Aviation
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Octave Chanute – One of the Fathers of Aviation
On February 18, 1832, French-born American railway engineer and aviation pioneer Octave A. Chanute was born. He provided many budding…
Broadcasting
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Sir John Reith and the Early Years of BBC
On July 20, 1889, John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith, was born. Sir John Reith was the first General-Director…
Cinematography
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Luis Buñuel and his Cinema of the Absurd and Desire
On February 22, 1900, Spanish, later naturalized Mexican, filmmaker Luis Buñuel was born. Often associated with the surrealist movement of…
Computer Games
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The Triumph of the Game Boy
On April 21, 1989, Nintendo presented the 8-bit handheld video game device called Game Boy, the first handheld console. The Game…
Engineering
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Herman Hollerith and the Mechanical Tabulator
On February 29, 1860, American statistician and inventor Herman Hollerith was born. He is best known for his invention of…
Inventor
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Nicolas-Jacques Conté and the Creation of the Pencil
On August 4, 1755, French painter, inventor, army officer and balloonist, Nicolas-Jacques Conté was born. Among others, he is credited…
Photography
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The National Geographic Society
On January 27, 1888, the National Geographic Society, one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world,…
Printing
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Aldus Manutius and the Perfection of Book Printing
On February 6, 1515, Venetian printer and publisher Aldus Pius Manutius passed away, the Italian humanist, scholar, educator, and the…
Space
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Lunokhod 2 and the Soviet Moon Programme
On January 16, 1973, Soviet unmanned lunar rover Lunokhod 2 took its first TV images of the surrounding area, then rolled…
Transportation
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My Hovercraft is full of Eels’
On December 12, 1955, English engineer Christopher Cockerell filed the patent for his new invention, the hovercraft, a craft capable…
Women in Technology
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Stephanie Kwolek and the Bullet-proof Vests
On July 31, 1923, American polymer chemist Stephanie Louise Kwolek was born. She is best known for her invention of poly-paraphenylene…
