1973, Science and Technology: Xerox Alto

On 1 March 1973, the Xerox Alto was introduced by Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). Widely regarded as one of the most influential computers ever developed, the Alto was the first computer system to combine a graphical user interface (GUI), a mouse, Ethernet networking, a bitmap display, and the ability to run multiple applications simultaneously. It was also among the first computers to feature a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) word processor, allowing users to see on screen a close representation of the final printed document. Although the Xerox Alto was never a commercial success, its pioneering technologies had a profound influence on the design and development of later computer systems, including the personal computers that followed.

Xerox Alto

The Alto was housed in a relatively compact cabinet and featured a custom-built central processing unit (CPU) constructed from numerous small-scale integration (SSI) and medium-scale integration (MSI) integrated circuits. Only a limited number of Altos were built initially. By the late 1970s, however, around 1,000 machines were in use across various Xerox laboratories, with a further 500 deployed at several universities. In total, approximately 2,000 Alto systems were manufactured.

Xerox Alto

The following software was developed for the Xerox Alto:

• Bravo and Gypsy, the first WYSIWYG word-processing systems.
• Laurel, an early email application, later succeeded by Hardy.
• Sil, a vector graphics editor.
• Markup, a bitmap graphics editor and one of the earliest paint programs.
• Draw, a graphics editor capable of creating illustrations using lines and splines.
• ICARUS, the first WYSIWYG integrated circuit (IC) design editor.
• The first versions of the Smalltalk programming environment.
• Interlisp, a programming environment based on the Lisp programming language.
• Alto Trek, one of the first networked multiplayer video games, created by Gene Ball and inspired by the television series Star Trek.

Interlisp

Alto Trek

1971, Science and Technology: First 8-inch Floppy Disk by IBM

In 1967, IBM began developing a drive that led to the creation of the world’s first floppy disk (diskette) and disk drive. It was commercially introduced in 1971 in an 8-inch (20 cm) read-only format. The inspiration came from the flexible magnetic disk used by Telefunken in its "Plattendiktiergerät Traveller" from 1959.

Left to right: 8-inch, 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch floppy disk

A diskette is divided into tracks (radially) and sectors (angularly), whereas the Telefunken disk featured gramophone-like grooves. The first read-write floppy disk drive was the Memorex 650, introduced in 1972. Various storage capacities were available in the early years due to a lack of standardisation, a situation that persisted until the later years of the third generation (3.5-inch) floppy disks.

Telefunken "Plattendiktiergerät Traveller" 1959

Telefunken "Plattendiktiergerät Traveller" disc 1959

Properties of he IBM standard format

• disk diameter 20 cm (8-inch).
• SD (single density) with 250 kbit/s data rate or / DD (double density) with 500 kbit/s data rate
• 360 rpm (revolutions per minute)
• 26 sectors/track; 73 data tracks, 1 index track, 2 spare tracks, 1 reserved track
• 128 bytes/sector
• total disk capacity 3203128 bits (242944 bytes of data with this format)

Left to right: 8-inch, 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch floppy disk drives

Trivia

• In late 1976, the 5.25-inch floppy disk and disk drive were introduced to the market by Shugart Associates.
• The first 3.5-inch diskette was introduced by Sony in 1981.

1969, Science and Technology: Insulin structure

In 1969 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin and her colleagues at the University of Oxford, England, UK, determine the structure of insulin.

Dorothy Hodgkin awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1964

Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin was a British chemist and a pioneer of protein crystallography. In 1964, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances."

Dorothy Hodgkin as Chancellor of the University of Bristol (1970 to 1988)

The discovery of the insulin structure was one of Hodgkin’s most remarkable research projects. It began in 1934, when she received a small sample of crystalline insulin. The hormone fascinated her due to its intricate structure and the wide-ranging effects it has on the human body. Her dream of uncovering insulin’s structure took 35 years to realize due to the complexity of the molecule and the need for advances in crystallography and computing. In 1969, she and an international team succeeded, enabling mass production and the development of improved insulin therapies. Her work revolutionized diabetes treatment, and she continued to guide global insulin research and education.

Dorothy Hodgkin photographed at Oxford University in 1989
along with models and images of the molecules she studied

1963, Science and Technology: Astro lamp

In 1963, British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker invented the Astro lamp. His inspiration came from a device he saw in a country pub in Dorset, England, which used two immiscible fluids as an egg timer. While this device was rudimentary, Craven saw its potential and decided to refine the concept and turn it into a lamp. Setting up a laboratory in a small shed, he experimented with different ingredients in various bottles. He discovered that one of the best containers was a Tree Top orange squash bottle, whose shape would go on to define the Astro Baby Lamp, or Astro Mini, as it was initially called. Craven, along with his wife Christine, founded the company Crestworth (later known as Mathmos) to manufacture the lamps. They operated from small buildings in an industrial estate in Poole, Dorset.

