King Tut’s Dagger and the X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry Standard
It was revealed in May 2016 that the dagger found beside the thigh of King Tutankhamun in 1925 was made from iron taken from a…
Invention of the Backspace Key
This early advertisement for the IBM Correcting Selectric II typewriter appeared on televisions in 1973. It demonstrates a typewriter that made use of a rotating…
Blu-ray vs HD DVD: Standard Format War
The first high-definition televisions were released in 1998, but they didn’t gain popularity until the 2000s after becoming more affordable. During this time, in response…
VHS vs Betamax: Standard Format War
The story of the videotape format war between the VHS and Betamax standards begins in 1971, when Sony invented the U-matic, the first closed case…
Covered Bridges in Pennsylvania
ASTM International has developed and published 12,000 standards devoted to the testing and classification of materials used in manufacturing and production to assure that those…
The Shifting Magnetic North Pole
Hundreds of years ago, scientists and explorers believed that the needle of a compass pointed north because it aimed itself towards the “Rupes Nigra”, a…
Smart Manufacturing – The Fourth Industrial Revolution?
Smart Manufacturing has been dubbed the Fourth Industrial Revolution, since in recent years it has been modernizing industrial practices and has the potential to go…
History of the Standard Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar has become the standard for measuring the progression of time since Pope Gregory XIII first introduced it in the year 1582. His papal influence…
U.S. Exports and Imports – 2015 v. 2014
U.S. exports of goods was $115.6 billion in 2015 compared to $1,504.9 billion in 2014. U.S. imports of goods decreased $106.6 billion in 2015 to…