The Great Geek Manual

1604
Johannes Kepler becomes the first to observe the supernova which will later be called “Kepler’s nova” (Supernova 1604) in the constellation Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer. He observes it from the time of its appearance as a new star, and, in 1606, it will inspire him to write The New Star.

1835
Charles Darwin arrives at James Island in the Galápagos Islands aboard the HMS Beagle.

1926
Julius Edgar Lilienfeld of New York, files for a patent for a “Method and Apparatus for Controlling Electric Currents.” The application describes an NPN junction transistor and its use as an amplifier.

1953
The first compatible color television program on CBS airs.

1958
Dr. Ake Senning implants the first internal heart pacemaker.

1959
The general election in the United Kingdom is the first to be covered extensively on television.

1965
The Post Office Tower is operationally opened as a telecommunications tower in London, England, for television and radio broadcasting and to carry all of the microwave traffic into and out of the city. At 620ft (189m), it will be the tallest building in London until it is surpassed by the NatWest Tower in 1981. The Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, makes an inaugural telephone call to the Lord Mayor of Birmingham.

1966
The first episode of the Doctor Who serial The Tenth Planet first airs. The episode is the last episode to star William Hartnell as the First Doctor (and Patrick Troughton as the Second Doctor). It is also the first Doctor Who episode to feature the Cybermen. British medical scientist and science fiction author Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis co-wrote the episode. Inspired by the strictly logical Treens from the popular Dan Dare comic strip, Pedler envisioned the Cybermen as a race of human monks with so many prosthetics as to have blurred the line between man and machine. Initially, the Cybermen resemble men, but their design will become increasingly mechanical in future series. Read more at the Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide. Read more at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time.

1991
Apple Computer settles the second lawsuit brought against it by Apple Corps, the record label of the famous band, The Beatles. The first suit was brought against the computer manufacturer for using the Apple brand name. It was settled in 1981 when Apple Computer agreed to remain out of the music business. This second suit was filed in February 1989, seeking unspecified damages after Apple Computer released Apple IIGS, Mac Plus, Mac SE, and Mac II systems with MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) synthesizers, an act which Apple Corps felt violated the 1981 settlement. The Beatles’ legal representation famously suggested during the suit that Apple change its name to Banana or Peach if it wished to continue producing music products. Although Apple Computer didn’t feel that it had broken the 1981 agreement, it decided to settle this second suit with a payment of US$26.5 million to Apple Corp. The same issue will result in a third lawsuit after Apple Computer announces iTunes.

At the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the Multimedia Marketing Council launches the Multimedia PC (MPC), featuring a 80286 processor, 2MB RAM, a 40MB hard drive, VGA graphics, two-channel 16-bit audio record/playback, a CD-ROM, and Microsoft Windows with Multimedia extensions. Keynote speakers at the event include James Burke and Bill Gates.

1992
Midway releases the original Mortal Kombat to arcades in the U.S.