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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 WWW 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
Ensign Don Joseph de Payba Basconzelos, 1726, and T.H. O’Sullivan, 1873
The Atlantic: “Nearly 150 years ago, photographer [Timothy] O’Sullivan came across this evidence of a visitor to the West that preceded his own expedition by another 150 years — A Spanish inscription from 1726. This close-up view of the inscription … Continue reading
Posted in Inscriptions
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First University Museum
Today in 1683, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, the world’s first university museum, opened in Oxford, England. The present Ashmolean was created in 1908 by combining two ancient Oxford institutions: the University Art Collection and the original Ashmolean Museum.
Posted in Museums, This day in information
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From the Archives: “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
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Mickey Mouse speaks!
Today on 1929, the Walt Disney Studio released the animated short film The Karnival Kid, the first in which Mickey Mouse speaks. During his first eight appearances Mickey whistled, laughed, cried and otherwise vocally expressed himself. Mickey’s first spoken words … Continue reading
Posted in Film, This day in information
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Pac-Man Released
Today in 1980, the arcade game Pac-Man was first released in Japan. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of … Continue reading
Posted in This day in information, Video Games
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From the Archives: Bob Metcalfe Gives Birth to the Ethernet
Today in 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,” (from Internet Collapses) at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). As Metcalfe explained to Scott Kirsner years later in … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, This day in information
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50 Years of Memory Management
50 years ago today, one of the first software patent applications is filed by the British Petroleum Company. It proposes to “solve automatically a linear programming problem by means of an iterative algorithm whereby it (a) transfers data representations from the … Continue reading
From the Archives: The IBM 701 and Software-as-a-Service
Sixty years ago today, 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 … Continue reading
Posted in Computer history, IBM, This day in information
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The Story of Information 