Today in History – July 29, 1958 – NASA is established. Before the launch of Sputnik, the United States felt confident in its position on space technology. The modern liquid fueled rocket had been invented in America by Robert Goddard. In addition Wernher von Braun, the developer of the successful German V2 rocket was working for the US Army’s rocket program. The view in Washington was that the government should only develop purely military rockets and leave the rest to the private sector. Wernher von Braun was even discouraged from developing rockets that could carry satellites. That all changed when the Soviet Union launch Sputnik on October 4, 1957. The United States had clearly lost its edge in space technology and it was decided that a new federal agency should be established for non-military space programs.

On July 29, 1958 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Eilene Galloway was instrumental in drafting the legislation and and making the case for its emphasis on international collaboration and peaceful exploration.

Many parts of the Naval Research Laboratory and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency were incorporated into NASA at its start, including the participation of Wernher von Braun. NASA quickly ramped up its human space flight program resulting in the launch of the first American in space on May 5, 1961, and the first American in orbit on February 20, 1962. One of NASA’s largest accomplishments was just seven years later with the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. During this short amount of time NASA helped America regain its confidence as a leader in space flight.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s related resources on NASA. Or visit the Aerospace Engineering Education community site.

In July – July 31, 1790 – first U.S. patent went to Samuel Hopkins for an improvement “in the making Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process.” President George Washington, Attorney General Edmund Randolph, and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson signed the patent. Only two other patents were granted that year, one for a new candle-making process and the other the flour-milling machinery of Oliver Evans.

The Engineering Pathway has a number of educational resources on patents and inventors. I’m a big fan of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). NCIIA “fosters invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship in higher education as a way of creating innovative, commercially viable, and socially beneficial businesses and employment opportunities in the United States.” The website provides information on faculty and student grant opportunities, conferences and resources.

One question I’ve had is why do we not hear more about patents by women? It turns out that pior 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 example, there is much speculation that the authorship of the cotton gin patent of 1794 should have included Catherine Greene on the patent, as well as that of the African American slaves who also were not allowed to patent. In fact, it was not until March 3, 1831 that Thomas Jennings became the first African-American to receive a patent for his invention of ‘dry-scouring’, a process better known today as dry-cleaning. See Chad-Eric Montgomery’s March 3rd blog on this event.

Mary Kies’ invention was a process for weaving straw with silk or thread. Alas the patent file was destroyed in the great Patent Office fire in 1836 and an exact copy of the patent is no longer available. Kies invention has been credited for boosting the U.S. hat industry. Even First Lady, Dolley Madison praised her contributions. Until about 1840, most of the other 20 patents issued to women concerned applications that women saw in their everyday work: apparel, tools, cook stoves, and fire places.

Below I highlight some of our other blogs on women’s contributions to engineering, computer science and entrepreneurship.

My daughter, Arianne Agogino Gieringer wrote the April 25th blog on Florence Rena Sabin, the first woman elected to National Academy of Science. Dr. Florence Rena Sabin, Professor of Histology in the Johns Hopkins Medical School was also the first woman to be a full professor in that institution and also the first woman to be President of the American Association of Anatomists.

Patricia Galloway, first female president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), blogs on Elsie Eaves – first female engineer in ASCE to be elected as a full member on March 14, 1927.

Lucy Sanders, CEO of the Center for Women in Information Technology blogs on the unveiling of the ENIAC on February 14, 1946, the world’s first digital electronic computer, as well as on the contributions of women in computing.

Jasmina Vujic, Chair of the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of California at Berkeley, blogs on Lise Meitner and her groundbreaking publication that first introduced the world to nuclear fission on February 11, 1939.

Chad-Eric Montgommery blogs on two African American women. On March 1, 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first African American woman to receive a medical degree. Also see the blog on Sara Breedlove Walker, the first self-made millionairess hair product inventions for African American women.

Pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Helen Taussig, was one of the doctors at Johns Hopkins who performed the first open heart surgery on November 29, 1944.

I enjoyed researching the blog for November 13, 1913 – Mary Phelps Jacobs invents modern bra. And also for the one on Dr. Mary Walker, the first female army surgeon to be awarded the Medal of Honor on November 11, 1875.

