60’S INNOVATIONS

 

Halogen Lamp - The halogen light lamp was invented by General Electric engineer Fredrick Moby

Laser - Physicist Theodore H. Maiman perfected the laser at the Hughes Research Laboratory in Malibu, California

 

Hologram - The first hologram, using lasers, was devised in 1962 by Yuri Denisyuk in the Soviet Union and by Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks at the University of Michigan

 

Pacemaker - The heart pacemaker was introduced to the USA by Wilson Greatbatch

 

Weather Satellite - The first weather satellite was launched into orbit by the USA - Tiros I

 

Deep Submersible - The submersible 'Trieste' descended nearly seven miles to the bottom of the Marianas Trench, the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean. The journey down to the ocean floor took five hours.

 

Smell-O-Vision - Hollywood producer Mike Todd Jr. released the film "Scent of Mystery," which featured a special technology that added aromas to scenes - Smell-O-Vision

 

Birth Control Pill - The birth control pill (Enovid) was approved by the FDA and marketed in the USA and UK

 

Video Surveillance - London Transit installed the first video surveillance system at a London Transit Station and four hidden CCTV cameras were placed by Liverpool Police in the city's center

M.O.T. Test - The M.O.T. test for vehicles over 10 years old was introduced in the UK in 1960

 

Travelator - The first 'travelator' opened at Bank underground station

 

Cordless Drill - Black and Decker released its first cordless drill, but designers couldn't get more than 20 watts from its NiCd batteries

 

Cochlear Implant - The cochlear implant - a 'bionic ear' - was developed by William F. House. This was a surgically implanted electronic device that provided a sense of sound to a person who was profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing

 

Ultrasound Scanning - Ultrasound was invented in Australia by scientists at the Commonwealth Health Department

 

Identikit - The police 'identikit' was launched

 

Letraset - Letraset art lettering was developed

 

Hatchback Car - The Renault 4 was the first 'hatchback' car in 1961

Video Tape Recorder - Sony marketed a helical scan video tape recorder

 

Carousel Slide Projector - The Carousel Projector was developed to aid lecturers

 

Time Share Computer - The time-sharing computer was developed

 

Fibre Tip Pen - The fibre-tip pen was invented in Japan by Masao Miura and Yukio Horie

 

Gaming Console - Magnavox Odyssey, the first gaming console, completed by Ralph H. Baer in 1968

 

Computer Game - Spacewar, the first computer video game, was invented

 

Breast Implant - Dow Corporation invented silicone breast implants

 

Teletext - Teletext was first demonstrated - launched in the UK by the BBC as CEEFAX in 1972

 

Skateboard - Skateboards were invented

 

Polaroid Film - Polaroid instant film and cameras developed by Edwin Land were first marketed

 

Smiley - Harvey Ball created the 'smiley' logo in 1963

 

ZIP Postcode - ZIP Codes were introduced in the USA

 

Geosynchronous Satellite - Syncom, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, was put into orbit by NASA

 

Instant Replay - The slow motion 'instant replay' was developed by Tony Verna of CBS in 1963

 

Instamatic - Instamatic cameras with drop-in cartridges were introduced in 1963

 

Tape Recorder - Sony offered an open-reel videotape recorder for home use

 

Acrylic Paint - Acrylic paint became commercially available pioneered by Lancelot Ribeiro

 

Permanent Press Fabric - DMDHEU, a chemical agent for permanent-press fabric was invented

BASIC - BASIC (an early computer language) was invented by John George Kemeny and Tom Kurtz

 

Dialysis - Home kidney dialysis was introduced

 

Boson - Peter Higgs theorized how elementary particles are created with bosons

 

Drone Planes - Widespread use of remotely piloted aircraft began during the Vietnam War with deployment of 1000

AQM-34 Ryan Firebees - The first model of these 29-ft.-long planes was developed in just 90 days

 

MOOG Synthesiser - Robert Moog developed the first electronic music synthesizer

 

