Today in History – August 19, 1934 – First All-American Soap Box Derby.  This youth competition was inspired by photographer Myron Scott while he was covering a story on the soap box cars built by local boys for the Dayton Daily News. He was motivated to develop a similar program at a national scale. Not [...]

[Read more →]

Today in History – May 18, 2004 – Founding of the National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT). Alas women now only represent a small fraction of computer science graduates and are not fully represented in the world of information technology and computing. This is one reason I enthusiastically agreed to co-found and serve as [...]

[Read more →]

Today in History – February 14, 1946 – ENIAC, the world’s first digital electronic computer, is unveiled. ENIAC – Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer – the world’s first operational, general purpose, electronic digital computer, developed at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania. The ENIAC and the invention of the computer is considered [...]

[Read more →]

February is African American History Month. Celebrate by browsing the Engineering Pathway‘s resources on African American scientists, engineers & inventors and our computing and engineering diversity websites. Readers interested in inventions by African Americans may want to view the following blogs: Martin Luther King Day (January 20),  Ice cream scoop invented (February 2),  First patent [...]

[Read more →]

Today in History – January 20, 1986 – First federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King. Through fifteen years of the persistent efforts of Congress Members John Conyers (Michigan), Shirley Chisholm (New York) and an army of other supports, Martin Luther King Day legislation was passed in 1983. A number of changes were required for it [...]

[Read more →]