Author Archives: GilPress
Bob Metcalfe Gave Birth to the Ethernet 40 Years Ago
Forty years ago today (May 22, 1973), twenty-seven-year-old Bob Metcalfe turned on his IBM Selectric, “pulled out a wad of Ko-Rec-Type, snapped on an Orator ball, and banged out the memo inventing Ethernet,” as he recalled in Internet Collapses, at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, Computer Networks, Innovation
Leave a comment
The IBM 701 and Software-as-a-Service
Today in 1952, the IBM 701 was formally announced. Its official name was the Defense Calculator, “specifically selected to appeal to the patriotism of the older Watson and to avoid the use of the unacceptable word, computer,” according to Emerson Pugh in Building … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, IBM
Leave a comment
World Metrology Day
Today is World Metrology Day. This year’s theme is ”Measurements in daily life.” Christopher Joseph says in his introduction to A Measure of Everything: “Measurement, in one form or another, is one of mankind’s oldest and most vital activities…. The earliest historical … Continue reading
Posted in Measurement
Leave a comment
Moving Pictures by Phone
Today in 1924, AT&T demonstrated long distance telephotography, now known as fax, with the transmission of pictures over telephone wires between Cleveland and New York. Commercial service began in a handful of cities the following year. For many decades, telephotography … Continue reading
Posted in Photography, Telephone, This day in information
Leave a comment
First Patent Application for a Rotary Dial Telephone
Today in 1923, Antoine Barnay filed the first patent application for a rotary dial telephone in France. From The Aesthetic: The old phones have an aesthetic that new phones sorely lack. They ring, for one thing, with real bells. All that … Continue reading
Posted in Patents, Telephone
Leave a comment
International Telegraph Union (ITU) Established
Today in 1865, the first International Telegraph Convention was signed in Paris by the 20 founding members, and the International Telegraph Union (ITU) was established to facilitate subsequent amendments to this initial agreement. Today, the ITU is the leading United Nations agency … Continue reading
A Very Short History of Information Technology (IT)
If you were asked to name the top three events in the history of computer technology (or the history of what came to be known as the IT industry), which ones would you choose? Here’s my very short list: June … Continue reading
First Regularly Scheduled U.S. Airmail Service
Today in 1918, the first regularly scheduled airmail service in the United States was inaugurated over a route between Washington, DC, and New York City with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia, PA.
Timeline of Information Access and Sharing (Infographic)
Source: Coveo
AIEE (IEEE) Established
Today in 1884, the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) was established in New York. The small group of men participating in the first meeting, a cross section of the electrical experts of the era, were responding to Nathaniel S. Keith’s call to organize … Continue reading
