1858
At 2:45am, the first telegraph message sent via undersea cable is transmitted from Trinity Bay, Newfoundland to Valentia, Ireland at a rate of approximately four words per minute. The project’s supervising engineer, Charles Bright, will later be knighted for the achievement.
1864
Giovanni Batista Donati makes the first spectroscopic observations of a comet tail using the small comet, Tempel, 1864 II. He discovers that, at a distance from the Sun, the spectrum of a comet is identical to that of the Sun, because its visibility is only reflected sunlight. Donati demonstrates that a comet tail formed close to the Sun contains luminous gas. In the spectrum of light from the comet tail, Donati discerned three absorption bands superimposed on a continuous spectrum, which he designates as alpha, beta, and gamma.
1962
Astronomers Allan Sandage and Thomas Matthews accidentally discover the first quasar, 3C 273.
1963
Britain, America and Russia signed a Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in Moscow to prohibit nuclear weapons tests “or any other nuclear explosion” in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water. The treaty still allows for underground testing, but stipulates that such tests couldn’t cause “radioactive debris to be present outside the territorial limits” of their own nation. A total of one hundred eight countries will sign the LNTB Treaty before it goes into effect on October 10, 1963.
1969
The NASA space probe Mariner 7, which had been launched Mar 27, 1969, passes within 3,430km of the surface of Mars. During the course of the fly-by, the probe takes twenty-two images spanning twenty percent of the planet’s surface. These photos will prove that the surfaces of Mars and the Moon are very different. These photos are taken in addition to the ninety-three far-encounter images the probe has taken on its approach. Other instruments take atmospheric measurements, and revealed that the south polar ice cap’s composition is mostly frozen carbon dioxide. The probe’s radio telemetry also provides improved estimates of the planet’s size, shape, and mass.
1973
The USSR launches Mars 6 orbiter. Upon reaching Mars on March 12, 1974, its descent module will detach to study the Martian atmosphere and surface. The descent module will transmit 224 seconds of data, which will be relayed by its flyby module, back to Earth, becoming the first data ever returned from the atmosphere of Mars. Unfortunately, much of the data will turn out to be unreadable because of a malfunctioning computer chip. The data will include pressure, temperature, and water vapor readings.
1991
Dell Computer announces it will make a line of personal computers for retail sale via Staples stores in the USA.
Hewlett-Packard introduces its first color image scanner, the HP Scanjet IIc 400 dpi color flatbed scanner. Price: Macintosh: US$1,995 Others: US$2,195.
Hewlett-Packard introduces the HP DeskWriter C300 dpi color printer for the Macintosh. Price: US$1,095
1993
Wizards of the Coast releases the first Magic: The Gathering card set called the Limited Edition Alpha set or “Alpha” for short at the Origins International Game Expo. The set will be more widely released in August. The Alpha set’s initial print run of 2.6 million cards will sell out very quickly and be replaced by the Limited Edition Beta print run. Neither the Alpha and Beta runs will have expansion symbols, copyright dates, or trademark symbols, although they will all carry the game’s traditional art credits at the bottom of each card. The Alpha set will be released to The set contains 295 cards, including: 79 common cards, 95 uncommon cards, 116 rare cards, 10 basic land cards. Visit the game’s official website.
1995
Nintendo releases the platform game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island for the Super Famicom in Japan. ESRB: KA (Kids to Adults)
1996
Intel releases the 150MHz mobile Pentium processor, designed for use in portable computers. The processor uses 0.35 micron technology, and operates on 3.3 volts of power externally, while its internal core only requires 3.1 volts. Price: US$341 in quantities of 1000
1997
Apple Computer announces the Power Macintosh 8600 and 9600 systems, featuring 300 to 350MHz PowerPC 604e processors and the Mac OS 8 operating system. Price: US$3,700 to US$5400
The Macworld Expo trade show is held in Boston, Massachusetts, over four days.
