Prior to World War I, oceanic travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans had to route dangerous passages around southern South America. Considerations for a way to connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific were present for centuries. More recent among these include survey expeditions Ulysses S. Grant in 1869, who wrote as an Army Captain in 1852 of disease and other tragedies during military travels while crossing the Isthmus of Panama, “The horrors of the road in the rainy season are beyond description.” A survey by Grant included Panama where it was found that the current route of the Panama Canal was nearly the same as what was proposed by Grant’s survey.

David Berkowitz, American serial killer who murdered six people in New York City in 1976–77. His crimes plunged the city into a panic and unleashed one of the largest manhunts in New York history. He became known as Son of Sam, which was the name he used in letters sent to newspapers during his killing spree.

Tim Berners-Lee, an inventor of the internet, sits outside his office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. Photo: Ed Quinn / Corbis 1991: The world wide web becomes publicly available on the internet for the first time. The web has changed a lot since Tim Berners-Lee posted, on this day, the first web pages […]

1933: Pilot Wiley Post returns to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes after leaving. Aided by new technology, his flight is the first solo circumnavigation by air, and it’s also the fastest-ever around-the-world-trip. Born in Texas, Post wanted to be a pilot after seeing his first airplane at […]

Summer 2003, Vol. 35, No. 2 By Bruce I. Bustard Enlarge Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, July 20, 1969. View in National Archives Catalog "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for all mankind." — Astronaut Neil Armstrong's words as he made his first step onto the surface of the Moon July 20, 1969 What would it be like if we could recreate a single day in our past? Not just the parts we remember, the events to which we attribute great significance, but the whole day filled with all its interacting parts.

On July 17, 1962, Major White flew the X-15 to an altitude of 314,750 feet, or 59 miles, becoming the first "winged astronaut."