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What's New
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What's happened in the past 45 years?
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| 1960 |
* The halogen lamp invented.
* First television weather satellite Tiros 1.
* First communications satellite 124-lb. Echo 1.
* Two dogs (Strelka and Belka) in Sputnik 5 became the first animals to
be successfully returned to Earth in August.
* The first split screen broadcast occurs on the Kennedy - Nixon debates.
* Laser-Working at Hughes Research Laboratories, physicist Theodore H.
Maiman creates the first laser. The core of his laser consists of a
man-made ruby -- a material that had been judged unsuitable by other
scientists, who rejected crystal cores in favor of various gases.
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| 1961 |
* Valium invented.
* The nondairy creamer invented.
* First Venus probe launched by the Russians Venera 1, but contact soon lost.
* First manned space-flight by Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin for 60 min in Vostok 1,
USSR.
* Gherman Titov spends more than a day in space (25 hours) in the second
Vostok manned flight in August.
* First manned American space flight by astronaut Shepard, sub-orbital.
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| 1962 |
* The audio cassette invented.
* The fiber-tip pen invented by Yukio Horie.
* Spacewar, the first computer video game invented.
* Dow Corp invents silicone breast implants.
* First American orbital flight by NASA, John Glenn for 5-hrs in Mercury 6.
* First British-built satellite (Ariel) launched from the USA.
* NASA 730 - lb. Ranger 4 got TV close-up pictures of the Moon.
* Transatlantic television programs relayed by the 171 - lb. Telstar satellite.
* First active geodetic satellite (Anna 1 B).
* Russians launch the first Mars probe, but contact lost.
* Venus probe Mariner 2 sends back close-range information about Venus.
* The All Channel Receiver Act requires that UHF tuners (channels 14 to 83)
be included in all sets.
* AT&T launches Telstar, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts -
broadcasts are now internationally relayed.
* The pull-ring tab first marketed by the Pittsburgh Brewing Company of
Pittsburgh, PA. The pull-ring tab was invented by Alcoa.
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| 1963 |
* The first videodisc invented.
* Zip codes invented in the United States.
* First maneuverable satellite (Polyot 1, USSR).
* NASA 80-lb. Syncom II, geosynchronous communications satellite.
* Two spacecraft in orbit at the same time (Nikolayev and Popovich, USSR).
* First space-woman (Valentina Tereshkova-Nikolayeva, USSR).
* Arthur C Clarke proposes the concept of the geo-stationary orbit for
global communications in an article in the October issue of Wireless World.
1964
* ESRO established in Europe with 10 member nations - Close-range
photographs of the Moon obtained from 806-lb Ranger 7 before impact (USA).
* NASA 830-lb Nimbus 1 in polar orbit got complete world cloud cover each day.
* NASA 575-lb Mariner 4 got TV pictures of Mars on 6100-mi fly-by.
* First three-crew space-craft in Voskhod 1, USSR.
* The Schlitz Brewing company introduced the "Pop Top" beer can to the nation
in March, invented by Ermal Fraze of Kettering, Ohio.
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| 1964 |
* Acrylic paint invented.
* Permanent-press fabric invented.
* BASIC (an early computer language) is invented by John George Kemeny and Tom Kurtz.
* Bullet train transportation invented
* Operating System - IBM rolls out the OS/360, the first mass-produced computer
operating system. Using the OS/360, all computers in the IBM 360 family could
run any software program. Already IBM is a giant in the computer industry,
controlling 70% of the market worldwide.
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| 1965 |
* Astroturf invented.
* Soft contact lenses invented.
* NutraSweet invented.
* The compact disk invented by James Russell.
* Kevlar invented by Stephanie Louise Kwolek.
* First 'space-walk' by Cosmonaut Leonov, USSR.
* First American 'space-walk' by astronaut White.
* NASA launched first commercial communications satellite,
87-lb Intelsat 1, in geosynchronous orbit over 27' W longitude.
* First cosmic-ray measurements outside the atmosphere by Soviet 25,000-lb Proton 1.
* First impact on Venus' surface by Soviet 2ioo-11)Venera 3.
* Close-range photographs of Mars obtained from Mariner 4 (USA).
* Improved photographs of the Moon's far side obtained from Zond 3 (USSR).
* Successful space-docking operation (Gemini 6 and 7, USA).
