Inventions Timeline

1950  Stanford Ovshinksy develops various technologies that make renewable energy more practical, including practical solar cells and improved rechargeable batteries   

1950  european bus companies experiment with using flywheels as regenerative brakes   

1950  percy Spencer accidentally discovers how to cook with microwaves, inadvertently inventing the microwave oven.   

1951  Nuclear power reactor was invented by Walter Zinn   

1951  long-distance dialing in the U.S.   

1954  Indian physicist Narinder Kapany pioneers fiber optics   

1956  Optical fiber was invented by Basil Hirschowitz, C. Wilbur Peters, and Lawrence E. Curtiss   

1956  First commercial nuclear power is produced at Calder Hall, Cumbria, England   

1956  transatlantic telephone cable   

1957  Sputnik I and Sputnik II: Sputnik I and Sputnik II are launched by the Russians   

1957  soviet Union (Russia and her allies) launch the Sputnik space satellite.   

1957  Lawrence Curtiss, Basil Hirschowitz, and Wilbur Peters build the first fiber-optic gastroscope   

1958  silicon chip: The first integrated circuit, or silicon chip, is produced by the US Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce   

1958  Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce, working independently, develop the integrated circuit   

1959  iBM and General Motors develop Design Augmented by Computers-1 (DAC-1), the first computer-aided design (CAD) system.   

1960  laser was invented by Theodore Harold Maiman   

1960  Joseph-Armand Bombardier perfects his Ski-Doo® snowmobile   

1960  theodore Maiman invents the ruby laser.   

1960  douglas Engelbart develops the computer mouse.   

1960  James Russell invents compact discs   

1960  laser light used in U.S.   

1960  felt-tip pens   

1961  optical disc was invented by David Paul Gregg   

1962  William Armistead and S. Donald Stookey of Corning Glass Works invent light-sensitive (photochromic) glass   

1963  Computer mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart   

1963  Ivan Sutherland develops Sketchpad, one of the first computer-aided design programs   

1963  home video recorder   

1963  Disk storage for computer   

1964  iBM helps to pioneer e-commerce with an airline ticket reservation system called SABRE.   

1965  Frank Pantridge develops the portable defibrillator for treating cardiac arrest patients   

1966  Stephanie Kwolek patents a super-strong plastic called Kevlar   

1967  Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) was invented by John Shepherd-Barron   

1967  japanese company Noritake invents the vacuum fluorescent display (VFD).   

1967  compact microwave ovens are sold.   

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