1935 – Krueger’s Cream Ale
and Krueger’s Finest Beer went on sale in Richmond, Virginia in cans, developed
by the American Can Company. Cans protected beer better than translucent
bottles.
1948 – IBM Dedicates the SSEC
IBM dedicates the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC). Later
the SSEC was put on public display near the company’s Manhattan headquarters so
passers-by could watch its operational speed. Before its decommissioning in
1952, the SSEC produced the moon-position tables used for plotting the course
of the 1969 Apollo flight to the moon.
1950 – Microwave Oven Patented
The original microwave oven patent was issued to Percy LeBaron Spencer
under the title “Method of Treating Foodstuffs.” Five years earlier, Spencer accidentally
discovered that microwave energy could heat food when a chocolate bars in his
pocket melted while he was experimenting with a microwave tube. Microwave tubes
were originally designed for RADAR systems.
1984 – Apple Macintosh is released
Apple Computer, Inc. released
its Macintosh computer with an unprecedented media campaign, including a
groundbreaking TV commercial shown during the 1984 Super Bowl. Selling for
about 2,500 dollars, the Mac used a Motorola 68000 microprocessor and had 128k
of RAM (memory). The Macintosh’s graphical user interface (GUI) was
revolutionary and led to its rapid adoption in education, desktop publishing
and graphic design. Early sales were brisk, with 70,000 units sold in the first
hundred days after its introduction.
1986 – Voyager 2 Flies By Uranus
The interplanetary probe Voyager 2 makes the first fly-by of the planet
Uranus. During its study of Uranus, it finds 10 previously undiscovered moons.
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