Check out the Engineering Pathway‘s many educational resources on women in engineering, women in information technology, women inventors and gender equity. One of my favorite resources is FairerScience, with practical advice on how to develop gender equitable classrooms and practices in math, science and engineering.

For a more in-depth analysis of the issues associated with gender equity in our faculties and recommended solutions, read our “most commented” resource – the National Academies’ Beyond Bias and Barriers report. My editorial on the report was published in ASEE Prism, November 2006, vol. 16 (3). We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions as well.

Also on this date in 2008 – QinetiQ breaks unofficial world record for unmanned flight over three and a half days US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on unmanned flight. Or view curricular resources at the Aerospace Engineering Education Community site.

Today in History – July 23, 1995- National Inventors Hall of Fame opens in Alexandria, Virginia at the United States Patent and Trademark Office,  honoring “the women and men responsible for the great technological advances that make human, social and economic progress possible.”

The museum’s most recent exhibit includes materials from Michael Jackson’s patent and trademark applications.  Did you know that Jackson is the co-inventor of a “system for allowing a shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specially designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectable through a stage surface”?

The Engineering Pathway has a number of educational resources on patents and inventors. I’m a big fan of the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). NCIIA “fosters invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship in higher education as a way of creating innovative, commercially viable, and socially beneficial businesses and employment opportunities in the United States.” The website provides information on faculty and student grant opportunities, conferences and resources.

One question I’ve had is why do we not hear more about patents by women? It turns out that pior 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 example, there is much speculation that the authorship of the cotton gin patent of 1794 should have included Catherine Greene on the patent, as well as that of the African American slaves who also were not allowed to patent. In fact, it was not until March 3, 1831 that Thomas Jennings became the first African-American to receive a patent for his invention of ‘dry-scouring’, a process better known today as dry-cleaning. See Chad-Eric Montgomery’s March 3rd blog on this event.

Mary Kies’ invention was a process for weaving straw with silk or thread. Alas the patent file was destroyed in the great Patent Office fire in 1836 and an exact copy of the patent is no longer available. Kies invention has been credited for boosting the U.S. hat industry. Even First Lady, Dolley Madison praised her contributions. Until about 1840, most of the other 20 patents issued to women concerned applications that women saw in their everyday work: apparel, tools, cook stoves, and fire places.

Below I highlight some of our other blogs on women’s contributions to engineering, computer science and entrepreneurship.

My daughter, Arianne Agogino Gieringer wrote the April 25th blog on Florence Rena Sabin, the first woman elected to National Academy of Science. Dr. Florence Rena Sabin, Professor of Histology in the Johns Hopkins Medical School was also the first woman to be a full professor in that institution and also the first woman to be President of the American Association of Anatomists.

Patricia Galloway, first female president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), blogs on Elsie Eaves – first female engineer in ASCE to be elected as a full member on March 14, 1927.

Lucy Sanders, CEO of the Center for Women in Information Technology blogs on the unveiling of the ENIAC on February 14, 1946, the world’s first digital electronic computer, as well as on the contributions of women in computing.

Jasmina Vujic, Chair of the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of California at Berkeley, blogs on Lise Meitner and her groundbreaking publication that first introduced the world to nuclear fission on February 11, 1939.

Chad-Eric Montgommery blogs on two African American women. On March 1, 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first African American woman to receive a medical degree. Also see the blog on Sara Breedlove Walker, the first self-made millionairess hair product inventions for African American women.

Pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Helen Taussig, was one of the doctors at Johns Hopkins who performed the first open heart surgery on November 29, 1944.

I enjoyed researching the blog for November 13, 1913 – Mary Phelps Jacobs invents modern bra. And also for the one on Dr. Mary Walker, the first female army surgeon to be awarded the Medal of Honor on November 11, 1875.

Check out the Engineering Pathway‘s many educational resources on women in engineering, women in information technology, women inventors and gender equity. One of my favorite resources is FairerScience, with practical advice on how to develop gender equitable classrooms and practices in math, science and engineering.

For a more in-depth analysis of the issues associated with gender equity in our faculties and recommended solutions, read our “most commented” resource – the National Academies’ Beyond Bias and Barriers report. My editorial on the report was published in ASEE Prism, November 2006, vol. 16 (3). We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions as well.

