Our Family History

The Genealogy of Robert and Christina Barritt

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1868 - 1958 (89 years)

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Timeline

Volley R. WARREN (1868 - 1958)

	Date	Event(s)
1	1868	1868: UK - Benjamin Disraeli succeeds Derby as Prime Minister. William Gladstone becomes Prime Minister for the first time 1868: UK - J P Knight invents traffic lights. 1868: USA - George Westinghouse invents air brakes. 1868: UK - Robert Mushet invents tungsten steel.
2	1869	1869: UK - George M. Beard distinguished neurasthenia, a nervous disease of men, from hysteria, a women's disease, as, in an earlier time, men's hypochondriasis had been distinguished from women's vapeurs. Subforms of neurasthenia came to be called phobias. 1869: Ireland - The Irish Church is disestablished. 1869: Egypt - The Suez Canal is opened 1869: UK - Women obtain municipal franchise 1869: USA - Ulysses Grant president of the USA 1869-1877.
3	1870	1870: UK - Primary education becomes compulsory in Britain through the Forster-Ripon English Elementary Education Act (but poor children still roam streets after school). The Act means labourers, spouses and children of succeeding generations can read and write; women permitted to sit on school boards 1870: UK - Parliament passes the Women's Property Act, extending the rights of married women, and the Irish Land Act 1870: UK - First British postcard devised by Anthony Trollope 1870: USA - Wheeler introduces toilet paper roll 1870: Inauguration of London to Calcutta telegraph line, first electronic link between Europe and India 1870: UK - Volume of Britain's external trade equals France, Germany and Italy combined, 3-4 times greater than US; agricultural wages reach height not surpassed for many years 1870: UK - Religious tests abolished for academic posts, patronage abolished for all public offices, competitive exams introduced for Civil Service 1870: Europe - Prussia defeats France in the Franco Prussian War.
4	1871	1871: UK - Trade Unions are legalized
5	1872	1872: UK - Secret voting is introduced for elections 1872: UK - Parliament passes the Scottish Education Act 1872: USA - A.M. Ward issues the first mail-order catalog. 1872: UK - J.S. Risdon patents the metal windmill. 1872: UK - Period to 1896 sees three economic slumps and two recoveries, said to be due to imported foodstuffs from US depressing Britain's agricultural business 1872: USA - Levi Strauss discovered rugged trousers for miners made out of sturdy brown canvas. Once this resource was exhausted, he turned to denim, which he dyed blue to become what is known now as blue jeans
6	1873	1873: UK - William Gladstone's government resigns after the defeat of their Irish Universities Bill. Benjamin Disraeli declines to take up office instead 1873: UK - Parmalee invents automatic fire sprinklers 1873: UK - Joseph Glidden invents barbed wire. 1873: UK - The Great Depression lasts until 1896
7	1874	1874: UK - Benjamin Disraeli becomes Conservative Prime Minister for the second time 1874: USA - American, C. Goodyear, Jr. invents the shoe welt stitcher.
8	1875	1875: UK - Benjamin Disraeli purchases a controlling interest for Britain in the Suez Canal. 1875: UK - Parliament passes R.A. Cross's Conservative social reforms 1875: UK - Collapse of British agriculture due to cheap grain from US, wheat acreage falls by nearly a million acres
9	1876	1876: USA - Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. 1876: Germany - Nikolas August Otto designed the first four-stroke piston engine 1876: UK - Queen Victoria becomes Empress of India. 1876: Bulgaria - The massacre of Christians in Turkish Bulgaria leads to anti-Turkish campaigns in Britain, led by William Gladstone 1876: UK - Melville Bissell patents the carpet sweeper.
10	1877	1877: South Africa - Confederation of British and Boer states established 1877: USA - Rutherford Hayes president of the USA 1877-1881. 1877: USA - Thomas Edison invents the cylinder phonograph or tin foil phonograph. 1877: UK - Eadweard Muybridge invents the first moving pictures.
