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First Underwater Telegraph Cable
November 13, 1851 Laid by British telegraphic engineer John Watkins Brett and his brother Jacob Brett, the world’s first operational underwater telegraph cable opens for business. Connecting the English city of Dover to the French city of Calais, the cable was ran at the narrowest point of the English channel. With this link, communication between London…
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First Earthling Into Orbit
November 3, 1957 The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2, the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit and the first spacecraft to carry a living creature into orbit. Laika, a Siberian Husky dog, unfortunately only survived a few hours into the flight and died from stress and overheating. The Soviets had planned to euthanize Laika regardless,…
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First Transistor Radio Goes on Sale
November 1, 1954 The Industrial Development Engineering Associates company begins selling the Regency TR-1, the world’s first commercial transistor radio. Texas Instruments designed and developed the transistor technology who then partnered with IDEA to design and manufacturer the completed radio. The TR-1 sold over 100,000 units, ushering in the commercial transistor industry. First Transistor Radio Goes…
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First Crew to International Space Station
October 31, 2000 Russia launches Soyuz TM-31, carrying the first crew to the International Space Station. The ISS has been continuously manned since this first mission. First Crew to International Space Station is original content of This Day in Tech History. This Day in Tech History Tech History provided by This Day in Tech History.com
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First Major ARPANET Outage
The ARPANET in 1980 October 27, 1980 The ARPANET, the precursor to the modern Internet, stops functioning for about four hours after the network’s routing tables are corrupted by a malfunctioning Interface Message Processor (IMP). First Major ARPANET Outage is original content of This Day in Tech History. This Day in Tech History Tech History…
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NASA’s First Launch
October 11, 1958 NASA launches Pioneer 1, the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed space agency. Originally intended to fly by the Moon, a launch malfunction due to a programming error caused Pioneer 1 to only attain a ballistic trajectory, which caused it to fall back to the Earth after 43 hours of flight.…
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First Phone Call Over Outdoor Wires
October 9, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson demonstrate the first two-way phone call over outdoor wires. Bell and Watson made their call between the cities of Boston and Cambridge. First Phone Call Over Outdoor Wires is original content of This Day in Tech History. This Day in Tech History Tech History provided by…
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The First Transistor Calculator
October 7, 1954 IBM researchers modify an existing model 604 vacuum tube calculator to use transistors. This experiment didn’t shrink the desk-sized machine nor make it any faster, but it did use only 5% of the power the vacuum tube-based design did. Encouraged by this successful experiment, IBM introduced the first commercial transistor calculator 4…
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The First CD Player
October 1, 1982 The first commercial compact disc player, the Sony CDP-101, goes on sale in Japan. The First CD Player is original content of This Day in Tech History. This Day in Tech History Tech History provided by This Day in Tech History.com