1914
Dr. Robert H. Goddard of Worcester, Massachusetts patents a liquid-fueled rocket. He will successfully launch the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket on March 16, 1926. Read more about Goddard at the Time magazine website.
1965
The NASA Mariner 4 performs the first successful flyby of Mars, becoming the first spacecraft to return photographs of another planet from deep space. The photos reveal that the planet’s surface is cratered.
1989
Compaq Computer and International Business Machines (IBM) enter into a patent cross-licensing agreement that will include all patents filed before July 1, 1993.
Infocom releases the interactive fiction game Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur for DOS. It is Infocom’s thirty-fourth game.
1990
Knopf publishes the mystery novel A Graveyard For Lunatics by Ray Bradbury as a hardcover. (ISBN-13: 978-0394578774) Length: 285 pages
1995
Microsoft designates the source code of the Windows 95 operating system “golden,” signifying that no further changes will be made to the system’s fifteen million lines of code before the product ships.
Warner Bros. releases the action film Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, directed by Geoff Murphy and starring Steven Seagal, Eric Bogosian, Katherine Heigl and Morris Chestnut, to 2,150 US theaters. In the film a programmer formerly employed by the US military and a group of mercenaries hijack a train to serve as a platform from which to hijack a top secret satellite capable of triggering earthquakes from orbit. Produced on a budget of US$60 million, it will gross US$12,624,402 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 1 hr 40 mins
1996
Version 2.1 of the Opera web browser is released for Windows. It is the first public release of Opera. Visit the official Opera website.
1998
Nintendo releases the futuristic racing game F-Zero X for the Nintendo 64 in Japan. Visit the game’s official website.
1999
Beginning at midnight, participating Hollywood Video stores in the United States offer Sega Dreamcast video game systems for rent. Rentals require a US$350 deposit, and the only game initially available to rent for the system is Sonic Adventure. Visit the official Hollywood Video website.
Microsoft announces a promotional offer under which customers who prepay for a three year MSN subscription will receive a free computer. Price: US$647.64
2000
Tor Books publishes the fantasy novel Prophecy: Child of Earth by Elizabeth Haydon. (ISBN-13: 978-0312867515) It is the second novel in the Rhapsody Trilogy as well as the second book in the larger series, The Symphony of Ages. Length: 448 pages
2003
The first-person shooter (FPS) Halo: Combat Evolved, which was released on November 2001, surpasses three million units sold. Visit the game’s official website.
2004
Doom 3 achieved gold status.
Intel releases the 1.5GHz Pentium M 705 processor, featuring a 1MB cache.
2005
Two full days before its official releases chapter titles and major plot spoilers of the novel Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince are leaked to the Usenet group alt.fan.harrypotter, triggering controversy.
2006
The first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life 2, which was released on November 2004, surpasses sixteen million units sold. Visit the game’s official website.
2007
The first Magic Game Day was held July 14, 2007 to celebrate the release of the 10th Edition of the Magic: the Gathering game. Read the official press release.
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