In 1896 – Hoping to test the suns ability to create X-rays. Henri Becquerel placed a wrapped photographic plate in a closed desk drawer, with a phosphorescent uranium rocks laid on top. He left it in the drawer for several days until the sun came out. To his surprise images of the rocks appeared...

In 1837 – The U.S. Patent Office approved Thomas Davenport’s application for a patent on an “Improvement in Propelling Machinery by Magnetism and Electro-Magnetism.” We’d call it an electric motor. In 1928 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. became the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission. In 1930...

In 1949 – A modified German V-2 ballistic missile launched from White Sands Missile Range in new Mexico, reaches an altitude of 244 miles, putting it well above the Kármán line. It is the first U.S. rocket to reach “outer space.” In 1955 – A young boy is born to University of Wisconsin graduate...

In 1893 – Germany’s Imperial Patent Office granted Rudolph Diesel Patent No. 67207 for “a new efficient thermal engine”. We just call it, the Diesel engine. In 1927 – President Calvin Coolidge signed Public Law no. 632 establishing the Federal Radio Commission which was later replaced by the Federal Communications Commission. In 1927 –...