1871
Charles Darwin publishes Descent of Man in London, England. In it, Darwin wrote, “The sole object of this work is to consider, firstly, whether man, like every other species, is descended from some pre-existing form; secondly, the manner of his development; and thirdly, the value of the differences between the so-called races of man… During many years it has seemed to me highly probable that sexual selection has played an important part in differentiating the races of man; but in my Origin of Species I contented myself by merely alluding to this belief. When I came to apply this view to man, I found it indispensable to treat the whole subject in full detail.” Read the full text of Descent of Man online or listen to the audiobook at Darwin Online.
1896
Henri Becquerel unknowingly discovers radioactivity during an investigation of the phosphorescent rays of some “double sulfate of uranium and potassium” crystals. He will later report to the French Academy of Sciences reports that he placed the crystals on the outside of a photographic plate wrapped in sheets of very thick black paper and exposed the whole to the sun for several hours. When he develops the photographic plate, a black silhouette of the substance appears on the negative. When he places a coin between the uranium crystals and the wrapped plate, its image appears on the negative.
1931
The Fields Medal is established to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of mathematics by John Charles Fields, the chairman of the Committee of the International Mathematical Congress (ICM). The first medals will be awarded in Oslo, Norway in 1936.
1949
The first rocket to reach outer space is launched from the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico.
1962
The first telephone and television satellite relays are established through Echo 1.
1968
The discovery of first pulsar is announced in the journal Nature. The pulsar was discovered by Jocelyn Bell, a graduate student at Cambridge University, working under the direction of Professor A. Hewish on November 28, 1967.
1969
Mariner 6 is launched on a mission to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars in a series of flybys.
1970
National Public Radio (NPR) is founded in the United States. Listen to NPR online now.
1986
Voyager 2 performs the first fly-by of the planet Uranus. Visit the official Voyager website.
1992
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Power Play” first airs. (No. 515) In it, alien entities take possession of Data, O’Brien, and Troi, and through them, they attempt to hijack the ship. Memory Alpha entry
1993
Japanese programmer Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, begins work on the Ruby programming language, which will be released to the public in 1995. Ruby is an interpreted, object-oriented programming language, which combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like object-oriented features. Ruby is specifically designed to be simpler than Perl and more object-oriented than Python. Its main implementation is free software distributed under an open-source license. Visit the official Ruby website to try it.
1995
Borland International unveils the Delphi software development tool.
Square Enix releases the tactical roleplaying game (RPG) Front Mission for the Super Famcom in Japan. Visit the game’s official website.
1997
Michael Eisner and Steve Jobs announce that Walt Disney Studios and Pixar Animation Studios have agreed to jointly produce five movies over the next ten years. Costs, profits, and logo credit will be split fifty-fifty. Disney will purchase one million shares of Pixar common stock at US$15 per share, and may acquire up to five percent of the company.
US Robotics begins shipping 56Kbps modems. Visit the official US Robotics website.
1998
Sixteen websites are hacked by “Kalony”, including Brother’s Touch, Exit 12, and Vintage Toys among others. View an archived version of the defaced websites.
The website of 4D Media GmbH is hacked by “Claire Danes”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The website of Hellas on Business in Greece is hacked by “Claire Danes”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The website of Prosenna Inversions S.L. is hacked by “Claire Danes”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
1999
Charles Schwab experiences a computer crash at 9:37am, just minutes after the opening bell on the stock market. The crash will later be blamed on the installation of a new mainframe computer, and the customer services will remain unavailable until 11:08am.
Electronic Arts (EA) release Street Sk8er for the PlayStation in North America. ESRB: E (Everyone)
2000
Electronic Arts (EA) announces the acquisition of DreamWorks Interactive, LLC.
Electronic Arts (EA) announces that Ultima Online has surpassed one hundred fifty thousand paying subscribers. Visit the official Ultima Online website.
2003
The Andromeda episode “What Happens to A Rev Deferred?” first airs. (No. 315) In it, the Andromeda receives a distress signal from Rev Bem.
Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) releases the expansion EverQuest: The Legacy of Ykesha for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) EverQuest for personal computers. It is the fifth expansion for the game.
2005
Namco releases the fighting game Tekken 5 for the PlayStation 2 in the US. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: T (Teen)
Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS (Dual Screen) in Australia. The system features two ARM processors, a 67MHz ARM946E-S main CPU and a 33MHz ARM7TDMI co-processor, 4MB Mobile RAM, two 3-inch diagonal TFT LCD screens, stereo speakers, a microphone, and IEEE 802.11 wireless communications with range about thirty feet. It also includes PictoChat and a demo of Metroid Prime: Hunters built-in. Visit the official Nintendo DS website.
Nintendo releases Trace Memory for the Nintendo DS in Japan. Visit the game’s official website. CERO: A (All Ages)
Nintendo releases WarioWare: Touched! for the Nintendo DS in North America. Visit the game’s official website. ESRB: E (Everyone)
2006
Codemasters releases the racing game TOCA Race Driver 3 for personal computers, the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable (PSP), and Xbox in Europe. Visit the game’s official website. PEGI: 12+
Electronic Arts (EA) releases the first-person shooter (FPS) Black for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in Europe. Visit the game’s official website. PEGI: 16+
Koei releases Samurai Warriors 2 for the PlayStation 2 in Japan. Visit the game’s official website.
Namco releases the racing game Ridge Racer 6 for the Xbox 360 in Europe. Visit the game’s official website. PEGI: 3+
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Bienes Raices Dominicana » Blog Archive » This Day in Geek History: February 24 said
am April 20 2008 @ 2:08 am
[...] This Day in Geek History: February 24 1871 Charles Darwin publishes Descent of Man in London, England. In it, Darwin wrote, The sole object of this work is to consider, firstly, whether man, like every other species, is descended from some pre-existing form; secondly, the manner of his development; and thirdly, the value of the differences between the so-called races of man During many years it has seemed to me highly probable that sexual selection has played an important part in differentiating the races of man; but in my Orig [...]