Today in Tech History – July 21

1925 – John Scopes Guilty on Teaching Evolution

           John Scopes was an activist and a teacher. In what was called the “Scopes Monkey Trial”, John was charged on May 5^th, 1925 of teaching evolution in his Tennessee classroom. On July 21 he was found guilty and fined $100. The central argument in the case was the Butler Act, prohibiting that human evolution, or any Biblical account of origin could be taught Scopes verdict was overturned, but only because of a technicality. The Judge fined Scope and not a jury. The Butler Act was repealed in 1967.

1975 – Xerox Withdraws from the Mainframe Computer Market

           In 1969, Scientific Data System (SDS) merged with Xerox in a stock-swap deal worth approximately $930 million. The merger allowed Xerox to rebrand SDS’s Sigma series of computers as Xerox Data System (XDS) machines, but they failed to have a market impact against competitors like IBM and sold the rights to build Sigma computers to Honeywell. Xerox lost $264 million over the five years they produced mainframes.

1999 – Apple Introduces iBook Laptop

           Apple introduces the iBook laptop, the first mainstream computer designed and sold with built-in-wireless networking.

2002 – WorldCom filed for the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US history. It was the number two long-distance phone company, at a time when that still meant something. It would end up changing its name back to MCI and its remains exists as Verizon’s business division.

2011 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility, Runway 15, ending the US space shuttle missions.

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