Today is the day the United States celebrates Independence Day, which is commonly referred to in the States simply as “The Fourth.” For those of you not acquainted with the holiday, today is the day we celebrate just how right we were in establishing our own nation by grilling up red meat outdoors over open flames, setting things on fire, and blowing things up.
1054
A supernova is observed by the Chinese and the Arabs. Rock paintings later discovered in North America suggest that Indians in Arizona and New Mexico observed it as well. It remains bright enough to be seen during the day for twenty-three days and at night for almost two years. Scientists will later speculate that the Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus is the remnant of this supernova. The incident will remain the brightest supernova in history through the modern day.
1862
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson tells Alice Liddell a story that will eventually grow into the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
1865
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, writing under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, is published. Read the complete text at Project Gutenberg.
1883
The first three-wire central-station incandescent-lighting plant in the US begins operations in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Built by the Edison Electric Illuminating Co., the plant is a simple wooden structure. An Armington & Sims steam engine drives two 110-volt direct-current generators. The electricity is delivered by overhead wires. Edison patented his three-wire system on November 20, 1882 to supersede the distribution system used at his first commercial central generating station in New York because it requires sixty percent less copper in its conductors. That means a smaller investment, which makes it economically possible to build generating plants in smaller communities.
1894
Elwood Haynes successfully tests his one-horsepower, one-cylinder vehicle at 6 or 7 mph in Kokomo, Indiana. He is an American pioneer whose vehicle is one of the first automobiles ever built. He is a trained engineer and chemist who will discover several alloys, including a stainless steel. He is the first person to use aluminum in the construction of an automobile engine.
1903
US President Theodore Roosevelt sends the first official message over the newly completed Pacific cable running between Honolulu, Midway, Guam and Manila.
1940
German occupation forces forbid Dutch citizens to listen to foreign broadcasts such as the BBC.
1943
The BBC begins broadcasting regular programming in Japan.
1950
Radio Free Europe, a radio and communications organization funded by the United States Congress to combat Soviet domination in Eastern Europe, transmits its first broadcast.
1956
The Whirlwind at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology becomes the first computer to use a keyboard to allow direct user input. Other computers accepted instructions issued using dial, punch cards, and switches. Completed in 1949, the Whirlwind was the first computer to operate in real time.
1968
The Explorer 38, an unmanned U.S. spacecraft, is launched to measure galactic radio sources and study low frequencies in space. It is one of a series of fifty-five scientific satellites launched between 1958 and 1975.
1983
Nintendo releases Donkey Kong 3 for the Famicom and Arcade.
1985
Tim Stryker launches Galacticomm and its main product, the MajorBBS Software Package.
1996
Hotmail, the first webmail service, is commercially launched on Independence Day in the United States, symbolically representing freedom from Internet service providers. The company was started the year before by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith. In January 1998, the company will be sold to Microsoft for US$400 million. Prior to Hotmail, Bhatia was a systems integrator at Apple Computer, where he coordinated the design and manufacturing of Apple Powerbook. He also worked for Fire Power Systems – a Silicon Valley start up. Read more about the history of Hotmail at Wired.
1997
The NASA Mars Pathfinder, an unmanned space vehicle, reaches the Martain atmosphere and lands to release the Sojourner rover. Its landing site was an ancient flood plain in Mars’ northern hemisphere called Ares Vallis, which is among the rockiest parts of Mars. It has taken seven months to travel there since its launch on December 4, 1996. Its primary mission is to study the Martian atmosphere and investigate the geology and chemical composition of the planet’s surface. The descent was braked by a heat shield, a parachute, and rockets. As part of the new NASA “cheaper, faster, better” effort, the Mars Pathfinder uses airbags to cushion its landing. It carries the Sojourner, a 22lb (10kg) wheeled rover designed to travel slowly across the surface of Mars taking photographs and collecting other scientific data, while testing autonomous-vehicle technology on the Martian terrain. It will run for eighty-four days, far exceeding its projected seven day lifespan. Visit the official Mars Pathfinder website.
1998
Japan launches Nozomi (”Hope”) from Kagoshima Launch Centre, to become the third nation (after Russia and the US) to reach for Mars. The spacecraft will make two fly-bys of the Moon in September and December in order to reshape its trajectory for an intended arrival in a highly elliptical Mars Orbit in October 1999. Unfortunately, the attempt will fail, and the plans will be changed to alter the spacecraft’s trajectory to reach Mars in 2003. The mission is designed to measure the interaction between the solar wind and Mars’ upper atmosphere.
1999
Version 1.03 of HydraBBS is released.
2000
The Brazilian website of As Informatica Ltda is hacked by “O ANALISTA”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of Marinho Assessoria Empresarial Ltda is hacked by the hacking group “Crime Boys”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The Brazilian website of Znet Tecnologia Aplicada is hacked by “fish”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The website of Sony Entertainment Television Pvt. Ltd. is hacked by “GForce Pakistan”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
The website of Znet Tecnologia Aplicada is hacked by “fish”. View an archived version of the defaced website.
2001
The eBay auction begun Sunday, June 24 for item #1249640557 is concluded and “Buyatari” wins Jerry Jessop’s Atari 2700 prototype for US$2626.00.
2002
Bandai releases Digimon World 3 for the PlayStation in Japan.
The US Army releases the tactical first-person shooter America’s Army for the personal computer in the US. America’s Army was developed by the MOVES Institute at the Naval Postgraduate School, in Monterey, California, and is based on the Unreal Engine. It was financed by US tax dollars and distributed for free. It is the first computer video game to make recruitment an explicit goal and the first well-known overt use of computer gaming for political aims. The game is used as a playable recruiting tool and critics have charged the game serves as a propaganda device. It is often pointed out that the game bears resemblance to the movie The Last Starfighter and to the novel Ender’s Game Visit the game’s official website.
2003
Blizzard Entertainment releases Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne for personal computers in Europe. It is an official expansion pack to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.
Capcom releases Mega Man Battle Network 3 for the Game Boy Advance in Europe. This is the third game in the MegaMan Battle Network series. Following the success of Pokémon, Battle Network 3 is released in two versions: White and Blue for English releases. Each version has slightly different Battle Chips (largely from the different way chips are organized), as well as slightly different sidequests.
2004
The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. However, the act is largely symbolic, since actual construction won’t start for several weeks to come.
Nurium Games releases the puzzle game BreakQuest for the Macintosh. The game is most notable for its use of the DynaMo physics engine, which enables all the objects in a level to interact with each other in a simulated physics environment.
2005
At 5:52 UTC, the Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1. Over the next three months, the probe will study the composition of the interior of the comet. Visit the official Deep Impact website.
Google announces that Gmail Deutschland will be rebranded to Google Mail. From that point forward, visitors originating from an IP address determined to be in Germany will be forwarded to googlemail.com where they could obtain an email address containing the new domain.
2006
Empire Interactive they have experienced a pre-tax loss of US$4.6 million (£2.5 million) over the past fifteen months.
Sony announces that it will have 150,000 Playstation 3 consoles ready for the system’s UK launch. Visit the official PlayStation 3 website.
Space Shuttle Discovery is launched at 18:37:55 UTC on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). (STS-121)
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