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Author Archives: GilPress
First Photograph of a Solar Eclipse
Today in 1854, William and Frederick Langenheim made eight sequential photographs of the first total eclipse of the sun visible in North America since the invention of photography. Although six other daguerreotypists and one calotypist are known to have documented … Continue reading
Posted in Photography, This day in information
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First World Wide Web Conference
Today in 1994, the First International WWW Conference was held at CERN, Geneva. Tim Berners-Lee in Weaving the Web: “It was the first time the people who were developing the Web were brought together with all sorts of people who were using it … Continue reading
Posted in This day in information, World Wide Web
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“What Has God Wrought?”: A Love Story
Today in 1844, Samuel Morse sent the the message “What Has God Wrought” to officially open the first telegraph line, between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, launching an industry and ending a rocky journey that began with the 1837 resolution by the U.S. … Continue reading
New York Public Library Dedicated
Today in 1911, the New York Public Library was officially dedicated. The ceremony was presided over by President William Howard Taft and was attended by Governor John Alden Dix and Mayor William J. Gaynor. The following morning, New York’s very public … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, This day in information
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
The Story of Information 