Today in Tech History – September 20

1848 – At noon in the library of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, member of the former Association of American Geologists and Naturalists met to create the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

1954 – First FORTRAN Program Runs

             The first FORTRAN program is executed. FORTRAN was developed by IBM scientists who were looking for a better way to program the IBM 704 mainframe computer. It quickly became the dominant programming language for scientific and engineering application and still is used today, especially in the area of high-performance computing.

1983 – RSA Algorithm Patent Is Awarded

             The RSA algorithm, one of the world’s most widely-used encryption methods, had been developed in 1977. Scientific American columnist Martin Gardner wrote a description of the algorithm in his “Mathematical Games” column, mentioning that readers could send a self-addressed stamped envelope to receive a copy of the MIT technical memorandum describing it. More than three copies of the papers until after the patent was issued six years later due to members of the National Security Agency raising questions about the legality of making the information available.

2012 – Makerbot Industries released the Replicator 2 3D printer, meant for non-expert users, and providing 100 micron resolution printing. They also announced the opening of a store in Manhattan.

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