11	1878	1878: Berlin, Germany - The Congress of Berlin is held. Benjamin Disraeli announces peace with honour
12	1879	1879: South Africa - The Zulu War is fought. The British are defeated at Isandhlwana, but are victorious at Ulundi 1879: Midlothian, Scotland - Gladstone's Midlothian campaign denounces imperialism in South Africa and Afghanistan 1879: Afghanistan - Second Afghan War gives Britain control
13	1880	1880: UK - William Gladstone establishes his second Liberal government 1880: South Africa - The first Anglo-Boer War begins 1880: UK - British forests now decimated except for bits of the New Forest and the Forest of Dean. 1880: UK - Number of agricultural labourers reduced by about 100,000 in last 10 years 1880: UK - Englishman John Milne invents the modern seismograph. 1880: UK - The British Perforated Paper Company invents a form of toilet paper.
14	1881	1881: London, UK - Savoy Theatre introduces electric lighting 1881: London, UK - Parliament passes the Irish Land Act and the Coercion Act 1881: USA - Death of Billy the Kid 1881: USA - James Garfield president of the USA 1881. Garfield was wounded by an assassin's bullet on 3 Jul 1881 and dies 19 Sep 1881. 1881: UK - David Houston patents the roll film for cameras. 1881: USA - Alexander Graham Bell invents the first crude metal detector. 1881: UK - Edward Leveaux patents the automatic player piano. 19 Sep 1881: USA - Chester A. Arthur president of the USA 1881-1885. Vice president under James Garfield, he is sworn in as president upon the death of Garfield.
15	1882	1882: Europe - A triple alliance is established between Germany, Austria and Italy 1882: USA - Standard Oil controls 95% of oil refining capacity 1882: UK - Stillwell invents brown paper bag 1882: Egypt - Revolt leading to British occupation
16	1884	1884: Vienna, Austria - Sigmund Freud published a paper in which he found cocaine, an alkaloid in coca, effective against fatigue and neurasthenia. 1884: UK - Hilaire de Chardonnet invented the first artificial textile, which was made from cellulose. It was later named rayon 1884: UK - Parliament passes the third Reform Act which further extends the franchise 1884: UK - Fabian Society forms, rejects Marxian theory, embraces Ricardian theory (socialist) 1884: One-third of world's shipping is British, including 4/5 of world's steamships 1884: Burma - Britain annexes Upper Burma 1884: Africa - Britain and Germany partition East Africa 1884: UK - Excess of births over deaths in England is 13.3, in Germany 10.8, and France 1.4. 1884: USA - James Ritty invents the first working, mechanical cash register. 1884: UK - Charles Parson patents the steam turbine. 1884: USA - Lewis Edson Waterman invents the first practical fountain pen. 1884: USA - George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film.
17	1885	1885: Mesopotamia - Death of General Gordon at Khartoum. 1885: USA - Grover Cleveland president of the USA 1885-1889. 1885: Germany - Karl Benz invents the first practical automobile to be powered by an internal combustion engine. 1885: USA - Harim Maxim invents a machine gun. 1885: Germany - Gottlieb Daimler invents the first gas-engined motorcycle.
18	1886	1886: UK - Gladstone's third Liberal government fails to pass its first Irish Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons. Gladstone resigns as Prime Minister. Split in the Liberal Party. Salisbury establishes his second Conservative-Liberal-Unionist government. 1886: UK - The Royal Niger Company is chartered 1886: South Africa - Gold is discovered in the Transvaal 1886: New York, NY, USA - Statue of Liberty erected in New York Harbour 1886: UK - Local Government Act establishes County Councils as administrative organs of country life, replace Justices of Peace who are preserved as magistrates, creates London County Council (does not cover City); women are included with men in electorate of newly- established County Councils 1886: UK - British South Africa Company, formed by Yorkshireman Cecil Rhodes, colonization of Rhodesia begins 1886: UK - Great Dock Strike of London dockers, led by John Burns and Tom Mann 1886: USA - John Pemberton invents Coca Cola. 1886: USA - Josephine Cochrane invents the dishwasher. 1886: UK - 3,992,880 migrants leave UK for US, 2,235,671 leave UK for British North America during period to 1927
19	1887	1887: Germany - Emile Berliner patents the gramophone 1887: UK - Queen Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee 1887: UK - The Independent Labour Party is founded 1887: UK - The British East Africa Company is chartered 1887: UK - Telegraph companies control 107,000 miles of submarine cable 1887: USA - There are estimated to be 5,400 cash registers in US (increases to 16,900 in 1890) 1887: Germany - Heinrich Hertz discovers radio waves. 1887: UK - F.E. Muller and Adolph Fick invent the first wearable contact lenses.
