In 1791 – At 44 Crosby Row, Walworth Road, London, England, (we think), Betsy and Benjamin welcomed their son Charles Babbage into the world. He would grow up to make a difference…. engine.

In 1933 – Edwin Armstrong received a patent for his method of eliminating static in a radio broadcast using frequency modulation. He would license out the technology but many companies would embrace FM radio without his permission and he spent much of his later life battling in court.

In 1982 – Time’s January 3rd issue arrived on newsstands with the computer on the cover as Machine of the Year. It was the first non-human to gain the honor since the Man of the Year concept started in 1927 with Charles Lindbergh.

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

In 1741- In Uppsala, Sweden, Anders Celsius first used a Delisle thermometer he had marked up with 100 gradations between boiling and freezing. It was the first use of the centigrade scale of temperature.

In 1959 – Sony announced its first television set, the transistor-based TV-301. It would go on sale in Japan the following May.

In 1990 – Tim Berners-Lee with help from CERN computer scientist Robert Cailliau and others— set up the first successful communication between a Web browser and server via the Internet.

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

In 1955 – After an advertising misprint Continental Air Defense Command, CONAD started getting calls from children for Santa Claus, so Director of Operations Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for signs of St. Nick. NORAD was created in 1958 and they’ve kept up the tracking tradition ever since.

In 1968: The crew of Apollo 8 delivered a live, televised Christmas Eve broadcast after becoming the first humans to orbit another space body.

In 1999 – The very seasonal HTML 4.01 was published by the World Wide Web Consortium. HTML 4.01 remained the current HTML standard for well over a decade.

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

In 1947 – John Bardeen and Walter Brattain demonstrate their new discovery transistor at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. William Shockley, who contributed to the invention, missed the presentation.

In 1968 – Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders made the lunar-orbit-insertion maneuver on their way to becoming the first humans to orbit the Moon.

In 1986, – Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager touched down at Edwards Air Force Base in the experimental airplane Voyager, completing the first non-stop, round- the- world flight without refueling.

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

In 1666 – Seven mathematicians and seven physicists gathered by Jean-Baptiste Colbert met in the king’s library to found the French Academy of Sciences.

In 1882 – Edward H. Johnson of the Edison Illumination Company strung a single power cord with red white and blue lights on his Christmas tree becoming the first person to use Christmas tree lights.

In 1885 – A patent for a gravity switchback railway was issued to La Marcus Thompson of Coney Island, NY. You and I might call it a “roller coaster”

In 1968 – At 3:01 PM Eastern time, Apollo 8 transmitted the first U.S. live telecast from a manned spacecraft in outer space.

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