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

1950: Regular color television transmission.
1950: Vidicon camera tube improves television picture.
1950: Changeable typewriter typefaces in use.
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: 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: NTSC color standard adopted.
1953: CATV system uses microwave to bring in distant signals.
1954: U.S.S.R. launches Sputnik.
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: Tests begin to communicate via fiber optics.
1955: Music is recorded on tape in stereo.
1956: Ampex builds a practical videotape recorder.
1956: Bell tests the picture phone.
1956: First transatlantic telephone calls by cable.
1957: Soviet Unions 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: 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: 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.

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