1831
Charles Darwin returns home from a geology field trip in North Wales to find letters from Reverend John Henslow and George Peacock informing him that he will soon be invited on a scientific voyage of HMS Beagle. He is just twenty-two years old and has just graduated from Cambridge University. The offer is to be a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle for a two year survey of South America, leaving on September 25th. Although he immediately accepts the offer, his father and sisters are opposed to the trip. They regard the trip as an idle pursuit that will delay his expected career in the clergy. His father is prepared to change his mind, but only if Darwin can find a qualified man who views the exploit as worthwhile. Darwin will spend the next two days doing just that.
English chemist Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction, the production of an electric current by a change in magnetic intensity, which is the fundamental principle behind the electric generator.
1842
The design patent, a new form of patent, is authorized by an act of Congress. The first US design patent will be issued for typefaces and borders to George Bruce of New York City on November 9, 1842.
1893
A patent is issues to Whitcomb L. Judson for a “Zipper Clasp Locker or Unlocker for Shoes.” (US No. 504,038)
1929
For the first time in history, a news bulletin is broadcasts by the BBC from all of its regional stations.
1949
The USSR tests its first atomic device, “First Lightning,” at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. It is an an implosive type plutonium bomb, detonated at the Semipalatinsk test range, with a yield of up to a twenty kilotons. In the US it is called “Joe 1,” “Joe” being a nickname for Stalin. This test comes five years earlier than anyone in the West had predicted, largely due to the spy Klaus Fuchs. As a Los Alamos physicist, Fuchs had passed detailed blue prints of the original American Trinity bomb design to the Russians. With the emergence of the USSR as a nuclear rival, America’s monopoly of atomic weaponry ends, leaving the US scrabbling for further atomic innovations. Thus begins the Cold War.
1953
The USSR detonates its first hydrogen bomb.
1965
Astronaut Gordon Cooper in orbit one hundred miles above the Earth aboard Gemini 5 holds a conversation with aquanaut M. Scott Carpenter aboard the US Naval underwater habitat Sealab II, which is 205 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. It is was first time an astronaut in space has spoken with an aquanaut. The event is by and large a publicity stunt, but its primary goal is to test the capabilities of the Sealab’s electronics lab.
Later in the day, Gemini 5 will re-enter the atmosphere and splashed down, using the re-entry thrusters to orient the spacecraft due to OAMS system failures. The retrofire and re-entry are conducted in darkness by the spacecraft computer. However, the computer had been mis-programmed with an erroneous rotation rate for the Earth (390 degrees per day instead of 360.98 degrees per day). Cooper’s efforts to compensate for what he recognizes as an erroneous reading brings the capsule down closer to the recovery ship than planned.
1967
Final episode of the US television drama series The Fugitive on the ABC network achieves a rating of 72 percent, the highest rating in television history. Read more about the series at The Museum of Broadcast Communications.
1969
The first network switch and the first piece of network equipment, the Interface Message Processor (IMP), is sent to UCLA.
1979
Atari makes the first official shipment of Atari 400 and 800 home computers to Sears. These units are a hand-built pilot run built shipped to meet Sears’ in-stock deadline so that they could be placed in the store’s Big Fall Catalog. As soon as the units are warehoused, fulfilling the commitment, the units will be returned to Atari while Sears awaits the actual production models that won’t be shipped until November. The Atari 400 and Atari 800 Home Computers debuted at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early January.
1982
According to Twin Galaxies, Peter Skahill, age 23, scores a record-setting 911,875 points on the Atari game Warlords after playing the game for forty-five minutes at the UCLA Games Center in Los Angeles, California. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.
The fifty-two thousand mile Transglobe expedition completes the first circumnavigation of the world’s polar axis. Beginning in 1979, British explorers Ranulph Fiennes and Charles Burton have traveled for three years around the Earth via the Poles circling the Earth along longitude axis zero, the Greenwich Meridian. The expedition reached the North Pole on April 11, 1982, and it reached the South Pole sixteen months before that. Their journey across Antarctica took sixty-seven days, despite having used motorized skidoos as opposed to traditional dog sleds. The ocean voyage was undertaken in a craft named Benjamin Bowring. The expedition cost an estimated US$18 million.
