# What's new since 1950? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 8, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085 "2012-10-08T13:25:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/41 "2012-10-08T17:19:24Z")
> [@dataguy](#): > > I agree with this but could make a case that even communication satellites were “invented” earlier. From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_satellite): > > The concept of the geostationary communications satellite was first proposed by Arthur C. Clarke, building on work by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and on the 1929 work by Herman Potočnik (writing as Herman Noordung) Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen-motor. In October 1945 Clarke published an article titled “Extra-terrestrial Relays” in the British magazine Wireless World.[2] The article described the fundamentals behind the deployment of artificial satellites in geostationary orbits for the purpose of relaying radio signals. Thus, Arthur C. Clarke is often quoted as being the inventor of the communications satellite. Clarke admitted that he didn’t really invent something he couldn’t implement. In any case Edward Hale (I think) had a story called “The Brick Moon” in the late 19th century about a satellite, and George O. Smith was writing about communications satellites (of the Sun, not Earth) in the early 1940s. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/42 "2012-10-08T17:23:06Z")
> [@dataguy](#): > > I’m looking for more fundamental innovation. We already had telephony, radio, networking and computers. The things you mention are just evolutionary applications. For example, the steam engine was a fundamental invention that enabled the industrial revolution. Similarly for the printing press. ICs are not just applications of computers, but fundamentally different things which go into computers. By volume, far more ICs go into things like cars, appliances, and even greeting cards than go into computers. Other fundamental inventions are core memory (now obsolete but vital) transistor memory, hard disks, and networking. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/43 "2012-10-08T17:30:20Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Watch Star Trek episodes from as late as the 1990s. You’ll notice in their free time the characters all just read books, paint pictures and play board games. Even in the 90s, the idea of connecting with your friends using networked computers was unknown to normal people, although it was happening already. They were just being lazy. There was computer chess, on a screen in _2001_, and I was playing with MUDs and multiplayer games in the mid-70s. But I agree that they count as inventions - Shannon did his first work on computer chess not long after 1950. > [@](#): > > Software in general, really. In 1950 people were still manually toggling switches on computer panels to input programs. The idea of portable software you could send to your friend either on a disk, tape or computer file was pretty revolutionary, especially if they had a different kind of computer than you. C and Unix (1970) were big stepping stones on that path. _cough cough_ Lady Lovelace. As for sharing, the 360 series and the clones were exactly for this reason. Recompiling was nothing new, the emulation modes on the 360s were put in to eliminate the need for it. Fortran stems from the middle 1950s. Recompiling back then was not as much of an issue since people used a lot fewer system calls than they do today. ---
**Author:** ![Oukile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@Oukile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oukile)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/44 "2012-10-08T17:39:46Z")
Biotechnologies. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/45 "2012-10-08T17:48:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Home video. Regardless of whether the format is laserdiscs, videotapes, or dvds (or even Super8 film). The idea of buying your own personal copy of a movie to watch in your own home whenever you wanted didn’t exist in 1950. _ahem_ Phonovision, the first analogue videodisc, dates from [_1927_](http://www.tvdawn.com/tv1strx.htm). Granted, it was a marginal failure at the time, but it worked well enough as a proof of concept. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/46 "2012-10-08T17:59:47Z")
Nuclear fission power plants. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/47 "2012-10-08T18:01:03Z")
Rock n Roll, baby. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/48 "2012-10-08T18:11:44Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > The polio vaccine A plethora of novel pharmaceuticals. Stem cell research and applications. Holography. And probably very soon, quantum computing. Nanotechnology. Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM). MRIs. ---
**Author:** ![dataguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/49 "2012-10-08T18:16:00Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Holography. Nope. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holography): The Hungarian-British physicist Dennis Gabor (Hungarian name: Gábor Dénes),[1][2] was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971 “for his invention and development of the holographic method”.[3] His work, done in the late 1940s, built on pioneering work in the field of X-ray microscopy by other scientists including Mieczysław Wolfke in 1920 and WL Bragg in 1939.[4] The discovery was an unexpected result of research into improving electron microscopes at the British Thomson-Houston Company in Rugby, England, and the company filed a patent in December 1947 (patent GB685286). ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/50 "2012-10-08T18:27:39Z")
> [@dataguy](#): > > Nope. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holography): > > The Hungarian-British physicist Dennis Gabor (Hungarian name: Gábor Dénes),[1][2] was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971 “for his invention and development of the holographic method”.[3] His work, done in the late 1940s, built on pioneering work in the field of X-ray microscopy by other scientists including Mieczysław Wolfke in 1920 and WL Bragg in 1939.[4] The discovery was an unexpected result of research into improving electron microscopes at the British Thomson-Houston Company in Rugby, England, and the company filed a patent in December 1947 (patent GB685286). One of those fuzzy definitions. But okay, how 'bout 3D holography? It wasn’t until the development of the laser, using pure, coherent light, that 3D holography finally became a reality. [The first 3D hologram (1964).](http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/photography/specialphot/holograph/history/train.jpg) > [@hologram caption](#): > > “Train and Bird” is the first hologram ever made with a laser > using the off-axis technique. This pioneer image was produced > in 1964 by Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks at the University > of Michigan only four years after the invention of the laser. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/51 "2012-10-08T18:41:55Z")
