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June 3, 1889: Power Flows Long-Distance
1889: The first long-distance transmission of electricity takes place, linking a powerhouse at Willamette Falls to a string of lights in Portland, Oregon, 14 miles to the west. The power lines...
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Sept. 29, 1920: Radio Goes Commercial
1920: The Joseph Horne department store in Pittsburgh advertises ready-made radio receivers that can pick up a local broadcast station. Commercial radio is just weeks away. Frank Conrad was assistant...
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Oct. 26, 1948: Death Cloud Envelops Pennsylvania Mill Town
An inversion layer settles over the rust belt town of Donora, Pennsylvania, trapping industrial pollution in the atmosphere. When it clears six days later, 20 people are dead, another 50 are dying and...
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Dec. 2, 1942: Nuclear Pile Gets Going Dec. 2, 1957: Nuclear Power Goes Online
Dec. 2: It’s a double milestone for nuclear energy. The first man-made sustained nuclear chain reaction was created this day in 1942. And just 15 years later, the first full-scale nuclear power plant...
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Aug. 15, 1877: ‘Hello. Can You Hear Me Now?’
Thomas Edison suggests using the word hello as a telephone greeting. The idea catches on.
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Sept. 9, 1999: 9/9/99 No Big Deal for Computers
Some people fear massive computer problems, but does 9/9/99 create headaches? Nein, nein, nein.
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Sept. 19, 1982: Can’t You Take a Joke? :-)
Scott Fahlman posts an electronic message proposing :-) as a character sequence for joke markers. He's the acknowledged originator of the ASCII-based emoticon.
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