1955TV REMOTE CONTROL

It marks the official end of humanity's struggle for survival and the beginning of its quest for a
really relaxing afternoon. The first wireless remote, designed by Zenith's Eugene olley, is
essentially a flashlight. !hen Zenith discovers that direct sunlight also can change channels on
the remote"rece#tive T$s, the com#any comes out with a model that uses ultrasound% it lasts into
the &'()s, to the chagrin of many a family dog. The industry then switches to infrared.
1955MICROWAVE OVEN
In &'*+ ,aytheon's ercy -#encer stands in front of a magnetron .the #ower tube of radar/ and
feels a candy bar start to melt in his #ocket0 1e is intrigued. !hen he #laces #o#corn kernels in
front of the magnetron, the kernels ex#lode all over the lab. Ten years later -#encer #atents a
2radar range2 that cooks with high"frequency radio waves% that same year, the Ta##an -tove 3o.
introduces the first home microwave model.
1957BIRTH-CONTROL PILL
Enovid, a drug the 456 a##roves for menstrual disorders, comes with a warning0 The mixture of
synthetic #rogesterone and estrogen also #revents ovulation. Two years later, more than half a
million 6merican women are taking Enovid7and not all of them have cram#s. In &'8) the 456
a##roves Enovid for use as the first oral contrace#tive.
1958JET AIRLINER
The 9oeing :):"&;) debuts as the world's first successful commercial <et airliner, ushering in the
era of accessible mass air travel. The four"engine #lane carries &(& #assengers and cruises at 8))
m#h for u# to +;() miles on a full tank. The first commercial <et flight takes off from =ew >ork
and lands in aris% domestic service soon connects =ew >ork and ?os 6ngeles.
1959FLOAT GLASS
There's a reason old window#anes distort everything0 They were made by ra#idly squee@ing a
sheet of red"hot glass between two hot rollers, which #roduced a chea# but uneven #ane. 9ritish
engineer 6lastair ilkington revolutioni@es the #rocess by floating molten glass on a bath of
molten tin7by nature, com#letely flat. The first factory to #roduce usable float glass o#ens in
&'+'% an estimated ') #ercent of #late glass is still #roduced this way.
1961CORDLESS TOOLS
9lack and 5ecker releases its first cordless drill, but designers can't coax more than ;) watts
from its =i3d batteries. Instead, they strive for efficiency, modifying gear ratios and using better
materials. The revolutionary result #uts new #ower in the hands of 5I>ers and7thanks to a
=6-6 contract7the gloves of astronauts.
1961INDUSTRIAL ROBOT
The Animate, the first #rogrammable industrial robot, is installed on a Beneral Cotors assembly
line in =ew Dersey. 3onceived by Beorge 3. 5evol Dr. to move and fetch things, the invention
gets a lukewarm rece#tion in the Anited -tates. Da#anese manufacturers love it and, after
licensing the design in &'8(, go on to dominate the global market for industrial robots.
1962COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE
Telstar is launched as the first 2active2 communications satellite7active as in am#lifying and
retransmitting incoming signals, rather than #assively bouncing them back to Earth. Telstar
makes real a &'*+ conce#t by science fiction author 6rthur 3. 3larke, who envisioned a global
communications network based on geosynchronous satellites. Two weeks after Telstar's debut,
resident Eennedy holds a #ress conference in !ashington, 5.3., that is broadcast live across
the 6tlantic.
1962LED
!orking as a consultant for Beneral Electric, =ick 1olonyak develo#s the light"emitting diode
.?E5/, which #rovides a sim#le and inex#ensive way for com#uters to convey information.
4rom their humble beginnings in #ortable calculators, ?E5s s#read from the red light that
indicates coffee is brewing to the ;')"ft."tall ,euters billboard in Times -quare.
196UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES
!ides#read use of remotely #iloted aircraft begins during the $ietnam !ar with de#loyment of
&))) 6FC"G* ,yan 4irebees. The first model of these ;'"ft."long #lanes was develo#ed in <ust
') days in &'8;. 6FC"G*s go on to fly more than G*,))) surveillance missions. Their success
leads to the eventual develo#ment of the Anmanned 6erial $ehicles widely used today.
