Jim Clark Leaves Silicon Graphics
January 27, 1994
Silicon Graphics Inc. co-founder Jim Clark leaves the company to start Mosaic Communications, the operation that later became Netscape Communications Corp. With Netscape cofounder Marc Andreesen, Clark helped popularize the World Wide Web by distributing the company’s browser for free.
Apollo 1 Tragedy
January 27, 1967
Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center. After the fire, the spacecraft and planned launch which never took place was posthumously named Apollo 1, in the astronauts honor.
Edison Patents Incandescent Lamp
Janaury 27, 1880
Thomas Edison patents the electric incandescent lamp. While other incandescent lamps were created before his, Edison’s version was able to outstrip the others because of a combination of three factors: an effective incandescent material, a higher vacuum than others were able to achieve (by use of the Sprengel pump) and a high resistance that made power distribution from a centralized source economically viable.
Compaq Purchases DEC
January 26, 1998
Compaq Computer purchases Digital Equipment Corporation for $9.6 billion. Digital, or DEC, was a pioneering company in the early history of computers from the 1960’s – 1980’s. Unfortunately, as was seen with many companies, they were slow to recognize the rise of the PC which ultimately led to the sell-off of all the company’s business units, cumulating with the final sale to Compaq. Compaq itself was eventually merged with HP.
Lotus 1-2-3 Goes on Sale
January 26, 1983
The Lotus Development Corporation releases Lotus 1-2-3 for IBM computers. While not the first spreadsheet program, Lotus was able to develop 1-2-3 because the creators of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet, did not patent their software. 1-2-3 outsold VisiCalc by the end of the year and 2 years later Lotus bought out the assets of VisiCalc and hired its main creator as a consultant.
Ranger 3 Launched
January 26, 1962
Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe was designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon. Due to a series of malfunctions, the spacecraft missed the Moon by 22,000 miles.
Opportunity Lands on Mars
January 25, 2004
Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars, three weeks after its twin, Spirit (MER-A), touched down on the other side of the planet.
First Transcontinental Phone Service
January 25, 1915
Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco. President Woodrow Wilson and the mayors of both cities were also involved in the call.
First Transcontinental Jet Flight
January 25, 1959
The first transcontinental commercial jet trip was made by an American Airlines Boeing 707, from Los Angeles to New York.
First Fly-By of Uranus
January 24, 1986
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.
Voyager 2 still is transmitting data to this day, and a Twitter feed reports on its progress.