A single atom of a new element is created. It will later be given the name Meitnerium (symbol: Mt). Physicists at the Heavy Ion Research Laboratory in Darmstadt, West Germany made and identified element 109 by bombarding Bi-209, an isotope of Bismuth, with an accelerated nuclei of Fe-58, an isotope of Iron. After a week of bombardment a single fused nucleus is produced. The combined energy of two nuclei had to be sufficiently high enough that the repulsive forces between the nuclei could be overcome. The team confirmed the existence of element 109 by four independent measurements. The experiment demonstrates the feasibility of using fusion techniques as a method of making new, heavy nuclei.
1989
Voyager 2 spacecraft speeds by Neptune after making startling discoveries about the planet and its moons.
1990
The British Computer Misuse Act, one of the first laws designed to address computer fraud, goes into effect. The act is the result of a string of failed hacker prosecutions in the eighties, particularly one incident in which a British Telecom computer was cracked by two hackers in order send messages to the Duke of Edinburgh.
1991
Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in Europe. It is the last major Mario video game for the system. Unlike its predecessor, Super Mario Bros. 2, this game remains true to the original Super Mario Bros. gameplay formula, with a great deal more innovation and freshness than Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels featured. The game introduces a number of advances to the Mario series, including the addition of a map screen, minigames, many new types of power-up, new enemies, and several new types of levels. Bowser appears as a red-head for the first time, though it will become a standard in subsequent Mario titles. Bowser’s children, the Koopalings, also appear for the first time in this game.
1994
Version 2.61 of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is released.
Viacom announces the coming acquisition of the video rental chain Blockbuster for US$8 billion. The acquistion will be completed on September 29.
1997
3Dfx Interactive files a lawsuit in California’s Santa Clara County Superior Court against Sega Enterprises and NEC over the cancellation of a contract with 3Dfx. 3Dfx was to provide a 3D graphics component for Sega’s next video game system.
NEC Home Electronics releases Anime Freak FX Vol. 5 for the NEC PC-FX video game console.
The online DVD rental company Netflix, founded by Reed Hastings, is incorporated in the US. It will begin operations on April 14, 1998.
Universal Pictures releases the fantasy action film Kull the Conqueror, directed by John Nicolella and starring Kevin Sorbo, Tia Carrere, Thomas Ian Griffith, and Roy Brocksmith, to 2,091 US theaters. In the film, a barbarian named Kull unexpectedly becomes a king after dealing a death blow to an old king who gives his crown to Kull before dying. However, direct heirs of the former king, trying to topple Kull and regain the throne, resurrects an ancient witch-queen named Akivasha to depose Kull. Akivasha has her own agenda, though, and the only thing that can stop her the breath of the god Volka, for which Kull must quest. The film will gross US$3,450,145 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 1 hr 36 mins
1998
Del Rey releases the Babylon 5 novel Dark Genesis: The Birth of the Psi Corps by J. Gregory Keyes as a paperback. (ISBN-10: 0345427157) Length: 288 pages
2000
Baen publishes the science fiction novel Virgin Planet by Poul Anderson as a paperback. (ISBN-10: 0671319442) In the book, a ship carrying women to a colony world was marooned on an uncharted planet. Reproducing by parthenogenesis, which produces only female offspring, the survivors told their descendants that someday others would come to the world they named Atlantis—including men. As centuries passed, the legendary creatures called men have taken on a godlike aspect. And when a lone space explorer discovers Atlantis, the women know he can’t possibly be a man—he’s just a monster who looks like a deformed woman. But he has advanced knowledge that the nations of Atlantis want, and are willing to go to war with each other to obtain… Length: 384 pages
Crave Entertainment releases the versus fighting game Ultimate Fighting Championship for the Dreamcast. ESRB: T (Teen)
Ruud van Gaal releases the racing simulator Racer for personal computers as a free download available online. Visit the game’s official website.
