Spacewar

The first Sci-fi video game was Spacewar!, it was created in 1961 by a group of students at MIT. The game pitted two human players against each other, each controlling a space ship capable of firing missiles. A black hole in the center created a large gravitational field and another source of hazard.

NCSA Mosaic

The first graphical Web browser to become truly popular was Marc Andreessen and Jamie Zawinski's NCSA Mosaic. It was the first browser made available for Windows, Mac and Unix X Windows System with the first version appearing in March 1993. In fact, Netscape was code-named Mozilla (from Mosaic Killer), referring to the hope that the project would unseat the more popular Mosaic.

LASER

Contrary to the potrayal of lasers in many science fiction movies, a laser beam would not be visible (at least to the naked eye) in the near vacuum of space as there would be insufficient matter in the environment to make it visible. In case you didn't know: LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

Liver

The liver is the only organ in our body, which can be partially removed and still function at a level to keep a human healthy. In fact, the liver re-grows itself over several months. It is now even possible for relatives to donate portions of their liver to a close relative, after which their own liver will re-grow.

Cornelius Jacobszoon Drebbel

The first submersible with reliable information on its construction was built in 1620 by Cornelius Jacobszoon Drebbel, a Dutchman in the service of James 1, while working for the british Royal Navy. It was propelled by means of oars. Between 1620 and 1624 Drebbel successfully built and tested two more submarines, each one bigger than the last.

Honey bee

An average worker Honey bee makes about 1.5 teaspoons of honey in its lifetime and it would have to visit two million flowers to make just 500 gms of honey. A bee usually visits any where between 50 to 100 flowers during just one collection trip.

Vikram Sarabhai

Indian physicist, Vikram Sarabhai (1919-1971) is considered to be the Father of the Indian space program. It was he who convinced the Indian government of the importance of a space programme for a developing country like India. The establishment of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was the result of his efforts.

Pompeii

Pompeii is a ruined Roman city in Italy. It was destroyed during a catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which buried the city under many feet of ash. Lost for 1,600 years, the town was rediscovered in 1559, but it was only in 1748 that excavation at the site began- a labour that revealed many complete buildings and wall paintings.

FIFA

FIFA has licensed World Cup video games since 1986. The license was originally handed to developer US Gold but was later acquired, in 1997, by Electronic Arts. The first game based on FIFA was actually an older game called World Cup Football, which US Gold re-packaged with the proper licensed items before selling it again.

Firefox

Firefox (version 1.0) reached 25 million downloads in just 99 days after its November 9, 2004 release. It then went on to clock its 100 millionth download in less than one year (344 days to be exact). And as of July 31, 2006, Firefox has been downloaded 200 million times.