Technology

The first message ever sent over ARPANET crashed the computer that received it, and only the letters l and o of "login" got through. Grace Hopper hung a counterclockwise clock to push for code in plain English. Sputnik 1 was mostly seen as its rocket, not the satellite. Five minutes into Apollo 11's descent, the Apollo Guidance Computer began throwing alarms. A Saturn V engine test broke a bank window 15 miles away. The Lego brick from 1958 still fits today.

• LegoA Lego brick made in 1958 still snaps onto bricks made today. A tube system inside the brick grips the studs below it.

  12 min
• Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla spent his last decades claiming he had built a death beam. He said it could stop an army 200 miles away.

  11 min
• Bletchley ParkAn admiral used six thousand pounds of his own money to buy Bletchley Park in 1938.

  13 min
• Thomas EdisonThomas Edison clamped his teeth into a piano to hear it. He was deaf in one ear and barely heard from the other.

  14 min
• Enigma machinePolish mathematicians broke the Enigma cipher years before World War II began. Germany thought it was unbreakable.

  10 min
• SpaceXRussia refused to sell Elon Musk a rocket, so he decided to build his own. That decision became SpaceX in 2002.

  14 min
• Wright brothersThe Wright brothers' 1903 patent did not claim an airplane. It claimed a system for controlling one.

  29 min
• Ada LovelaceWas Ada Lovelace really the first computer programmer? Historians still disagree about her notes on Babbage's engine.

  15 min
• Sputnik 1Most people who watched Sputnik 1 cross the sky actually saw its rocket. The satellite itself was barely visible.

  13 min
• TechnologyTechnology once meant simply "systematic treatment", not machines. The English word began as a study of arts and crafts.

  12 min
• ARPANETThe first message sent over ARPANET crashed the receiving computer. Only the letters l and o of "login" arrived.

  23 min
• Saturn VA Saturn V engine test shattered a bank window 15 miles away. The Moon rocket's roar carried across Mississippi.

  14 min
• AlphaGoOne move, number 78 in game four, made AlphaGo lose the thread against Lee Sedol. Pros called it the "divine move".

  13 min
• Grace HopperGrace Hopper hung a clock on her office wall that ran counterclockwise. She wanted code in plain English.

  14 min
• International Space StationPeople have lived aboard the International Space Station without a break since 2 November 2000.

  13 min
• Apollo Guidance ComputerFive minutes into Apollo 11's descent, the guidance computer began throwing alarms.

  9 min