20	1888	1888: UK - Celluloid photographic film introduced 1888: UK - The County Councils' Act establishes representative county based authorities 1888: USA - Kodak box camera 1888: UK - Coin-operated public telephone invented 1888: UK - John Boyd Dunlop patents a commercially successful pneumatic tyre. 1888: USA - Nikola Tesla invents the AC motor and transformer. 1888: USA - Marvin Stone patents the spiral winding process to manufacture the first paper drinking straws.
21	1889	1889: UK - The British South Africa Company is chartered 1889: Paris, France - The Eiffel Tower, designed by French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, is completed for the Paris Exposition. 1889: UK - First Official Secrets Act in UK 1889: USA - Benjamin Harrison president of the USA 1889-1893. 1889: UK - Sir James Dewar and Sir Frederick Abel co-invent Cordite - a type of smokeless gunpowder. 1889: UK - Joshua Pusey invents the matchbook.
22	1890	1890: UK - Starting this decade, women's clothing becomes less voluminous, lawn tennis takes place of croquet as means of meeting opposite sex, bicycle becomes fashionable
23	1891	1891: UK - University of Wales founded; Act permits women to enter medical or other faculty on same terms as men 1891: USA - Jesse W. Reno invents the escalator. 1891: UK - Agricultural depression to 1899 as cheaper frozen meat from Australia, New Zealand and South America floods into Britain, cheaper grain comes in from North America
24	1892	1892: France - Leon Bouly invents cinematographic film camera 1892: UK - William Gladstone forms his fourth Liberal government 1892: UK - Sir James Dewar invents the Dewar flask or vacuum flask. 1892: Germany - Rudolf Diesel invents the diesel-fueled internal combustion engine.
25	1893	1893: USA - Whitcomb L. Judson invented the zip to help a friend with a stiff back who could not bend over to do up his shoes 1893: UK - Second Irish Home Rule Bill fails to pass the House of Lords 1893: New Zealand - First nation to grant women the right to vote 1893: France - Car number plates introduced 1893: USA - Grover Cleveland president of the USA 1893-1897.
26	1894	1894: UK - Rosebery takes power with his minority Liberal government
27	1895	1895: UK - Oscar Wilde jailed for homosexuality 1895: UK - Guglielmo Marconi sent longwave wireless telegraphic, or radio, signals over a distance of more than a mile 1895: UK - Salisbury forms his third Unionist ministry 1895: USA - Kellogg's Corn Flakes go on sale 1895: France - Lumiere Brothers invent a portable motion-picture camera, film processing unit and projector called the Cinematographe. The Lumiere Brothers using their Cinematographe are the first to present a projected motion picture to an audience of more that one person.
28	1896	1896: Vienna, Austria - Sigmund Freud suggested analyzing childhood conflicts in the study of neuroses. He also devised a psychoanalytic technique called free association which allows emotionally-charged, repressed material to be consciously recognized 1896: Sudan - British conquest of the Sudan begins 1896: USA - Lightner Witmer establishes at the University of Pennsylvania a clinic of psychology, the first psychological clinic in America and perhaps in the world 1896: UK - Items considered luxuries in 1837 are now common comforts; food, clothing, bedding, furniture, are all far more abundant; gas and oil lighting being replaced by electricity; seaside holidays no longer rare 1896: UK - Howard publishes Garden Cities of Tomorrow, forerunner of modern city planning 1896: York, UK - Seebohm Rowntree (of chocolate fame) studies poor, determines poverty due to inadequate wages, not shiftlessness 1896: USA - American, H. O'Sullivan invents the rubber heel.
