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This week in 1938 – Vladimir Zworykin of Wilkinsburg, PA patented the iconoscope television system.
1947 – A group of three physicists invented the transistor. In its original form, the transistor took up a lot of space in the lab in New Jersey where it was invented. Today, thousands of transistors can be packed into a space smaller than a pinhead; and used in every type of electronic device.
In 1951 this week – EBR-I (Experimental Breeder Reactor-I) ushered in a new era in nuclear history when it became the first reactor to generate usable amounts of electricity from nuclear energy. It accomplished this feat by lighting four light bulbs at the National Reactor Testing Station in Butte County, Idaho.
1968 – Apollo 8 was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.
And this week in 1976 – WTCG-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, owned by Ted Turner, changed their call letters to WTBS, and was uplinked via satellite, to become the first commercial TV station to cover the entire U.S. WTBS started on four cable systems, available in 24,000 homes. It is still around today, known simply as TBS.