In 1922 – Scientists at the Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory near Washington, D.C., demonstrated radar by showing that if a ship passed through a radio wave broadcast between two stations, that ship could be detected.

In 1983 – Richard Stallman announced the GNU project which aimed at the time to develop a free Unix-like operating system.

In 1996 – Kevin Mitnick was indicted on charges he broke into the systems of major software companies, then transferred stolen material to computers at USC via the Internet. Seems prosaic today, but was unheard of at the time.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

In 1960 – For the first time, a US presidential debate was televised. Vice President Nixon and Senator Kennedy debated in Chicago and were perceived differently by those who listened on radio versus those who watched on television.

In 1983 – 17-year-old Neal Patrick, of the hacking group 414s testified before the U.S. House of Representatives about computer break-ins and how they might be stopped.

In 1991 – Eight people entered Biosphere 2, an airtight replica of the Earth’s biosphere in Oracle, Arizona. They left exactly two years later in 1993. Results of the experiment are still controversial.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

In 1956 – The first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system, TAT-1 was inaugurated, replacing slow telegraph and unreliable radio systems.

In 2001 – Apple announced the release of Mac OS X 10.1 Puma, the first major upgrade to OS X.

In 2012 – Blizzard launched its 4th World of Warcraft expansion, called Mists of Pandaria.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.