Also on this date in 2008 – QinetiQ breaks unofficial world record for unmanned flight over three and a half days US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on unmanned flight. Or view curricular resources at the Aerospace Engineering Education Community site.

Back in April, Alice and I discussed the founding date issue. It is absolutely obvious that Microsoft started out in 1975. It is absolutely impossible to pick a specific date within that year as “the” date. Imagine yourself as a 19-year-old, with your 22-year-old friend, starting out in a new business venture. You haven’t hired a venture fund manager, or a PR firm, and your sister ends up doing your tax forms for the year. You see a magazine article which sparks an idea for a product. You make an oral agreement with a company to deliver that product, and you give it to them when it’s done. A couple of months later it gets written up in a newsletter or two. Somebody likes your new product enough to lift a copy of your paper tape out of your marketing van and starts passing out copies. Eventually, you write up a formal agreement, and then backdate it. Meanwhile, you’re working out of your apartment, and hiring friends to contract part-time. I don’t think the average person would think, “In 33 years this new company will have revenues topping $60 billion, and I should probably make a note that the company started today.”

We did find an outdated Microsoft Fast Facts document that gave the April 4^th date, so it’s very possible that the wrong information originated with us. To me this just illustrates the fact that history is only an interpretation of what we perceive from the documentary evidence, and that archives are hugely important in making sure that evidence is available to be re-examined with fresh perspective when the need arises.

For more information on the early years, you’ll find some great new material on the Bill Gates Transition site on Microsoft PressPass, including the reunion shot of the original employees from the classic “Albuquerque Group” photo.

Today in History – July 20, 1969 – Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon, fulfilling President Kennedy’s challenge to put a “man” on the moon before the end of the decade. With a tight development and execution schedule, any number of things could have gone wrong. Instead, the major flaw, from the public’s knowledge,  was when there was some question about Armstrong’s historic words. At 10:56 p.m. EDT, with more than half a billion people watching on television, Armstrong takes the first step on the moon. Armstrong maintains that he said:  “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” The press heard and quoted: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Listen and decide for yourself.  Aldrin joined him soon after and collected rocks that are still of value today. He described the lunar surface as “magnificent desolation“.

The moon walk and the Apollo mission accomplishments validated to the nation the importance of U.S. leadership in space exploration and the formation of NASA as a separate agency to head these efforts. Before the launch of Sputnik, the United States felt confident in its position on space technology. The modern liquid fueled rocket had been invented in America by Robert Goddard. In addition Wernher von Braun, the developer of the successful German V2 rocket was working for the US Army’s rocket program. The view in Washington was that the government should only develop purely military rockets and leave the rest to the private sector. Wernher von Braun was even discouraged from developing rockets that could carry satellites. That all changed when the Soviet Union launch Sputnik on October 4, 1957. The United States had clearly lost its edge in space technology and it was decided that a new federal agency should be established for non-military space programs.

On July 29, 1958 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Eilene Galloway was instrumental in drafting the legislation and and making the case for its emphasis on international collaboration and peaceful exploration.

Many parts of the Naval Research Laboratory and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency were incorporated into NASA at its start, including the participation of Wernher von Braun. NASA quickly ramped up its human space flight program resulting in the launch of the first American in space on May 5, 1961, and the first American in orbit on February 20, 1962. One of NASA’s largest accomplishments was just seven years later with the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. During this short amount of time NASA helped America regain its confidence as a leader in space flight.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s related resources on NASA. Or visit the Aerospace Engineering Education community site.

Today in History – July 17, 1955 – Disneyland® opens and Walt Disney’s dream becomes a reality.  He envisioned “a magical destination where families could come together to create memories that last a lifetime, opened its doors to the world.” Click on the images above to get to Disney’s archive of original classic attractions, entertainment, dining and shopping that inspired new concepts in entertainment and experience design.

A decade later on November 16, 1965  Walt Disney launched the EPCOT Center: Prototype Community of Tomorrow. As Walt Disney originally envisioned it, the EPCOT Center (which stood for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow”) would be the key component of Walt Disney World – a working “city of the future” with residential, shopping and industrial districts that would showcase the latest technologies available. Walt’s vision included forward thinking ideas such as clean (read: electric) transportation systems, and a city dominated by the pedestrian (all automobile traffic was to be underground). In his own words, “It’s like the city of tomorrow ought to be. A city that caters to the people as a service function. It will be a planned, controlled community, a showcase for American industry and research, schools, cultural and educational opportunities… [It] will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise.”

