1937 – North Pole-1 became the first scientific research station to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean. The Soviet Union established it about 20 km from the North Pole. It operated for 9 months, and travelled 2,850 kilometres.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Swr9BTI_2FEC&pg=PA512&lpg=PA512&dq=may+21+1937+North+Pole-1&source=bl&ots=juN39sLxUk&sig=mGHw2UrlgfkTJ6gIpMWcIrrBmwE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjClrzbsLzMAhUT4GMKHb8sBiwQ6AEITDAJ

1952 – IBM announced the Model 701, the first computer designed for scientific calculation. The 701 used electrostatic storage tube memory and kept information on magnetic tape. It sold much better than expected with 19 governments and large companies snapping them up.

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/701/701_1415bx01.html

2010 – The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), launched a solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would test out the performance of solar sails, and make a Venus flyby later in the year.

http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/ikaros/

2013 – Microsoft announced its newest game console, the Xbox One at a press conference in Redmond, Washington.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4352404/microsoft-xbox-one-everything-you-need-to-know

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1875 – 17 nations (including the US) signed the ‘Convention du Mètre’ in Paris, France, establishing the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.

http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/documents/official/metre-convention.pdf

1891 – The first public demonstration of a prototype Kinetoscope was given at Edison’s laboratory, for approximately 150 members of the National Federation of Women’s Clubs. The New York Sun reported on the demonstration.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmvhist.html

1958 – Robert Baumann obtained a patent for a satellite. (US. No. 2,835,548). The patent stipulated the government could use the technology without having to pay royalties.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=3G9oAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope sent its first light image back to Earth, taken with the wide field/planetary camera.

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1990/04/

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1857 – William Francis Channing of Boston and Moses Gerrish Farmer, of Salem received the first US patent for an “electromagnetic fire alarm telegraph for cities” (No. 17,355).

http://www.google.com/patents?id=fGdWAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

1961 – Venera 1 became the first manmade object to fly by another planet, passing within 100,000 KM of Venus. The probe did not send back any data having lost contact with Earth a month earlier.

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/masterCatalog.do?sc=1961-003A

2006 – Apple opened its 20,000-square foot store at 767 Fifth Avenue. It was the second Apple store in New York City but the iconic glass cube made it the most famous.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/05/18The-Apple-Store-Fifth-Avenue-to-Open-on-Friday-May-19.html

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1923 – The first patent application for the rotary-dial telephone was submitted in France by Antoine Barnay.

http://books.google.com/books?id=JTYPKxug49IC&pg=PA252&lpg=PA252&dq=Antoine+Barnay+1923&source=bl&ots=C6QeWA_CR4&sig=mjX1XffckJdqC_f1Uj85C7o2pQM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Bu-RT6jEAYWMigLVwLHRDQ&ved=0CB8Q6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=Antoine%20Barnay%201923&f=false

1953 – Jackie Cochran took off from Rogers Dry Lake, California piloting an F-86 Sabre plane and reached averaged speeds of 652.337 miles per hour, becoming the first woman to break the sound barrier.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/today-in-history-jackie-cochran-breaks-the-sound-barrier-130780022/?no-ist

1969 – Apollo 10 launched, going on to complete all the stages of a moon landing mission without landing on the Moon. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Thomas Stafford descended in the Lunar Module to within 15KM of the lunar surface.

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-10/apollo-10.html

1998 – The United States Department of Justice and twenty US states filed civil actions against Microsoft, alleging the company abused monopoly power regarding operating system and Web browser sales.

https://www.justice.gov/archive/atr/public/press_releases/1998/1764.htm

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1902 – While going through objects recovered by divers near Antikythera off the coast of Greece, archaeologist Valerois Stais discovered a strange device with gear-wheels inside. The Antikythera mechanism has been puzzling investigators for more than a hundred years.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/05/17/antikythera-mechanism-discovered-115-years-ago/

1939 – The National Broadcasting Company televised the first sporting event, the second game of a doubleheader baseball game between Columbia and Princeton. About 400 TV sets were capable of receiving the broadcast. Princeton won 2-1 in the 10th.

http://www.gocolumbialions.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9600&ATCLID=3738874

1943 – The US Army and the University of Pennsylvania signed a contract to develop ENIAC. It was planned to use vacuum tubes and calculate ballistic firing tables.

http://www.nww2m.com/2013/05/70th-anniversary-eniac-contract-signed/

1954 – The first shovel load of earth was dug on the Meyrin site of the first CERN Laboratory building in Geneva.

https://timeline.web.cern.ch/timelines/The-history-of-CERN

Read Tom’s science fiction and other fiction books at Merritt’s Books site.