1998
Capcom releases the survival horror game Resident Evil 2 for the PlayStation in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)
Dimension Films releases the horror film Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, directed by Steve Miner and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Josh Hartnett, Adam Arkin, Michelle Williams, and LL Cool J, to 2,607 US theaters. It is the seventh film in the Halloween franchise, and the first in the series not to star Donald Pleasence, who had died shortly before the release of the sixth Halloween film, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. The title refers to the fact that the film is set twenty years after the first film. Produced on a budget of US$17 million the film will gross US$16,187,724 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 1 hr 26 mins
1999
eMachines introduces the eOne personal computer, featuring a 433MHz Celeron processor, a built-in fifteen inch monitor, speakers, a 1.44 MB floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM drive, two USB ports, an Ethernet jack, a modem, a NTSC video-in port, 64MB SDRAM, and an ATI RagePro XL graphics card. The system closely resembles the Apple iMac, even going so far as to include a translucent blue case. The eOne is available exclusively at Circuit City. Price: US$799 – US$849
The GenCon game fair is held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, over four days. Strategic Simulations officially announces the Pool of Radiance 2 game for Windows PCs. Interplay and Bioware announce the Neverwinter Nights game for Windows PCs.
Version 1.07 of the HydraBBS is released.
2001
The popular eDonkey filesharing network index site that will become known as ShareReactor in November 2001 goes online at gowenna.da.ru by Gowenna. The site will be one of the most popular eDonkey indexes on the Internet until the Swiss police shut it down on March 10, 2004.
Sammy Studios releases the light gun game Death Crimson OX for the Dreamcast in the US. ESRB: T (Teen)
2002
The Abilene Network (Internet2) backbone, the American academic backbone network, deploys native Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), a network layer protocol for packet-switched internetworks. The principal advantage of IPv6 is the increased number of ip addresses available for networked devices. IPv6 supports 2128 addresses (about 3.4×1038), or approximately 5×1028 addresses for each of the roughly 6.5 billion people on the planet. IPv4, the predecessor of the IPv6 protocal, only supports 232 (about 4.3 billion) addresses. Visit the Abilene Backbone’s official website.
Apple Computer and OSF Research Institute releases version Pre-R2 of the MkLinux open source operating system. MkLinux is an effort to port Linux to the PowerPC platform. MkLinux is short for “Microkernel Linux,” which refers to the project’s adaptation of the Linux kernel to run as a server hosted atop the Mach microkernel. This is the first release of the system since the project was taken over by the community-led MkLinux Developers Association in the summer of 1998. Visit the system’s official website.
2003
The fantasy novel Death Masks by Jim Butcher is published as a paperback. (ISBN 0-4514-5940-7) The book is the fifth in The Dreden Files series. Visit Jim Butcher’s official website.
THQ releases the racing game Splashdown: Rides Gone Wild for the Playstation 2. It is the sequel to Splashdown. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: Everyone (E)
Version 1.0 of RookChat, an open source, full featured, and highly configurable HTTP/CGI chat room engine, is released. The project that created the application was begun by Samuel Stoddard. Download the application at SourceForge.
2004
Disney announces the Disney Dream Desk PC computer, featuring a 2.6 GHz processor, the Windows XP operating system, a CD-RW/DVD drive, mouse, keyboard, digital pen, an optional 14.1-inch LCD monitor with mouse ears, and optional printer. Price: US$599 Monitor: US$299
Sony Computer Entertainment releases the tactical shooter SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs for the PlayStation 2 in China, Hong Kong, and Japan. CERO: 18+ ESRB: Mature
Ubisoft releases the tactical shooting game Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow for the Xbox.
2005
The Stargate: Atlantis episode “Duet” first airs. (No. 204) In it, the team witnesses the aftermath of a culling, only to run into a Wraith Dart. When it’s shot down to preserve Atlantis’ secret, they discover that their drastic measures have left the consciousness of a precocious Atlantis security officer trapped in Dr. McKay. GateWorld entry
The Stargate SG-1 episode “The Ties That Bind” first airs. (No. 904) In it, Daniel, Teal’c, Mitchell, and Vala try to pry the information out of the person Vala stole the Kor’mat from in an attempt to disconnect it. When he wants something in return, though, they discover that his request isn’t so easy to complete, and they must go on a series of quests to meet his demands. Gateworld entry
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