Walt Disney died approximately a year after the launch of the EPCOT project, and without his vision and drive the EPCOT Center took a very different direction. Instead of a working city, Epcot (no longer an acronym) is now a theme park with two different themes in one: a showcase of the future (a legacy of EPCOT’s original design) and the World Showcase (where you can tour the world by foot in under two hours). The theme park officially opened on October 1st, 1982 and 2007 marks it’s 25th year of operation.

See the Engineering Pathway’s resources on theme parks and roller coaster design.

Today in History – July 14, 1867 - Nobel first demonstrates dynamite. While in Paris, Nobel came to work with Ascanio Sobrero, the inventor of nitroglycerine. Though it was ten times stronger that black powder, it was highly unstable. Nobel was intrigued with nitroglycerine’s potential as a construction tool. But he knew he had to make it safer to use. In 1860 he began his experiments on nitroglycerine and went on to create an detonator (blasting cap) for it. Though one of his brothers died in an 1864 nitroglycerine accident, Nobel continued his work to improve the substance. In 1866 he finds that the addition of kieselguhr (diatomaceous earth) stabilizes the substances and makes it moldable. Because the substance could be shaped into cylinders it made it a perfect fit for the holes created by the newly invented diamond tipped drill. With dynamite construction on bridges, tunnels, and other projects occurred faster, cheaper, and safer. And in 1867 Nobel obtained the patent for the substance now known as dynamite.

Nobel’s makes much of his fortune through dynamite. And it later years he pursues further work in weapons technology. However late in his life, and especially through his interactions with Bertha von Suttner, he became increasingly interested in working for world peace. In 1888 a premature obituary was printed condemning him for inventing dynamite, which was now also used as a weapon in wars. In order to create a more positive legacy, Nobel left much of his estate to create the Nobel Prizes.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway‘s resources on, Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prize, and other scientific and engineering awards. Or browse related curricular resources and events in the Civil Engineering Education, Construction Engineering Education, Mineral and Mining Engineering Eduacation or the Chemical Engineering Education community sites.

Today in History – June 29, 2007 -The first Apple iPhone is sold. The initial price tag of $600 limited sales to early adapters and Apple fans, of which there were many  (photo of waiting line upper left). The price was reduced to $400 soon afterwards and in 2008 the iPhone 3G at $200  released the flood gates of demand. Apple sold over 10 million iPhone 3G units worldwide within five months of its release.

Three years later there is competition from other vendors, but the release of Apple’s iPhone 4 sales still topped 1.7 million in a few days after its launch on June 24, 2010. “This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.”

Photo caption (upper right): “Wearing iPhone placards on their heads, two Japanese customers show off their iPhone 4 at a mobile phone store in Tokyo on June 24. Hundreds of Apple fans braved sweltering humidity to form giant queues in an upscale Tokyo district in a race to be among the first in the world to get their hands on the latest iPhone.”

I do have an older iPhone and am still learning the features on this one. I think I’ll wait for more before I get an upgrade. I am reminded though of HP’s first pocket calculator, the HP35 released on February 1, 1972. I was an undergraduate engineering student and my parents bought me the next version, the HP45. I still carried both it and my slide rule around on my belt – really. Primates love our gadgets. Did you know that the the first ball point pen went on sale in 1945 at a price tag equivalent to $150 in today’s money? 8,000 people are reported to have swarmed a New York Department story to by them on the first day of sale.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on iPhones, smart phones and cell phones. For related educational resources, visit the Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Design, and Engineering Management education disciplinary communities.

Also on this date in 1995, the US Shuttle docks with the Russian Space Station. This is the first time in 20 years that American and Russian spacecraft have successfully docked in orbit.

Today in History – June 26, 1974 – First barcode using the universal product code (UPC) was scanned by a cashier at a supermarket checkout counter. A shopper named Clyde Dawson handed a cashier at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio named Sharon Buchanan a 10-pack of chewing gum. The gum’s black and white barcode was scanned with a $4000 laser scanner from PSC, Inc. and rang up at 67 cents. A new era in supermarket shopping was born.

