June 19

1623: Child prodigy and mathematical genius Blaise Pascal was born. 1851: Silvanus Thompson, authority on electricity, magnetism and acoustics, was born. 1900: Michael Pupin was granted a patent for reducing signal attenuation on a cable , enabling long distance telephony. 1910: The first airship passengers flew aboard the zeppelin LZ7 Deutschland. 1931: Installation was completed on the first commercial doors operated by photoelectric cell. 1934: The U.S. Congress established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which replaced the Federal Radio Commission (FRC). 1953: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, NY, having been convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. 1970: The Patent Cooperation Treaty was signed.1977: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline began carrying oil from the Arctic Ocean to Prince William Sound. 2007: NASA astronaut Suni Williams set a new record for time in space by a female (>188 days).