1809
Birth of Charles Darwin, big-name biologist and naturalist, proponent of the now widely accepted theory of natural selection.
Further reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin
1877
Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone for the first time in public at the Salem Lyceum Hall. The demonstration ended with the sending of the first telephone news dispatch which was received by the Boston Globe.
Further reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_telephone
1973
Along Interstate 71 in Ohio, the first metric distance road signs to be erected in the US were put in place. They informed of the distance between Columbus and Cleveland and Columbus and Cincinnati.
Further reading
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/02/12/loc_ohiodate0212.html
2001
The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touched down on 433 Eros after transmitting 69 close up pictures. It became the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
Further reading
2001
Jan de Wit sends out an email stating that it is a picture of the famous ten
nis player Anna Kournikova. it was a malicious script that tried to send itself to every address in a Windows user’s address book and e-mail inbox. The malware was so efficient, it was known to be spreading twice as fast as the “Love Bug” virus that devastated corporate networks a year earlier. The moral of the story is that men are easily manipulated.
Further reading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Kournikova_%28computer_virus%29