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This Day in Tech - 1608: Hans Lippershey, a German-born Dutch spectacle-maker, demonstrates the first refracting telescope, the forerunner of the modern optical telescope.
The modern refracting telescope uses two lenses, a convex objective lens (nearer the “object” being observed) and a convex eyepiece (or ocular) lens. Together, they bend light and focus parallel light rays [...]

This Day in Tech - 1908: The first production Model T rolls out of the Ford plant on Piquette Avenue in Detroit.
The Model T was the first mass-produced automobile in history; approximately 15 million were built during a period lasting nearly 20 years.
It achieved exactly what Henry Ford set out to do: to “build [...]

This Day in Tech - 1929: Aviation pioneer Jimmy Doolittle demonstrates that instrument flying - in other words, “flying blind” is possible from takeoff to landing.
The impact on commercial aviation was immediate and far-reaching, making all-weather flying safe and practical.
Prior to his flight, Doolittle helped develop the artificial horizon, forerunner to the attitude indicator, which [...]

In other Coke news, the soda company recently announced it was putting down $60 million to build the world’s largest plastic bottle-to-bottle recycling plant.
The company plans to recycle or reuse 100 percent of its polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles in the U.S.
The 30-acre plant will be built in Spartanburg, South Carolina and is expected to [...]

This Day in Tech - 1947: If the secret committee known as the Majestic 12 ever really existed, this is the day that the group was allegedly created by a memorandum from President Harry Truman.
If real, this shadowy coven of scientists, military brass and government officials came together in response to the Army’s recovery of [...]

This Day in Tech - 1937: Before there is the Lord of the Rings trilogy, there is The Hobbit. J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel is first published on this date.
Often thought of as the precursor to the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit was Tolkien’s first book.
It tells the tale of a simple hobbit cajoled by a [...]