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German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press. He developed a movable metal type that allowed him to mass-produce printed materials. The first book, the Gutenberg Bible, was printed in 1455. -
Ben Harris printed Publick Occurrences, the first newspaper in the English colonies. -
In 1843, Morse built a telegraph system from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore with the financial support of Congress. In May 1844, the first message, ''What hath God wrought?'' was sent. -
Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell is credited with inventing the telephone and was granted a U.S. patent. In 1877-78, the first telephone line was constructed, the first switchboard was created, and the first telephone exchange was in operation. Three years later, almost 49,000 telephones were in use. -
Christopher Sholes developed and completed the first practical typewriter in September 1867. The first commercial model was manufactured in 1873 and was mounted on a sewing machine stand. -
Thomas Edison invented the first machine that captured sound, recorded it, and then played it back to listeners. -
In 1906, Canadian-born physicist Reginald Fessenden sent the first long-distance transmission of human voice and music from his station in Massachusetts. By the end of the 1930s, 80 percent of American families had radios in their homes. -
Philo Taylor Farnsworth created the first electronic television. However, televisions did not become a mainstay in family homes in the U.S. until the 1950s. -
Known as the Harvard Mark 1, the first mainframe computer weighed five tons and filled an entire room. -
The U.S. government launched the first satellite to send voice signals was launched. It broadcasted a taped message conveying ''peace on earth and goodwill toward men everywhere'' from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.