In recognition of NASW's 75th anniversary and CASW's 50th, ScienceWriters is remembering the past. The spring issue revisited events from 1934 to 1959. This one focuses on NASW's next twenty-five years, 1960 to 1984, an era of huge strides in space and innovation. Don't miss the anniversary celebrations for both organizations at this fall's ScienceWriters2010 conference in New Haven, Conn.
In the spring issue, ScienceWriters revisited events from 1934-59. This issue flashbacks to NASW's next twenty-five years with its significant historical discoveries and huge strides in space and innovation. 1985-2010 will be featured in the fall issue. This fall's ScienceWriters2010 conference will include anniversary celebrations in honor of NASW's 75th and CASW's 50th.
1960
- Echo I, first passive communications satellite, is launched
- Birth control pills debut in the U.S.
- NASA launches Tiros I, the first weather satellite
1961
- Alan Shepard is first American in space (Mercury III)
- First manned space flight (Vostok I) with Soviet Yuri Gagarin aboard
- Thalidomide found to cause birth defects
1962
- First use of lasers in eye surgery
- John Glenn, first American to orbit earth
- Rachel Carson's Silent Spring documents effects of pesticides on the ecosystem
1963
- Digital Equipment Corporation introduces first mini computer
- Soviet Valentina Tereshkova-Nikolayeva become first woman in space
- Quasars are discovered
- First commercial nuclear reactor goes online
1964
- Surgeon General's Report links cigarette smoking to lung cancer
- Ranger VII takes first close-range photos of the moon
1965
- Discovery of cosmic background radiation confirms the Big Bang theory
- Vaccine against measles developed
- Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite
1966
- Michael DeBakey implants the first artificial heart
- Electronic fuel injection for cars invented
1967
- Christiaan Barnard performs first successful human heart transplant
- Pulsars and quarks are discovered
- NASA launches 36-story Saturn V, America's largest rocket
1968
- Computer mouse invented
- Glomar Challenger begins 15 years of drilling deep-sea core samples
- RAM (random access memory) technology invented
1969
- Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon (Apollo 11)
- Concorde's first supersonic flight (700 mph, 1,127 kph)
- Scanning electron microscopy technology developed
1970
- First Earth Day celebrated in the United States
- Human growth hormone synthesized
- Floppy disk introduced for storing computer data
1971
- Intel invents the microprocessor
- Electric currents shown to speed the healing of fractures
- Dot-matrix printer invented
1972
- Pong (first video game) invented
- Texas Instruments introduces the hand-held calculator
- Pioneer 10 is the first human-created object to leave the solar system
- CAT scan technology is developed in England
1973
- Use of the pesticide DDT banned in the United States
- Skylab is launched
- Gene splicing invented
- First commercial fax machines
1974
- Smart card invented for storing and processing computer data
- Chloroform banned in drugs and cosmetics as a suspected carcinogen
- Discovery of "Lucy," a hominid more than 3 million years old
1975
- Altair kit allows consumers to build and program their own PC
- Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak design the Apple I
- First monoclonal antibodies produced
- Home videotape systems (VCRs) developed
- Laser printer invented
- Asilomar Conference held to discuss the potential risks of gene-splicing technology
1976
- Cosmic string theory postulated
- First Cray-1 supercomputer (160 megaflops/8 megabyte memory); costs $8.8 million
- Viking I lands on Mars
- Ozone layer depletion linked to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
- Apple II introduced first computer with color graphic capabilities
1977
- Gossamer Condor invented; the first successful humanpowered aircraft
- U.S. tests neutron bomb
- Ink-jet printer invented
- First optical-fiber phone lines
1978
- A fusion reaction at Princeton reaches 60 million degrees F for 1/20 of a second
- First test-tube baby born in England
- Balloon angioplasty developed to treat coronary artery disease
1979
- Discovery of deep-sea ocean vents
- First laser printer copier
- Core meltdown accident at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant
1980
- Voyager I reaches Saturn
- U.S. Supreme Court rules genetically engineered organisms may be patented
- Hepatitis-B vaccine invented
- Scanning tunnel microscope developed
1981
- First Space Shuttle flight
- First AIDS cases recognized
- First flight of the F-117A stealth aircraft
- IBM introduces its first PC (runs on MS-DOS)
1982
- Human growth hormone genetically engineered
- Britain introduces MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) diagnostic machines
- First artificial heart transplant
- FDA approves commercial product of genetic engineering (human insulin)
- Epson HX-20 laptop computer introduced
1983
- Sally Ride becomes first U.S. woman in space
- El Nino disrupts global weather patterns
- Cellular phone service testing begins in Chicago
- Compact disc introduced
1984
- Particle accelerator at Fermilab reaches 800 billion electron volts
- Evidence of the top quark announced
- Genetic fingerprinting discovered
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