1903 – John Vincent Atanasoff, American physicist and academic, invented the Atanasoff–Berry computer is born.
John Vincent Atanasoff was an American physicist and inventor, best known for being credit with inventing the first electronic digital computer.
Atanasoff invented the first electronic digital computer in the 1930s at Iowa State College. Challenges to his claim were resolved in 1973 when the Honeywell v. Sperry Rand lawsuit ruled that Atanasoff was the inventor of the computer. His special-purpose machine has come to be called the Atanasoff–Berry Computer.
1957 – Space Race: Launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments.
Sputnik itself provided scientists with valuable information, even though it wasn’t equipped with sensors, by tracking and studying the satellite from Earth. The density of the upper atmosphere could be deduced from its drag on the orbit, and the propagation of its radio signals gave information about the ionosphere.
Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour (18,000 mph; 8,100 m/s), taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, which were monitored by amateur radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 21 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957. Sputnik 1 burned up on 4 January 1958, as it fell from orbit upon reentering Earth’s atmosphere, after travelling about 70 million km (43.5 million miles) and spending three months in orbit.
1985 – The Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts, United States.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, which promotes the universal freedom to study, distribute, create, and modify computer software, with the organization’s preference for software being distributed under copyleft (“share alike”) terms, such as with its own GNU General Public License. The FSF was incorporated in Massachusetts, USA, where it is also based.
From its founding until the mid-1990s, FSF’s funds were mostly used to employ software developers to write free software for the GNU Project. Since the mid-1990s, the FSF’s employees and volunteers have mostly worked on legal and structural issues for the free software movement and the free software community.
Consistent with its goals, only free software is used on the FSF’s computers.
2004 – SpaceShipOne wins Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight, by being the first private craft to fly into space.
SpaceShipOne is an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with suborbital flight capability that uses a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique “feathering” atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folded upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; this increased drag while remaining stable. SpaceShipOne completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. Its mother ship was named “White Knight”. Both craft were developed and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan’s aviation company. Allen provided the funding of approximately US$25 million.
2006 – Wikileaks is launched by Julian Assange.
WikiLeaks is an international non-profit journalistic organisation that publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources. Its website, initiated in 2006 in Iceland by the organisation Sunshine Press, claimed a database of more than 1.2 million documents within a year of its launch. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder, editor-in-chief, and director. Kristinn Hrafnsson, Joseph Farrell, and Sarah Harrison are the only other publicly known and acknowledged associates of Julian Assange. Hrafnsson is also a member of Sunshine Press Productions along with Assange, Ingi Ragnar Ingason, and Gavin MacFadyen.
2012 – Weekly – SHOW AND TELL is now on the Adafruit Industries Google+ page!
The weekly – SHOW AND TELL is now on the Adafruit Industries Google+ page! We will be asking all the folks in the +Limor Fried (ladyada) show-and-tell circle to re-add themselves to the +Adafruit show-and-tell circle shortly. We’re moving the show-and-tell to the +Adafruit page so more of our staff can run the show-and-tells. For example, we’ll have a wearable electronics / FLORA themed one with Becky and a 3D printing themed one with Matt.
Please post a comment on the Adafruit page to be added! Make sure you add Adafruit to your circles first!
2013 – Adafruit on Business Insider: “This $35 Computer Can Do All Kinds Of Amazing Things” @RaspberryPi #piday #raspberrypi
The Raspberry Pi is a low cost computer board and a maker’s dream come true.
Originally conceived as an educational product for removing as many barriers as possible for teaching people to program, Pi has been popping up in inventive creations to make all kinds of electronic doodads come to life.
2014 – Announcing a wearable collaboration with Adafruit: Arduino Gemma @arduino
Announcing a wearable collaboration with Adafruit: Arduino Gemma. YAY!!!!
Arduino Gemma preview – Final board coming late autumn
During his saturday morning presentation at Maker Faire Rome, Massimo Banzi gave a preview of a new collaboration and a new board: Adafruit Gemma becomes officially Arduino Gemma, a tiny but powerful wearable microcontroller board in a 27mm diameter package.
Powered by an Attiny85 and programmable with the Arduino IDE over USB, anyone will be able to easily create wearable projects with all the advantages of being part of the Arduino family. The board will be default-supported in the Arduino IDE, equipped with an on/off switch and a microUSB connector.
2014 – Happy 10 years Hackaday
Happy 10 years hackaday! 10 years ago Phil Torrone (pt) started hackaday (video) as a place for hackers to share their projects and inspire others. Today there’s a big event in Los Angeles celebration the last 10 years! There are some great speakers, activities, guests and more! There are also live cams here and here.
