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Sputnik
Sputnik was launched on this date and was the first artificial satellite, which was the size of a basketball. -
Jet Airliner
A four engine plane that carries 181 passengers and cruises at 600 mph. -
First Microchip
The first solid integrated circuit was introduced. This is now called a microchip. -
Float Glass
Windowpanes that were made by rapidly squeezing a sheet of red-hot glass between two hot rollers, which produced a cheap but uneven pane. British engineer Alastair Pilkington revolutionizes the process by floating molten glass on a bath of molten tin. -
Cordless Tools
Black and Decker releases its first cordless drill, but designers can't coax more than 20 watts from its NiCd batteries. Instead, they strive for efficiency, modifying gear ratios and using better materials. -
Industrial Robot
The first programmable industrial robot, is installed on a General Motors assembly line in New Jersey. Conceived by George C. Devol Jr. to move and fetch things. -
Computer Mouse
First computer mouse invented. -
Communications Satellite
Telstar is launched as the first "active" communications satellite—active as in amplifying and retransmitting incoming signals, rather than passively bouncing them back to Earth. -
Smoke Detector
Randolph Smith and Kenneth House patent a battery-powered smoke detector for home use. -
Electronic Ignition
It leads to electronic control of ignition timing and fuel metering, harbingers of more sophisticated systems to come. -
First Video Game Console
Used to play video games on the tv. -
Electronic Ignition
It leads to electronic control of ignition timing and fuel metering, harbingers of more sophisticated systems to come. -
Cellular Phone
The first cellular phone was invented. -
First Commercial Graphical User Interface
Was first introduced on the Xerox Alto. The modern GUI was later popularized by Xerox star and Apple Lisa. -
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Internet Protocol Suite
Developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, creating the basis for the modern Internet. -
MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is created. -
GPS
The first satellite in the modern Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) is launched. (The GPS's precursor, TRANSIT, was developed in the early 1960s to guide nuclear subs.) It is not until the year 2000, though, that President Clinton grants nonmilitary users access to an unscrambled GPS signal. -
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (Compact disc-Read only memory) is a pre-packed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. -
DNA Fingerprinting
Molecular biologist Alec Jeffreys devises a way to make the analysis of more than 3 billion units in the human DNA sequence much more manageable by comparing only the parts of the sequence that show the greatest variation among people. His method quickly finds its way into the courts, where it is used to exonerate people wrongly accused of crimes and to finger the true culprits. -
World Wide Web
The project was publiclyannounced in December, 1990. It was proposed by english engineer and computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee, now the director of the World Wide Web Consortium. -
Digital Answering Machine
The digital answering machine was invented. -
DVD
DVD is an optical storage format, invented by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic. It offers higher storage capacity than compact discs while having the same dimesnsions. -
MP3 player
The Korean company Saehan introduces its MPMan in 1998 -
Ipod
The first ipod was created by apple. -
Hybrid Car
Toyota produces a hybrid car. -
Youtube
The online video sharing and viewing community - was invented in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. -
iPhone
Apple creates the iPhone.
