In 1838 – In the small town of Chirlitz of the Austrian Empire Ernst Mach was born. His work in aerodynamics and supersonic speeds, led to the unit of measurement that bears his name. He would die one day after his birthday in 1916.

In 1908 – Dr Lee de Forest received a patent for “Space Telegraphy” which described a three-element vacuum tube later called the triode which could amplify feeble electric currents, and proved especially useful for radio reception.

In 1977 – The Enterprise space shuttle orbiter prototype made the first of five “captive-inactive” flight tests, testing structural integrity and performance handline, while attached to the top of a 747 jumbo jet.

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In 1965 – The Ranger 8 probe launched on its mission to photograph the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon. The photos paved the way to select the area as the site of the first manned Moon landing.

In 1996 – World chess champion Gary Kasparov defeated Deep Blue in game 6 winning the match 4-2. He would lose the next match.

In 2000 – Microsoft released Windows 2000, the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and the final Windows release to display the “Windows NT” designation.

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In 1880 – 30 engineers from eight states met in the New York editorial offices of the American Machinist to found the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

In 1968 – The first-ever 911 call was placed by Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite from Haleyville City Hall to U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill at the city’s police station.

In 1978 – After a particularly harsh January gave them plenty of time for programming, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess completed the Computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS) in Chicago. It was the first BBS.

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In 1897 – Ferdinand Braun published a paper in the journal Annalen der Physik und Chemie describing his “Braun tube”, the first cathode-ray oscilloscope, which paved the way for the modern CRT.

In 1946 A few days after its first public demonstration, the first practical all-digital computer, ENIAC was formally dedicated.

In 1995 – The FBI arrested Kevin Mitnick on charges of wire fraud and breaking into the computer systems of several major corporations.

In 2005 – Chad Hurley and Steve Chen debuted their new website, YouTube. It would quickly become the place to share videos, and quickly become hated by the movie and TV industry.

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In 1924 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company merged with its subsidiary and took its name, International Business Machines Corporation AKA IBM.

In 1989 – The Department of Defense put the NAVSTAR II-1 into orbit, the first of 24 satellites that will make up the global positioning system.

In 2011 IBM’s Watson, an AI computer system competed against Jeapardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Watson cleaned up winning $77,147 to Mr. Jennings’s $24,000 and Mr. Rutter’s $21,600.

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