The Great Geek Manual

278 AD
Saint Valentine is beheaded and buried at the Via Flaminia north of Rome. Learn more about the history of Valentine’s Day.

498 AD
This date is sometimes cited as the first observance of St. Valentine’s Day by the declaration of Pope Gelasius. Read more about the history of Valentine’s Day.

1876
Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent on his telephone apparatus, the “speaking telegraph,” less than three hours before Elisha Gray files a caveat at the Patent Office for a similar device. The patent will be granted three weeks later, on March 3rd. After a long legal battle, the United States Supreme Court will eventually uphold Bell’s patent, leaving him the official inventor of the telephone.

1888
Thomas Alva Edison is issued a patent for a “Telephone-Transmitter.” (US No. 278,044)

1918
The National Film Corporation of America releases the silent film Tarzan of the Apes, directed by Scott Sidney and starring Elmo Lincoln, Enid Markey, George B. French, and Gordon Griffith, to US theaters. It is based on the first part of the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is the first film to feature the popular character Tarzan. IMDB listing

1924
Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) becomes The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) with Thomas J. Watson as both CEO and chief operating officer. Visit the official IBM website.

1929
In what will come to be known as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, seven rival gangsters are killed in the Chicago area by men working for Al Capone.

1933
The first automated speaking clock which can be accessed over the telephone goes into operation in the Paris, France.

1946
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), the world’s first digital electronic computer, is unveiled by its designers, J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, at the at the Moore School of the University of Pennsylvania. The result of a $400,000 contract from the U.S. Army granted in April of 1943, the computer weighs thirty tons, occupies three thousand cubic feet of space, and performs five thousand additions a second using 17,468 vacuum tubes operating at a speed of one hundred thousand pulses per second each. The computer is programmable by means of plugging and unplugging hundreds of wires patterns that make it the first true “stored-program” computer. Read more about ENIAC at the ENIAC Museum Online.

1961
Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California, in Berkeley California.

1963
NASA launches the communications satellite Syncom 1. It is the first satellite in a program to establish the world’s first network of geosynchronous communication satellites, however, it will be lost before establishing an orbit due to an electronics malfunction.

Twentieth Century Fox releases the black and white sci-fi film The Day Mars Invaded Earth, directed by Maury Dexter and starring Kent Taylor and Marie Windsor, to US theaters. In it, Martians replace a scientist and his family in order to pave the way for a planetary invasion. IMDB listing Running time: 1 hr 10 mins

1969
The Star Trek episode “Requiem for Methuselah” first airs. (No. 74) In it, the crew is confronted by a reclusive immortal on an isolated planet while searching for a cure to a rare disease. Memory Alpha entry

1972
The Soviet Union launches Luna 20 on a mission to orbit and soft land on Moon in the Apollonius highlands near Mare Fecunditatis (Sea of Fertility).

1978
The first “micro on a chip” is patented by Texas Instruments. Visit the official Texas Instruments website..

1980
NASA launches the Solar Maximum Mission Observatory to study solar flares.

1983
George Mike Stickel, age twenty-nine, and Debbie Fuhrman, age twenty-three, exchange wedding vows on a computer terminal in Grand Praire, Texas using CompuServe’s CB simulator, the first internet chat service. Sixty-six wedding guests from across the country attend the online event, including the bride’s parents in Phoenix, Arizona and sister, who was online at a Radio Shack store in Sacramento, California. Reverend Kim Payton, a Universalist minister, stands at one terminal, while Debbie and Mike stand across from him at their own terminal. Upon receiving the question, “Do you, Debbie, take Mike to be your lawful husband?”, Debbie types in “I will” and the screen flashes “(((((((KISS)))))))”. The screen then erupts in a shower of apostrophes to represent rice, and the bride’s mother types in “Sniff.” The event is the world’s first virtual wedding.

1984
Lotus Development introduces the Symphony software suite, which is intended to become the succor of Lotus 1-2-3. The suite features word processing and communication functions to the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet program. Price: US$695

Stormie Jones, age six, becomes the world’s first double transplant recipient after a heart attack. She had inherited a cholesterol receptor deficiency from both parents resulting in a severe form of familial hypercholesterolemia which elevated her cholesterol to somewhere between five and ten times the normal level. The operation transplants a heart replacement and a new liver which possesses the normal number of receptors. Dr. Thomas E. Starzl and Dr. Henry T. Bahnson performed the operation at the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jones will live until the age of thirteen, when, on November 11, 1990, she dies of a heart infection.

1989
The first of twenty-four satellites in the Global Positioning System (GPS) is placed into orbit. Visit the official GPS website.

The world’s first satellite-based telephone service, Skyphone, becomes the first telephone service available on an airline during a fourteen hour British Airways flight from London, England to New York City. Calls costs begin at US$9.50.

