Day in Engineering History Archive - August 5

August 5

Today is Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead Day. 1729: Thomas Newcomen, inventor of the atmospheric steam engine, died. 1858: Cyrus Field completed the Atlantic cable, establishing telegraphic communication between the U.S. and England. 1884: The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe's Island in NY Harbor. 1861: The U.S. federal government imposed its first income tax of 3% for all incomes over $800. 1864, Giovanni  Donati made the first spectroscopic observations of a comet (Tempel, 1864 II). 1914: The first traffic light was installed in Cleveland, OH. 1930: Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon, was born. 1940: The first American paratrooper unit is formed at Fort Benning, GA. 1962: Marilyn Monroe was found dead of a suicide. 1971: A British sailor sailed around the world "in the wrong direction" (E to W). 1981: Firings began of air traffic controllers on illegal strike. 1986: The U.S. Senate voted for President Reagan's SDI project (Strategic Defense Initiative, aka Star Wars). 1991: Soichiro Honda, who founded the Honda Motor Company, died. 1999: Mark McGwire became the 16th member of the 500-home run club.

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Note: These historical tidbits have been collected from various sources, mostly on the Internet. As detailed in this article, there is a lot of wrong information that is repeated hundreds of times because most websites do not validate with authoritative sources. On RF Cafe, events with hyperlinks have been verified. Many years ago, I began commemorating the birthdays of notable people and events with special RF Cafe logos. Where available, I like to use images from postage stamps from the country where the person or event occurred.