December 12

1685: John Pell, who introduced the division sign (the obelus, ÷) to England, died. 1894: American engineer Philip Drinker, who invented the iron lung, was born. 1899: The first U.S. patent for a golf tee was issued to George Grant. 1901: Guglielmo Marconi transmitted first long distance communication, dit-dit-dit ("s"), using "Hertzian" waves. 1921: Astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt, who discovered the relationship between period and luminosity in Cepheid variables, died. 1927: Robert Noyce, co-inventor of the integrated circuit and nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley", was born. 1961: The first satellite put in orbit built by private citizens, the 10-lb Oscar I ("Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio") was launched. 1971: American communications pioneer and RCA's first general manager, David Sarnoff, died. 1980: Computer Software Act of 1980 defined computer programs and clarified extent of protection afforded software. 1994: IBM said it would halt shipments of Pentium computers because of the "floating point" bug in the Pentium chip. 2005: RFMD was recognized as 'Electronics Company of the Year' by the NCTA. 2005: Panasonic announced that it would withdraw from the GSM handset market.