Edward Craven Walker and Christine

Astro Lamp_1963 Advert

The lamp consists of a bolus of specially colored wax inside a glass vessel, which is filled with clear or translucent liquid. The vessel is placed on a base containing an incandescent light bulb, whose heat causes temporary reductions in the wax's density and the liquid's surface tension. As the warmed wax rises through the liquid, it cools, loses its buoyancy, and falls back to the bottom of the vessel.

Modern Astro Lamp by Mathmos

1975, Science and Technology: Altair 8800

MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) produced one of the first PCs, the Altair 8800, with one kilobyte (KB) of memory. The computer could be ordered as a mail-order kit for 397€ or assembled for 562€.

Altair 8800

Altair 8800 connected to a terminal for programming and display output

The Altair 8800 was developed by Ed Roberts, based on the Intel 8080 CPU. It was the first commercially successful personal computer. The Altair could be programmed using its front-panel switches, or alternatively if it had a serial interface card installed, it could be connected to a terminal for programming and display output.

Ed Roberts

Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and Monte Davidoff announced Altair BASIC, designed for the Altair computer, on January 2, 1975. The language became the first computer programming language for personal computers.

Altair 8800 advert

Altair 8800 advert

1968, Science and Technology: The First Computer Mouse Demonstration

On 9 December 1968 Douglas Engelbart with a team of 17 scientists presented a 90-minute live public demonstration of the online system (NLS) at Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, California, USA. The presentation, with the public debut of the computer mouse, was one of the sessions of the “Fall Joint Computer Conference” at the Convention Center in San Francisco. Some 1000 computer specialists attended the demonstration.

In addition to the mouse other innovations were demonstrated by Engelbart and his team, including hypertext, object addressing and dynamic file linking, and shared-screen collaboration communicating over a network with audio and video interface. All very futuristic in 1968.

Douglas Engelbart

The NLS keyboard console with the chord set on the left and the mouse on the right

The original name for the pointing device, invented in 1964 by Engelbart, was “X-Y position indicator for a display system”. It was patented under that name in 1970. This first mouse was made of a wooden shell with a circuit board and two metal wheels that came into contact with the surface it was being used on. It was designed by Bill English who later in 1972 developed a ball mouse in which a ball replaced the two metal wheels. It worked similar to the German movable ball-based device Rollkugel developed by Rainer Mallebrein at Telefunken in 1968.

Douglas Engelbart

Rollkugel by Rainer Mallebrein (Telefunken, West Germany, 1968)

The Engelbart’s demonstration has grown to a legend with the years, nothing could top it since and it is now described as "the mother of all demos".

First mouse demonstration

Full demonstration video

1977, Science and Technology: Space Shuttle Enterprise First Test

On February 15, 1977, the Space Shuttle Enterprise (OV-101) made its first three taxi-test (ALT-1 - ALT-3) on a concrete runway. The Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) were a series of taxi and flight trials to test the vehicle's flight characteristics both on its own and when placed on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. On August 12, 1977, the Enterprise made its first free flight (ALT-12) at 499 km/h. The shuttle was lifted to a height of 25,000 feet by a Boeing 747 and then released, gliding back to Edwards Air Force Base on its own. A total of 16 ALT flights were conducted in 1977.

Space Shuttle Enterprise separating from the
Shuttle Carrier Aircraft during Approach and Landing Tests

August 12, 1977, the Enterprise made its first free flight (ALT-12) at 499 km/h

Originally the first orbiter was planned to be named Constitution and would be unveiled on Constitution Day, September 17, 1976. A letter-writing campaign by Star Trek fans (Trekkies) to President Gerald Ford asked that the orbiter be named after the Starship Enterprise. Most of the cast of the original series along with Gene Rodenberry were guests at Rockwell's, Palmdale California plant for the opening. The Enterprise was a test space shuttle not intended for flights in space. It was used for test flights and public relations tours. The Space Shuttle Columbia was the first space-worthy orbiter, it made its first flight in 1981.

