Views into the Future from the Recent Past

Konrad Zuse develops a fully programmable digital computer.

Actress Hedy Lamarr designs a radio guidance system for torpedoes based on automatic frequency hopping—and thus a precursor of Wi-Fi.

In the United States, Norbert Wiener establishes a science for regulating and controlling machines analogous to the human brain and social organizations.

On August 6 and 9, these Japanese cities are largely destroyed in attacks by the American military; hundreds of thousands die as a result.

On May 8, World War II ends in Europe, and on September 2 it ends in the Pacific.

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) is founded.

The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) is used to calculate artillery range tables and is programmed mainly by women.

Hungarian-British physicist Dennis Gabor invents holography.

The electronic semiconductor is used in communication technologies, power electronics, and computer systems.

British doctor Nicholas H. L. Ridley inserts the first artificial intraocular lens into a human eye.

Alan Turing uses a test to evaluate machine intelligence: a human conducts a conversation with two unknown interlocutors, one of whom is a computer.

First issue of the manga series “Tetsuwan Atomu” (Iron Arm Atom) by Osamu Tezuka: Astro Boy is an autonomous robot with superhuman powers.

American citizen Christine Jorgensen undergoes gender reassignment surgery in Denmark and becomes the first transgender activist.

The newsletter “Transvestia: The Journal of the American Society for Equity in Dress” is the first transgender publication to appear in the United States.

Conducted on November 1 on an atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Molecular biologists James Watson and Francis Crick decode the double helix structure of DNA.

A patent is filed for Unimate, the first programmable robot: an industrial robot with an arm and gripper used in the automotive industry.

The world’s first nuclear power plant is built in Obninsk near Moscow.

The first wireless remote control is invented.

Rosa Parks’s refusal, as a Black woman, to give up her bus seat leads to her arrest and a boycott: the African-American civil rights movement begins.

Artificial blood substitute is obtained from modified hemoglobin.

Marvin Minsky establishes the scientific discipline of artificial intelligence (AI), which ultimately aims to replace humans.

The Soviet Union sends the first satellite, Sputnik 1, into space on October 4. On November 3, Laika the dog flies into space aboard Sputnik 2.

The electronic device replaces the damaged inner ear. It stimulates the auditory nerve and serves as a prosthesis for the hard of hearing.

Physician Åke Senning and engineer Rune Elmqvist develop an implantable pacemaker.

The term “cyborg,” short for “cybernetic organism,” appears for the first time in the journal “Astronautics.”

The contraceptive pill Anovlar is launched in the Federal Republic of Germany. Initially, it can only be given to married women with at least three children.

April 12: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space.

First breast augmentation with silicone implant

The first television satellite is launched into space.

NASA’s “Rocket Girls,” including African-American Katherine Johnson, calculate space mission trajectories—defying racism and sexism.

On August 28, 200,000 people gather at the Lincoln Memorial to demonstrate in favor of an end to racial discrimination.

Yugoslav engineer Rajko Tomović designs the multifunctional prosthesis. Its fingers can grasp upon receiving an electrical signal from a control panel.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, desegregating public facilities in the United States.

Military involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War

Founding of the American activist organization NOW (National Organization for Women)

“Fantastic Voyage” hits movie theaters: a tiny submarine embarks on a journey through the body of a comatose patient to stop a blood clot.

On August 25, Willy Brandt launches color television broadcasts with a symbolic push of a button. They had already existed in the United States since 1954.

The hippie movement celebrates the “Summer of Love.”

Doping tests are conducted for the first time at international sports competitions.

Following the operation by South African heart surgeon Christiaan Barnard, the patient survives only 18 days.

The Portapak portable video camera initiates video art.

Students protest globally against the Vietnam War and social structures.

In West Germany, the failure to confront the country’s Nazi past becomes an issue.

The civil rights activist is assassinated on April 4. His death leads to riots and demonstrations in numerous American cities.

The “Red Power” movement in the United States combats discrimination against indigenous people, broken treaties, and advocates sovereignty and self-determination.

The American Air Force’s ARPANET military computer network enables communication between computers for the first time.

Stanley Kubrick’s film “2001: A Space Odyssey” delegates key decisions on a Jupiter mission to the HAL 9000 computer.

The American Navy develops the Minsky Arm: a pioneer of computer-based artificial intelligence that can perform simple tasks with precision.

400,000 people celebrate “peace and music” for three days.

A police raid on New York’s Stonewall Inn escalates and marks the beginning of the Gay Liberation Front. Annual Pride parades commemorate the event.

Optical fiber revolutionizes information technology.

Expo ’70 World Fair in Osaka showcases latest developments in technology. 77 countries exhibit, 64 million people visit the show.

Japanese computer scientist Takeo Kanade presents his fully automated face recognition system at the Expo in Osaka.

Ray Tomlinson sends the first email.

The Club of Rome publishes its report “The Limits to Growth.”

The Magnavox company introduces the first game console.

Atari releases “Pong,” the first commercially successful video game.

The First Genetic Engineering Experiment
Biochemists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen insert the DNA of a frog into a bacterium.

The Arab states cut oil production and impose an embargo. The price of oil quadruples, and car-free Sundays are decreed in the Federal Republic of Germany.

“Popular Electronics” magazine introduces the first PC, the Altair 8800, as a DIY-kit for $397, prompting thousands of orders.

Andreas Pavel patents his “Stereophonic Reproduction System for Personal Wear.” In 1979, Sony launches the Walkman.

