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Pop History Inventions of the Sixties |
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| The Sixties have been described by historians as
the ten years having the most significant changes in history. By
the end of the 60's humanity had entered the spaceage by
putting a man on the moon. The 1960's were influenced by the
youth of the post-war baby boom - a generation with a fondness
for change and far-out gadgets. 1960
1961
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1962
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Audio Cassette. The Philips Company named it "Compact Cassette" |
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Fiber-Tip Pen Otherwise known as a felt tipped pen or "Flair" |
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Spacewar - the first Computer Video Game. |
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Silicone Breast Implants. by Dow Corp, - was Pamala Anderson the first to try them? |
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The LED - Light Emitting Diode |
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Space Observatories, by Ball Brothers Aerospace Corp.- they were looking for the crew of "Lost in Space" |
1963
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Touch-tone Telephone.
It had 10 buttons, * and # were added later
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Computer Mouse.invented by Douglas Engelbar it would not be used with personal computers until 1980 |
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Zip Codes. Ever wonder what "ZIP" stands for - Zoning Improvement Plan - now you know! |
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Pull Tab for soda cans. Actually Patented in '63 but invented in '62 by Ermal Cleon Fraze |
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Easy-Bake Oven. A learning toy, molding young Martha Stewarts. |
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Astro Lamp (Later called
the Lava Lamp)  |
1964
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BASIC, computer programming language. I know that you're dying to know - Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code |
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Wonderbra. It didn't gain any popularity until the 1990's. Why Not!! |
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Smiley Face.
Originally drawn to put a good spin on the merger between two
Insurance Companies.
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Picturephone Introduced at the 1964 World's Fair in NY, it allowed you to see the caller and them to see you. |
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The Ford Mustang. No it wasn't really an invention but I liked them so it's listed here! |
1965
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Astroturf. Originally called "Chemgrass" the name was changed in '66 when it was used in the Houston Astrodome. |
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Smoke detector for home use. First invented in the '40's but those were quite large and quite expensive. |
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Aspartame, the chemical compound found in NutraSweet. It took the FDA 15 years to approve this for human consumption. |
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Compact Disc. Invented and patented in '65 it wouldn't be used commercially until '81 (why change, we had eight-tracks right.) |
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Super Ball. By Wham-O Manufacturing Co the fine folks who brought us the Hula Hoop and the Frisbee. |
1966
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Kevlar. Best known for its use in bullet proof vests. |
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Fiber Optics. A new way of fusing glass strands together paved the way for long distance fiber communications. |
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Video Game. Video games wouldn't be commercially available until '72 and wouldn't be popular until '75. |
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Star Trek the original series. I know this wasn't an invention either but it sure was important! |
1967
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Hand held Calculator. Developed by Texas Instruments it was made possible by their invention of the integrated circuit in 1958. |
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Countertop microwave oven. Named "Radarange" it was made by Amana and later became my best friend! |
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ATM (Automated Teller Machine) First used in the UK this machine has changed late night shenanigans forever. |
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Heart Transplant. The first successful human donor heart transplant by Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town South Africa the patient lived for eighteen days. |
1968
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DRAM Computer Memory. (Dynamic Random Access Memory) on a single circuit chip |
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The First 911 call. the system implemented in Haleyville, AL. beating AT&T to the punch by six months |
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First Supersonic Airliner. Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 achieves supersonic speed |
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The First Manned Lunar Orbit. Apollo 8 successfully orbits the moon with three astronauts on board |
1969
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ARPA Net. (Advanced Research Projects Agency). This is the precursor to the Internet |
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UNIX. a computer operating system developed by Bell Labs |
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The Single-Chip Microprocessor. The Intel 4004 was as powerful as any complete computer available at that time |
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Man Lands on the Moon.
Not so much an invention but for Neil Armstrong and Buzz
Aldrin it was certainly "One Small Step For Man, One Giant Leap For Mankind" |
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