1990
The NASA space probe Voyager 1 takes a photograph of entire solar system. The probe has been traveling towards the outer edge of the solar system since its launch on September 5, 1977. Visit the official NASA Voyager website.

1991
Psygnosis releases the puzzle game Lemmings for the Commodore Amiga and other personal computers. ESRB: E (Everyone)

1993
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Dax” first airs. (No. 408) In it, one of Dax’s past hosts is investigated for possibly committing murder. Memory Alpha entry

1994
The Labyrinth VRML web browser is released by Mark Pesce. Labyrinth provides access to a virtual reality of three-dimensional objects, which could be used for hypertext connections with other portions of the Web.

The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Thine Own Self” first airs. (No. 716) Data suffers amnesia while on an away mission to a primitive planet. Meanwhile, on board the Enterprise, Troi applies to be promoted to bridge officer. Memory Alpha entry

1995
US District Court Judge Stanley Sporkin rejects the consent decree settlement negotiated between the Department of Justice and Microsoft, regarding Microsoft’s alleged unfair trade practices. Sporkin claims that the anti-collusion stipulations are “too easy” on Microsoft and not in the public interest.

1996
Error 23 BBS, and the apartment of Brendon Nash in Richfield, Minnesota is raided by the local police in the course of an investigation into the robbery of a US-West van by four teenagers. According to the search warrant, the officers are looking for software which may have been uploaded to the BBS by one of the suspects in the US West robbery. All of Nash’s electronics are seized, including his stereo system, and the equipment won’t be returned for longer than two years, effectively closing Error 23.

Grandmaster Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, reaches a draw in the fourth of six games against against the IBM chess computer”Deep Blue,” a computer capable of “seeing” between fifty to one hundred billion chess positions every three minutes. Kasparov, who became the youngest world chess champion in 1985, will ultimately win the match with another draw and two wins.

Microsoft releases the Windows 95 Service Pack 1 (SP1) operating system update.

1997
Intel announces that the name of the P6 processor will be the Pentium II. Code-name: “Klamath” Visit the official Intel website.

Sega releases the game compilation Sonic & Knuckles Collection for personal computers in Japan. The compilation includes: Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Blue Sphere.

1998
The website Gourmet Omnivoltage is hacked by “LordSomer” of “The Hackers Layer”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

1999
Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Interactive release the platform game Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko for the Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, and PlayStation. ESRB: T (Teen)

2000
Nintendo releases the racing game Ridge Racer 64 for the Nintendo 64 in North America. ESRB: E (Everyone)

The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters into orbit around 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid. Visit the official website of the NEAR Shoemaker mission.

The website of Pedo Watch is hacked by “Cyber Fuckers”. View an archived version of the defaced website.

Wizards of the Coast releases the Nemesis set for the Magic: The Gathering card game. It is the second set in the Mercadian Masques block. The set features 143 cards, including: 55 common cards, 44 uncommon cards, and 44 rare. Visit the official Nemesis website.

2001
Dutch Police announce that they have arrested the twenty year old creator of the Anna Kournikova virus, Jan de Wit. The virus, which was released on February 12, 2001, was transmitted via emails that claimed to include a picture of tennis player Anna Kournikova. De Wit will later be sentences to 150 hours of community service.

2002
Sega releases the music game Space Channel 5: Part 2 for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 in Japan.

2003
Dolly, the first successfully cloned mammal, is put down due to a progressive lung disease. Dolly’s relatively early death, raises a great deal of controversy regarding the science of cloning.

Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance SP handheld video game system in Japan. Internally, it is the same as the Game Boy Advance with the additions of a rechargeable battery and a flip-up 2.9 inch color LCD screen with built-in front lighting. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery can power the system for about ten hours with the light on, or about eighteen hours with the light off. Price: ¥12,500

Square releases the tactical roleplaying game (RPG) Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the Game Boy Advance in Japan. Visit the game’s official website.

2005
Intel releases the 3000MHz Xeon 3.0 processor, 3200MHz Xeon 3.2 processor, 3400MHz Xeon 3.4 processor, and 3600MHz Xeon 3.6 processor, featuring a 2,048KB Level-2 Cache, an 800MHz Front Side Bus. Visit the official Intel website.

2006
The Camino Project releases version 1.0 of the Camino web browser for the Mac OS X. It is the first browser in the Mozilla family to be offered as a universal binary. Visit the official Camino website.

DC Studios releases the third-person shooter State of Emergency 2 for the PlayStation 2 in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)

Majesco releases the turn-based strategy game Age of Empires: The Age of Kings for the Nintendo DS in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: E10+(Everyone)

Square Enix and Ubisoft release Drakengard 2 for the PlayStation 2 in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: M (Mature)

Square Enix releases the roleplaying game (RPG) Grandia III for the PlayStation 2 in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)

Vivendi Universal releases the real-time strategy game Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy for Windows in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)