The first test-tube baby is born in Great Britain through in vitro fertilization.

The band Kraftwerk releases its album “Die Mensch-Maschine.”

The legendary video game “Pac-Man” is released.

The first automatic defibrillator is implanted in a human being.

Sony develops the first digital surveillance camera.

Ridley Scott’s film “Blade Runner” contemplates the life of androids.

The Motorola Dynatac 8000X, the first cell phone, is introduced: retractable antenna, battery life 35 minutes.

Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi discover HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. Both receive the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008.

The history of forensic DNA analysis begins with the (accidental) discovery of the genetic fingerprint.

A patent is filed for 3-D printing.

Donna Haraway writes her legendary “Cyborg Manifesto,” rejecting rigid boundaries between humans and machines: the beginning of a posthumanist-feminist theory.

Yoshizumi Ishino discovers the CRISPR sequence and paves the way for “genome editing”: DNA gene segments are excised and replaced by others.

Development of the first commercial virtual reality glasses.

American athlete Dennis Oehler uses carbon prostheses for the first time at the Paralympics, winning the 100m, 200m, and 400m sprints with new world records.

The US Department of Education creates the “Tech Act,” a law for technology-related assistance for individuals with disabilities.

A new method of micropositioning cells to build two- and three-dimensional synthetic tissues using a special 3-D printer is developed.

American student Robert Tappan Morris develops a program that paralyzes ten percent of the 88,000 computers connected to the internet at the time.

At the CERN research center near Geneva the World Wide Web is created on the basis of a hypertext system.

Nintendo launches the Game Boy.

The “Trojan Room Coffee Pot Camera” transmits images of a coffee machine from a laboratory in Cambridge University to the world—and is considered the first webcam.

“Merry Christmas”: a PC sends the first text message to a cell phone.

The MPEG-1 standard for compressing digitally stored audio data is introduced.

Sony develops the robot dog Aibo, which can walk, move its ears and tail, produce sounds, and publish self-made pictures on the internet.

Sony’s PlayStation game console is launched.

The first cloned mammal is created in Great Britain.

The virtual chick Tamagotchi, which has to be cared for like a real pet, invades children’s rooms all over the world.

The prosthetic leg controlled by a microprocessor reacts intelligently and in real time to everyday situations.

Willem van Eelen receives the first patent for the production of in vitro meat.

Cybernetics researcher Kevin Warwick has a silicon chip implanted in his arm to become the first human cyborg.

The movie “Matrix” speculates that the world as we perceive it is just a machine-generated computer simulation that uses humans as energy dispensers.

Humanity as a geological factor: chemist and atmospheric scientist Paul J. Crutzen coins the term “Anthropocene” with Eugene F. Stoermer.

PARO, a therapy robot in the form of a fluffy seal equipped with tactile sensors, is presented to the public in Japan.

The neurotoxin Botox is approved for cosmetic use.

The Anonymous collective is created in the 4chan forum: users can post texts or pictures anonymously, and “Anonymous” is named as the author.

Neil Harbisson, who is color blind, has an antenna implanted in his head. He can now hear colors and connect to other devices via Bluetooth.

German travel documents contain biometric data.

A complete face transplant succeeds for the first time.

Bina48, the “world’s most sentient robot,” is modeled on a human: a human consciousness in a synthetic body.

Steve Jobs presents the first iPhone.

Gary Wolf and Kevin Kelly found the “Quantified Self” movement: Self-tracking of biological and physical data is used to evaluate and optimize people.

The i-Limb hand is moved by muscle movements in the arm stump that control electrical signals.

An individual or group named Satoshi Nakamoto releases open-source reference software for the first digital currency.

Instagram goes online.

Chelsea Manning submits classified documents on American wartime operations to the WikiLeaks disclosure platform, causing a worldwide uproar.

iPhone assistant Siri is the first voice control for mobile devices.

Alex Krizhevsky, Ilya Sutskever, and Geoffrey Hinton design an artificial neural network modeled on human decision-making capabilities.

Oscar Pistorius competes in the London Olympics as a bilateral amputee.

“Neighborhood watchman” George Zimmerman shoots and kills Black teenager Trayvon Martin in the United States. His acquittal sparks a transnational movement.

Open-source programs make it possible to manufacture your own individual and custom-fit prostheses.

“Time” magazine ranks the selfie stick among the 25 best inventions of the year.

The mass of electronic waste in China reaches 12.3 million tons.

After only 16 hours, Microsoft deactivates its Twitter chatbot “Tay,” which learned and published discriminatory tweets from other users.

Hunting virtual mythical creatures collectively in real environments: “Pokémon Go” conquers the world.

Germany introduces the right to marry for people of the same sex.

REEM, the first AI-equipped police robot, begins its role as a service worker in Dubai.

Electrodes implanted in the brain improve the memory of those tested by 15 percent.

The action-adventure video game “Detroit: Become Human” addresses the use of androids in industry, commerce, and services as a dystopian scenario.

Greta Thunberg demonstrates in front of the Swedish parliament for more climate protection; a worldwide climate movement forms.

The “Act to Amend the Information to be Entered in the Birth Register” enables the entry “diverse” in Germany.

During the coronavirus pandemic, a mRNA vaccine is developed. It introduces the blueprint of a virus molecule into body cells, which activates the immune system.

SpaceX launches an all-civilian crew into the earth’s orbit.