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- QOTW: If a digital archaeologist from the year 2126 dug up your primary ‘junk drawer’ (physical or a digital folder), what would they conclude was the most important—yet completely useless—relic of our time?
- Question-of-the-week | Technorama Podcast
On This Day In History for February 11, 2026
This is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 323 days remaining in 2026.
- It was on this date in 1584, that a naval expedition led by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa founded Nombre de Jesús, the first of two short-lived Spanish settlements in the Strait of Magellan.
- Jesse Fell burned anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal. on this date in 1808.
- Also today in 1826, University College London was founded as University of London.
- BBC Television produced the world’s first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R., that coined the term “robot” on this date in 1938.
- Also on February 11, 1963, The Beatles recorded their first album Please Please Me.
- That same date in 1997, Space Shuttle Discovery was launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
- It was on this date in 1999, that Pluto crossed Neptune’s orbit, ending a nearly 20 -year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune’s orbit again until 2231.
- That same date in 2000, Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched on STS-99 to conduct the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.
- It was on this date in 2001, that a Dutch programmer launched the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star.
- Also today in 2020, The World Health Organization officially names the coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19, with the virus being designated SARS-CoV-2.
Happy birthday goes out on this date to:
- Native American-French Canadian explorer, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, born on this date in 1805.
- American physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs was born 187 years ago today.
- Thomas Edison, the American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph was born 179 years ago today.
- Born February 11, 1864, French chemist Louis Bouveault.
- Hungarian-American physicist and academic, Leo Szilard was born 128 years ago today.
- Born February 11, 1917, American author and screenwriter Sidney Sheldon.
- American actor and director, Burt Reynolds, born on this date in 1936.
- The first CEO of Apple Inc., Michael Scott is 81 today.
- American engineer and astronaut, Richard Mastracchio, born on this date in 1960.
Listener Birthdays
- 14 – Douglas E. Welch of Career Opportunities Podcast
- 14 – Andrew
- 15 – Philip
- 17 – Bob Trate of MegaPodTastic and Action Figure Junkies
And that’s the way it was, on this day in history for February 11, 2026
- If you want to get on the Technorama Birthday Calendar, visit our website and look for the Birthday Calendar link.
News
- Can apes play pretend? Scientists use an imaginary tea party to find out | PBS News
- ‘Invisible scaffolding of the universe’ revealed in ambitious new James Webb telescope images | Live Science
Hacks & Strange Stories
- Prankster Launches Super Bowl Party For AI Agents – Slashdot
- This tiny molecular trick makes spider silk almost unbreakable | ScienceDaily
- A superfluid freezes and breaks the rules of physics | ScienceDaily
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Question of the week
- If you were one of the four astronauts on Artemis II, looking back at Earth from the far side of the Moon, what is the one thing from home you’d realize you completely forgot to pack?
Patreon Topic this week
- Bad software support – Chuck’s new insurance
- Chuck’s new hearing aids
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