1178 BC
Some 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. Before this 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. Now the same effects 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 lense technology well into the seventies.
1956
A radio made to run off batteries or a solar-cells is first sold in the US. The Sun Power Pak is manufactured by the Admiral Corporation, in Chicago, Illinois. By transistors instead of vacuum tubes, the radio requires so little electricity that six ordinary batteries power it for between 700 to 1,000 hours. The US$60 radio is small and weighs only five and a quarter pounds.
1959
Lisp, the programming language that provides the basis for most significant work in the field of artificial intelligence, is first unveiled. Created by John McCarthy, Lisp is the second high-level programming language to come into widespread use, following Fortran. Read more about the history of Lisp at the Association of Lisp Users or at the Computer History Museum.
1972
Apollo 16 launches Cape Canaveral, Florida on a mission to the Moon, where it will be the fifth mission to land.
1975
Sony announces the launch of the Betamax videocassette format in Japan. The format uses 12.7mm width tape, derived from the professional 19.1mm U-matic format. The “Betamax” name comes from the fact that the tape looks like the Greek letter “Beta” when it runs through the transport. It will be launched in the US later in the year.
1976
The Helios-B deep-space probe makes passes within 27 million miles (43 million km) or 0.3 AU of the Sun. One Astronomical Unit (AU) is equal to the distance between the Earth and the Sun, approximately 93 million miles. It is the closest any manmade probe has come to the sun to date. The mission of the Helios-B is to measure the material found in space between Earth’s orbit and the Sun. The vehicle carries a fluxgate magnetometer, equipment for electric and magnetic wave experiments, charged particle experiments, and a micrometeoroid experiment.
1977
Apple Computer introduces the Apple II, Apple’s first popular microcomputer, at the West Coast Computer Faire. The computer features a 6502 CPU, 4kB RAM, 16kB ROM, a built-in keyboard, an 8-slot motherboard, game paddles, a color display, and built-in BASIC, for the price of US$1,298. It is the first personal computer to feature color graphics.
Commodore International unveils the Commodore PET 2001, Commodore’s first full-featured computer, at the West Coast Computer Faire. The PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) includes a MOS Technology 6502 processor, 4kB RAM, 14kB ROM, a built-in keyboard, a 9-inch monochrome display, and a cassette tape drive, for a price of US$595. The model on exhibition is a one of a kind prototype.
1981
The last episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, “The Dorian Secret” airs.
1987
Patents for genetic engineering are first authorized by the US government, the first nation in the world to do so. One year later, the first genetic patent will be issued in the US for a mouse designed to be highly susceptible to breast cancer. The so-called “oncomice,” will be intended for use in testing anticancer therapies. Read the US government’s gene patent guidelines.
1989
Sunday, April 16, through Tuesday, April 18 the first Spring European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) organized by Database Exhibitions is held at the Business Design Centre in London, England. 1,750 people will attend. Noted exhibitors include Atari, Commodore, Electronic Arts, Elite, Mindscape, Mirrorsoft, and MicroProse.
1990
Nintendo files four copyright infringement suits in the US and Canada against retailers and distributors accused of selling counterfeit video game cartridges.
1991
Sunday, April 14, through Tuesday, April 16 the Spring European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) is held at Business Design Centre in London, England. 3,461 people attend.
1994
Ocean Software releases Addams Family Values for the Super NES. The role playing game is loosely based on the movie of the same title, and generally spoofs the popular Legend of Zelda game.
1996
Sunday, April 14, through Tuesday, April 16 the Spring European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) is held at Olympia in London, England. 9,827 people attend.
1997
Apple Computer, Inc. reports a quarterly loss of US$708 million. The loss includes two significant one-time charges. The first for the acquisition of NeXt Software, Inc. for US$375 million and another US$155 million reserved for future restructuring costs.
Gateway 2000 reveals plans to expand its manufacturing plant in Hampton, Virginia, adding three hundred employees to the present six hundred fifty. The project will increase the plant’s production capacity by fifty percent.
1998
Apple Computer reports a stronger-than-anticipated second quarter profit of US$55 million on US$1.4 billion in revenues. This makes the second sequential quarterly profit for Apple after two years of substantial losses.
Mike Fulton and Pradip Fatehpuria leave their positions in Tech Support at Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) to work for VM Labs, a company behind technology that adds additional features to a DVD players.
1999
Michael Crichton, author of such novels as Disclosure and Jurassic Park, announces the formation of Timeline Studios. The new company will focus on developing next-generation video games that combine stories written by Crichton with technology developed by Virtus Corporation of Cary, North Carolina. The first release for Timeline Studios is projected for early 2000.
2000
Japan’s Kyodo news agency quotes industry sources as saying that Sony’s PlayStation 2 is the first video game console to face export controls under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law because it is so sophisticated that it could be used for military purposes.
2001
America Online membership surpasses 29 million worldwide.
Capcom releases Resident Evil 3: Nemesis for Windows in the US.
2002
Adobe Systems ships Photoshop 7.0 for Windows and Macintosh computers.
2003
Corel releases the WordPerfect Office 11 software suite, including the WordPerfect word processor, Quattro spreadsheet, and Presentations slide-show software. Price: US$299 or US$149 for an upgrade
Intel releases the 2.5 GHz Pentium 4-M processor, for portable computers. Price: US$562 in 1000-unit quantities
Intel releases the 2.2 GHz Celeron processor, for low-price computers. Price: US$149 in 1000-unit quantities
Intel releases the 1.26 GHz Celeron processor, for mininotebook computers. Price: US$107 in 1000-unit quantities
2004
Kill Bill: Vol. 2, directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Uma Thurman and David Carradine, is released to theaters. With a budget of US$30 million, the film grosses US$152,159,461 globally.
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