Pope John Paul II denounces human ebryo cloning and stem cell research in a speech delivered to an international congress on organ transplants. Of human embryo cloning, he says, “Methods that fail to respect the dignity and value of the person must always be avoided. I am thinking in particular of attempts at human cloning with a view to obtaining organs for transplants: these techniques, insofar as they involve the manipulation and destruction of human embryos, are not morally acceptable, even when their proposed goal is good in itself.” Read the pope’s speech in its entirety at the Vatican website.
Sony unveils the Clie handheld computer in New York, featuring the Palm OS, a monochrome display, a Memory Stick slot, 8MB RAM, and an 8MB Memory Stick. Price is US$399; weight is 4 ounces. “Clie” stands for Communication Link Information Entertainment. Visit the product’s official website.
2001
PopCap Games releases the puzzle game Alchemy for Windows. The object of the game is to turn a board of squares from gray to gold by placing randomly selected runes on every square. Each of these runes must be placed directly adjacent another on the board that shares either its color or shape (or both). Completing an entire row either horizontally or vertically makes the runes disappear and leaves the square gold. Download the game or play the game online. ESRB: E (Everyone)
Version 7.1.1 of the Fermi Linux operation system, “Top,” is released. Fermi Linux is a catch all designation for Linux distributions used by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), which are based on Scientific Linux. Visit the application’s official website.
2002
Gathering of Developers releases the third person shooter Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven for personal computers. ESRB: M (Mature)
The Gen Con UK 2002 game fair is held August 29 – September 1 at the Olympia 2 in London, England. Visit the game’s official website.
Version 7.0 of the Netscape web browser is released. This version is a continuation of version six series of Netscape browsers, not a complete re-tooling, as past major version changes have been. This version also doesn’t go far in increasing the application’s popularity over Mozilla and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. In fact, AOL’s decision to disable the browser’s popup-blocker functionality in this version outrages many users who had previously been loyal Netscape users. Visit the application’s official website.
2003
Capcom releases the third person shooter P.N.03 for the Nintendo GameCube in Europe. P.N.03 is short for Product Number Three. The game features a dexterous, cybernetically-enhanced character named Vanessa Z. Schneider, must destroy a series of robots. The game is designed to have the feel of a classic arcade game through the use of such game conventions as point combos for destroying multiple enemies in a row. PEGI: 12+
Gotham Games releases the adventure game The Great Escape for the PlayStation 2, Windows, and the Xbox in Europe.
Jeffrey Lee Parson, age 18, of Minneapolis, Minnesota is arrested for developing and releasing the B Variant of the MSBlaster Worm. This variant is referred to by a number of different names, including “W32/Lovesan.worm.b.” This variant infected seven thousand computers. These infected computers were then used to launch a denial of service (DOS) attack on Microsoft, particularly, its website, http://www.windowsupdate.com. The United States Secret Service was instrumental to the investigation that lead to Parson’s arrest.
Square Enix releases the roleplaying game Sword of Mana as Shin’yaku Seiken Densetsu (New Testament Holy Sword Legend) for the Game Boy Advance in Japan. It is an enhanced remake of the original Game Boy game Final Fantasy Adventure. Visit the game’s official website.
2005
Microsoft and Pepsi launch the “Every 10 Minutes” promotion, in which purchasers of Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and Sierra Mist can enter a code on a website to be entered in drawings for an Xbox 360 system or a free video game. Up to 9,222 Xbox 360 systems are available to be won in the contest.
Nintendo releases Mario Superstar Baseball for the Nintendo GameCube in the US. ESRB: E (Everyone)
Wouter van Oortmerssen releases the first-person shooter Cube for personal computers as a free download under a zlib license. The game is closely based on Quake. However, unlike Quake or Doom, which are optimized for indoor settings, it is set almost entirely outdoors. Download the game from SourceForge. Visit the game’s official website.
