In 1839 – Sir John Herschel presented his ‘Note on the Art of Photography, or the application of the Chemical Rays of Light to the purposes of Pictorial Representation’ to the Royal Society, likely the first use of the word ‘photography’. In 1879 – Albert Einstein was born in Ulm in Württemberg, Germany. He...

In 1781 – English astronomer William Herschel observed what he initially thought was a comet but turns out to be the planet Uranus. It was the first planet to be discovered using a telescope. In 1882 – At the Royal Institution, Eadweard J. Muybridge demonstrated his zoopraxiscope, an optical apparatus that exhibited photographs of...

In 1790 – John Frederic Daniell was born. He would grow up to invent the Daniell cell, a battery that supplied an even current during continuous operation, thus making battery power practical. In 1889 – Almon B. Strowger of Kansas City filed his patent for the first automatic telephone exchange. In 1923 – Inventor...

In 105 – Ts’ai Lun demonstrated his process for making paper to the Han emperor in China. He probably didn’t invent it, but he certainly turned it into an industry for the first time. And the industry still survives 20 centuries later even int he face of the computers that plot its doom. In...

In 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell spoke the immortal words “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.” over the a telephone in his Boston laboratory, summoning his assistant from the next room. It is widely considered the first instance of someone using technology when they bloody well could have just got up and spoke...