* Soft drinks in cans dispensed from vending machines.
* The resealable top invented.
* Minicomputer - Digital Equipment introduces the PDP-8, the world's first
computer to use integrated circuit technology. Because of its relatively small
size and its low $18,000 price tag, Digital sells several hundred units.
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| 1966 |
* Electronic Fuel injection for cars invented.
* Xerox invents the Telecopier - the first successful fax machine.
* First soft landing on the Moon, by Luna 9 (USSR).
* Russian probe Venus 3 lands on Venus, though contact had been lost.
* First circum-lunar probe, 3600-lb Lunar 10 (USSR).
* First American soft-landing on the Moon (Surveyor 1) Improved close-range
photographs of the Moon from 846-lb Orbiter 1 NASA.
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| 1967 |
* The first handheld calculator invented.
* Most TV broadcasts are in color.
* Disaster at Cape Kennedy, resulting in the deaths of three astronauts.
* Death of Colonel Komarov in Soyuz 1 due to parachute failure.
* First soft-landing on Venus by (USSR).
* First chemical analysis of lunar soil by NASA 619-lb Surveyor 5.
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| 1968 |
* The computer mouse invented by Douglas Engelbart.
* The first computer with integrated circuits made.
* Robert Dennard invented RAM (random access memory).
* Testing of the American Saturn 5 rocket (Project Apollo).
* First recovery of circum-lunar probe, Zond 5 which had animals aboard, (USSR).
* First manned Apollo flight: Apollo 7 (Schirra, Cunningham, Eisele).
* First flight round the Moon: Apollo 8 (Borman, Lovell, Anders).
* NASA OAO 2 orbiting astronomical observatory (4436-lb).
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| 1969 |
* The arpanet (first internet) invented.
* The artificial heart invented.
* The ATM invented.
* The bar-code scanner is invented.
* First manned mission (Apollo) to the Moon
* ARPANET - the first Internet started.
* July 20, first TV transmission from the moon and 600 million people watch.
* Moon Landing - Millions watch worldwide as the landing module of NASA's
Apollo 11 spacecraft touches down on the moon's surface and Neil Armstrong
becomes the first human to set foot on the moon. President John F. Kennedy,
who vowed to the world that the United States would put a human on the moon
before 1970, has not lived to witness the moment.
* First Russian manned docking maneuver (Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5).
* First space testing of the Lunar Module: Apollo 9 (McDivitt, Scott, Schweickart).
* Further soft-landings of unmanned probes on Venus: Venus 5 and Venus 6 (USSR)
(Stafford, Cernan, Young).
* July 21 - First men on the moon in Apollo 11 (Armstrong and Aldrin: Collins
in orbit) returning 48-lbs of lunar samples from Mare Tranquillitatis.
* Further probes sent past Mars: Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 (USA).
* American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages renamed The National Soft Drink Association.
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| 1970 |
* The daisy-wheel printer invented.
* The floppy disk invented by Alan Shugart.
* First jumbo jet.
* First Japanese Earth orbiter, 58-lb Lambda.
* First Chinese Earth orbiter (386-lbs).
* Soviet unmanned Luna returned 3-5 oz of lunar soil after soft landing in Mare Fecunditatis.
* First unmanned lunar vehicle, Lunokhod 1, soft-landed by Soviet Luna 17 for ii-months' operation
in Mare Imbrium.
* X-ray survey of the sky started by NASA-Italian 320-lb Explorer 42 (Uhuru-).
* France launched Earth orbiter.
* Plastic bottles are used for soft drinks.
* Optical Fiber - Corning Glass announces it has created a glass fiber
so clear that it can communicate pulses of light. GTE and AT&T will
soon begin experiments to transmit sound and image data using fiber
optics, which will transform the communications industry.
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| 1971 |
* The dot-matrix printer invented.
* The food processor invented.
* The liquid-crystal display (LCD) invented by James Fergason.
* The microprocessor invented by Faggin, Hoff and Mazor.
* VCR or videocassette recorder invented.
* The computer floppy disc invented.
* The microprocessor invented - considered a computer on a chip.
* Soviets launched Mars 2 and 3 for first impact on Mars the planet by Mars 2 and first soft landing
on Dec 2, 1971 by Mars 3.
