Timeline for the 1950's  
 
1950

1950: Regular color television transmission.

1950: Vidicon camera tube improves television picture.

1950: Changeable typewriter typefaces in use.

1950: A.C. Nielsen's Audimeters track viewer watching. 

1951

1951: One and a half million TV sets in U.S., a tenfold jump in one year.

1951: Cinerama will briefly dazzle with a wide, curved screen and three projectors.

1951: Computers are sold commercially.

1951: Still camera get built-in flash units.

1951: Coaxial cable reaches coast to coast. 

1952

1952: 3-D movies offer thrills to the audience.

1952: Bing Crosby's company tests video recording.

1952: Wide-screen Cinerama appears; other systems soon follow.

1952: Sony offers a miniature transistor radio.

1952: EDVAC takes computer technology a giant leap forward.

1952: Univac projects the winner of the presidential election on CBS.

1952: Telephone area codes.

1952: Zenith proposes pay-TV system using punched cards.

1952: Sony offers a miniature transistor radio. 

1953

1953: NTSC color standard adopted.

1953: CATV system uses microwave to bring in distant signals. 

1954

1954: U.S.S.R. launches Sputnik.

1954: Radio sets in the world now outnumber newspapers printed daily.

1954: Regular color TV broadcasts begin.

1954: Sporting events are broadcast live in color.

1954: Radio sets in the world now outnumber daily newspapers.

1954: Transistor radios are sold. 

1955

1955: Tests begin to communicate via fiber optics.

1955: Music is recorded on tape in stereo. 

1956

1956: Ampex builds a practical videotape recorder.

1956: Bell tests the picture phone.

1956: First transatlantic telephone calls by cable. 

1957

1957: Soviet Union's Sputnik sends signals from space.

1957: FORTRAN becomes the first high-level language.

1957: A surgical operation is televised.

1957: First book to be entirely phototypeset is offset printed. 

1958

1958: Videotape delivers color.

1958: Stereo recording is introduced.

1958: Data moves over regular phone circuits.

1958: Broadcast bounced off rocket, pre-satellite communication.

1958: The laser.

1958: Cable carries FM radio stations. 

1959

1959: Local announcements, weather data and local ads go on cable.

1959: The microchip is invented.

1959: Xerox manufactures a plain paper copier.

1959: Bell Labs experiments with artificial intelligence.

1959: French SECAM and German PAL systems introduced.

 
 
 
  Class of 1958 Home Page    
 
 
  Web Page Prepared and Maintained by Gary McClure
email:  gary@bgmcclure.com
 
  July 31, 2012