Galileo achieved his great fame as the father of modern science, often promise women at local taverns he would name stars and planets after them. The mathematician, scientist, philosopher, and all-around know-it-all made waves when he supported the theories of nut job Nicolaus Copernicus, claiming the Earth revolved around the Sun rather than the other way around. The Catholic Church charged Galileo with heresy for his beliefs, but let him off easy cause of his age, punished with house arrest for the remainder of his life. But Galileo had the last laugh. Almost 350 years later, Pope John Paul II admitted Galileo might have been right.

Before we could convince our parents to buy us those awfully violent comic books, fairy tales dominated bed time reading. Thanks to the creative genius of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, children around the world have had classic stories to read and see turned into Disney cartoons. The Grimm Brothers wrote “Cinderella,” “Snow White”, and “Rapunzel” around the same time as Andersen wrote “The Little Mermaid,” “Emperor’s New Clothes,” and “The Princess and the Pea.” Think where we’d be if Disney didn’t have these guys to copy and not pay royalties to.

The abacus and slide rule were good starts, but Wilhelm Schickard invented the first automatic calculator called the “Calculating Clock” in 1623. The Calculating Clock is basically the first, known computer and could perform basic arithmetic with user input. Sadly the Clock was not programmable, forcing geeks to wait until 1941 for a system to port Linux to.

Aside from being creepily prophetic, Jules Verne wrote some great novels. One of the fathers of science fiction, Verne is best known for classics like Journey into the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days. Verne introduced many fantastic concepts related to space travel, flight, and underwater travel all still a glimmer in the patent office’s eye. Verne also predicts the Apollo program with great accuracy, including the Florida location of its launch site. He also foresaw the invention of the helicopter, submarine, and jukebox which I can only attribute to witchcraft.

From Hercules to Ra, ancient mythology has dominated storytelling for most of human civilization, and today is no different. From the Lord of the Rings to Superman to Disney cartoons owe everything to Norse, Hebrew, and Greek mythology just to scratch the surface. Many stories, characters, monsters, and heroes adapted and stole from other mythologies (the Romans copied the Greek almost word for word) and writers continued to draw inspiration even to the present.

The invention of paper is credited to ancient China, as far back as the 2nd century. While earlier forms of paper-type material existed earlier, China’s developed paper from wood pulp still used today. Without China’s invention, where would we be - no books, comics, video game manuals. Letter writing on stone tablets would be slow, cumbersome, and unwieldy. The invention of paper, even in its early and expensive stages, improved communication (for writing), economy (with paper bills), and even health. China invented toilet paper in 6th century after relying for far too long on panda fur.

Dinosaurs rule and Jurassic Park brought them to life.  Steven Speilberg adapted Michael Crichton’s novel about an island amusement park filled with living dinosaurs cloned from a fossilized mosquito’s blood. The film unleashed eye-popping special effects in computers and robotics, bringing to the screen realistic fake things like never before.  This inspired many directors from Peter Jackson to James Cameron to George Lucas, all who went to push the technological envelope of film (though not all for the better).

September will be a special month for Geek-Out Moments.  All of history is up for grabs recognizing the influential geeky moments throughout time.  From Shakespeare to ancient gaming, these are moments that have changed geek history.

Seven years after Gen of Hiroshima became the first English translation of a Japanese comic, Lone Wolf and Cub hit the American newsstands. Lone Wolf and Cub, though, became the success that opened the manga market on U.S. soil. Today, manga provides an enormous influence for American comics. Marvel employed Joe Madureia, with his complete manga style, to draw the X-Men. Dark Horse Comics created a solely manga line as Marvel has recently. In addition, Lone Wolf can be credited with opening up the market for the successful and incredibly influential Akira film, trend setting Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh!, and the art styling of the video games Final Fantasy and Capcom characters. The Matrix film also credits manga and, the animated form, anime, as a major influence.
Though a small niche in the comic book market, Viz Communications (who dedicates itself to produce nothing but manga translations) and other publishers are increasingly adding manga to their art styling as well as manga imports. Growing more and more as the years pass, Japanese comics provide a creative heaven in a land where comics account for 40 percent of the print material in the country as a $5.5 billion industry, compared to the $200 million in America. Manga provides credibility and thus, influence.

Superman’s a pretty big character.  He’s one of the most recognized icons in the world.  So it was a big deal when, almost a year before it happened, DC Comics told everyone they were killing the icon off.  The even transcended the comic world to becoming a media frenzy all the way until the record-breaking release of Superman #75 where lines poured out of comic stores as everyone and their grandmother ran to buy several copies in the hopes to retiring early.  The 5 million print-run did away with a real second-hand market, but the event itself shocked some life into the comic book industry, from collectors and headline grabbing events from publishers.  And high-profile deaths (and returns) have stayed ever since.