during a submerged run.

1922
George William Goddard achieves the first thrust from a liquid rocket engine. Goddard’s test engine produces four pounds of thrust, but only for a very brief time.

1925
John Logie Baird gives the first public demonstration of his television system at the Selfridges department store on Oxford Street in London, England. It will be ten years before the introduction of television with higher definition in Britain on November 2, 1936.

1932
MGM releases Tarzan the Ape Man, directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starring Johnny Weissmuller, Neil Hamilton, Maureen O’Sullivan, and C. Aubrey Smith, to U.S. theaters. The film was produced on a budget of US$652,675. IMDB listing Running Time: 1 hr 39 mins

1951
Edward Mills Purcell and H.I. Ewen of the Harvard physics lab first detect 21-cm radiation (1420.4 MHz) in outer space.

1954
Radio Corporation of America (RCA) begins producing the first mass-produced all-electronic color television receiver, the RCA CT-100. The release comes just months after a limited release of the first NTSC television camera, the model RCA TK-40, in 1953 and just days after RCA began shipping the first commercially available color television camera, the TK-40A, from its plant in Camden, New Jersey. The receivers, which are manufactured in Bloomington, Indiana, each feature an eleven and a half-inch wide picture produced by a fifteen-inch picture tube, thirty-six vacuum tubes, and a 12½ inch screen. Westinghouse released a model of color television several weeks earlier, but only one of the hand-assembled sets sold in the month following its release. Though RCA will loose money on every unit sold, the color television sets retail for US$1,000, roughly one-third to one-half the cost of a new car, due to the extraordinary costs involved in producing picture tubes. As a result of the model’s prince, only about 4,000 of the sets will ever be sold. It will take more than a decade for color televisions to become popular enough for color broadcasts to become a regular part of network programming. Read more about the CT-10 at the Radio-Television Museum. Visit the official RCA website.