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Hun1an Successes...
Problerns Mankind Can
&
Cannot Resolve!
NOTABLE HUMAN ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
1900- The electric-arc steel-making
furnace is used for the first time by
Paul Heroult.
1903- 0ecember 17, !he Wright
brothers achieve a powered flight of
59 seconds al Kit1y Hawk, North
Carolina.
W•th Orvllle W"ght at the contrOls the
~rst
powered Highl •s achteved
1905-Aibert Einstein, a German Jew,
proposes his "Special Theory of
Relativity," expressed in the equation
E=mc
2 .
1907-Louis and Auguste Lumiere
make color photography available lo
the public with their Autochrome
process.
1911-Stainless steel is patented by
German scientist P. Monnartz.
1913-A unique sliding fastener soon
lo be called the zip is perfected.
1914- The Panama Canal,
connecting the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans, opens.
1926-Scottish inventor John Logie
One o f the Panama Canar s locks under construcllon
Baird demonstrates television in his
London laboratory.
1927-Charles Lindbergh completes
the first solo, nonstop transatlantic
flight from New York to París.
1928-John Logie Baird invents the
video disc although it will not become
popular until 50 years later.
Alexander Fleming discovers that
the mold Penicillium Notatum kills many
bacteria harmful lo man.
1929- The first transmission of color
television, between Washington , O.C.,
and New York, takes place.
1930-The first tape recorders to use
magnetic plastic-not metal-tape are
introduced in Germany.
W.J. Kroll of Luxembourg initiates
his research into the metal titanium
that will make possible the high-speed
aircratt and space equipment of today.
Briton Frank Whittle patents !he
gas-turbine jet engine.
1931 - The Empire State building in
New York City. standing 1,248 feet
(380.4m) high, is completed.
The first regular telecasts begin
October in Moscow. On Oecember 23,
TV station W6XAO begins regular
transmission on !he U.S. West Coast.
1933-Frequency modulation, FM
radio, is perfected by U.S. scientist
Edwin Armstrong.
U.S. astronomer Karl Jansky invents
the science of radio astronomy, letting
men "see" deep into space.
1937-Chester Carlson introduces an
electrostatic dry copying method that
will be called xerography.
1938-Using new, quick-drying ink,
Hungarian Lazlo Siro invents the
ball-point pen.
German physicist Otto Hahn splits
atoms of uranium to produce a
reaction called nuclear fission.
1939- The jet age begins with the
flight of a German Heinkel 178 aircraft,
powered by a gas-turbine jet engine.
1943- The world's first operational
atomic reactor is built in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee.
1946-J. Presper Eckert and John W.
Mauchly of the University of
Pennsylvania invent the first
all-electronic digital computer.
1947-The first microwave cooker
goes on sale in the United States.
1948-The first transistor is
developed at Bell laboratories in the
United States.
1952-A Japanese company called
Sony markets the first pocket-sized
transistor radio.
1954-Texas lnstruments invents the
silicon transistor.
1956-The desk-top computer is
developed in !he United States
by Burroughs.
Alexander Poniatoff demonstrates
his videotape recorder, which
produces a near "live T.V." image.
1957-Spufnik 1is launched into
space by a Soviet SS-6 missile.
1961 -Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
is the first man in space.
The first light-emitting diode (LEO) is
invented by Nick Holonyak Jr. of the
United States. The pocket calculator
revolution begins.
1962- The era of transatlantic
television begins as Telstar is
launched by the United States.
1963- The compact cassette tape is
introduced by the Outch firm Philips.
1967-ln the Republic of South Africa,
Dr. Christiaan Barnard performs the
world' s first human heart transplant.
1968-Apollo 8 successfully orbits the
moon and returns to earth.
1969-July 20, Neil Armstrong in the
Apol/o 11 spacecraft is the first man
lo set toot on !he moon.
From telt. Ne.l Armstrong.
Mochael
Colhns. and
EdWifl Aldnn. the crew ot
lile
Apello
11
1971 - The microprocessor computer
chip is introduced by lntel of California.
1976- Viking 1makes a successful
landing on Mars. lt then sends back
clear color photographs of the Martian
landscape, seen simultaneously al
Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
and the Ambassador Auditorium.
1977-Japanese auto makers employ
more than 7,000 robots to work in
automobile plants.
1978-Louise Brown, born in July in
Oldham, England, is the first test-tube
baby.
1981 -France's Trains
a
Grande
Vitesse become the world's lastes!
trains by achieving a speed of 235
mph (380 km/h), supplanting the
previous record-holding Japanese
Bulle! trains.
The space shuttle Columbia ushers
in a new era in space technology:
reusable spacecraft designed lo land
under power on a runway.
1982-Dentist Barney Clark is the first
recipient of a permanently attached
artificial heart at the University of Utah
Medical Center.
Source:
The Timetable of Technology: A Record of /he 20th Century's Amazmg Achievements. Patrick Harpur.
Ed.,
el al. Hearst Books.
1982.