Today in History -May 16, 1960 – Theodore Maiman develops the first ruby laser, one of the first functional optical lasers while at the Hughes Aircraft Company. Maiman (left photo) was influenced by articles by  Charles H. Townes at al.: J.P. Gordon, H. J. Zeiger and C.H. Townes, Physics Review, 95 (1954) 282 and  J. [...]

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Today in History – May 13, 1958 – Velcro® trademark is registered for a fabric hook and loop fastener. The way George de Mestral, a Swiss mountaineer, tells the story, he was hiking with his dog in 1948 and was frustrated to see all of these burrs covering them both when he returned home. He says [...]

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Today in History – May 11, 1997 – Garry Kasparov, reigning World Chess Champion, loses tournament to IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer. The event was the twentieth century version of John Henry’s “man against machine”. The triumph of human intelligence was not to happen, however, as in the shocking finale on May 11th World Champion Garry [...]

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Formerly called “Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement CCLI”, the NSF program “Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (TUES)” emphasizes projects that have the potential to transform undergraduate STEM education. For more information, see a list of the Engineering Pathway’s collection of engineering-related TUES resources.

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Today in History – May 5, 1809 – Mary Kies is the first woman to receive a U.S. patent. Prior to the U.S. Patent Act of 1790, only men could author a patent. Even after the federal law was passed, women couldn’t patent as most states did not allow women to legally own property. For [...]

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