STATS
1962!VIDEO GAMES CIT #rogrammers write Spacewar% *G years later (' #ercent of school"
age kids own video games. 1955!POLIO VACCINE The year Donas -alk finds a way to #revent
#olio, there are ;(,'(+ global cases% by ;))+, the number dro#s to &;)). 1957!THREE-POINT
SEATBELT 6ccording to the A.-. 5e#artment of Trans#ortation, more than &+,))) 6merican
lives are saved in ;))+ by =ils 9ohlin's device.
The first general"#ur#ose com#uter, the nearly G)"ton E=I63 .&'*:/, contains &(,))) vacuum
tubes, :),))) resistors and &),))) ca#acitors. In 1959, the INTEGRATED CIRCUIT #uts
those innards on one tiny chi#. 9efore the entire world is networked, there is the ARPANET7
four com#uters linked in 1969. It introduces the conce#t of 2#acket switching,2 which
simultaneously delivers messages as short units and reassembles them at their destination. The
6##le II, 3ommodore et and ,adio -hack's T,-"() are introduced in 19777four years before
I9C, soon to become synonymous with the term 23,2 unveils its PERSONAL COMPUTER.
In 1989, -ir Tim 9erners"?ee creates 2hy#ertext marku# language2 .1TC?/ to make !eb #ages
and the 2Aniform ,esource ?ocator2 .A,?/ to identify where information is stored. These
breakthroughs form the foundation of the WORLD WIDE WEB.
196MUSIC S"NTHESI#ER
,obert Coog develo#s the first electronic synthesi@er to make the lea# from machine to musical
instrument. Coog's device not only generates better sounds than other synthesi@ers, it can be
controlled by a keyboard rather than by #unch cards. The subsequent acce#tance of electronic
music is a crucial ste# in develo#ing audio technology for com#uters, cell#hones and stereos.
1966HIGH-"IELD RICE
The International ,ice ,esearch Institute in the hili##ines releases a semi"dwarf, high"yield
Indica variety that, in con<unction with high"yield wheat, ushers in the Breen ,evolution. Indica
rice thrives in tro#ical regions of 6sia and -outh 6merica, raising worldwide #roduction more
than ;) #ercent by &':).
1969SMO$E DETECTOR
,andol#h -mith and Eenneth 1ouse #atent a battery"#owered smoke detector for home use.
?ater models rely on #erha#s the chea#est nuclear technology you can own0 a chunk of
americium";*&. The element's radioactive #articles generate a small electric current. If smoke
enters the chamber it disru#ts the current, triggering an alarm.
1969CHARGE-COUPLED DEVICE
9ell ?abs' Beorge -mith and !illard 9oyle invent a charge"cou#led device .335/ that can
measure light arriving at a rate of <ust one #hoton #er minute. -mith and 9oyle's a##aratus
allows extremely faint images to be recorded, which is very useful in astronomy. Today, its most
noticeable im#act is in digital cameras, which rely on 335 arrays containing millions of #ixels.
197%DIGITAL MUSIC
Dames ,ussell, a scientist with the acific =orthwest =ational ?aboratory, invents the first
digital"to"o#tical recording and #layback system, in which sounds are re#resented by a string of
)s and &s and a laser reads the binary #atterns etched on a #hotosensitive #latter. ,ussell isn't
able to convince the music industry to ado#t his invention, but ;) years later, Time !arner and
other 35 manufacturers #ay a HG) million #atent infringement settlement to ,ussell's former
em#loyer, the I#tical ,ecording 3o.
1971WAFFLE-SOLE RUNNING SHOES
9ill 9owerman, the track coach at the Aniversity of Iregon, sacrifices breakfast for #eak
#erformance when he #ours rubber into his wife's waffle iron, forming lightweight soles for his
athletes' running shoes. Three years later, 9owerman's com#any, =ike, introduces the !affle
Trainer, which is an instant hit.
