Spacecraft Lands on an Asteroid
February 12, 2001
The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the “saddle” region of asteroid 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
She Was Also Famous for Tennis
February 12, 2001
Jan de Wit sends out an email stating that it is a picture of the famous tennis player Anna Kournikova. Rather than being a picture of the Russian known more for her looks than her play (although she was ranked as high as #8 in the world in singles and #1 in doubles), it was a malicious script that tried to send itself to every address in a user’s address book and e-mail inbox (Windows users only, of course). The malware was so efficient, it was known to be spreading twice as fast as the “Love Bug” virus that devastated corporate networks a year earlier. The moral of the story is that men are easily manipulated.
First Long Distance Telephone Call Made
February 12, 1877
Alexander Graham Bell makes the first long distance telephone call between Boston and Salem, Massachusetts. No witches were hung at this time.
First Use of the Word “Podcast”
February 11, 2004
In an article “Audible Revolution” published by The Guardian on this date, Ben Hammersley described a trend of amateur radio on the Internet. With no established name for this new phenomenon, Hammersley suggested the terms Audioblogging, GuerillaMedia, and Podcasting. Given the popularity of the Apple iPod and how many people were using the iPod to listen to these prerecorded audio shows, the term Podcasting stuck and the rest is history!
Discovery Launches to Service Hubble
February 11, 1997
The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. This was the second of five missions necessary to fix the flawed telescope. In most states, the entire thing could have been replaced as a lemon.
Titan-Centaur Fails First Test, Yet Mission Successful
February 11, 1974
The first Titan-Centaur rocket test launch fails. However the test was successful enough that no more tests were performed and this rocket design was used 6 more times successfully. Scientists are strange.
Osumi!
February 11, 1970
Japan launches Osumi, their first satellite. By doing so, Japan becomes the 4th nation to put a satellite in orbit.
Satellites Collide!
February 10, 2009
The communication satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251 collide in orbit, destroying both. This was the first major collision of satellites in Earth orbit.
A Computer Defeats a World Chess Champion
February 10, 1996
World chess champion Garry Kasparov loses a game to the computer Deep Blue during a match set up using standard championship rules. This was the first time a computer defeated a world chess champion using these rules (although chess computers had been kicking my butt since the 1980’s). Kasparov went on to defeat Deep Blue 4-2 during this match. However, he lost to Deep Blue a year later, marking the first time a computer defeated a world chess champion in a match.
Galileo Flies by Venus
February 10, 1990
The spacecraft Galileo flies by Venus on its way to Jupiter. Galileo used the flyby of Venus along with two flybys of Earth as a “gravitational slingshot” in order to reach Jupiter with the least amount of fuel.