2006
Ace releases the fantasy novel The Priest of Blood by Douglas Clegg as a paperback. (ISBN-10: 0441013740) It is the first book in the Vampyricon saga. In the book, Aleric Atheffelde is the son of an impoverished woman who was forced to prostitute herself to feed her children. His life in the woodlands of medieval Brittany is changed forever when he is hired on by a local baron to serve the hunt and train falcons. His talent with birds of prey offers Aleric a respite from the destitution and brutality around him — that is, until his mother is arrested and executed for consorting with the Devil. Exiled to the Holy Land to fight — and die — in the wars, Aleric finds himself in a distant outpost face-to-face with a beautiful, demonic seductress who becomes his mother, his lover, his savior, and his murderer. When Aleric rises from his grave as one of the blood-drinking undead, he awakens into a shadowy realm of nightmarish legend: a world where he could be the prophesied messiah destined to return dominion to those of his kind… Visit the author’s official website. Length: 384 pages
Capcom releases the platform game Ultimate Ghosts ‘n Goblins for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: E10+ (Everyone)
Del Rey publishes the fantasy novel Armageddon’s Children by Terry Brooks as a hardcover. (ISBN-10: 0345484088) It is the first book in The Genesis of Shannara series. Set in a near-future United States ravaged by nuclear fallout, widespread plagues, and chemical contamination, Armageddon’s Children follows a handful of unlikely heroes as they struggle to survive in a poisoned world infested by demons, insane “once-men,” and other mutant creatures too horrific to describe. Logan Tom is a young man on a vision-inspired quest to somehow find a child prophesied to be humankind’s savior. Angel Perez is also on a mission — to find a mythical talisman. Standing in their way is nothing less than pure evil itself… Visit the author’s official website. Length: 384 pages
Eos releases the fantasy novel Forest Mage by Robin Hobb as a hardcover. (ISBN-10: 0060757639) It is the second book in The Soldier Son Trilogy, which began with the 2005 novel Shaman’s Crossing. Visit the author’s official website. Length: 736 pages
LexisNexis releases version 8.0 of the Time Matters practice management software for Windows. In addition to contacts, it manages calendaring, email, documents, research, billing, accounting, and projects. Visit the application’s official website.
Namco Bandai releases the roleplaying game (rpg) Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra for the PlayStation 2 in the US. It is the third and final game in the primary Xenosaga trilogy. “Also sprach Zarathustra,” literally translates to “Thus spoke Zarathustra,” which is the title of the most famous book written by Friedrich Nietzsche, which introduced the concept of the Übermensch and popularized the phrase “God is dead.” This installment in the trilogy will receive good reviews, with most users and critics being of the opinion that the game improves upon Episode II. Many had considered the second installment a disappointing sequel to the first installment. Specifically, many felt that the new battle system, although typical of an RPG, is an improvement over the complicated “zone break” system used in Episode II. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
Nippon Ichi Software (NIS) releases the tactical roleplaying game (rpg) Disgaea 2 for the PlayStation 2 in the US. ESRB: T (Teen)
THQ releases a demo of the driving game Saints Row for the Xbox 360 through the Xbox Live Marketplace in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)
Ubisoft releases Enchanted Arms for the Xbox 360 in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
2007
Microsoft announces an agreement to acquire Parlano, the developer of Mind-Align, a enterprise chat application. Following the acquisition, Microsoft will add the functionality of Mind-Align to its Office Communications Server.
NBC Universal and News Corp founds the Hulu streaming video website with AOL, MSN, MySpace, and Yahoo! as “initial distribution partners.” The site offer programming from numerous US cable channels, including: Bravo, Comedy Central, E!, FOX, Fuel TV, FX, G4, NBC, Oxygen, PBS, Sci Fi, SPEED Channel, Style, Sundance, USA Network, and Versus. Within a year, it will grow to offer over four hundred television programs and over a hundred films for users to watch, share, or even edit together (or “Mash”). Initially, the site is limited to beta testers, then to users invited by friends. It will be publicly launched on March 12, 2008. Visit the official Hulu website.
|
|
|
Comments are closed