* NASA launched 2271-lb Mariner 9, first orbiter of Mars, which telemeter
high-resolution TV pictures of the surface.
* First space lab, Soviet 41,580-lb. Salyut 1, visited for 22 days by Cosmonauts
Dobrovolsky, Patsayev, and Volkov, who died in Soyuz on return to Earth.
* First manned Lunar Rover used by Astronauts Scott and Irwin on Apollo-15 mission near
Hadley Rille.
* First sub-satellite launched from CSM by Astronaut Worden.
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| 1972 |
* The word processor invented.
* Pong (first video game) invented by Nolan Bushnell.
* Hacky Sack® invented by John Stalberger and Mike Marshall.
* HBO invents pay-TV service for cable.
* NASA launched Pioneer 10 for first Jupiter fly-by in December 1973.
* First astronomical telescope on the Moon with NASA Apollo i6 and Astronauts
Young and Duke.
* First color-image of Earth from NASA 1800lb ERTS i.
* 32-in telescope in Earth orbit Oil 4850-lb OAO 3 (Copernicus).
* Last manned landing on Moon by Astronauts Cernan and Schmitt in NASA
Apollo 17; 250-lbs of lunar samples returned from Taurus-Littrow.
* Video Game Pong, one of the first mass-produced video games, has become
the rage. Noland Bushnell, the 28 year-old inventor of Pong, will go on to found
Atari.
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| 1973 |
* Gene splicing invented.
* The ethernet (local computer network) invented by Robert Metcalfe and Xerox.
* Bic invents the disposable lighter.
* Giant screen projection TV is first marketed.
* The PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottle created.
* NASA 190,000-lb Skylab in Earth orbit made many astronomical observations
and engineering experiments performed by three crews in visits as long as 85
days.
* Soviet Union
launched Mars 4, 5, and 6, of which Mars 5 soft landed in March 1974.
* NASA iio8-lb Mariner 10 launched for Venus and Mercury fly-bys.
* Half the TVs in homes are color sets.
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| 1974 |
* The post-it note invented by Arthur Fry.
* Giorgio Fischer, a gynecologist from Rome, Italy, invents liposuction.
* German Helios 1 launched by NASA to orbit sun at 0-3 AU.
* The stay-on tab invented. Introduced by the Falls City Brewing Company of
Louisville, KY.
* Barcode - The first shipments of bar-coded products arrive in American
stores. Scanners at checkout stations read the codes using laser technology.
The hand-punched keyboard cash register takes one step closer to obsolescence.
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| 1975 |
* The laser printer invented.
* The push-through tab on a drink can invented.
* Soviet Union launched Venera 9 and 10 to orbit Venus; Venera-9 lander
reached the surface October 22 and transmitted the first pictures from
another planet's surface.
* NASA Apollo docked with Soviet Soyuz in joint ASTP mission.
* NASA launched 7500-lb Vikings 1 and 2 to visit Mars in July 1976 with
2293-lb landers to make first analysis of Martian soil.
* Microsoft - Old high school friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen form a
partnership known as Microsoft to write computer software. They sell their
first software to Ed Roberts at MIT, which has produced the Altair 8800,
the first microprocessor-based computer. Gates soon drops out of Harvard.
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| 1976 |
* The ink-jet printer invented.
* Apple I home computer invented.
* First nationwide programming - via satellite and implemented by Ted Turner.
* Sony introduces betamax, the first home video cassette recorder.
* Super Computer - Cray Research, Inc. introduces its first supercomputer,
the Cray-1, which can perform operations at a rate of 240,000,000 calculations
per second. Supercomputers designed by Seymour Cray will continue to dominate
the market; the Cray 2, marketed in 1985, will be capable of 1,200,000,000
calculations per second.
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| 1977 |
* Magnetic resonance imaging invented by Raymond V. Damadian.
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| 1978 |
* Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston invented the VisiCalc spreadsheet.
* The artificial heart Jarvik-7 invented by Robert K. Jarvik.
* PBS becomes the first station to switch to all satellite delivery of programs.
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| 1979 |
* Cellular phones invented.
* Cray supercomputer invented by Seymour Cray.
* Walkman invented.
* Scott Olson invents roller blades.
* First cellular phone communication network started in Japan.
* Mello Yello soft drink is introduced by the Coca Cola company as
competition against Mountain Dew.
