- 1819 – The SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The ship arrived at Liverpool, England on June 20.
- 1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their “Flying-Machine”.
- 1980 – Namco releases the highly influential arcade game Pac-Man.
For more on Pac-Man, I recommend the book The Art of Video Games: From Pac-Man to Mass Effect.
In the thiry years since the first Pac-Man first ate a pellet in 1980, the video game industry has undergone a mind-blowing evolution. Fueled by unprecedented advances in technology, boundless imaginations, and an insatiable addiction to fantastic new worlds of play, the video game has gone supernova, rocketing two generations of fans into an ever-expanding universe where art, culture, reality, and emotion collide.
As a testament to the cultural impact of the game industry’s mega morph, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, with curator and author Chris Melissinos, conceived the forthcoming exhibition, The Art of Video Games, which will run from March 16 to September 30, 2012.