First Laser Created
May 16, 1960
Physicist Theodore Maiman creates the first laser light, using a synthetic-ruby crystal device. He was not the first to develop the theories behind lasers nor first to apply for patents, but he was the first to create an operating laser device. The light produced by this device was not a true beam as we think of most lasers today, but rather a pulse. Other researchers would create the first laser beam soon after.
First Demonstration of Hi-Fi Tape Technology in US
May 16, 1946
Jack Mullin, an electrical engineer and US Army Signal Corps veteran in World War II, gives the first demonstration of a high-fidelity tape recording in the United States at an Institute of Radio Engineers meeting in San Francisco. He was able to demonstrate that a recorded jazz band sounded virtually identical to a live one during this demo, impressing the many engineers in attendance.
While stationed in England early in the war, Mullin had discovered that German radio was able to broadcast symphony recordings in superior quality to anything he had heard before. He later had the opportunity to examine captured German electronic equipment and discovered the AEG Magnetophon audiotape recorder, which had been in use on German radio since 1941. He received permission to take two of the recorders and blank tape back home after he left the Army in 1946 as “war souvenirs”. He then refined and fitted the German machines with “American electronics”.
In 1947 Mullin would catch the ear of Bing Crosby’s technical producer, who was looking for a way to broadcast Crosby’s recordings in better quality since his show, Philco Radio Time, was losing ratings due to the poor quality of recorded audio at the time. Mullin was brought on as Crosby’s chief engineer and the recordings made by Mullin were a hit with listeners. Crosby invested $50,000 in Ampex, which was at the time was a small 6-person electronics firm working with Mullin to develop commercialized versions of Mullin’s modified Magnetophons. Ampex and Mullin would forever change the recording industry with the Ampex Model 200A, first shipped in 1948. 60 years later at the 50th Grammy Awards, Ampex received the Technical Grammy Award, in recognization for having “revolutionized the radio and recording industries”.
Apple Retail Stores Revealed
May 15, 2001
Apple Computer announces plans to operate a chain of retail stores, opening twenty-five retail stores in the United States by the end of the year. Steve Jobs holds a commemorative press event at Apple’s first store in the second level of Tysons Corner Center to make the announcement. The store, along with a second location in Washington, D.C. will open on Saturday, May 19. At the time, Apple’s plan was generally derided by technology “experts” as doomed to failure. On this, their anniversary date, Apple’s retail stores are now considered one of the catalysts to Apple’s tremendous growth.
Skylab Launched
May 14, 1973
The United States launches Skylab One, its first manned space station. It is the last launch of the Saturn V rocket, and the the largest payload ever launched into space at the time. Skylab will fall back into the Earth’s atmosphere in July 1979.
System 7 Released
May 13, 1991
The System 7 operating system for the Macintosh is released, the second major upgrade to the Mac OS since 1984. One of the major features included in System 7 is built-in cooperative multitasking. System 7 also introduces the concept of “aliases”, which will later be copied as “shortcuts” in Microsoft Windows 95. System 7 was the first Mac OS that I personally became familiar with, and it was the foundation of future Mac OS versions until the release of Mac OS X almost exactly 10 years later.
Money For Nothing?
May 13, 1985
The British rock band Dire Straits releases their fifth album, Brothers in Arms, which will become the first CD to sell over a million copies. It was the most successful album release on compact disc for over two decades. I guess “Money for Nothing” was more than a song title.
Into the Ether(net)
May 13, 1980
Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel, and Xerox jointly announce the Ethernet network specification. Ethernet is the predominant networking standard of today’s business and home networks.
The Z3
May 12, 1941
German engineer Konrad Zuse unveils the Z3, now generally recognized as the first fully functional, programmable computer. Because Germany was fighting World War II, not much was known about the Z3 until after the war. It was an electromechanical computer so it was not the world’s first fully electronic computer although plans were made to replace the mechanical relays with fully electronic switches. However, funding was denied by the German government because the Z3 was not considered important to the war effort. The Z3 was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1943 but a fully functioning replica was built in 1961 and is on display in the Deutsches Museum in Munich. Because the Z3 was the first programmable, fully automatic computer, some people consider Konrad Zuse the inventor of the modern computer.
Deep Blue Defeats Kasparov in Tournament Match
May 11, 1997
The IBM computer and artificial intelligence Deep Blue defeats reigning chess champion and one of the greatest chess players of all time, Garry Kasparov, in the 6th and deciding game of a tournament match, thus becoming the first time a computer defeated a chess champion in match play. A year earlier, Deep Blue had bested Kasparov in 2 individual games but Kasparov eventually won the match 4-2. This time, after being reprogrammed and upgraded, the 1997 Deep Blue, capable of calculating 200 million moves per second, won 2 matches out of 6 vs Kasparov’s 1 victory and 3 draws. After the defeat Kasparov asked for a rematch but IBM declined and retired Deep Blue.
The defeat of a reigning chess champion at the hands of artificial intelligence made headlines around the world and marked a milestone in the development of AI and machine learning. From this early landmark moment, the advancement of computing power and machine learning has created even more powerful artificial intelligence. Kasparov in 2016 stated that “Today you can buy a chess engine for your laptop that will beat Deep Blue quite easily”.
Honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is. Chess computers had been wiping the floor with me since I was in kid in the 80’s!
VisiCalc Demoed at West Coast Computer Faire
May 11, 1979
At the West Coast Computer Faire, Harvard MBA candidate Daniel Bricklin and programmer Robert Frankston give one of the first private demonstrations of VisiCalc, the original spreadsheet software. It would later be publicly demoed for the first time at the National Computer Conference in June of that year.
First released for the Apple II, VisiCalc made a business machine of the personal computer. VisiCalc was a huge success, selling more than 100,000 copies in the first year. VisiCalc also spurred the sales of the Apple II, as people would buy the Apple II just to run VisiCalc. Overall, the spreadsheet validated the usefulness of the home computer and was likely a major factor for IBM accelerating their entry into the PC market.