The Great Geek Manual

1846
R.E. House of New York City is granted a patent for the first telegraph ticker capable of printing messages as letters, rather than Morse code, at the rate of approximately fifty words per minute. (US No. 4,464)

1902
Denmark becomes the first country to adopt fingerprinting as a method of identifying criminals.

1924
Simon & Schuster publishes the first Crossword puzzle book.
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1397
In the court of Richard II, Geoffrey Chaucer recites the Canterbury Tales for the first time. Scholars will later identified this as the date (in 1387) on which the book’s characters begin their pilgrimage to Canterbury.

1924
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios form following a merger of the Louis B. Mayer Company, Goldwyn Pictures, and Metro Pictures.

1944
Harvard University President James Conant writes to IBM founder Thomas Watson Sr. to report that the Harvard Mark I is up and running smoothly. He also notes that the Mark I is “being used for special problems in connection with the war effort.”

1957
Bell Laboratories announces the development of magnetic tape machine capable of transmitting a thousand words per minute, sixteen times faster than a conventional teletypewriter machines.
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1178 BC
Some historians will later link this day’s solar eclipse to the the legendary return of Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, to his kingdom after the Trojan War.

1947
The first zoom lens for a television camera is demonstrated by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in New York City. Prior to its invention, the entire camera had to be moved toward away from the subject of a shot in order to change the composition of the picture. The same effect can be accomplished using the Zoomar lens, revolutionizing live events, such as sports. The device was patented as a “varifocal lens for cameras” on November 23, 1948 by Dr. Frank Gerard Back of New York City. His company, Zoomar, will continue to develop lens technology well into the seventies.
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1452
Leonardo da Vinci is born in Vinci, Florence.

1726
The Reverend William Stukeley, who will become one of the first biographers of Isaac Newton, has a conversation in which Newton recalls “when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind.” In Stuckeley’s Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life, will write that Newton said, “It was occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself. Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the Earth’s centre.”

1877
Italian engineer Enrico Forlanini rises forty feet (12m) off the ground in a steam-driven helicopter of his own invention. The 7.7lb (3.5kg) vehicle is driven by coaxial rotors powered by a single two-cylinder steam-engine which must be charged to ten atmospheres of pressure to rise and remain airborne for twenty seconds.
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1611
The word “telescope” is first used in public by Prince Federico Cesi at a banquet held by the pioneer scientific society, the Accademia dei Lincei, (literally the “Academy of the Lynxes”), which he founded. The banquet is held in honor of Galileo. After Galileo shows the guests the satellites of Jupiter, other celestial bodies, and even an inscription on a building three miles away. Although the name is announced by Cesi to christen Galileo’s instrument, the word telescopio (Italian) may have been devised by a Greek poet-theologian, who happened to be present, from the Greek words tele (far) and scopeo (see). In 1625, another Lincean, Giovanni Faber of Bamberg will coin the word “microscope”.

1828
American lexicographer Noah Webster copyrights and publishes the first edition of his dictionary “American Dictionary of the English Language.” Browse Webster’s original dictionary at Project Gutenberg. Read more about Webster at the official Merriam-Webster website.
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1625
Johannes Faber of Bamberg, Germany coins the word “microscope” in a letter written to Federigo Cesi, Duke of Aquasparata and founder of Italy’s Lincean Academy (Accademia dei Lincei or Academy of the Lynx).

1860
The first Pony Express rider arrives in Sacramento, California (the state’s capitol), ceremonially completing the service’s inaugural delivery. The next day the mail will be delivered to San Francisco, where all subsequent runs will ends.

1941
FM Station W71NY in New York becomes the first commercial broadcaster to sign an advertiser to a contract.
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1633
Galileo Galilei is tried for a second time by the Inquisition. At the trial’s conclusion, Galileo’s belief that Earth isn’t the center of the Universe will be pronounced heretical.

1888
A French newspaper mistakenly publishes an obituary for Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite, following the death of Albert’s brother Ludwig’s death. The obituary describes him as “a merchant of death,” which shocks Nobel into setting out to change his public image. His efforts will eventually lead to the establishment of the Nobel Prize. Visit the official Nobel Prize website.

1892
The first portable typewriter, the Blickensderfer, is patented by George Blickensderfer of Stamford, Connecticut. (US No. 472,692)

1901
A Mercury arc lamp is first publicly demonstrated in the UK by Peter Cooper Hewitt.
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1876
The stenotype is patented by John C. Zachos of New York City. (US No. 175,892) It is the first U.S. patent for a device that rapidly prints legible text in the English alphabet.

1893
Frederic Ives receives a patent for the first half-tone printing press process used in the U.S. However, the very first half-tone photoengraving process was invented by George-Édouard Desbarats and William Leggo of Canada, and it was already being used by the Canadian Illustrated News in 1869.

1900
Submarine builder John Holland delivers his newest model, the Holland VI, to the United States Navy for US$150,000. The vessel, commissioned as the USS Holland (SS 1), on Oct. 12, 1900, is the Navy’s very first submarine. It weighs 64 tons, runs just short of fifty-four feet in length, and requires a crew of seven. Browse a gallery of photos of USS Holland.
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