[today in history] July 4: the first e-book came out; The inventor of magnetic stripe card was born; Palm computer pioneer was born

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through 「 Today in history 」, Look at the future from the past , You can change the future from now on .

It's today 2022 year 7 month 4 Japan , stay 1998 Years of today , The United States “ Mars pathfinder ” The spaceship passed by 4 More than 100 million kilometers of navigation , Successfully landed on Mars and released a robot to explore on Mars . In this activity, which is known as one of the most successful interstellar exploration programs of mankind so far ,“ Mars pathfinder ” Common ground return 26 Billion bits of scientific information ,1.6 Ten thousand pictures and analysis of Martian rocks and soil 1.5 Ten thousand complete chemical analysis . Throughout the history of science and Technology ,7 month 4 Many key events have also occurred on August , Let's review one by one .

1921 year 7 month 4 Japan ： The inventor of magnetic stripe card Forrest Parry born

Picture source ： Wikipedia

Andrew Forrest · Parry （Forrest Parry） Born in 1921 year 7 month 4 Japan , He is IBM The engineer , Invented magnetic stripe cards for credit cards and ID cards . Parry was born in Cedar City, Utah , stay 1942 Before entering the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland , He studied at the Agricultural College of the branch of the University of Southern Utah, now located in Cedar City (BAC). He is in 1945 year 6 Graduated from the Naval Academy in August .1950 year , Parry joined the army , stay USS Walke（ Walker ） As a lieutenant and damage control officer . The walker was struck by torpedoes or floating water , And create 26 Sailors died and 40 After injury , Parry survived , Was awarded the bronze star for bravery .

1952 After leaving the navy in , Parry went to work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , And with Dorothea · Tillia got married . Then he went to 1954 Left Livermore in , Start working for Dow Chemical , Then in a small plastic packaging company Unette Corporation Work .1957 year 5 month , Parry is IBM Started him 30 Years of career . stay IBM period , He developed for high-speed printers 、 Optical character reader 、 General product code （UPC） Checkout system and advanced optical character reader （AOCR） Equipment and system of .

1960 year , Parry is IBM When working, he invented magnetic stripe card , For use by the U.S. government . His idea is to stick a small piece of tape on each plastic card , But the glue distorts the tape , The idea fell through . When I got home that night , Parry's wife Dorothea is ironing clothes with a flat iron , Parry shared his troubles with his wife , And she suggested Parry melt the stripes onto the card with an iron . Two people try to find , The heat of the iron is just enough to glue the tape to the card . After the advent of magnetic stripe cards , Always used for credit cards 、 Debit Card 、 Gift card 、 Stored value card 、 Hotel key cards, security identification badges and other items , Accompanied mankind for half a century .

source ： Wikipedia

1955 year 7 month 4 Japan ：Palm CEO 、PDA Pioneer Donna Dubinsky born

Picture source ： Wikipedia

1955 year 7 month 4 Japan , American business leader Donna · Dobinsky （Donna Dubinsky） born , She's on her PDA （PDA） Has played an indispensable role in the development of . Donna grew up in Benton harbor, Michigan , She later studied at Yale University , She majors in history , And in 1977 Bachelor's degree in . Donna then worked at the National Bank of Philadelphia , get 1981 Harvard Business School MBA Academic degree . After graduating from Harvard Business School , She went to Apple computer company as a customer service （ That s , Customer service is also called “ User support liaison ”）. To 1985 year , She began to take charge of some of Apple's online distribution .

1986 year , Bill, a director of Apple's board of directors · Campbell recruited Donna to Apple's subsidiary Claris Holding senior positions . Donna's work is going well , Her team occupied the whole company 50% Do business ; However , Higher performance will lead to changes in the decisions of the parent company ,1991 year , Apple no longer allows Claris Become an independent company , Donna therefore decided to leave . After taking a year off in Paris to study French , Donna passed bill · Campbell and Bruce · Dunlevi introduced Jeff · Hawkins ; Hawkins is looking for a CEO to manage Palm company . Donna and Hawkins began to manage Palm The business of the company .

1995 year ,US Robotics With 4400 Million dollars Palm. And then , The first handheld computer PalmPilot On 1996 year 4 Sales start in ; After a few months ,PalmPilot Sales began to rise rapidly , More than onemillion units were sold in one year PalmPilot.3Com The company sees this , Then in 1997 Years acquired US Robotics And its Palm subsidiary .

However , Donna 、 Hawkins and Palm Marketing Manager Ed Colligan Soon, yes 3Com Disappointed with your business strategy , And in 1998 year 6 Month leave Palm founded Handspring company .Handspring At that time, by virtue of Treo Become a leader in the smart phone market . But then the bursting of the Internet foam caused losses , Donna is here 2001 Forbes of 400 She lost her place on the rich list .2003 year ,Handspring And Palm Merge , Finally, it was Japanese Access Corporation Acquisition .2007 year 9 month 27 Japan , Donna · Dobbins gene “ Created the first palm computer to achieve commercial success (PDA) , And is developing a computer memory system based on the human brain ” And won the highest honorary alumni achievement award of Harvard Business School .

source ： Wikipedia

1971 year 7 month 4 Japan ： The first e-book was born

Picture source ： Wikipedia

Most people don't realize , E-books have one feature ： It is the first time in human history , The first product that can be taken as inexhaustible as air . If you think about this carefully , You will realize , We are doing the right thing .

—— Michael · Hart

1971 year 7 month 4 Japan , Michael · Hart will 《 Declaration of independence 》 Enter the computer , The first e-book was born . It should be noted that , At this time, the computer has no monitor and keyboard , It is very difficult to input e-books . And then , Hart will 《 Bible 》 And Shakespeare into the computer , And in the same year 12 Month launched Project Gutenberg . E-books must be read through special software or devices , In the form of electronic archives （ The mainstream format is EPUB And PDF Mainly ）, Download to common platforms through the network , For example, a personal computer 、 Notebook computer 、 The tablet 、PDA、 mobile phone , Or a special e-book reader . Store books electronically , That is, the digitization of books , It's the general trend , Bring convenience at the same time , You can also reduce the use of paper , It has a positive effect on environmental protection .

E-books come in many forms , There are common file formats for processing text TXT Format 、DOC Format 、HTML Format 、CHM Format , And what publishers often use EPUB、PDF、CHM、Mobi Format, etc. . Most of these formats can be used by Microsoft or apple or Linux Open your own software to read . Through the user's own judgment of the file format, select the appropriate software to open the format as DRM-Free E-book files , Suitable for users who are familiar with the operation of computer software and hardware . With the popularity of mobile devices , Use PC Reading takes the form of surfing the Internet 、 Blog writing 、 Use network services with specific functions to receive messages 、 community , The action of reading e-books gradually shifts to mobile phones 、 On mobile devices such as tablets or exclusive readers .

Take history as a mirror , We can know the rise and fall . Computer science has developed so far , There are many crucial events 、 figure . stay 《 New programmers ： Our technological age , Our programming life 》 in , From more than 40 technicians spanning half a century , Use the code to knock out a real program life story ！

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