1637
“Discourse on Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences“, is published by René Descartes. In this seminal work, he expresses his disappointment with the limitations of theology. He makes it clear that his respects lie with logic, geometry, and algebra, because of the certainty which they offer. Descartes’ ideas swept aside ancient medieval traditions of philosophical methods of investigation and ushering in the “scientific revolution” of Galileo and Newton. Read or download the text at Project Gutenberg.
1786
The first commercially-made ice cream in the US is advertised in New York City by Hall of 76 Chatham Street.
1887
Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punch card calculator.
1912
Carl Laemmle, a German Jewish immigrant who settled in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, merges the Independent Moving Picture Company, which he founded, with with eight smaller companies to form the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, which would later become Universal Pictures Company, Inc. The new studio will be horizontally integrated, with both movie production and distribution capacities.
1918
Nova Aquila, the brightest nova since Kepler’s nova of 1604, is discovered in the constellation of Aquila the eagle. It is a first magnitude star six degrees north of the Scutum star cloud. For the months that it will shine, it is the brightest star in the sky, briefly half a million times brighter than the sun, but seen from 1200 light years (70,000 trillion miles) away.
1940
The discovery of element 93, Neptunium (symbol Np) is announced by Edwin M. McMillan and Philip H. Abelson at the University of California at Berkeley. While studying nuclear fission, McMillan discovered Neptunium as a product of Uranium-239 resulting from beta decay. They were able to prove that its chemical and nuclear properties were unique, and thus a new element. It is named Neptunium after the planet Neptune. For the discovery, McMillan will be awarded a share of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1951.
1949
The dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is published.
1954
Computer pioneer Alan Mathison Turing is found dead at age 42, of an apparent suicide, following prosecution for alleged indecency. Turing had published his seminal paper, “On Computable Numbers,” in 1936, as well as posing significant questions about judging “human intelligence” and programming and working on the design of several computers during the course of his career. A mathematical genius, Turing proved instrumental in code-breaking efforts during World War II. His application of logic to that realm would emerge even more significantly in his development of the concept of a “universal machine.”
1959
The first official US missile mail is launched from the submarine USS Barbero about one hundred miles off the Atlantic Coast to the Mayport Auxiliary Naval Station near Jacksonville, Florida. The thirty-six foot Regulus 1 winged missile carried three thousand letters, including one from President Eisenhower, which arrived about twenty-two minutes after launch. Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield declared the experiment a success, stating that, “Before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia.”
1978
Intel introduces the 16-bit 8086 processor with clock speeds of 5, 8, and 10MHz. Each processor contains twenty-nine thousand transistors and is able to one megabyte of memory.
1981
The Chicago Syslink BBS is launched on a TRS-80 Model I with a 300bps Modem.
1983
The first triplets resulting from in-vitro fertilization, Aaron, Jessica, and Chenara Guare, are born at the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, Australia.
1984
Warner Bros. Pictures releases the comedy film Gremlins, directed by Joe Dante and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, and Howie Mandel, to 1,511 theaters in the US. Gremlins will become a huge commercial success, receiving ample positive feedback from critics. However, the film is also heavily criticized for its violent sequences. Critics claim that these scenes are inappropriate for younger audiences who can be admitted to theaters under the film’s PG rating. In response to this and similar complaints about other films, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) will reform its rating system within two months of Gremlins’ release. Along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, also rated PG, Gremlins is one of two films in 1984 to influence the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to create the PG-13 rating. Red Dawn will be the first film released with the rating in August 1984. Produced on a budget of US$11 million, the film will gross US$12,511,634 in its opening weekend. Visit the official Ghostbusters website.. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG Running Time: 1 hr 47 mins
Columbia Pictures releases the film Ghostbusters, directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, and Ernie Hudson, is released to 1,339 US theaters. Produced on a budget of US$30 million, the film will gross US$13,578,151 domestically in the opening weekend. IMDB listing
1988
Rupert Murdoch announces the launch of Sky Television as a four-channel advertising-supported service to be transmitted via the forthcoming first Astra satellite. The service will include a revamped Sky Channel, plus one channel each devoted to movies, news and sport.
1991
Square Co. releases Final Fantasy Adventure as Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden for the Game Boy in Japan.
1992
The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1992
Sega releases Chakan: The Forever Man for the Sega Mega Drive.
1995
Rasmus Lerdorf launches version 1.0 of the popular scripting language PHP. Visit the official PHP website..
1997
A computer user known as “_eci” publishes his Microsoft C source code on a Windows 95 and Windows NT exploit, which will later become the remote denial-of-service attack (DoS) utility WinNuke. The source code gets wide distribution across the internet, and Microsoft is forced to release a security patch. Visit the official WinNuke website..
