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Feb. 20, 1962: Yank in Orbit
Astronaut John Glenn enters the spacecraft Friendship 7 prior to MA-6 launch operations at Launch Complex 14. Photo: NASA 1962: John Glenn isn’t the first American into space — Alan Shepard beat him...
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Feb. 21, 1947: ‘Take a Polaroid’ Enters the English Language
Photo: Timmy Toucan/Flickr 1947: The Land camera is demonstrated for the first time by its inventor, Edwin Land. The camera, which became better known by the name of Land’s company, Polaroid, was the...
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Feb. 22, 1857: Hertz Enters Cycle of Life
1857: Heinrich Rudolf Hertz is born. The physicist will make key discoveries about the transmission of electromagnetic waves and eventually give his name to a pervasive measurement of the electronic...
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Feb. 25, 1919: Oregon Taxes Gas by the Gallon
1919: Oregon passes the nation’s first per-gallon tax on gasoline. It’s only a penny, and it’s only one state, but you know where things go from here. New York City started collecting registration...
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Feb. 26, 1870: New York City Blows Subway Opportunity
1870: Inventor Alfred Ely Beach opens New York City’s first subway line, a pneumatic demonstration project in a 300-foot tunnel under Broadway. Beach first demonstrated pneumatic transit at the 1867...
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March 4, 1877: The Microphone Sounds Much Better
1877: Emile Berliner invents a new kind of microphone. It assures the future of the telephone, but not fame for Berliner. Alexander Graham Bell had already invented his telephone, but without...
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March 5, 1904: Tesla’s Having a Ball
1904: Physicist Nikola Tesla attempts to explain the phenomenon of “ball lightning.” Ball lightning (if it exists at all) is an electrical discharge, usually appearing in spherical shape that, unlike...
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March 6, 1992: False Alarm
Michelangelo. Image: Daniele da Volterra/Public Domain 1992: The doomsday that wasn’t: MS-DOS users are quaking in their boots over reports that the Michelangelo computer virus has infected their...
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March 7, 1897: First Morning of the Cornflake
1897: Dr. John Kellogg, believing that a strict diet (along with vigorous exercise, fresh air and plenty of rest) benefits the patients at his sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, serves up the...
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March 8, 1918: Killer Influenza
1918: With World War I reaching its climax, the first case of Spanish influenza is reported. It quickly spreads, and the resulting worldwide epidemic — the worst in history — ends up killing more...
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