September 8, 2011

Good morning! It's The Nerd's Almanac for Thursday, September 8, 2011.

Today is the anniversary of Scotch tape, first introduced in 1930 by 3M. If you were to unroll all of the tape that 3M has sold in the past seventy-some years, it would reach... well, honestly it would be an ungodly sticky mess. Do not attempt.

It was on this date in 1960 that the Marshall Space Flight Center was dedicated in Huntsville, Alabama. This would become the home of America's space activities under NASA.

And on this date in 1966, the first episode of Star Trek aired on NBC^*. This original series ran for only three seasons, but in addition to a short animated series has been spun off into four prime time television series plus eleven feature films (plus one on the way!)

Today is the birthday of Marin Mersenne, born in France in 1588. He is known as the "father of acoustics" and was a mathematician whose works is still remembered today in the field of cryptography.

Here is a quote for today...
"The strength of a civilization is not measured by its ability to fight wars, but rather by its ability to prevent them."
-- Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek

And that's the almanac for today. Nerds of the world, we salute you!

Sources:
Wikipedia: September 8

Wikipedia: Scotch tape
Wikipedia: 3M
Wikipedia: Marshall Space Flight Center
Wikipedia: NASA
Wikipedia: Star Trek
Wikipedia: Marin Mersenne
Wikiquote: Gene Roddenberry

^*P.S. Truth be told, it is questions such as "when did Star Trek first air" that originally inspired this blog. And now you know! :)