1826
Wilhelm von Biela, an Austrian military officer, discovers Biela’s Comet during its perihelion approach. It’s only the third periodic comet to be discovered.
1885
The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated as a subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone company in New York.
1935
The synthetic polymer Nylon is first produced by Dr. Wallace H. Carothers of DuPont. It will first be used commercially for the bristles of toothbrushes in 1938.
1953
James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to their friends that they have determined the chemical structure of the DNA molecule. The formal public announcement won’t be made until April 25, in the April issue of the journal Nature. Watson and Crick aren’t the only scientists who have been trying to make the discovery. Later, in his book, The Double Helix, Watson will write about the intense competition to be the first to discover the structure of DNA.
1956
Jay Wright Forrester of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is awarded a patent for his coincident current magnetic core memory. (US No. 2,736,880) The device, which Forrester describes as a “multicoordinate digital information storage device,” will become the standard for computer storage devices until it’s usurped by solid state RAM in the mid-seventies.
1959
The Discoverer 1 satellite is launched. It is the first satellite launched towards a polar orbit, but it would fail, falling to Earth near the South Pole.
1966
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) creates a new regulation aimed at protecting the right to privacy by prohibiting eavesdropping of private conversations by the direct or indirect use of radio-controlled devices. Visit the official FCC website.
The Star Trek episode “The Cloud Minders” first airs. (No. 76) In it, the Enterprise’s mission to obtain a life-saving mineral are complicated when terrorist strike out at the city which provides the mineral. Memory Alpha entry
1994
The Star Trek: The Next Generation releases the episode “Eye of the Beholder” first airs. (No. 718) In it, Troi investigate a death that occurred before the Enterprise was under construction. Memory Alpha entry
1996
Version 1.07 of AdeptXBBS, a port of the popular XBBS written by Mark Kimes for the OS/2 operating system, is released. It was developed by Julie Strietelmeier.
1997
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) launches the Net Yaroze development system for the PlayStation video game system for programming enthusiasts. Visit the official Yaroze website. Price: US$750
The website of Åsö Gymnasium is hacked by “PM”.
The website of Passagen is hacked by “THC”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
1999
The Chapter 11 reorganization of JTS Corporation is revised in United States Bankruptcy Court into a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Just a year earlier, JTS sold off Atari to Hasbro Interactive.
PeopleSoft, Inc. of Pleasanton, California, the second largest provider of business management software, reveals plans to dismiss four hundred thirty employees, or about six percent of its work force. The firm will also take a charge against earnings in the first quarter for nearly US$175 million to create a new business group called Momentum.
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