Today in History - December 31, 1968 - The Russian TU-144 is the first commercial supersonic airliner flown. Building on their supersonic military jets, the Russians developed the first supersonic commercial airliner called the Tupolev 144. Decades later the U.K. developed the Concorde supersonic passenger jet. Athough successful as a collaborative technical effort, it did […]

Today in History - December 30, 1924 - Edwin Powell Hubble announces his discovery of a galaxy outside the Milky Way. Edwin Hubble was one of the leading astronomers of the twentieth century. His discovery that not only one, but countless galaxies, exist beyond our own Milky Way galaxy forever changed our understanding of the […]

Today in History - December 29, 1891 - Thomas Alva Edison patents “transmission of signals electrically” by radio. Close to a year later, on August 9, 1892, he received a patent for a two-way radio.
Also on this date in 1952, the first transistor hearing aid went on sale by the Sonotone Corporation.  This hearing […]

Today in History - December 22, 1885 - LaMarcus Thompson patents first Gravity Switchback Railway roller coaster. It was built at Coney Island and became the precursor to the modern roller coaster. At the top of one platform, riders climbed into cars and then rode them down a 600 foot track and up to another […]

Today in History - December 19, 1972 - Apollo 17, last of Apollo Moon landing series, returns to Earth. It was the sixth and last Apollo mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface.
Also on this date in 1958, the first radio message was broadcast from space from the U.S. launched Explorer-1. Later that […]