* Human-Powered Flight - Cyclist Byron Allen crosses the English Channel
in a pedal-powered aircraft called the Gossamer Albatross. The flight
takes 2 hours, 49 minutes, and wins a [sterling]100,000 prize for its
crew, headed by designer Dr. Paul MacCready. Constructed of Mylar,
polystyrene, and carbon-fiber rods, the Albatross has a wingspan of 93
feet 10 inches and weighs about 70 pounds.
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| 1980 |
* The hepatitis-B vaccine invented.
* Sony Walkman invented.
* NASA Space - Shuttle to be used repeatedly.
* Solar maximum mission satellite (Solar Max) launched on 14 February
but fails 1 month later. It featured the first in-orbit satellite repair
mass on the space shuttle mission April 1984.
* Voyager I reaches Saturn and flies within 78,000 miles (126,000 km)
of its cloud tops. It sent back spectacular pictures of the rings and
discovered many new moons. The first of the powerful Intelsat V
communications satellites, with 12,000 volt circuits, is launched on
6-December. The first operational orbiter Columbia is rolled out to the
launch pad on 29 December, looking to a launch in the following spring.
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| 1981 |
* MS-DOS invented.
* The first IBM-PC invented.
* The scanning tunneling microscope invented by Gerd Karl Binnig and
* Heinrich Rohrer.
* Space shuttle launched
* IBM PC first sold.
* First laptop computers sold to public.
* Computer mouse becomes regular part of computer.
* John Young and Robert Crippen flew Columbia into orbit on 12-April on
the space shuttle's maiden mission (STS- 1). It lasted for 36 orbits, 54
hours, launched from the Kennedy Space Center, it returned to the Edwards
Air Force Base in California, on 14-April. On 25-August Voyager 1 makes
its closest approach, 63,000 miles (IO 1,000 km), to Saturn.
* Columbia, on the second shuttle mission (STS-2),went into space again
for a 36-orbit flight on 12-November, piloted by Joe Engle and Richard
Truly. It was the first time any spacecraft has returned to space for a
second time. The crew tested the remote manipulator system robot arm.
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| 1982 |
* Human growth hormone genetically engineered.
* Dolby surround sound for home sets is introduced.
* Artificial Heart - Dr. Robert Jarvik implants a permanent artificial
heart, the Jarvik 7, into Dr. Barney Clark. The heart, powered by an
external compressor, keeps Clark alive for 112 days.
* Columbia makes its third flight (STS-3) on 22-March, crewed by Jack
Lousma and Gordon Fullerton landed at White Sands, New Mexico,
after an 8-day flight. STS-4 began on 27-June, with Thomas Mattingly
and Henry Hartsfleld flying Columbia on a 7-day mission, the final
test mission.
* NHK demonstrates HDTV with 1,125 lines of resolution.
* Next page > Introduction to Pop - The History of Soft Drinks
* Space Shuttle - For the first time, NASA successfully launches and lands
its reusable spacecraft, the Space Shuttle. The shuttle can be used for
a number of applications, including launch, retrieval, and repair of
satellites and as a laboratory for physical experiments. While extremely
successful, the shuttle program will suffer a disaster in 1986 when the
shuttle Challenger explodes after takeoff, killing all on board.
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| 1983 |
The Apple Lisa invented.
* Soft bifocal contact lens invented.
* First Cabbage Patch Kids sold.
* Programmer Jaron Lanier first coins the term "virtual reality".
* Time magazines names the computer as "Man of the Year."
* First cellular phone network started in the United States.
* Columbia becomes operational on STS-5, lifting off in November. It
carries a record four-man crew, Vance Brand, Robert Overmyer, Joseph
Allen and William Lenoir. They launched two communication satellites.
* International infrared astronomy satellite IRAS launched on
25-January, discovered comets, possible new solar systems.
* Challenger, on STS-6, takes place on 4-April, with a crew of four,
Paul Weitz, Karol Bobko, Donald Petersen and Story Musgrave. During a
5-day flight the crew deployed the first tracking and data relay satellite
(TDRS), and Petersen and Musgrave tested the new shuttle spacesuit in the
orbiter cargo bay.
* European X-ray satellite Exosat launched on 26-May.
