Random conversation in Matt McGrath’s office a couple years ago after reading Nick Chrisman’s book we all knew

Hewlett-Packard introduces the HP-35

• Hewlett-Packard introduces the HP-35

• First scientific pocket calculator to offer basic trig and exponential functions
• 5.8” long and 3.2” wide - the size of William Hewlett's pocket, hence "pocket calculator"
• Considered the death of the slide rule
• Cost $395 (~$1750 today)

Bruce Baumgart develops winged-edge data structure for representing polygon models (fixed length format, topology and geometry)

• Bruce Baumgart develops winged-edge data structure for representing polygon models (fixed length format, topology and geometry)

• More significantly, Bruce wins the Five-Man Free-For-All at First Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics at Stanford

The video game Pong is released

• The video game Pong is released

• Originally designed by Ralph Baer for his Magnavox Odyssey gaming console (world’s first console)
• Nolan Bushnell (Atari) played this game at a Magnavox product show
• He hired young engineer Al Alcorn to design a car driving game, but when it became apparent that this was too ambitious for the time, he had Alcorn design a version of ping-pong instead
• The game was tested in bars in Grass Valley and Sunnyvale, California where it proved very popular
• Pong would revolutionize the arcade industry and launch the modern video game era