#TodayInHistory 1984 - Ashton-Tate introduces the dBase III relational #database program for IBM PC-compatible computers.
dBase was one of the first database management systems for microcomputers and the most successful in its day. The dBase system included the core database engine, a query system, a forms engine, and a #programming language that tied all of these components together.
#OnThisDay, April 28, 1992, Jim Gallien gave Christopher McCandless a ride to the head of the Stampede Trail in the Denali Borough in Alaska, the last time McCandless was seen alive (depicted in Into the Wild, 2007)
#OnThisDay, April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. Public reaction was negative and the original formula was back on the market within three months (depicted in Stranger Things, s03e07 “The Bite”, 2016)
#OnThisDay, April 22, 1964, the 1964 World’s Fair opened at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City. Its theme was "Peace Through Understanding” (depicted in Tomorrowland, 2015)
#OnThisDay, April 20, 1902, Marie and Pierre Curie successfully isolated radioactive radium salts from the mineral pitchblende in their laboratory in Paris (depicted in Radioactive, 2019
#OnThisDay, April 13, 1970, the NASA Mission Control Center received a radio communication from Apollo 13 astronauts John "Jack" Swigert and Jim Lovell: “Uh, Houston, we’ve had a problem.” (depicted in Apollo 13, 1995)
#OnThisDay, April 12, 1961, at 6:07 AM UTC, the Vostok 1 spacecraft launched with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard, the first human to travel into space (depicted in Gagarin: First in Space, 2013
#TodayInHistory 1984 - #Amstrad releases the CPC 464 personal computer. It features a #Z80 CPU, 64kB RAM, includes a monitor and built-in tape drive. More than 2 million units sold in Europe.
"The Confederates abandoned [the Confederate capital of] Richmond, and on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant following the Battle of Appomattox Court House, setting in motion the end of the war."
#TodayInHistory 1964 – #IBM announces the System/360. It was extremely successful, allowing customers to purchase a smaller system they could expand, if their needs grew, without reprogramming application software. It influenced computer design for years to come. Many consider it one of history's most successful computers.
Today in History - 1908: Automobile owners lobbied Congress in support of a bill that called for vehicle licensing and federal registration. #TodayInHistory
#OnThisDay, March 9, in 1954, journalist Edward R. Murrow reported on the “Red Scare” investigation of Communists led by Senator Joseph McCarthy. The broadcast, known as “television’s finest hour”, ultimately led to McCarthy's downfall (Good Night, and Good Luck, 2005)
#OnThisDay, March 5, in 1953, leader of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin passed away after being incapacitated by a stroke several days before. His ministers scrambled for power in his absence (The Death of Stalin, 2017)
#OnThisDay, February 21, in 1965, minister and human rights activist Malcolm X was assassinated while giving a talk at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem (depicted in Malcolm X, 1992, dir. Spike Lee, starring Denzel Washington)
#OnThisDay, February 13, in 1542, Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, was executed for adultery (depicted in The Tudors s04e05, 2010)
#TodayInHistory 2004 - #Nintendo releases the #Metroid Zero Mission video game for the #GameBoy Advance. It is a remake of the original Metroid (1986), and retells the story with updated visuals and gameplay.
#OnThisDay, February 1, in 1960, the Greensboro Four, a group of Black college freshmen, protested by refusing to move from the F. W. Woolworth Company lunch counter in Greensboro, NC after being denied service (depicted in February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four, 2003)
The deadliest earthquake in recorded history occurred on this day, January 23 in 1556. Taking an estimated 830,000 lives, some counties lost nearly 60% of their residents.
#OnThisDay, January 15, in 2009, pilot Chesley Sullenberger landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in NYC. All passengers and crew members survived (depicted in Sully, 2016)
104 years ago today socialist revolutionaries Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknect were executed in Berlin following the unsuccessful supremacist uprising. However, their words are as relevant today as they were over a hundred years ago: "What does “regression into barbarism” mean to our lofty European civilization? Until now, we have all probably read and repeated these words thoughtlessly, without suspecting their fearsome seriousness."
#todayinhistory 1984 - Jack Tramiel, founder of #Commodore International, resigns after a fallout with Chairman Irving Gould. Later that year, Tramiel would buy #Atari and release the ST line of computers.