* First American woman astronaut Sally Ride soars into orbit on
Challenger's second flight (STS-7) on 24-June, along with Robert Crippen,
Frederick Hauck, John Fabian and Norman Thagard, making a record
five-person crew.
* On 13-June Pioneer 10 becomes the first probe to venture into interstellar
space when it crossed the orbit of the outermost planet, Neptune
* On 30-August STS-8 launched, the crew of Challenger included Richard
Truly, Daniel Brandenstein, Dale Gardner, Guion Bluford, William Thornton,
and six rats
* The first flight of Space-lab on the shuttle begins on 28-November.
The space shuttle is Columbia, with a crew of six conducted over 70
experiments on a 10-day flight. Among them is a German scientist, the
first non-American to fly in the US space program. The other crew members
are John Young, Brewster Shaw, Robert Parker, Owen Garriott and Byron
Lichtenberg.
* Direct Broadcast Satellite begins service in Indianapolis, In.
* In January "Time" names its 1982 "man" of the year -- the personal
computer. PC's have taken the world by storm, dramatically changing the way
people communicate. IBM dominates the personal computer market, benefiting both
from the production of its own machines as well as "clones" produced by other
companies.
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| 1984 |
* The CD-ROM invented.
* The Apple Macintosh invented.
* IBM PC AT released.
* First human to orbit Earth and become first human satellite, Bruce McCandless (U.S.A.).
* Stereo TV broadcasts approved.
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| 1985 |
* Windows program invented by Microsoft.
* First probe to reach a comet (USA).
* Genetic Engineering The USDA gives the go-ahead for the sale of the first genetically
altered organism. The rapidly growing biotech industry will seek numerous
patents, including one for a tomato that can be shipped when ripe.
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| 1986 |
* A high-temperature super-conductor invented by J. Georg Bednorz and Karl A. Muller.
* Synthetic skin invented by G. Gregory Gallico, III.
* Fuji introduced the disposable camera.
* Cellular telephones in cars become wide-spread.
* CD-ROMs in computers.
* First probe to reach Uranus (USA).
* Super VHS introduced.
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| 1987 |
* The first 3-D video game invented.
* Disposable contact lenses invented.
* First permanently-occupied space station, Space Station MIR (USSR).
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| 1988 |
* Digital cellular phones invented.
* The RU-486 (abortion pill) invented.
* Doppler radar invented by Christian Andreas Doppler.
* Prozac® invented at the Eli Lilly Company by inventor Ray Fuller.
* The first patent for a genetically engineered animal is issued to Harvard
* University researchers Philip Leder and Timothy Stewart.
* Ralph Alessio and Fredrik Olsen received a patent for the Indiglo ®
nightlight. The bluish green light is used to illuminate the entire face
of a watch.
* Longest manned space-flight - 365 days by cosmonauts Titov and Manarov (USSR).
* Graphic User Interface - Apple files a suit charging that Microsoft has
pirated Apple's user-friendly graphical interface. The suit will fail, and
Microsoft's star will continue to rise. By the mid 1990's, Apple will be
experiencing a painful and public financial shakeout.
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| 1989 |
* High-definition television invented.
* First probe to reach Neptune - Voyager 2 (USA)
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| 1990 |
* The World Wide Web/Internet protocol (HTTP) and WWW language (HTML)
created by Tim Berners-Lee.
* Hubble Telescope - The space shuttle Discovery deploys the Hubble Space
telescope 350 miles above the Earth. Although initial flaws limit its
capabilities, the Hubble will be responsible for numerous discoveries
and advances in the understanding of space.
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| 1991 |
* The digital answering machine invented.
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| 1992 |
* The smart pill invented.
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| 1993 |
* The pentium processor invented.
* Closed captioning required on all sets.
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| 1994 |
* HIV protease inhibitor invented.
* American government releases control of internet and WWW is born - making communication at lightspeed.
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| 1995 |
* The Java computer language invented.
* DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) invented.
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| 1996 |
* Web TV invented.
* The FCC approves ATSC's HDTV standard. Billion TV sets world-wide.
* History of Television
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| 1997 |
* The gas-powered fuel cell invented.
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| 1998 |
* Viagra® invented.
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| 1999 |
* Scientists measure the fastest wind speed ever recorded on earth, 509 km/h(318 mph).
* Tekno Bubbles patented.
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