IN THEIR WORDS
1962 C&'()*+, M&)-+
2I don't know why we call it a mouse. It started that way, and we never changed it.2 7Doug
Engelbart, engineer, Stanford Research Institute, 1968
1969 A)*&'.*+/ T+00+, M.1234+
2In -e#t. ;, our bank will o#en at '0)) and never close againJ2 7Long Island branch of
Cheical !an", ad#ertiseent fro 1969
1975 C+00(2&4+
2Doel, I'm calling you from a real cellular #hone.2 7$artin Cooper, leader of $otorola%s
cellphone tea, to &oel Engel, research head of ri#al '()(%s !ell Labs, 'pril *, 19+*
1978 I4-V3*,& F+,*3036.*3&4
2!e'd love to have children of our own one day. That would be such a dream come true.2 7
Louise !rown $ullinder, the first test,tube bab-, on her wedding da-, in .//*
1979 S&47 W.08'.4
2This is the #roduct that will satisfy those young #eo#le who want to listen to music all day.2 7
'"io $orita, Son- Chairan, 0ebruar- 19+9
RADICAL FIBERS
0ro eas-,on shoes to lighter tennis rac"ets and stronger planes, re#olutionar- aterials ha#e
changed our li#es1
In 1955, atent =o. ;,:&:,*G: is issued to Beorge de Cestral for VELCRO, a fabric ins#ired by
burrs that stick to his dog's fur. In &'8& researchers in Da#an develo# high"quality CARBON-
FIBER COMPOSITES, ca##ing a decade of ex#erimentation with #lastics reinforced by
carbon fibers. Thanks to 5uont's -te#hanie Ewolek and 1erbert 9lades, who in 1965 invent a
high"strength #olymer called $EVLAR, the body armor of ;';) #olice and correctional officers
has #rotected them from fatal attacks. The term 2FIBEROPTIC2 is coined in &'+8, but it isn't
until 197% that scientists at 3orning #roduce a fiber of ultra#ure glass that transmits light well
enough to be used for telecommunications.
1972ELECTRONIC IGNITION
3hrysler #aves the way for the era of electronic7rather than mechanical7advances in
automobiles with the electronic ignition. It leads to electronic control of ignition timing and fuel
metering, harbingers of more so#histicated systems to come. Today, these include electronic
control transmission shift #oints, antilock brakes, traction control systems, steering and airbag
de#loyment.
1975MRI
Everyone agrees that magnetic resonance imaging .C,I/ is a brilliant invention7but no one
agrees on who invented it. The #hysical effect that C,Is rely on7nuclear magnetic resonance7
earns various scientists =obel ri@es for #hysics in &'** and &'+;. Cany believe that ,aymond
5amadian establishes the machine's medical merit in &':G, when he first uses magnetic
resonance to discern healthy tissue from cancer. >et, in ;))G, the =obel ri@e for medicine goes
to eter ?auterbur and eter Cansfield for their 2seminal discoveries.2 The to#ic of who is the
worthiest candidate remains hotly debated.
1978GPS
The first satellite in the modern =avstar Blobal ositioning -ystem .B-/ is launched. .The
B-'s #recursor, T,6=-IT, was develo#ed in the early &'8)s to guide nuclear subs./ It is not
until the year ;))), though, that resident 3linton grants nonmilitary users access to an
unscrambled B- signal. =ow, chea#, handheld B- units can determine a #erson's location to
within G yards.
1981SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE
9y moving the needle of the scanning tunneling microsco#e .-TC/ across a surface and
monitoring the electric current that flows through it, scientists can ma# a surface to the level of
single atoms. The -TC is so #recise that it not only looks at atoms7it also can mani#ulate them
into structures. The microsco#e's develo#ment earns I9C researchers Berd 9innig and 1einrich
,ohrer a =obel ri@e and hel#s launch the emerging era of nanotechnology.
198DNA FINGERPRINTING
Colecular biologist 6lec Deffreys devises a way to make the analysis of more than G billion units
in the human 5=6 sequence much more manageable by com#aring only the #arts of the
sequence that show the greatest variation among #eo#le. 1is method quickly finds its way into
the courts, where it is used to exonerate #eo#le wrongly accused of crimes and to finger the true
cul#rits.
USES
1958!LASER BEAM !hitens teeth, removes tattoos, corrects vision, scans groceries, tracks
missiles. 1978!GENETIC ENGINEERING roduces insulin, creates vaccines, clones shee#,
increases shelf life of tomatoes, mani#ulates human cells to #revent disease. 1958!SUPER
GLUE ,e#airs a broken taillight, reassembles a vase, strengthens knots on a hammock, closes
wounds, lifts finger#rints.
