1590
Tycho Brahe discovers a comet in the constellation Pisces.
1616
Copernican theory is declared “false and erroneous” in a decree written by Cardinal Robert Bellarmine and issued by the Catholic Church. Further, no person is to be permitted to hold or teach the theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun. When Galileo later violates the decree, he will be put on trial and held under house arrest for the final eight years of his life.
1868
C.H. Gould of Birmingham, England, receives a patent for the first stapling device.
1904
In Electrical World and Engineer, Nikola Tesla describes the process of ball lightning formation. Read more about Tesla’s theories on ball lightning at Bibliotecapleyades.
1924
The Computing Tabulating Recording Company (CTR) changes its name to International Business Machines (IBM).
1956
The original King Kong film first runs on television.
1958
The Explorer 2 spacecraft is launched on a mission to detect cosmic rays, but it fails to reach Earth orbit.
1968
The United States launches Solar Explorer B, also known as Explorer 37, from Wallops Island to study the Sun.
1970
A nuclear non-proliferation treaty goes into effect after ratification by forty-three nations.
1979
Detection equipment picks up a gamma ray burst originating from the Large Magellanic Cloud, leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters, astronomical objects which emit large bursts of gamma-rays and X-rays at irregular intervals.
Principal photography begins on the film Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to the planet Jupiter at a distance of 172,000 miles.
1980
Earth satellites record gamma rays from remnants of supernova N-49.
1982
Venera 14, a Soviet satellite, lands on the planet Venus.
1983
The Journey into Imagination attraction opens in the Journey into Imagination pavilion in EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World.
According to Twin Galaxies, Eric Ginner scores a record-setting 1,720,392 points playing the Atari arcade game Millipede at Golfland USA in Sunnyvale, California. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.
According to Twin Galaxies, Jerry Madsen scores a record-setting 7,253,150 points playing the Williams Electronics arcade game Joust at the Star Ship Video arcade in Upland, California. Visit the official Twin Galaxies website.
1986
United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily-damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger. The bodies of all seven astronauts killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster are still inside.
1991
Microbiologist Lonnie. O. Ingram of the University of Florida is issued a patent for a process which turns garbage into fuel. (US No. 5,000,000) His method depends on the creation of a new species of bacterium genetically formed from two other bacteria.
1993
In an early demonstration of the impact computers can have on people’s lives, the Los Angeles Times reports that a blind student is taking advantage of a talking laptop computer to help him complete the courses necessary to graduate from UCLA. After fifteen years of going to college on and off, the computer finally provides Robert Antunez with the independence he needs to complete a bachelor’s degree in political science.
|
|
|
