1816 – Gaslight illuminated Philadelphia’s Chestnut Street Theatre, improving on an innovation pioneered in London. Instead of coal the gas was created from pitch, reducing the malodorous vapors caused by the wonder’s creation.

http://www3.northern.edu/wild/LiteDes/ldhist.htm

1915 – Albert Einstein presented general theory of relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/11/economist-explains-17

1957 – PG&E and General Electric inaugurated the Vallecitos Nuclear Power Plant in Pleasanton California. It was the first privately funded atomic power plant.

http://archive.org/details/FirstPri1957 http://www.energy.ca.gov/nuclear/california.html

1976 – The Project Viking landers passed through superior conjunction at Mars, enabling scientists to begin an experiment that used the landers as transponders. The data collected confirmed the Shapiro Delay, becoming one of the best confirmations of General Relativity we have seen.

http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1979ApJ…234L.219R

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1932 – The FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (known then only as the Technical Crime Laboratory) officially opened in Washington DC. It’s location was chosen because it had a sink, and its one employee, Agent Charles Appel had to borrow a microscope.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-fbi-crime-lab-opens-its-doors-for-business
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/highlights-of-history/articles/laboratory

1969 – The Apollo 12 command module with its all-Navy crew splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second manned mission to the Moon. Credit goes to the USS Hornet for its second flawless recovery effort.

http://www.uss-hornet.org/history/apollo/

1998 – AOL announced it would purchase Netscape Communications, merging what were then two of the biggest names on the Internet.
http://money.cnn.com/1998/11/24/technology/aol/

2014 – Attackers calling themselves “Guardians Of Peace” hacked into Sony Pictures Entertainment’s internal networks, stealing data, deleting data, and placing a message and an image of a red skeleton on computer desktops throughout the company.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/24/7277451/sony-pictures-paralyzed-by-massive-security-compromise

Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.

1889 – A “nickel-in-the-slot player” was installed at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco, the first jukebox. Up to four people could put in a coin, put on earphones and listen to a record playing on an Edison Class M phonograph.

http://www.americanheritage.com/content/wurlitzer-1015

1963 – At 5:16 PM the BBC premiered its new family science fiction show, Doctor Who, with its first episode, “An Unearthly Child.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/unearthlychild/detail.shtml

2004 – Blizzard launched World of Warcraft, destined to become the largest MMORPG ever made.

http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/profile.html

2015 – Blue Origin successfully launched its BE-3 rocket carrying an unoccupied New Shepard space capsule to a suborbital height of 100.5 km and landed the used rocket safely on the ground.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/24/blue-origin-reusable-rocket-landing/

Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.

1963 – One of the most famous 8mm home movies ever recorded was filmed on a Model 414 PD Bell and Howell in Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. The Zapruder film showed President John F. Kennedy and Governor John Connally being shot.

http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/11/1122zapruder-films-jfkennedy-assassination/

1995 – The first feature-length film created entirely using computer-generated imagery was released to theaters. Toy Story grossed more than $350 million worldwide, making executive producer Steve Jobs, very happy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114709/

2005 – Microsoft’s Xbox 360 went on sale in North America. The follow-up to the Xbox would become a smash hit.

http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/nov-22-2005-xbox-360-hits-stores-11946797

Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.