1990 – Peter Deutsch posted to comp.archives about the Internet Archive Server called “Archie” that he, Alan Emtage, and Bill Heelan had put together. It is often considered the Internet’s first search engine.

In 1991 – Paul Lindner posted to comp.unix.misc introducing “The Internet Gopher” a distributed information service. Before the World Wide Web, Gopher was the prime way to find and share documents online.

In 2008 – The Large Hadron Collider at CERN powered up in Geneva, Switzerland, on its quest to discover the secrets of particle physics, especially evidence for the Higgs Boson.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

In 1940 – At McNutt Hall at Dartmouth College, George Stibitz demonstrated the first remote operation of a computer. He connected to his Complex Number Generator at Bell labs by telephone using 28-wire teletype cable.

In 1947 – While troubleshooting the Harvard University Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator, operators found a moth trapped between the points of relay #70 in Panel F. They affixed the bug to the log and wrote “First actual case of bug being found.” While this was not the first use of the term ’bug’ for a computer problem, ‘debugging’ became popular for fixing bugs after this case.

In 1999 – The Sega Dreamcast debuted in North America. However many were distracted by the supposed 9/9/99 bug that ended up being just as much of a non-problem as the Y2K bug.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

In 1930 – The first roll of waterproof, transparent, pressure-sensitive tape was sold. Its brand name “Scotch” has become synonymous with cellophane tape.

In 1966 – The TV show Star Trek made its network television debut with the episode “The Man Trap”. Star Trek would have a profound influence on future technology thought and design.

In 2004 – NASA’s unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-landed when its parachute failed to open.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

In 1927 – The first fully electronic television system was demonstrated by Philo Taylor Farnsworth in San Francisco.

In 1979 – The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, ESPN, makes its debut. It will become one of the main drivers of cable TV adoption and one of the main factors in the switch to Internet television.

In 1981 – The first large parallel processing computer, ILLIAC IV, ends its nearly decade-long life at the University of Illinois.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.