Posted on

February 14th

1876image001

The telephone was patented on this date separately by two men – Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray. This set the stage for the famous controversy over who actually invented it and a drawn out legal battle.

Further reading

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Gray_and_Alexander_Bell_telephone_controversy

1924

The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company merged with its subsidiary and took the subsidiary’s name, International Business Machines Corporation. Yes it was later shortened to IBM.

Further reading

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/reference/faq_0000001707.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing_Tabulating_Recording_Corporation

1961image007

Element 103, Lawrencium is first synthesized at the University of California.

Further reading

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrencium

1989image009

The Department of Defense put the NAVSTAR II-1 into orbit, the first of 24 satellites that would make up the global positioning system.

Further reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System

2005image011

The domain name YouTube.com was registered. It would eventually become the dominant place to share videos on the Internet.

Further reading

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_YouTube

2011image013

IBM’s Watson, an AI computer system competed against Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Watson cleaned up, winning $77,147 to Mr. Jennings’s $24,000 and Mr. Rutter’s $21,600.

Further reading

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFR3lOm_xhE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_%28computer%29

http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/ibmwatson/