The heart and lung machine (Cardiopulmonary Bypass) was invented in 1951. This made possible open heart surgery and heart transplants/artificial hearts. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/52 "2012-10-08T18:43:14Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > _ahem_ > Phonovision, the first analogue videodisc, dates from [_1927_](http://www.tvdawn.com/tv1strx.htm). Granted, it was a marginal failure at the time, but it worked well enough as a proof of concept. You missed the point. Home video is not the same as video recording. Movies and television obviously existed before 1950 and obviously there had to be means of recording them in studios. But what didn’t exist in 1950 was a means of marketing these recordings to home viewers. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/53 "2012-10-08T20:20:33Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > Arguments about when it is appropriate to say something was invented aside, I don’t think DNA is an invention unless we’ll count gravity and North America in the discussion. I wasn’t talking about inventing DNA, but the final determination of its structure - which is leading to amazing things. Such as: > [@wheresmymind](#): > > The ability to amplify, sequence, and manipulate genetic information is transformative technology that wasn’t around in the 50’s. Scientists first managed to sequence DNA in the 70’s, and PCR wasn’t invented until the early 80’s. This has allowed us to study and play with life in ways that were unthinkable in the 1950’s. It is very likely that we have barely scratched the surface here. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/54 "2012-10-08T20:38:30Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > Reminds me of one of the early “Law & Order” episodes with Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt), where Lennie is teasing him about his **little phone, and how it keeps him instantly connected** with his girlfriend. The wonders of modern technology. In the recently re-booted Superman #1, Jimmy Olsen sourly refers to his cell phone as “my personal stalker.” Such appreciation for modern technology. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/55 "2012-10-08T22:29:21Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > Intermittent wipers. Bah, my grandfather was doing that as a youngster after he was out of his diapers. Oh, wait. ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/56 "2012-10-08T22:38:27Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I vote mobile phone. Watch any movie from the dawn of cinema until around 1980 and ask yourself if the plot would make sense today, with everyone having a cell phone in their pocket. I often think of that when watching Star Wars. The entire movie depends on the ideas that, (a) The Empire is trying to get the Death Star plans **back.** Nowadays, we understand that once some information is “out there”, it is never coming back. And (b) The plans that need to be transported to the rebel base need to be contained in something the size of a trash compactor. The idea of duplicating them and sending via any other method are not considered. Not that they would use a cell phone exactly, but it seems strange that our idea of data transmission is so advanced to theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Blakeyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/57 "2012-10-08T23:15:58Z")
> [@RedSwinglineOne](#): > > I often think of that when watching Star Wars. The entire movie depends on the ideas that, (a) The Empire is trying to get the Death Star plans **back.** Nowadays, we understand that once some information is “out there”, it is never coming back. And (b) The plans that need to be transported to the rebel base need to be contained in something the size of a trash compactor. The idea of duplicating them and sending via any other method are not considered. > > Not that they would use a cell phone exactly, but it seems strange that our idea of data transmission is so advanced to theirs. Not to get too off-topic, but you can read this a couple ways: 1. “Get plans back” doesn’t mean the Empire has no copies of the plans, it just means he wants the data storage with the plans destroyed to ensure the Rebels have no plans. (Imagine we lost a copy of the F-35 plans to a spy working for Iran. We’d say “get the plans back” even if we had numerous other copies of the plans.) 2. The Death Star is pretty big. Maybe the plans are like 500 picobytes, and that amount of data would take weeks to transmit over their com links. We don’t know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/58 "2012-10-08T23:51:51Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Social networking, from BBSs and the SDMB to World of Warcraft and Facebook. > > Watch Star Trek episodes from as late as the 1990s. You’ll notice in their free time the characters all just read books, paint pictures and play board games. Even in the 90s, the idea of connecting with your friends using networked computers was unknown to normal people, although it was happening already… On the other hand it had characters playing all sorts of roleplaying games in the holodeck with eachother. Of course Star Trek: Voyager had a scene where Neelix, as Morale Officer, is charged with delivering correspondence from the Delta Quadrant to the crew. Which he does by carrying buckets of PADDs all over the ship. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/59 "2012-10-09T00:09:04Z")
> [@Blakeyrat](#): > > Not to get too off-topic, but you can read this a couple ways: > > 1. “Get plans back” doesn’t mean the Empire has no copies of the plans, it just means he wants the data storage with the plans destroyed to ensure the Rebels have no plans. (Imagine we lost a copy of the F-35 plans to a spy working for Iran. We’d say “get the plans back” even if we had numerous other copies of the plans.) > > 2. The Death Star is pretty big. Maybe the plans are like 500 picobytes, and that amount of data would take weeks to transmit over their com links. We don’t know for sure. I presume a lot of R2D2’s memory was overwritten with the plans. Might explain some of his charming, but almost childish behavior, and maybe why the eccentric C-3PO befriended it. Besides, it had a bad motivator. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-since-1950/637085/60 "2012-10-09T01:04:38Z")
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