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This week in 1951 – Dr. William Shockley announced that he had invented a working and efficient junction transistor at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ.
1962 – Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, was successfully launched into orbit from Cape Canaveral, FL. “Telstar” would usher in a new age of communication via telephone and TV, with voice and picture transmission from Europe to America and back Communications have come a long way in the last 54 years.
In 1981 this week – Donkey Kong, a video game created by Nintendo, was released. The game also marked the debut of Nintendo’s future mascot, Mario. 35 years ago, when the game was released, Mario was actually named “Mr. Video.” Then his name was changed to “Jumpman” before 
developers finally settled on Mario.
1997 – The Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, launched by NASA from the Earth in December 1996, entered the atmosphere of Mars. A heat shield, parachutes, and airbags helped it land safely. The Sojourner rover searched the surface of Mars for rocks while millions of earthlings watch it on TV and the Internet.