Important Events From Today in History – 14 September

Today in History

• 2000 Microsoft Launches Windows ME

  The Millennium Edition was the last of the operating systems of the Windows 9x series.

• 1985 The Golden Girls Make Their Television Debut

  The popular American sitcom about four single and older women living in a Miami, Florida house aired on NBC for six seasons. The show’s main characters were played by Beatrice Arthur, Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, and Betty White, all of whom won Emmys for their performances. The show also received two Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series and three Golden Globes for Best Television Series.

• 1979 The Afghan President is assassinated

  Nur Muhammad Taraki had taken office less than a year ago when he was killed by gunfire at the behest of Hafizullah Amin. After the assassination, Amin took the president’s seat and ruled for only 3 months before the Soviets killed him during Operation Storm-333.

• 1959 First Man-Made Object Successfully Lands on the Moon

  Soviet space probe Luna 2 was the first man-made spacecraft to land on any celestial object. It was launched on September 12, 1959, and lost communications with Earth as it impacted the Moon’s surface east of Mare Serenitatis near the Aristides, Archimedes, and Autolycus craters.

• 1956 IBM 305 RAMAC is Released

  The 350 RAMAC was the first computer with a disk drive, and it was primarily aimed at businesses that needed to conduct real-time transactions. RAMAC is an acronym for Random Access Method of Accounting and Control. In the early 1960s, the RAMAC 350, one of IBM’s final vacuum tube computers, was replaced by the IBM 1401.