Left to right: NASA Administrator Dr. James D. Fletcher; DeForest Kelley (Dr. "Bones" McCoy); George Takei (Mr. Sulu); James Doohan (Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott); Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura); Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock); Gene Rodenberry (series creator); a NASA official and Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov) (September 17, 1976)

All ALT flights

• ALT-1 Taxi test n°1 February 15, 1977 (143 km/h)
• ALT-2 Taxi test n°2 February 15, 1977 (225 km/h)
• ALT-3 Taxi test n°3 February 15, 1977 (253 km/h)
• ALT-4 Captive-inert flight n°1 February 18, 1977 (462 km/h)
• ALT-5 Captive-inert flight n°2 February 22, 1977 (528 km/h)
• ALT-6 Captive-inert flight n°3 February 25, 1977 (684 km/h)
• ALT-7 Captive-inert flight n°4 February 28, 1977 (684 km/h)
• ALT-8 Captive-inert flight n°5 March 2, 1977 (763 km/h)
• ALT-9 Captive-active flight n°1 June 18, 1977 (335 km/h)
• ALT-10 Captive-active flight n°2 June 28, 1977 (499 km/h)
• ALT-11 Captive-active flight n°3 July 26, 1977 (501 km/h)
• ALT-12 Free flight n°1 August 12, 1977 (499 km/h)
• ALT-13 Free flight n°2 September 13, 1977 (499 km/h)
• ALT-14 Free flight n°3 September 23, 1977 (467 km/h)
• ALT-15 Free flight n°4 October 12, 1977 (447 km/h)
• ALT-16 Free flight n°5 October 26, 1977 (455 km/h)

Documentary narrated by William Shatner

1977, Science and Technology: “Atari Video Computer System” or “Atari VCS”

On September 11, 1977 the American video game and home computer company Atari, Inc. released the first "Atari Video Computer System" (in 1982 renamed as "Atari 2600"). It is considered as the first video game console popularising the use of microprocessor-based hardware and ROM data-cartridges containing game code. Atari, Inc. founders (1972) Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney developed their gaming system in the early 1970s originally named "Syzygy".

Atari Video Computer System (1977)

Atari Video Computer System Launch (1977)

The game console was originally priced at US$199 (with inflation now US$804) or €160,1 (with inflation now €646). It had originally two joysticks and a Combat cartridge. Eight extra games were available at launch and sold separately. The first year (1977-1978) the console was produced at Sunnyvale, California, USA, in 1978 production moved to Hong Kong. In late 1979 the Atari VCS was the best-selling game console with 1 million units sold that year.

Atari Video Computer System advert (USA, 1982)

Atari Video Computer System advert (USA, 1982)

A total of 30 million units were sold (1977-1992). The CPU was 8-bits with 1.19 Mhz speed and 128 byte RAM. The possible input controllers were joysticks, paddles, driving Controller, track-ball and keypad . The best-selling game was “Pac-Man” (7 million).

Atari Video Computer System advert (USA, 1982)

Atari Video Computer System games

Did you know...

Apple existed only one year (1976)
Still 4 years to wait for the first DOS PC (1981)

Still 8 years to wait for the first Windows PC (1985)

Still 18 years to wait for the first efficient Web search engine AltaVista (1995)

Still 27 years to wait before Facebook appeared (2004)

...

Atari VCS advert (USA, 1978)


Atari VCS advert (USA, 1980's)

Atari VCS advert (USA, 1980's)

1960, Science and Technology: TIROS I

TIROS I (“Television and InfraRed Observation Satellite”) is launched on April 1, 1960 at Cape Canaveral, Florida by the NASA. For the first time it became possible to observe weather conditions on a regular basis.

The satellite received cloud pictures via television cameras that took snapshots of the scene below, a snapshot was taken every ten seconds. TIROS I was equipped with two cameras, one with a wide angle lense providing views approximately 1207 km on a side, and a narrow angle camera with a view that was about 129 km on a side.

Two CDA (“Command and Data Acquisition”) stations were used, the Army Signal Corps laboratory in Belmar, New Jersey and the U.S. Air Force facility a Kaena Point, Hawaii. A third, back-up station, was located at Hightstown, New Jersey.

Tiros I assembly

The data from the satellite was recorded on 35-mm film for making prints and large projections. Afterwards this was transmitted to the U.S. Weather Bureau National Meteorological Center (NMC) near Washington, D.C. By 1962 (TIROS IV, TIROS V) some satellite pictures were sent to other large Weather Bureau offices. In June 1960 TIROS I ceased operating due to an electrical failure. TIROS II was launched on November 23, 1960.

Tiros I section

1960, Science and Technology: First Laser

On 16 May 1960 Teodore Maiman (1927–2007) demonstrates the first working laser, a ruby laser, at Hughes Research Laboratories. A laser emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The term laser is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation".

In Theodore Maiman first laser, atoms were excited in a synthetic ruby to higher energy levels by a powerful energy source. At specific energy levels the atoms emitted light particles or photons. The photons strike other atoms causing the rapid emission of more photons and thus amplifying the light intensity.