LIFESAVERS
2#er the past 3/ -ears, a few pi#otal edical disco#eries ha#e helped to boost adult life
e4pectanc- draaticall-1
In &'+8, !ilson Breatbatch grabs the wrong resistor and connects it to a device he is building to
record heartbeats. !hen the circuit emits a #ulse, he reali@es the device can be used to control
the beat% in 196% the first PACEMA$ER is successfully im#lanted in a human. ,ene 4avaloro
#erforms the first CORONAR" B"PASS SURGER" in 1967, taking a length of vein from a
leg and grafting it onto the coronary artery. This allows blood to flow around the blocked
section. Thanks in #art to these advances, the number of deaths from heart disease declines in the
A.-. by almost +) #ercent. The outlook for #eo#le infected by 1I$ also dramatically changes.
The 456 a##roves Invirase, the first of a class of drugs called HIV PROTEASE
INHIBITORS, in 1995. 9y blocking the function of en@ymes used in the virus's re#lication, the
inhibitors can reduce 1I$ to undetectable levels for sustained #eriods in u# to ') #ercent of
#atients.
1985POL"MERASE CHAIN REACTION
9iochemist Eary Cullis invents a technique that ex#loits en@ymes in order to make millions of
co#ies of a tiny scra# of 5=6 quickly and chea#ly. =o matter how small or dried"out a
bloodstain is, forensic scientists can now gather enough genetic material to do 5=6
finger#rinting. !ith 3,, doctors also can search for trace amounts of 1I$ genetic code to
diagnose infection much sooner than by conventional methods.
1987PRO#AC
ro@ac becomes the first in a new class of 456"a##roved antide#ressants called 2selective
serotonin re"u#take inhibitors,2 which block the reabsor#tion of the mood"elevating
neurotransmitter serotonin, thereby #rolonging its effects. Though at times controversial, ro@ac
hel#s #atients co#e with clinical de#ression, resha#ing our understanding of how #ersonality and
emotion can be chemically controlled. !ithin five years, *.+ million 6mericans are taking
ro@ac7making it the most widely acce#ted #sychiatric drug ever.
1998GENETIC SE9UENCING
-cientist 3raig $enter announces that his com#any will sequence the entire human genome in
<ust three years and for only HG)) million7&; years and H; billion less than a federally funded
#ro<ect established to do the same thing. $enter uses a method called 2shotgun sequencing2 to
make automated gene sequencers, instead of relying on the laborious a##roach used by the
government #rogram. The result is an acrimonious race to the finish, which ends in a tie. 9oth
grou#s announce the com#letion of the human genome sequence in #a#ers #ublished in ;))&.
1998MP5 PLA"ER
5e#ending on who you ask, the CG is either the end of civili@ation .record com#anies/ or the
dawn of a new world .everyone else/. The Eorean com#any -aehan introduces its CCan in
&''(, long before 6##le asks, 2!hich iod are youK2 !hen the 5iamond ,io hits the shelves a
few months later, the ,ecording Industry 6ssociation of 6merica sues7#roviding massive
#ublicity and a boost to digital technology.
2%%2IEEE 8%2:16
The geniuses at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers #ublish a wireless
metro#olitan area network standard that functions like !i"4i on steroids. 6n ();.&8 antenna can
transmit Internet access u# to a G)"mile radius at s#eeds com#arable to 5-? and cable
broadband. !hen it all shakes out, ();.&8 could end u# launching develo#ing nations into the
digital age by eliminating the need for wired telecommunications infrastructure.
FORWARD DRIVE
5ith 196 illion licensed dri#ers in the 61S1, a little autooti#e inno#ation can conser#e a
whole lot of oil1
The fuel cell goes back more than &+) years, and the first FUEL CELL VEHICLE7a ;)"h#
tractor7is built in &'+'. 9ut it isn't until 1995 that a 3anadian com#any, 9allard ower
-ystems, demonstrates the first @ero"emissions fuel cell bus. -ince then, #rogress toward an
economically viable fuel cell car has remained slow but steady. ?ikewise, 4erdinand orsche
wins his class at the &'); Exelberg 1ill"3limb in 6ustria in a front"wheel"drive H"BRID-
ELECTRIC CAR. 9ut it is almost a century later, in 1997, that Toyota sur#rises its rivals by
unveiling the hybrid rius to Da#anese consumers. It takes nearly three years for the rius to
reach =orth 6merica.