Today in Tech History: July 7, 2008 Video

Today in Tech History: July 7, 2008 Video Transcript

Hi, I'm Molly Wood. It's July 8, 2008, and here's what happened today in technology history. Space alien fans call today the UFO Roswell Incident. On this date in 1947, the Roswell Army Air Field issued a press release saying its personnel had recovered debris from a crashed "flying disc." Later that day, the Air Force said it was actually a balloon, not a flying saucer, and after THAT, a press conference confirmed it was definitely a weather balloon. Case closed until 1978, when an Air Force Major involved in the original recovery told a "ufologist" that the military had covered up evidence of an alien ship. And it's been all downhill from there. Today marks the death of Christiaan Huygens, who died in 1695. He was a Dutch mathematician, astronomer and physicist closely associated with the scientific revolution. He argued that light consisted of waves, helped develop calculus, discovered Saturn's moon Titan, postulated on the possibility of alien life, and patented the pocket watch in 1675. This is the birth date of Ferdinand von Zeppelin, born in 1838. He invented the Zeppelin Airship in the 1900s. And finally, on this date in 1920, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen was born. He was the son of the Lego Group founder, he bought the patent to the Lego brick in 1949, and he eventually developed the Lego as we know it today. That was a meaty collection of historical tech trivia, no? More to chew on tomorrow.