Supersonic Airliner - The Russian Tupolev TU-144 became the first supersonic airliner

 

Colour Television - The 'Trinitron' color TV tube was developed by Sony

 

UK Post Codes - Post codes were launched in London W1

 

Magnetic Stripe - Magnetic-stripe credit cards were introduced

 

Jacuzzi - Candido Jacuzzi invented and brought to market the first self-contained, fully integrated whirlpool bath

 

CCD - Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) were used to capture images

 

Mammogram - The mammogram, the first x-ray machines used just for breast imaging, became available

 

IVF - The first in-vitro human egg fertilization was achieved by Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards

 

Cell Phone - The first automatic analog cellular phone was made in the 1960's

 

Rocket Belt - Scientists developed a rocket belt for the US military that could lift its wearer nearly 60 feet off the ground

 

Thermal Printer - The thermal printer was invented by Texas Instruments

 

ATM - The world's first automatic cash dispenser (ATM) opened at Barclays, Enfield

 

Pulsar - The first Pulsar was discovered by Jocelyn Bell and Antony Hewish

 

UK Colour TV - Regular color television broadcasting was officially launched by BBC2 beginning on 1st July 1967

 

Floppy Disk - IBM introduced the floppy disk

 

Integrated Circuit - The first computer with integrated circuits was manufactured

 

RAM Memory - Robert Dennard invented RAM (random access memory). T.J Watson (owner) and IBM developed and patented the first memory module called DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) which became the foundation for short term memory storage used by computers

 

Heart Transplant - Christiaan Neethling Barnard, a South African heart surgeon, developed surgical procedures for organ transplants, invented new heart valves, and performed the first human heart transplant on December 3rd, 1967, in a five-hour operation with a team of 20 surgeons

 

Beta Blocker - James Black saved millions of lives by inventing Beta Blockers

 

Etch A Sketch - First introduced to the US market 12th July 1960 and invented by André Cassagnes

 

Jump Jet - The Hawker-Siddeley VTOL P1127 'Harrier jump jet' made its first flight. Sidney Camm, Ralph Hooper, and Stanley Hooker invented a vertical take-off aircraft that could soar straight up into the sky. Rather than using rotors or a direct jet thrust, they built an innovative vectored thrust turbofan engine.

 

Seat Belt - The inertia seat belt was invented and marketed by Britax

 

Teflon - Teflon was patented

 

Cartridge Pen - The Parker 45 fountain pen was the first to take refill cartridges

 

Electronic Larynx - The electronic larynx - voice communication for people who could not talk - was developed

 

FAX - The Post Office experimented with facsimile mail - 'FAX'

 

Typewriter Golf Ball - The IBM Selectric “golf ball” typewriter was produced

 

Valium - Diazepam was patented in 1959 and launched in 1963

 

Creamer - Non-dairy creamer was developed

 

Electric Toothbrush - Electric toothbrushes were first introduced in 1960

 

Robot - The Unimate, the first programmable industrial robot, was developed by George Devol and Joseph Engelberger and installed on a General Motors assembly line in New Jersey

 

Communication Satellite - The first transatlantic communication satellite was put into orbit - Telstar

 

LED - Visible spectrum Light Emitting Diodes were created by Nick Holonyak Jr. of GEC in 1962

 

Space Observatory - The space observatory was created by Ball Brothers Aerospace Corporation

 

Hip Replacement - After repeated trials, John Charnley's hip replacement surgery became a reality

 

Pantyhose - Pantyhose became available

 

Self Service Petrol - The first self-service petrol station opened on London's Southwark Bridge

 

Colour Supplement - The Sunday Times became the first newspaper to print a color supplement

 

Panda Crossing - Push-button 'Panda' road crossings were introduced

 

Limb Attachment - The first reattachment of a human limb was performed in 1962 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston

 

Plastic Insulation - Plastic insulation for telephone lines was introduced

 

Videodisc - Phonovid, the first video disk system, was marketed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation

 

Musicassette - In The Netherlands, Philips introduced the musicassette (compact musicassette)

