October 18

1799: Christian Schönbein, who discovered and named ozone (O3) for its peculiar smell (ozo is Greek for smell), was born. 1876: The state of Alaska was officially transferred to America by Russia. 1871: English mathematician Charles Babbage, whose difference engine is considered the first programmable calculator, died. 1892: The first long-distance telephone line was opened between Chicago and New York. 1922: The British Broadcasting Company was formed, and five years later became the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 1931: American inventor Thomas Alva Edison died at age 84. 1945: The International Military Tribunal portion of the Nazi War Crimes trial opened in Nuremberg. 1959: The USSR announced an unmanned space vehicle, Luna 3, had taken first pictures of far side of the moon. 1962: Dr. James Watson of the U.S., Dr. Francis Crick & Dr. Maurice Wilkins of U.K. won the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for work in determining double-helix molecular structure of DNA. 2004: Scientists at UC Irvine announced the development of the world's longest electrically conducting nanotubes. 2006: Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7.