Today in History – April 6, 1938 – Teflon ® is discovered. In 1938, Du Pont researcher Roy J. Plunkett and his technician Jack Rebok accidentally discovered the chemical compound polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) that was later marketed as a commercial product in 1946 under the name Teflon®. Discovery of Teflon® is a good example of serendipity [...]

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Today in History – April 4, 1975 – The Microsoft Company founded. Well actually, Microsoft’s archivist has no record of a noteworthy Microsoft event that might have happened on April 4. The closest event appears to be a hand written tax form dated on April 1 that may have reached the IRS on April 4. [...]

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Today in History – April 3, 1973 – Martin Cooper of Motorola invented the cell phone and provides a public demonstration. He made the call to his rival, Joel Engel, Bell Labs head of research. Motorola and AT&T Bell Labs were competing to develop cellular communications in the sixties and early seventies. Although AT&T’s Bell [...]

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Today in History – April 1, 1976 – Apple Computer Company formed and released the Apple I computer – the first with a single circuit board. There was no assembly line as each Apple I was hand-built by Steve Wozniak in Steve Jobs’ parents’ home and required further assembly by the purchaser, including providing AC [...]

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Today in History – March 25, 1954 – Production of RCA’s first color television sets. RCA based their color television on the 1947 patent application of Alfred Schroeder, for a shadow mask CRT. Their system passed FCC approval in late 1953 and sales of RCA color televisions began on March 25, 1954. Yet, as is [...]

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