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Nov. 20, 1984: SETI Seekers Find a Home

Man’s fascination with the possibility of intelligent life existing elsewhere has been around since the first Cro-Magnon cast a wondering eye to the heavens. The idea that we are not alone is embedded in our literature, folklore and consciousness. By ...

From TONY LONG, Wired,  19 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Frank Drake,  Cornell University,  NASA

Nov. 16, 1904: Vacuum Tube Heralds Birth of Modern Electronics

1904: British engineer John Ambrose Fleming invents and patents the thermionic valve, the first vacuum tube. With this advance, the age of modern wireless electronics is born. Although the Supreme Court eventually invalidated Fleming’s U.S. patent — ...

From TONY LONG, Wired,  16 Nov 2009

Nov. 13, 1460: Death Stills Henry the Navigator

1460: Infante Henrique (Prince Henry), known to history as Henry the Navigator, dies at 66 in Sagres, Portugal. While not a seafaring man himself, Henry’s zealous advocacy and generous patronage of science, cartography and oceanic navigation ...

From TONY LONG, Wired,  13 Nov 2009

Related Topics: Rita Moreno

Nov. 6, 1944 & 1971: A Double Nuke Anniversary

1944: Weapons-grade plutonium, for the very heart of the Fat Man atomic bomb used to obliterate Nagasaki, Japan, is first produced at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in south-central Washington state. Twenty-seven years later, in 1971, the Atomic ...

From TONY LONG, Wired,  5 Nov 2009

Related Topics: University of Chicago,  University of California,  Richard Nixon

Oct. 26, 1992: Software Glitch Cripples Ambulance Service

1992: A software error causes London’s brand new computer-aided ambulance-dispatch system to fail. The ensuing snafu is blamed for anywhere between 30 and 45 deaths. CAD, as it was known, replaced the London Ambulance Services human dispatchers who had ...

From TONY LONG, Wired,  26 Oct 2009

Oct. 16, 2002: Second Great Library Opens in Alexandria

2002: The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is officially dedicated in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria. It is a conscious attempt, even down to its Latin name, to recreate the Royal Library of Alexandria, the largest library in the ancient world. The ...

From TONY LONG, Wired,  15 Oct 2009

Related Topics: UNESCO

Oct. 13, 1972: Survival Instincts Put to the Test

1972: A chartered flight carrying a Uruguayan rugby team to its match in Chile crashes in the high Andes, resulting in one of the most grueling survival ordeals of modern times. The plane, a twin turboprop Fairchild FH-227 belonging to the Uruguayan ...

From TONY LONG, Wired,  12 Oct 2009

Oct. 12, 1928: Iron Lung, Savior to a Generation

1928: A young polio sufferer at Children’s Hospital in Boston becomes the first person to use the iron lung artificial respirator. Her recovery from respiratory failure is nearly instantaneous. Artificial respiration had been attempted before. As far ...

From TONY LONG, Wired,  12 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Harvard University

Oct. 9, 1855: Music-Making a Steampunk Can Love

1855: A patent is issued for the steam-powered calliope. Joshua Stoddard, a beekeeper and sometime inventor from Worcester, Massachusetts, was the recipient, although the instrument already existed in other forms before he staked claim with his own ...

From TONY LONG, Wired,  8 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Norman Baker,  Tom Waits,  The Beatles

Oct. 6, 1887: An Architect for the Machine Age

1887: Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known to the world as Le Corbusier, is born in the Swiss city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. He will change his name and take French citizenship in his 30s. More importantly, he will help pioneer the International ...

From TONY LONG, Wired,  5 Oct 2009

Related Topics: Peter Behrens

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