 

Air Purifier - Klaus and Manfred Hammes introduced the first residential air purifiers, in Germany

 

Clone - Geneticist J.B.S. Haldane first coined the word 'clone'

 

Operating System - IBM’s OS/360 was the first mass-produced computer operating system

 

Family Planning - Family planning clinics start to provide unmarried woman with contraceptives in the UK in 1964

 

Typewriter Tape - The IBM Selectric typewriter utilized reusable magnetic tape

 

Astroturf - A synthetic material that could be used to replace grass on sports surfaces, was invented by James M. Faria and Robert T. Wright of Monsanto Industries

 

Artificial Sweetener - NutraSweet, an artificial sweetener, was invented by Mr. James Schlatter, at G.D. Searle & Company

 

Hypertext - Hypertext was invented in the USA for linking electronic text

 

Portable Defibrillator - Frank Partridge invented the portable defibrillator, saving thousands of lives

 

Fuzzy Logic - Fuzzy logic was invented by Lofti Zadeh at the University of California

 

Fuel Injection - Electronic Fuel injection for cars was invented

 

High Yield Wheat - The International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines released a semi-dwarf, high-yield Indica variety that, in conjunction with high-yield wheat, ushered in the Green Revolution

 

Calculator - The first hand-held calculator was produced by Texas Instruments for sale to the public at $2,500 each

 

Breathalyzer - The 'breathalyzer' was first used on car drivers

 

Wine Box - The wine box, a plastic bag full of wine contained in a cardboard box, was invented in Australia

 

Light Pen - Light pen pens were invented for computers

 

Computer Mouse - The computer mouse was demonstrated by Douglas Engelbart in 1968

 

Pratley Putty - Pratley's famous glue became the only South African invention that has been to the moon. In 1969 the putty was used to hold bits of the Apollo XI mission's Eagle landing craft together. Krugersdorp engineer George Pratley invented his famous sticky stuff in the 1960s while looking for a glue that would hold components in an electrical box

 

Super 8 - Kodak offered the Super 8 format film for home movies

 

Contact Lens - Bausch and Lomb, a company that specializes in eye-contacts, developed soft contact lenses

 

Optical Disk - The compact optical disk was invented in 1958 by James Russell. A patent was registered by David Paul Gregg in 1961 and 1969

 

Kevlar - Kevlar was developed at DuPont by Stephanie Kwolek and Roberto Berendt

 

Baby Buggy - Owen MacLaren designed the double-joint baby buggy

 

Dental Implant - The first successful dental implants were made in 1965 by Dr. Per-Ingvar Branemark

 

Transistor Radio - Philips Electric launched the 'Popmaster' portable transistor radio

 

Fibre Optics - Fibre Optics were invented in the UK by Charles Keo and George Hockham

 

8 Track Recording - Trident Studios introduced 3M 8-track recording decks

 

Second Class Post - The two-tier postal system came into operation in the UK in 1968

 

Internet - The Arpanet (first internet) was developed for use by the US military

 

Artificial Heart - Doctor Denton Cooley implanted the first temporary artificial heart

 

Barcode - The barcode scanner was invented by Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver

 

PASCAL - The PASCAL computer language was developed by Niklaus Wirth. ALGOL W was released in 1970 as PASCAL

 

Colour Video Player - Sony introduced its Color Videoplayer (later known as Umatic) which used a three-quarter inch video cassette tape and had a maximum playing time of 90 minutes

 

Bubble Wrap - Bubble Wrap was invented in the USA by Marc A Chavannes

 

Respirator - A replacement for the Iron Lung was developed in the USA

 

Smoke Alarm - The first residential smoke alarm was designed by Randolph Smith and Kenneth House of BRK Electronics

 

Lava Lamp - The first lava lamp, The Astro, launched in 1963 by Edward Craven-Walker, founder of Mathmos

 

Fibre Optics - In 1961, Elias Snitzer at American Optical published a comprehensive theoretical description of single mode fibers