This Week in Science
This Week in Science Archive: June-December 2007
January
February March April May June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
- January 3, 1870: Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began. For more about the bridge, visit New York City's Brooklyn Bridge Website.
- January 10, 1863: The first underground passenger railway, the Metropolitan, opened in London. For more about the London Underground, visit Transport for London.
- January 19, 1915: The electric neon sign was patented in the United States by George Claude of Paris, France. For more about the development of the neon sign, visit The History of Neon Signs.
- January 24, 1986: Voyager 2 space probe passes within 51,000 miles of Uranus. To learn more about Uranus and Voyager 2's findings, visit NASA's site, Voyager: The Interstellar Mission.
February
- February 1, 1946: A press conference that announced the first electronic digital computer, ENIAC, was held at the University of Pennsylvania. To learn more about ENIAC and the history of computing, visit The ENIAC Museum Online.
- February 9, 1870: The National Weather Service was established under the U.S. Army Signal Corps. To learn more about the National Weather Service, visit NOAA's History of the National Weather Service.
- February 16, 1937: Nylon was patented. To learn more about the composition of this fabric, visit The Science of Nylon.
- February 19, 1878: Thomas Edison patented the gramophone (phonograph). To learn more about Edison and his numerous patents, check out The Edison Papers.
- February 26, 1935: RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) was first demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt. To learn more about the use of radar in England and other countries, check out Radar World.
March
- March 7, 1876: Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone. For more on Graham Bell's invention, visit The Franklin Institute's Bell's Telephone.
- March 14, 1794: The cotton gin was patented by Eli Whitney. For more information about Whitney's invention, visit The Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop.
- March 28, 1979: The nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, occurred. For more information about Three Mile Island, visit the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Fact Sheet on the Three Mile Island Accident.
April
- April 1, 1960: The first U.S. weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched from Cape Canaveral. To learn more about environmental satellites, visit the NOAA's Satellites: Then and Now.
- April 10, 1790: The U.S. patent system was formed. To learn more about patents, the history of the patent system, and searching for patents, visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
- April 17, 1970: The Apollo 13 astronauts safely splashed down after their near-disastrous flight. To learn more about the mission, visit NASA's Apollo 13 Mission Site.
- April 23, 1970: The first Earth Day was observed. To learn more about Earth Day and how to get involved, visit the EPA's Earth Day site.
May
- May 1, 1931: The Empire State Building opened in New York City. At 102 stories, it would be the world's tallest building for the next 41 years. For facts about and historic pictures of the Empire State Building's construction, visit the New York Public Library.
- May 5, 1961: Alan Shepard became the first American in space. For information about this and the other Mercury missions, visit NASA's page on Freedom 7.
- May 15, 1862: The U.S. Department of Agriculture was created by an act of Congress on this day. For more about the history of the USDA and the role of agriculture in the United States, visit the National Agricultural Library.
- May 24, 1844: Samuel Morse transmitted the first telegraph message, in which he asked, "What hath God wrought?" For more information about Morse and the telegraph, visit the Smithsonian's History Wired.
June
- June 3, 1965: Maj. Edward White became the first U.S. astronaut to walk in space, during the Gemini IV mission. For images of White's walk, visit NASA's The First U.S. Space Walk.
- June 14, 1951: The first commercial computer, Univac I, was unveiled. For a photo album of the Univac I, visit the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's page on The Univac I Computer.
- June 21, 1834: Cyrus McCormick's mechanical reaper was patented. For a photo history of reapers and grain harvesting, visit the Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Research & Extension Center's Grain Harvesting History.
- June 26, 1976: The CN tower in Toronto opened, the world's tallest free-standing structure. For some more information about the Tower, check out the American Society of Civil Engineers' Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
July
- July 2, 2002: Steve Fossett became the first to circumnavigate the globe solo in a balloon. For more about the science of ballooning, visit NOVA's Ballon Race Around the World.
- July 7, 1930: Construction began on Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam. For the history of the dam, photographs, and more, visit the Bureau of Reclamation's Hoover Dam.
- July 16, 1969: Apollo 11 took off on the first manned flight to the moon. For more information about the mission and the Apollo Program, visit NASA's Apollo: One Giant Leap for Mankind.
- July 22, 1933: Wiley Post became the first person to fly solo around the world. For more information about Post and this flight, visit the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission.
August
- August 8, 1876: Thomas Edison patented the mimeograph machine. For more information about Edison's patents, visit The Edison Papers.
- August 11, 1909: Arapahoe became the first American ship to use the S.O.S. distress signal. For the more information about Morse and the telegraph, visit The History of the Electric Telegraph and Telegraphy.
- August 20, 1977: The space probe Voyager 2 was launched. It continues to explore to this day, and is now more than 7 billion miles from Earth. For more information about this mission, visit NASA's Voyager site.
- August 29, 1842: The design patent, a new form of patent, was authorized by an Act of Congress. For more information about design patents, visit the USPTO.
September
- September 14, 1959: The Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the Moon when it crashed onto the lunar surface. For more information about this mission, visit NASA's Luna 2.
- September 16, 1736: German physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit, who invented the Fahrenheit scale mercury thermometer, died. For more information about thermometers and temperature, visit Who Invented the Thermometer?.
- September 23, 1846: German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune. For more information about Neptune, visit Nine Planets.
- September 30, 1985: Dr. Charles Francis Richter, seismologist and inventor of the Richter Scale, died. To learn how the Richter Scale measures earthquake activity, visit What Is Richter Magnitude?.
October
- October 11, 1939: A letter from Albert Einstein was delivered to President Franklin D. Roosevelt concerning the possibility of atomic weapons, which set into motion what eventually became the Manhattan Project. To view Einstein's letter and for information regarding the Manhattan Project, visit the Department of Energy's The Manhattan Project: An Interactive History.
- October 15, 1966: The U.S. Department of Transportation was created. To learn more about the history and activities of the DOT, visit A Brief History of the DOT.
- October 24, 1851: British astronomer William Lassell discovered Ariel and Umbriel, satellites of Uranus. For more information about Uranus, visit Nine Planets.
November
- November 1, 1870: The U.S. Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations. For more information on the development of what is now the National Weather Service, visit The Evolution of the National Weather Service.
- November 5, 1895: George B. Selden of Rochester, N.Y., received the first U.S. patent for an automobile. For information on the Selden-Ford Patent Case, visit Weird & Wonderful Patents.
- November 13, 1946: Vincent Schaefer produced artificial snow from a natural cloud for the first time at Mount Greylock in Massachusetts. For more information on Schaefer's first experiments with cloud seeding, visit New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology's Tampering with the Weather.
- November 22, 1842: Mount St. Helens in Washington state erupted. Ash fallout reached as far as 48 mi away. For more information, visit the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.
- November 27, 1852: Lady Augusta Ada Lovelace, the daughter of poet Lord Byron, died. She had assisted Charles Babbage with his "analytical engine" and is credited with inventing computer language. For more information about her contributions to mathematics, visit Biographies of Women Mathematicians.
December
- December 2, 1970: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established. For more about the development of the Agency, visit EPA History.
- December 9, 1968: The first demonstration of the use of a computer mouse was given at the American Federation of Information Processing Societies' Fall Joint Computer Conference at Stanford University, California. To watch a clip of the demonstration and to learn more about the development of the mouse and its inventor, Doug Engelbart, visit Science and Technology in the Making (STIM)'s Mouse Site.
The content on this page is from multiple sources including Infoplease This Day in History.
