Hacker Holidays... what historical events would be good holidays?

[TheCotMan]

I couldnt find exact dates,
but:
birthday of Tim Bernes Lee (Man who is generally regarded to have invented the WWW)
Invention of fibre optic cables for communication (judging by wikipedia, this is a long process, but maybe the 2 guys who made the first eridium doped one?)
First semiconductor manufacture?
Like quite a lot of things this cant really be pinned down to one day, but you could always set a date.

Having said that quite a lot of these suggestions (including mine) are more computing in general rather than hacker specific. Although you can always argue it either way.

New inventions are often associated with hacking, as hacking tends to include using things in ways they were not initially designed.

If you can find dates for these, and citations (web pages?) we can look to include them. Sample ideas for alternate dates:
Date first one was sold
Date company was created.
Date company entered * Stock Exchange
Date first product was made available to consumers that contained (technology)

I've been trying to find a good date for Duct/Duck tape, but have not done very well, as of yet.

As for events for thing that are not really hacking, there may be things that have influenced hacking. Active technology and application of the property of semiconductivity in circuit design is a big one, and is paired with transistors and IC. (IC made technology/computers affordable and more widely available.)

Cite and propose some dates to act as symlinks to an event -- especially if that event does not have a single date, or the date can't be found. (We can always edit en event if a better date is found.)

I dont know the date but a good one would be the invention of the Linux OS

For that, you could track down the date it was first announced on USENET, or perhaps the first "flamewar" thread between Torvolds and Tannenbaum. Find a date and cite it.

[Deviant Ollam]

1844/05/24 - date of the first telegraph message in the United States. (by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail, messaging from Washington D.C. to Baltimore. bonus points for anyone who knows what was said)

1866/07/27 - first successful transatlantic cable goes into operation. (a remarkable story of the telegraph's development and the cable laying process in particular can be found in Tom Standage's outstanding book The Victorian Internet.)

1875/06/02 - first telephone conversation (Alexander Graham Bell makes one-directional voice communication to his assistant, Watson, in the adjoining lab. bonus points for those who know the exact content of this call)

1875/07/01 - almost one month later to the day, two-way conversation is tested successfully by Bell.

1984/01/?? - first issue of 2600 magazine

2005/01/25 - AOL discontinues newsgroup access for its members

there's plenty more i could think of, i'm certain. these are just a few that came to mind at the moment.

[astcell]

1875/06/02 - first telephone conversation (Alexander Graham Bell makes one-directional voice communication to his assistant, Watson, in the adjoining lab. bonus points for those who know the exact content of this call).

Don't even have to google that one. "Come here Watson, I need you." Bell had spilled sulfuric acid on himself. Soom afterwards, sulfuric acid was deleted out of the next version of the telephone. Some say this also makes the moment the first emergency call.

[lil_freak]

1844/05/24 - date of the first telegraph message in the United States. (by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail, messaging from Washington D.C. to Baltimore. bonus points for anyone who knows what was said)
.

"What hath God wrought!"

My history blurs as to why that was the first message to be sent, but I'm sure Google knows .

[Deviant Ollam]

"What hath God wrought!"

My history blurs as to why that was the first message to be sent, but I'm sure Google knows .

i think it was because Morse was just a really religious cat, as were many folk those days. ah, our friggin' victorian past... still frustrates us today, codified into so many innane laws.

[TheCotMan]

i think it was because Morse was just a really religious cat, as were many folk those days. ah, our friggin' victorian past... still frustrates us today, codified into so many innane laws.

Hey Deviant. Check your PM.

According to this web page:

Morse allowed Annie Ellsworth, the young daughter of a friend, to choose the words of the message, and she selected a verse from Numbers XXIII, 23: "What hath God wrought?", which was recorded onto paper tape.

[blackhawk]

Looked and looked...couldn't find the date but...

John Gilmores Birthday would certianly seem apropriate.

[astcell]

How about the date of the first smiley emoticon?

[TheCotMan]

Looked and looked...couldn't find the date but...
John Gilmores Birthday would certianly seem apropriate.

I could not find it on any public pages, either. I did find, and add, a date for the creation of the EFF with a citation.

Many other dates suggested above have been added too.

How about the date of the first smiley emoticon?

That would be great, but we would need a date, and this would probably go into the BBS days, and is likely something that was created in parallel, with more than one person claiming to be the person who provided the first example.
For all I know, it could have even had a sibling in the space of telegram, telegraphs, or even snail mail.
Find a date and citation, and we can include it. If there is contention or an earlier date is found, then we can move the event or not, or cite both.

http://www.muller-godschalk.com/history.html cites and claims "19th September 1982."
Do we just go with this date, even though it mentions instaces earlier in the 1970's?

[Denny2000]

How about Charles Baggage's birthday => 26 December 1792
Designed and tried to build the first mechanical computer

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace birthday => December 10, 1815
The first computer programmer, she helped Baggage

John von Neumann birthday => December 28, 1903
Designed the modern day computer architecture

Jack Kilby birthday => November 8, 1923
Invented the first integrated circuit

Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and Douglas McIlroy
Developed UNIX

These are just some of the I am writing about in a history of computing paper due next week.

[TheCotMan]

How about Charles Baggage's birthday => 26 December 1792
Designed and tried to build the first mechanical computer.

Was added previously, and is a good addiiton.

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace birthday => December 10, 1815
The first computer programmer, she helped Baggage

I had notes to add her, but forgot. Added now. :-)

John von Neumann birthday => December 28, 1903
Designed the modern day computer architecture

Looks like the same day of birth as Linus Torvolds. (Added.)

Jack Kilby birthday => November 8, 1923
Invented the first integrated circuit

Good one. Added.

Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and Douglas McIlroy
Developed UNIX

This one is difficult. What date should be used? The day they received permission to develop it in-house? When they first tried to sell it to other companies? When it went to Berkeley?

These are just some of the I am writing about in a history of computing paper due next week.

Nice suggestions. Thanks!

[xwred1]

This one is difficult. What date should be used?

The start of the Unix epoch of course. I think that collides with another holiday though.

[TheCotMan]

Most of the above have been added. Some were not added if dates were not found or provided.

Someone posted this elsewhere, which prompted me to add his Birthday to the History calendar.

Any others?

[tommEE]

Birthdaycon, CES, AVN
If you were there, you wish they were holidays.

[Tacitus]

Birthdaycon, CES, AVN
If you were there, you wish they were holidays.

It was quite the celebration.