2000: On his 74th birthday, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan speaks on "The Revolution in Information Technology" at Boston College. After years of warning that stock prices are too high, Greenspan now seems to have changed his mind: "[L]ofty equity values and declining prices of high-tech equipment have reduced the cost of capital?. The fact that the capital spending boom is still going strong indicates that businesses continue to find a wide array of potential high-rate-of-return, productivity-enhancing investments. And I see nothing to suggest that these opportunities will peter out any time soon." Greenspan is right — for four days. On March 10th, NASDAQ peaks and begins tumbling in the worst market crash since 1929.

James Grant, "Blame Greenspan," Forbes, September 3, 2001, p. 116

1959: At a press conference in New York City, Texas Instruments executives demonstrate a new device invented by one of the company's top engineers, Jack S. Kilby. They call their little new gadget the "integrated circuit." Today we know it as the microchip, the tiny cell that powers the Digital Age.

1926: Alan Greenspan, future chairman of the Federal Reserve, is born in New York City.