This week in 1861 – The First Transcontinental Telegraph line across the United States was completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express, which ceased operations just two days later.
1879 – After 14 months of experimenting in Menlo Park, NJ, Thomas Alva Edison succeeded in producing a working prototype of the electric, incandescent lamp, using a filament of carbonized thread. It lasted for thirteen and a half hours before burning out.
1946 – A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket took the first photograph of earth from outer space.
and this week in 1955 – The microwave oven was introduced in Mansfield, Ohio at the corporate headquarters of the Tappan Company. The new cooking device had a price tag of about $1,300, which would translate to over $11,000 today. No wonder they only manufactured 34 units that first year.