Tech History Today – Nov. 12

In 1946 – The US Army held a contest between an abacus used by Kiyoshi Matsuzaki from Japan’s postal ministry and an electric calculator operated by Private Thomas Nathan Wood. The abacus won 4 to 1.

In 1970 – The Oregon Highway Divisions made an ill-advised attempt to destroy a dead whale by blowing it up with explosives. The results, documented by local news, eventually became Internet gold as the “exploding whale” video.

In 1990 – Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for a hypertext project. The proposal refers to a “web of information nodes” and implementing “browsers” The project eventually became the World Wide Web.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.