1998
Yahoo acquires Viaweb, co-founded by Paul Graham, which will later become Yahoo! Store.
1999
Apple releases QuickTime 4.0. It introduces several fundamental features, including: graphic exporting, support for the MP3 format, and support for streaming. Visit the official QuickTime website..
Nathan Myhrvold, Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft, denies that his one year leave of absence reported in the Monday, June 7 issue of Time magazine is being forced upon him. The article hinted that Microsoft President, Steve Ballmer, is forcing Myhrvold out amidst reports that he was spending more time on his extravagant hobbies than focusing on the job.
Rueters reports that a poll conducted by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Software & Information Industry Association reveals that thirty-eight percent of new business applications installed worldwide (615 million) are pirated software. Piracy related losses to the industry are estimated to have totaled more than US$11 billion in 1998. Visit the official BSA website.
2000
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) confirms that it has opened a probe into whether eBay, Inc. sellers are committing fraud by bidding on their own items to help drive up the price.
Version 2.1.0 of PhpMyAdmin, an application for handling the administration of MySQL over the Internet, is released. It is the last released to involve the program’s original developer, Tobias Ratschiller.
2001
Atari Time Machine reports that Infogrames, who recently acquired Hasbro Interactive and their holdings of Atari home game properties, is rumored to soon announce a decision to change their name from Infogrames to Atari. Sources suggest that Infogames has a namesake in the hard core gaming market while the Atari brand is known worldwide across generations of gamers and computer users as well as the general public.
DreamWorks releases the comedy film Evolution, directed by Ivan Reitman and starring David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Julianne Moore, and Seann William Scott, to 2,611 US theaters. The film was originally written as a serious science fiction film, until Ivan Reitman stepped in and re-wrote much of the script. Produced on a budget of US$80 million, the film will gross US$13,408,351 domestically in its opening weekend. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: PG-13 Running time: 1 hr 41 mins
Konami releases Castlevania: Circle of the Moon for the Game Boy Advance in the US. ESRB: T (Teen)
NetZero, Inc. and Juno Online Services, Inc. jointly announce that they intend to merge to form United Online, possibly becoming the second biggest US Internet Service Provider (ISP) after America Online, Inc. (AOL). Mark Goldston, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NetZero, will become president and CEO of the new combined company. Combined, the companies have about 24.5 million registered users and 8.2 million active users. The new firm will trade on the Nasdaq with the symbol of UNTD.
Sony Computer Entertainment releases the survival horror game Extermination for the PlayStation 2 in Europe. ELSPA: 15+
The film Swordfish, directed by Dominic Sena and starring Hugh Jackman, John Travolta, Halle Berry, and Don Cheadle, is released to 2,678 US theaters. The plot of the film centers around a high tech heist executed by a recently released convicted hacker at the behest of a mysterious benefactor. The film’s title refers to a password hacked during a sequence in the films. The use of “Swordfish” as a password is an allusion to the 1932 Marx Brothers film Horse Feathers, an allusion made in previous films, including Hackers and The Net. Produced on a budget of US$102 million, the film will gross US$18,145,632 domestically in its opening weekend. Visit this film’s official website. IMDB listing MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 1 hr 39 mins
THQ releases GT Advance Championship Racing for the Game Boy Advance in the US. GT Advance Championship Racing is the US version of the Japanese game Advance GTA. The game features licensed vehicles from real world car manufacturers such as Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and other Japanese car makers and features a championship mode that rewards players with unlocked tracks, additional cars, and performance porn depending on how well you race.
2002
Bethesda Softworks releases The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind for the personal computer in Europe. It is the third in The Elder Scrolls series. Visit the game’s official website.
2004
The first Transit of Venus, in which the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, occurs for the first time in the new millennium.
Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance in China.
Nintendo releases Wario Land 4 for the Game Boy Advance in China.
2005
A hardcopy of a reply from The Pirate Bay to Web Sheriff, in response to faxed legal threats, is sold on eBay for US$255. Visit the official The Pirate Bay website..
The Mars Express Orbiter detects an aurora on Mars.
Sony releases a PlayStation Portable (PSP) firmware 1.52 upgrade in Japan.
2006
Google Labs launches Google Browser Sync as a freeware beta. It allows users of the Firefox web browser to synchronize their settings across multiple computers via the Internet.
Nintendo releases the side-scrolling platform game New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS in Australia. Visit the game’s official website. OFLC: PG
Ubisoft releases Heroes of Might and Magic V for the computer in Poland.
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