Today in Tech History – – May 11, 2018

1951 – Jay Forrester filed a patent application for matrix core memory. Professor Forrester led a team at MIT that developed a three-dimensional magnetic structure code-named Project Whirlwind. It was the first random access memory that was practical, reliable and relatively high-speed.

https://www.google.com/patents/US2736880

1979 – Daniel Bricklin and Robert Frankston gave the first demonstration of VisiCalc, the program that made the Apple II popular with businesses.

http://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/May/11/

1997 – Deep Blue won its final match against Chess master Garry Kasparov, becoming the first computer to defeat a chess champion in match play.

https://www.research.ibm.com/deepblue/watch/html/c.html

2016 – Hyperloop One conducted the first test of its linear-electric motors for propelling Hyperloop pods on a test track north of Las Vegas, NV.

http://gizmodo.com/watch-the-first-full-scale-demo-of-the-hyperloop-1776048315

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