1900-1909 | 1910-1919 | 1920-1929 | 1930-1939 | 1940-1949 | 1950-1959 | 1960-1969 | 1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-1999
20th Century
Fourth Decade

1930: Photo flashbulbs replace dangerous flash powder.
1930: "Golden Age" of radio begins in U.S.
1930: Lowell Thomas begins first regular network newscast.
1930: TVs based on British mechanical system roll off factory
1930: Bush's differential analyzer introduces the computer.
1930: AT&T tries the picture telephone
1931: Commercial Teletype service.
1931: Electronic TV broadcasts in Los Angeles and Moscow.
1931: Exposures meters go on sale to photographers.
1931: NBC experimentally doubles transmission to 120-line screen.
1932: Disney adopts a three-color Technicolor process for cartoons.
1932: Kodak introduces 8 mm film for home movies.
1932: The "Times" of London uses its new Times Roman typeface.
1932: Stereophonic sound in a motion picture, "Napoleon."
1932: Zoom lens is invented, but a practical model is 21 years off.
1932: The light meter.
1932: NBC and CBS allow prices to be mentioned in commercials.
1933: Armstrong invents FM, but its real future is 20 years off.
1933: Multiple-flash sports photography.
1933: Singing telegrams.
1933: Phonograph records go stereo.
1934: Drive-in movie theater opens in New Jersey.
1934:
Salvador Dali's Mae West
1934: Associated Press starts wirephoto service.
1934: In Germany, a mobile television truck roams the streets.
1934: In Scotland, teletypesetting sets type by phone line.
1934: Three-color Technicolor used in live action film.
1934: Communications Act of 1934 creates FCC.
1934: Half of the homes in the U.S. have radios.
1934: Mutual Radio Network begins operations.
1935: German single lens reflex roll film camera synchronized for flash bulbs.
1935: Also in Germany, audio tape recorders go on sale.
1935: IBM's electric typewriter comes off the assembly line.
1935: The Penguin paperback book sells for the price of 10 cigarettes.
1935: All-electronic VPF television comes out of the lab.
1935: Eastman-Kodak develops Kodachrome color film.
1935: Nielsen's Audimeter tracks radio audiences.
1936: Berlin Olympics are televised closed circuit.
1936: Bell Labs invents a voice recognition machine.
1936: Kodachrome film sharpens color photography.
1936: Co-axial cable connects New York to Philadelphia.
1936: Alan Turing's "On Computable Numbers" describes a general purpose computer.
1937:
Piet Mondrian's Opposition of Lines, Red and Yellow
1937: Stibitz of Bell Labs invents the electrical digital calculator.
1937: Pulse Code Modulation points the way to digital transmission.
1937: NBC sends mobile TV truck onto New York streets.
1937: A recording, the Hindenburg crash, is broadcast coast to coast.
1937:
Paul Klee's Picture Album
1937: Carlson invents the photocopier.
1937: Snow White is the first feature-length cartoon.
1938: Strobe lighting.
1938: Baird demonstrates live TV in color.
1938:
René Magritte's Time Transfixed
1938: Broadcasts can be taped and edited.
1938: Two brothers named Biro invent the ballpoint pen in Argentina.
1938: CBS "World News Roundup" ushers in modem newscasting.
1938: DuMont markets electronic television receiver for the home.
1938: Radio drama "War of the Worlds" causes national panic.
1939: Mechanical scanning system abandoned.
1939: New York Worlds Fair shows television to public.
1939: Regular TV broadcasts begin.
1939: Air mail service across the Atlantic.
1939: Many firsts: sports coverage, variety show, feature film, etc.

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