29	1897	1897: UK - Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee 1897: USA - Telephone penetration in US is 7 per 1,000 people 1897: USA - William McKinley president of the USA 1897-1901. William McKinley dies in Buffalo, NY, 1901.
30	1898	1898: UK - Christopher Latham Sholes patented the typewriter. His QWERTY keyboard is still with us today. 1898: Sudan - British rule over Sudan fully established 1898: USA - Campbell's soups first appear with red and white labels, colors suggested by Cornell University's football uniforms. 1898: USA - Spanish-American War: United States vs Spain 1898. 1898: UK - Edwin Prescott patents the roller coaster.
31	1899	1899: Germany - German Naval expansion begins 1899: South Africa - Boer War begins and lasts three years, sparked when Englishman dies in Boer police custody. Scandalous British concentration camps cause many deaths of woman and children 1899: Australia - Unification of Australia as Commonwealth 1899: UK - Judges again declare trade unions illegal 1899: UK - J.S. Thurman patents the motor-driven vacuum cleaner. 1899: UK - I.R. Johnson patents the bicycle frame. 1899: UK - Education is now compulsory to age 12. 1 in 8 receives education after age 14
32	1900	1900: UK - Salisbury wins the Khaki election. The Labour Representation Committee is formed 1900: UK - Max Planck proposes quantum theory 1900: UK - There are reckoned to be 6,000 accountants in England 1900: China - Boxer Rebellion 1900: Italy - King Assassinated 1900: USA - Kodak Introduces $1 Brownie Cameras 1900: Vienna, Austria - Sigmund Freud Publishes The Interpretation of Dreams 1900: UK - Birmingham University founded 1900: Germany - The zeppelin invented by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. 1900: USA - Charles Seeberger redesigned Jesse Reno's escalator and invented the modern escalator.
33	1901	1901: USA - Willis H. Carrier invented the industrial air conditioner 1901: UK - Vacuum Cleaner invented by Hubert Cecil Booth 1901: Atlantic - Guglielmo Marconi sends wireless message from Cornwall to Newfoundland, a distance of over 2,000 miles 1901: Stockholm, Sweden - First Nobel Prizes Awarded 1901: USA - Theodore Roosevelt president of the USA 1901-1909. Vice president under William McKinley, he is sworn in as president upon death of McKinley. 1901: USA - King Camp Gillette invents the double-edged safety razor. 1901: UK - Edward VII, ruler of England to 1910. House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: Eldest son of Queen Victoria, married Alexandra, Princess of Denmark. 22 Jan 1901: UK - Death of Queen Victoria, aged 81, over 63 years as Queen
34	1902	1902: UK - Invention of the Teddy Bear 1902: South Africa - Boer War Ends 1902: UK - Education Act provides for secondary education 1902: France - French physicist George Claude invents neon light.
35	1903	1903: USA - Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright achieved flight in a manned, gasoline power-driven, heavier-than-air flying machine at Kitty Hawk. 1903: UK - First Silent Movie, The Great Train Robbery 1903: India - Plague strikes 1903: Ireland - Irish land purchase bill, Wyndham's Act, permits Irish to buy land from landlords with 1903: UK - Liverpool University, Sheffield University and Leeds University founded 1903: UK - Balfour's Licensing Act reduces number of houses selling alcohol 1903: UK - Trade depression - unemployment results; Act sets up local committees to find employment, voluntary contributions give small stipend to unemployed 1903: UK - Act of Parliament secures highly privileged immunity for trades unions; Labour Party formed 1903: UK - Free school meals for poor children, Children's Act deals with cruelty to children, prohibits imprisonment of children under 14 1903: UK - 72 British ships have Marconi's radio, 1912 - 450, 1914 - 879 1903: UK - Beginning of Old Age Pension scheme 1903: UK - Trade depression - unemployment results; William Beveridge publishes Unemployment, a Problem of Industry, which prompts creation of Labour Exchanges 1903: Europe - Louis Bleriot flies across the English Channel 1903: UK - Edward Binney and Harold Smith co-invent crayons. 1903: UK - Bottle-making machinery invented by Michael J. Owens. 1903: UK - Mary Anderson invents windshield wipers. 1903: USA - William Coolidge invents ductile tungsten used in lightbulbs.
