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The year 1917 was filled with many events that started things we use today, such as color movies, which are now everywhere, and the invention of the am radio. Communism also took its first stand in Russia, where the Russian Revolution began. Also, World Book Encyclopedia was first published.

• The Russian Revolution begins in 1917 and carries on till 1921, when the Communist party takes over.
• US Army Signal Corps Major Edwin Howard Armstrong, 26, creates a superheterodyne circuit that eventually allows AM radios to work. It is originally made to increase sensitivity of radio receivers so different frequencies can be reached
• Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and other stars speak at bond rallies  that will help sell $18.7 billion in Liberty Bonds this year and next. This is a good example of early attempts at Public Relations.
• Nathan Handwerker, owner and founder of Nathan's Hot Dogs in Coney Island, New York, counters rumors made by his rivals saying that because his hot dogs are only 5¢, they are of bad quality. He gets rid of this by hiring people off the streets to wear white lab coats and stethoscopes and eat his food to show people that "doctors" eat his hot dogs.
• The World Book Encyclopedia, published in its first edition, will grow to 22 volumes in the next 60 years and outsell any other encyclopedia.
• Robert Andrews Millikan, publishes The Electron, which describes the subatomic particle that he isolated. He has published the report to show all of the characteristics, including its specific charge. BMW (Bavarian Motor Works) is created in Munich, Germany. It will for some time be an aircraft engine manufacturer. In 1928, it goes on to become a motorcycle and sports car manufacturer.
• Union Carbide and Carbon Works is created in late 1917 by an agreement between UCC, Prestolite, National Carbon and Linde. It gets instant orders from the U.S. asking for gas mask activated carbon, helium and ferrozirconium for armor.
• The U.S. enters World War I after 3 years of supposedly being neutral. The events that lead up to its entrance include the intercepted Zimmerman Telegram and the sinking of the Lusitania.
• Albert Einstein introduces the theory of the laser, a beam of directed photons in 1917. He is now nicknamed the father of the laser.
• Germany telegraphed the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, It was intercepted in Britain and cryptologists deciphered the message that revealed Germany attempting to bribe Mexico into attacking the U.S. and in return Germany would recapture Mexican territory that was taken by the United States.
• First all color or partial color movies appear in movie theaters in 1917. Though most of the films are too fragile now to be played, some survive. Some of these films had early vitaphone sound to coincide with the movie.
• The 100 inch reflecting telescope due for Mt. Wilson, California is finished, despite difficulties with casting and molding the huge piece of glass that would eventually become a concave reflector.

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last updated 12/04/05