1790
United States President George Washington signs the first US patent statute into law. The first patent won’t be issued under the statute until July 31, 1790. Read more about the history of US patent law.
1930
The first synthetic rubber is created by Dr. Arnold M. Collins who isolates chloroprene and observes its polymerization. E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company will begin manufacturing synthetic rubber on November 2, 1931. Visit the official DuPont website.
1938
The first FM radio broadcast is transmitted by W2XMN/WFMN/KE2XCC, in Alpine, New Jersey.
1943
The University of Pennsylvania begins constructing the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), which, once completed, will become the first general-purpose electronic computer, capable of five thousand additions per second. The work will be carried out in secret since the computer is intended to compute trajectory tables for military artillery, though it won’t be completed until after World War II. The calculations were previously carried out by group of women called “computers” who worked with mechanical calculators.
1944
Three US television stations link to transmit a the short film, Patrolling the Ether, simultaneously. The film depicts amateur radio operators aiding the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in monitoring the airwaves for Nazi spy transmissions. The broadcast marks the beginning of network television.
1953
Warner Brothers studios premieres its first 3-D film House of Wax, starring Vincent Price, in New York City. IMDB listing
1955
Dr. Jonas Salk first successfully tests the polio vaccine.
1972
The United States and the Soviet Union join seventy nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare.
1978
Volkswagen becomes the first non-American automobile manufacturer to build cars in the United States when it opens a plant in Pennsylvania. Visit the official Volkswagen website.
1979
The horror film Dawn of the Dead, directed by George A. Romero, premieres the US in New York. The film is a sequel to Night of the Living Dead, which was produced on a meager budget of US$114,000. The film features a brief video game arcade sequence which was filmed through November 1977 and into early 1978 at the Machine Shop 2 video arcade in the Monroeville Mall near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The scene is a light-hearted break following a number of gruesome scenes. Among the games featured in the film are Boot Hill and Night Driver. The film was produced with a budget of US$1.5 million. MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 2 hrs 6 mins
1981
A computer malfunction delays the first launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia. (STS-1) The mission will be successfully launched on April 12th.
1983
Release 16 of the Infocom interactive fiction game Zork III is released for personal computers. It is Infocom’s fourth game.
1988
The comic strip Fox Trot by Bill Amend debuts. Visit the official Foxtrot website.
1989
The Spring COMDEX trade show is held, in Chicago, Illinois.
At the event, Intel introduces the 25MHz 80486 microprocessor. The processor features the equivalent of about 1.2 million transistors, integrating the 80386 processor, a 80387 math coprocessor, and an 8KB primary cache. Price: US$900
At the event, Intel introduces the 33MHz version of the 80386DX microprocessor and 80387 math co-processor.
1991
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) publicly announces the investigation of Nintendo on charges of price-fixing is made public. Nintendo has signed a consent decree in which the company agrees to not fix prices in the future or penalize retailers who sell Nintendo merchandise below suggested retail prices. Nintendo also agrees to refund five dollars in the form or a coupon to consumers who purchased a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) between June 1, 1988 and December 30, 1990. Visit the official FTC website. Visit the official Nintendo website.
1992
T&E Soft releases the golf game Pebble Beach no Hotou for the Super Famicom in Japan
1994
The Spring European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) is held April 10 – 12 at the Business Design Centre in London, England. The event is attended by 5,884 people.
1995
Midway Amusement Games releases version 1.0 of the versus fighting game Mortal Kombat 3 to arcades in the US.
The world’s first national DNA database, the National DNA Database (NDNAD), is launched in the UK. Police are authorized to retain DNA samples of those arrested using mouth swabs or hair samples. In just ten years, over three million profiles will be collected. Read more at Gene-Watch.
1996
The 11th AEGON Computer Chess Tournament, which pits human competitors against computers, is held April 10-17 in The Hague, Netherlands. Fifty chess masters and fifty computers compete in the event. Most of the computers are Hewlett-Packard 166MHz Pentium machines with 16MB RAM. Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan will win the tournament with six straight wins and without losses. The most successful computer will be QUEST, with four wins and a draw and a 2652 performance rating.
1997
In the Thursday, April 10, issue of the journal Nature scientists at Sandia National Laboratories and France Telecom announce that they have developed a prototype protonic memory chip that retain data even after power has been shut down. Visit the official Nature website.
Wizards of the Coast announced the acquisition of all of the assets of TSR, including Dungeons & Dragons and the remaining major gaming convention, GenCon. Visit the official Wizards of the Coast website.
1998
Global Village announces an agreement to sell its modem business to Boca Research for US$10 million in cash and notes.
MGM releases the science fiction horror film Species II, directed by Peter Medak and starring Natasha Henstridge, Michael Madsen, and Marg Helgenberger, to 2,510 US theaters. The film will gross US$7,274,008 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 1 hr 33 mins
1999
Bleem, LLC begins shipping BLEEM!, a PlayStation emulator for personal computers.
Eidos Interactive releases the real-time strategy (RTS) game Warzone 2100 for personal computers and the PlayStation in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
2000
The website of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is hacked by the “InSaNiTy ZiNe c0rp.” View an archived version of the defaced website.
2001
DAW Books published the science fiction novel Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams as a hardcover. (ISBN: 0886779774) It is the fourth and final book in the Otherland series. Length: 922 pages
Internet radio stations across the web temporarily suspend of service due to royalty disputes. Many of the services are real-world radio station which have begin to stream their broadcasts online.
2002
Version 2.2.1 of the Python programming language is released. Visit the official Python website.
2003
Bandai releases .hack//Quarantine for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. It is the fourth game in the .hack series.
Bandai releases InuYasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale for the PlayStation in North America. ESRB: T (Teen)
Sony sells the first Blu-Ray DVD (Blue-Laser DVD) recorder, the BDZ-S77, more than a year after the initial announcement of the Blu-ray optical disc format. The disks have a storage capacity of nearly twenty-three gigabytes of data through the use of blue lasers which have a narrower wavelength than the conventional red laser DVDs, which yield a maximum capacity of approximately 4.7 gigabytes per layer per side. Visit the official Blue-ray format website.
Ubisoft releases Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 in the US. Visit the official Splinter Cell website. ESRB: T (Teen)
2006
It’s announced that Animal Crossing: Wild World for the Nintendo DS was the top-selling video game in Japan in 2005, selling 2.34 million units. Final Fantasy XII for PlayStation 2 was second, selling 2.05 million units, and Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day for Nintendo DS was third, selling 1.85 million units.
Disney says it will begin offering downloads of its television shows from its website abc.com, for a two month trial period.
Midway Games releases the real-time strategy (RTS) game Earth 2160 via Steam. Visit the game’s official website.
Nintendo releases the hybrid pinball/real-time tactics game Odama for the GameCube in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: E10+ (Everyone 10+)
Sales of Kingdom Hearts II reaches 2.5 million units shipped worldwide. Visit the game’s official website.
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