Today in Tech History – March 23, 2016

20140404-073853.jpgIn 1857 – The first department store elevator for passengers was installed at E.V. Haughwout & Co. in New York City. This was a significant development towards the building of skyscrapers.

In 1882 – Amalie “Emmy” Noether was born in Erlangen, Germany. Albert Einstein called her a mathematical genius. She broke ground in theories of rings, fields and algebra and developed Noether’s theorem which explained the fundamental connection between symmetry and conservation laws.

In 1996 – The US space shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian space station Mir for the third time, and for the first time dropped off a US astronaut. Shannon Lucid began her record-breaking stay on the space station.

In 2001 – The final commands to light the engines of the Progress supply ship were sent to the Russian Mir space station, which then broke up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.

Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.