In 1882 – Ernst Werner von Siemens presented his “trackless trolley” called the Elektromote in a Berlin suburb. The system pulled electricity from overhead wires, but used road wheels instead of tracks.

In 1953 – KECA-TV an ABC affiliate in Los Angeles, California broadcast the first U.S. experimental 3D-TV. An episode of Space Patrol required specially polarized glasses to watch.

In 2005 – Apple released Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, introducing spotlight search and dashboard functionality.

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

In 2001 – Dennis Tito became the first “space tourist” in human history paying his own way to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

In 2003 – Apple opened the iTunes Music Store with 200,000 songs at 99 cents a piece. Songs could play back on any iPod and up to 3 authorised Macs. Windows users were out of luck but tracks could be burned to unlimited numbers of CDs.

In 2003 – Apple unveiled the “third-generation” iPod. The new iPods were thinner and featured the still used bottom Dock Connector port rather than the top-mounted FireWire port. The iPod controls also became entirely touch sensitive.

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

In 1981 – The first mouse integrated with a personal computer made its appearance with the Xerox Star workstation.

In 1995 – The Justice Department sued to block Microsoft’s purchase of Intuit, claiming the acquisition would raise prices and squash innovation. Intuit still exists but Microsoft Money is long gone.

In 1998 – Roughly 8,000 AOL subscribers joined the first known live interspecies chat with Koko the gorilla. Koko signed her answers; Penny Patterson interpreted them; and an AOL chat facilitator entered them in the computer.

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

In 1884 – The New York Times reported that “sending mails by electricity” was to be investigated by the Post Office Committee of the U.S. House, by providing for contracts with an existing telegraph company. It could lead to 10 cent telegrams!

In 1970 – The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization entered into force.

In 1986 – Design flaws made worse by human error during a safety test, led to the worst nuclear disaster yet, and a partial meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant.

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

In 1944 – Lt. Carter Harman of the 1st Air Commando Group rescued four men from the jungle in Burma Flying a Sikorsky YR-4 helicopter. It was the first combat rescue by helicopters in the U.S. Army Air Forces.

In 1953 – Watson and Crick’s presented their findings on the double helical structure of DNA in the publication Nature. They noted that the structure “suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.” 50 Years later the Human Genome Project had concluded sequencing the genome and published a follow-on in Nature on their vision for genetic research.

In 1961 – Robert Noyce received the US patent for the silicon-based integrated circuit. He went on to found the Intel Corporation with Gordon E. Moore in 1968. Noyce fought a long patent rights battle with Jack Kilby who invented a germanium based integrated circuit.

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