The barcode was originally patented by Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver on October 7, 1952 for “Classifying Apparatus and Method”. Although it was commercially available in 1966, it took work in standardizing to make it successful. George J. Lauer is credited with the invention of the Universal Product Code (UPC) that made barcodes viable (left image above).

If you are interested in seeing Clyde Dawson’s package of Juicy Fruit gum, go to the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History. Today supermarket barcodes are standard and available for a fraction of their original cost.

Thirty-four years after their introduction, barcodes on supermarket items may soon become as antiquated as audio cassettes – they only tell the cashier which type of product is being sold, while Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) allows retailers to track every item individually through the use of smart tags.

Because such tags transmit the information they contain to any RFID reader nearby, employees locate misplaced items more easily and hopefully deter theft. While cost concerns have hindered the adoption of the new technology, just like its predecessor in the 1970s, the humble bar code seems unlikely to stand a chance once RFID reaches critical mass.

Luckily, it has found many other uses beyond retail, in fields such as certified mail, courier services and airline luggage processing, although customers might come to wish airlines placed smart tags on their suitcases. Two novel areas stand out: airline check-in and e-government.

If you recently checked in for your flight using your home or work computer, rather than at the airport kiosk, you might have noticed that the bar code on your boarding pass looked a bit odd – the black-and-white pattern was more complex than the usual array of vertical bars we all have grown accustomed to. You were, in fact, staring at a two-dimensional bar code.

Two-dimensional bar codes were developed in the late 1980s to store large amounts of information with high security, especially when space is limited. They are also extremely difficult to forge. Continental Airlines even hopes to let customers check in by uploading 2D bar codes on their cell phones, which would decrease paper costs, and is now testing the viability of the approach in a pilot program.

The US government uses bar codes too. The American embassy in London, among others, puts bar codes in the confirmation emails it sends to visa applicants once they have submitted their documentation online. The bar code is scanned when the candidates arrive at the embassy for their interview, allowing the visa officer to quickly access their information. Paper tax forms have bar codes as well. Additional potential applications include driver’s licenses and medical patient records.

Even if bar codes disappear from retailers’ shelves, they will not go the way of the audio cassettes any time soon.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway‘s resources on barcodes and RFID tags. Additional curricular materials on modern manufacturing practices can be found on the Manufacturing Engineering Education or the Industrial Engineering Education community sites.

Today in History – June 24, 1963 – First television video recorder is demonstrated. The Telcan was the first domestic “TV recorder”. The Nottingham Electric Valve Company developed a simple reel-to-reel system, using ordinary 1/4 inch audio tape that recorded linearly with stationary heads. It could only manage a maximum of 20 minutes of low-resolution black and white recordings, though the tape could be turned over to get about 40 minutes per spool.

The Telcan went on sale in 1963 and was mainly sold as a kit, for $60 [2005: $840]. Unfortunately, the kits only appealed to technically competant buyers with money. It never captured the imagination of the general buyer and low sales caused the product to fail in the market. It is reported that only two Telcan machines are known to exist today – one in San Francisco, the other in the Wollaton Hall industrial museum in Nottingham.

Another factor in the Telcan’s demise might have been that it was restricted to black and white for programs of any length. A decade earlier the color television was catching the public’s attention and was being sold at a reasonable price and didn’t require putting it together as a kit. If you had the money, which new technology innovation would you pick?

On March 25, 1954, RCA began mass production of the model CT-100 color television. The cost of the set was $1,000 – not much less than a new car! Unsurprisingly, it took some time for color television to catch on. Not until 1966 did a network (NBC) broadcast all of its programming in color, and color television sales did not exceed black and white sales until 1972.

Initial quality of color television receivers was low: the picture was small (the CT-100 had a 12-inch screen) and the images were not very bright. Advances in technology such as the transistor and integrated circuits led to improvements in size, power consumption, and image quality. In recent years, the very standard underlying color television has been subject to intense debate, as high-definition digital television comes to the fore.

For additional information on the history of television see: FCC website, IEEE History Center or view my earlier March 25th blog on RCA’s production of the first color television set.

Check out the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the television. For more educational resources, see our electrical engineering education and computer engineering education community pages. The Engineering Pathway also hosts Engineering Education communities in all ABET-accredited disciplines.

Also on this date in 2009 was the launch of the first hybrid solar/natural gas power station. Check out the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on solar power.