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 [...]

[Read more →]

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 [...]

[Read more →]

Today in History – April 21, 1997 – Timothy Leary and Gene Roddenberry launched into orbit. LSD guru Timothy Leary and “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry (left image) hitched a ride into space, along with 22 other people as part of a new commercial “memorial space flight” venture of Texas-based Celestis Inc. The Spanish Pegasus [...]

[Read more →]

Today in History – April 9, 1967 – The Boeing 737 makes its maiden flight. Boeing initiated the design in 1958 and received its first order in 1965. Since then the Boeing 737 has become a top selling airplane with approximately 6,000 orders. John McMasters was an expert engineer at Boeing who had an endless [...]

[Read more →]

Today in History – April 8, 1953 – the first major 3D movie was released. Well, actually the first 3D movie shown to a paying audience is reported to be the September 22, 1922 screening of a movie called Power of Love shown in a theater in Los Angeles. But the first major Hollywood 3D [...]

[Read more →]