Rick Smith (1867 - 1971)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Rick's lifetime.

In 1867, in the year that Rick Smith was born, on March 1st, Nebraska became the 37th state in the United States. Due to the Homestead Act, settlers had flooded into the area and the first wave of settlers was so large that Nebraska was immediately able to apply for statehood.

In 1872, by the time he was just 5 years old, on March 1st, Yellowstone National Park became the first national park in the U.S. and perhaps the world's first national park. Established by Congress and signed into law by President Grant, Yellowstone is one of the most spectacular areas in the U.S., filled with natural wonders and wildlife.

In 1907, Rick was 40 years old when radiometric dating, a recently discovered technology that could date rocks, found that the earth was 2.2 billion years old which was dramatically older than previously thought. Later refinements and advancements in science would date the age of the earth at over 4.5 billion years.

In 1923, at the age of 56 years old, Rick was alive when on August 2nd, Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th President of the United States due to the sudden death of Warren G. Harding. After the scandals of the Harding presidency, Coolidge restored public confidence and was very popular. He won the Presidential election in 1924 but declined to run again in 1928.

In 1971, in the year of Rick Smith's passing, in March, Intel shipped the first microprocessor to Busicom, a Japanese manufacturer of calculators. The microprocessor has since allowed computers to become smaller and faster, leading to smaller and more versatile handheld devices, home computers, and supercomputers.