Teodore Maiman with the first laser

In 1960 futuristic, lasers are now recognised as one of the top ten technological achievements of the twentieth century. The laser's use is now omnipresent, science, medicine, industry, and entertainment with fibre-optic communication, CDs, CD-ROMs, and DVDs.

Theodore Maiman Explains the First Ruby Laser

1976, Science & Technology: “Electric Pencil”

In December 1976 the first word processor for home computers, "Electric Pencil", is released by Michael Shrayer. The original version was created for the MITS Altair 8800 in December 1976.

The TRS‑80 (Tandy/Radio Shack, Z-80 microprocessor) version was released almost two years later and it dominated the market until the introduction of "Scripsit" by Tandy/Radio Shack in 1978.

Michael Shrayer

Michael Shrayer purchased an MITS Altair 8800 computer kit in 1975. He expanded the Altair with a paper punch, video display, and keyboard and began writing machine language programs. What became known as "Electric Pencil" started as an improvement to an editor assembler package called "Software Package 1" or "SP-1". Shrayer decided he didn’t want to use a typewriter to write the documentation for "SP-1" but to use his Altair instead. There were no suitable programs available, so he decided to write his own.

MITS Altair 8800

The "Electric Pencil" program was quite unique and Shrayer began selling it through his own company, Michael Shrayer Software, Inc. By 1980 78 different versions were created for different home computers and operating systems. "Electric Pencil" remained on the market into the 1980s, including a version for the IBM PC in 1983.

"Electric Pencil" 2.0

1970, Science and Technology: Venera 7

The Venera 7 was the first spacecraft landing on another planet to transmit data back to Earth. The Russian spacecraft, part of the Venera series of probes to Venus, was launched on 17 August 1970 from Tyuratam, U.S.S.R, it landed on Venus on 15 December 1970. Venera 1 failed, Venera 2 flew past Venus and Venera 3 sent no data. Venera 4, 5 and 6 were crushed by the pressure of the Venus atmosphere.

The Venera 7 lander remained attached to the interplanetary bus during the initial stages of atmospheric entry to allow the bus to cool the lander to -8 °C for as long as possible. After a while the lander was ejected and the parachute opened at a height of 60 km. At this stage atmospheric testing began with results showing the atmosphere to be 97% carbon dioxide.

Venera 7 Landing Capsule

Venus surface, photo taken by Venera 13 (1982)

During the descent the parachute appeared to fail, as a result the lander impacted with the surface of Venus at about 16.5 m/s (59.4 km/h). The probe appeared to go silent on impact, however, recording tapes kept rolling. The spacecraft had landed on Venus, probably bounced onto its side on landing, and the medium gain antenna was not pointed correctly for strong signal transmission to Earth. The data returned from the surface was temperature data, which gave a reading of 475°C and the atmospheric pressure at the surface turned out to be around 93 atmospheres, comparable to an ocean depth of 800 meters on Earth.

Venera 7 Probe reaches Venus surface (BBC)

1973, Science & Technology: Skylab

On 14 May 1973 Skylab, the first U.S. space station, was launched unmanned in orbit around Earth. During the launch Skylab was a solar panel was completely damaged, and another sat down and seriously damaged a heat shield. Three manned missions followed between 1973 and 1974. During these subsequent missions Skylab was used to investigate whether people could live for a long time in space. The last mission departed on 16 November 1973 and came back on 8 February 1974. After several years circling unmanned Skylab re-entered Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated in 1979, with debris striking portions of Western Australia.

Missions

Skylab 1 SL-1 (14/05/1973): unmanned launch of space station

Skylab 2 SL-2 (SLM-1) (25/05/1973 – 22/06/1973): Pete Conrad, Paul Weitz & Joseph Kerwin, the first Skylab crew's most urgent job was to repair the space station. Skylab's meteorite-and-sun shield and one of its solar arrays had torn loose during launch, and the remaining primary solar array was jammed. Without its shield, Skylab baked in the sunshine. The crew had to work fast, because high temperatures inside the workshop would release toxic materials and ruin on-board film and food.

Skylab 3 SL-3 (SLM-2) (28/07/1973 – 25/09/1973): Alan Bean, Jack Lousma & Owen Garriott, the second manned mission conducted many scientific experiments. A second solar panel was mounted. Besides the human crew on this flight there were also two spiders, Arabella and Anita. These two "astronauts" proved that they were able to spin a web at a complete lack of gravity. Furthermore, six mice, 720 fruit flies and two fish were part of the crew.

Skylab 4 SL-4 (SLM-3) (16/11/1973 – 08/02/1974): Gerald Carr, William Pogue & Edward Gibson, the third and final manned mission conducted like the previous mission many experiments. It also extensively observed the comet Kohoutek.

Skylab - Space Station I - NASA Documentary