| 1627 | | 18 Jul:
A French missionary is the first European to mention the occurrence of petroleum in North America.GoogleBooks PA-Roots |
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| 1752 | | 10 May:
Thomas-François Dalibard validates Benjamin Franklin's conclusion that lightning is electricity.USNA APS |
|
| | 15 Jun:
Benjamin Franklin performs his kite experiment.PSU HC |
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| 1820 | | 20 Nov:
The whaling ship Essex is rammed and sunk by a sperm whale 2,000 miles off the west coast of South America, inspiring the novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville.W I R E D |
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| 1845 | | 28 Aug:
The first issue of Scientific American is published.SA SI |
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| 1846 | | 10 Aug:
The Smithsonian Institute is founded.SI USNA |
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| 1859 | |
| 1863 | | 3 Mar:
The National Academy of Sciences is established.NAS Harvard |
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| 1879 | | 31 Dec:
Thomas Edison demonstrates the incandescent light bulb to the public.LoC HFM |
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| 1882 | | 4 Sep:
The Edison Electric Illuminating Company at 257 Pearl Street in New York City begins providing eletricity to homes and businesses.JAIA ETHW |
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| 1883 | | 19 Jan:
The first electrical transmission system utilizing overhead wires is put in place by Thomas Edison.fold3 USSI |
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| 1886 | |
| | 30 Nov:
The Westinghouse Electrical Company begins the first commercially successful transmission of A/C electricity.Google Books ETHW |
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| 1888 | | 27 Jan:
The National Geographic Society is incorporated. WHP |
|
| | 22 Sep:
The National Geographic Society begins publishing its magazine. Biblio |
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| 1895 | | 26 Aug:
Water is diverted from Niagara Falls to begin the first large scale generation of electricity.SI BAH |
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| 1901 | |
| 1921 | | 25 Aug:
The Battle of Blair Mountain, striking coal miners take on strike breakers and police.WVU CH |
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| 1930 | | 7 Jul:
Construction of the Hoover Dam begins.Tucson CC |
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| 1936 | |
| 1943 | | 10 Jun:
Brothers László and Georg Bíró, Hungarian refugees living in Argentina, patent the ballpoint pen.W I R E D FPN |
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| 1945 | | 16 Jul:
"Trinity", the first atomic bomb, explodes in the early morning hours near Alamogordo.B B C DoE |
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| 1948 | | 24 Dec:
The first completely solar heated house, the Peabody house in Dover, Massachusetts, is ready for occupancy.TiS OTD |
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| 1951 | | 20 Dec:
A nuclear reactor produces useful electricity for the first time. DoE APS |
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| 1954 | | 27 Jan:
The atomic battery is unveiled.RCA NYTimes |
|
| | 27 Jun:
The world's first nuclear power plant goes online.W I R E D PT |
|
| | 29 Sep:
The CERN Convention is entered into force.CERN SA |
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| 1955 | | 31 Aug:
GM demonstrates the first solar-powered car.EEW GMA |
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| 1958 | | 17 Mar:
Vanguard 1, the first solar-powered satellite, is launched.NASA Space |
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| 1960 | | 24 Sep:
The first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, is launched in Newport News, Virginia.USNavy VNEC |
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| 1961 | | 10 Feb:
The Niagara Falls hydroelectric project, the largest water-driven power complex in the world, goes into service.W I R E D WNYC |
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| 1962 | | 20 Aug:
The first nuclear-powered commercial ship, NS Savannah begins its maiden voyage.SSMaritime NSSavannah |
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| 1970 | | 2 Dec:
The Environmental Protection Agency begins operation.EPA NF |
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| 1973 | | 17 Oct:
OPEC oil embargo begins.C-SPAN MW |
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| 1974 | | 2 Jan:
Due to the oil shortages and price increases caused by the OPEC embargo, President Nixon signs into law a national speed limit of 55 mph in order to force drivers to conserve fuel.History.com OSTI |
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| 1977 | | 19 Jun:
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline begins operation.OSTI JPT |
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| |
| 1979 | | 28 Mar:
A partial core meltdown occurs in the unit-2 nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island.NRC NEI |
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| 1980 | | 7 Jun:
The first U. S. solar power plant, located at the Natural Bridge National Monument in Utah, is dedicated.NPS SJC |
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| 1986 | | 26 Apr:
An explosion and fire release large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.NRC LS |
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| 1988 | | 23 Jun:
James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies initiates the global warming discussion.ZEP SEJ |
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| 1989 | | 23 Mar:
Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons announce their discovery of cold fusion, an energy production process that's never been duplicated, at the University of Utah.SIMag IE |
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| 2007 | | 11 Mar:
Daylight Savings Time is extended - beginning 3 weeks earlier (2nd Sunday in March) in the year and ending 1 week (1st Sunday in November) later.TT T&D |
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| 2011 | | 11 Mar:
Northern Japan is struck by a triple disaster - a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggers a massive tsunami which in turn causes one of the worst nuclear accidents ever to occur.NOAA USGS |
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| 2015 | | 9 Mar:
The Solar Impulse 2, the first aircraft to fly day and night using energy from the sun, begins its round-the-world voyage.PHYS SPW |
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