36	1904	1904: UK - First telephone answering machine 1904: UK - Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Benjamin Bunny is published 1904: Panama - Ground Broken on the Panama Canal 1904: New York, NY, USA - New York City Subway Opens 1904: Russia - Russo-Japanese War Begins 1904: Russia - Trans-Siberian Railway Completed 1904: UK - Teabags invented by Thomas Suillivan. 1904: UK - Benjamin Holt invents a tractor.
37	1905	1905: Berne, Switzerland - Albert Einstein evolved the Special Theory of relativity. 1905: UK - Aliens Act in Britain tries to control immigration 1905: Russia - Bloody Sunday - Russian Revolution of 1905 1905: Vienna, Austria - Sigmund Freud Publishes His Theory of Sexuality
38	1906	1906: Finland - First European Country to Give Women the Right to Vote 1906: San Francisco, USA - San Francisco Earthquake 1906: USA - Upton Sinclair Writes The Jungle 1906: USA - William Kellogg invents Cornflakes.
39	1907	1907: UK - Electric washing machine - The Thor - goes on sale 1907: Netherlands - Ten Rules of War Established at the Second Hague Peace Conference 1907: Spain - Picasso Introduces Cubism 1907: UK - Typhoid Mary Captured for the First Time 1907: France - Colour photography invented by Auguste Lumiere and Louis Lumiere. 1907: UK - The very first piloted helicopter was invented by Paul Cornu.
40	1908	1908: USA - Henry Ford created the Model T automobile 1908: UK - Electric iron and toaster patented 1908: UK - Earthquake in Italy Kills 150,000 1908: China - Three Year-Old Pu Yi Becomes Emperor of China 1908: Turkey - Revolt in the Ottoman Empire 1908: USA - The gyrocompass invented by Elmer A. Sperry. 1908: USA - Cellophane invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger. 1908: UK - J W Geiger and W M 1908: UK - Fritz Haber invents the Haber Process for making artificial nitrates.
41	1909	1909: UK - Pianos reach maximum market penetration in UK households at one per ten people 1909: UK - 800 million postcards sold in England 1909: Japan - Prince Ito is Assassinated 1909: UK - Plastic Is Invented 1909: Arctic - Robert Peary Becomes the First to Reach the North Pole 1909: USA - William Taft president of the USA 1909-1913. 1909: UK - Instant coffee invented by G. Washington.
42	1910	1910: UK - Georges Claude discovered that electricity conducted through a tube of the rare inert gas, neon, gives a bright red glow and that other gases gave off other colors, e.g., argon gives blue, helium gives yellow and white, etc. 1910: UK - First live opera broadcast 1910: UK - Halley's Comet Makes an Appearance 1910: UK - The Tango Catches On 1910: South Africa - Formation of Union of South Africa 1910: UK - Death of Edward VII 1910: UK - Population of England/Wales 36,070, Scotland - 4,761, N. Ireland - 1,251 1910: UK - Contributory National Insurance Scheme introduced by David Lloyd George, provides medical care, maternity benefits and sick pay 1910: UK - Parliament Act reduces House of Lords' veto to delaying power; House of Commons begins to pay members a stipend 1910: UK - There are 146,000 female clerical workers in England, up from 22,000 in 1891, 7,000 in 1881, and 19 in 1851 1910: USA - Thomas Edison demonstrated the first talking motion picture. 1910: UK - Infant mortality now 110 per 1000 live births, declines steadily to 24.4 in 1956; emigration reaches about 464,000/year; divorces average 823/year, go to 3,619/year in 1920-1922, 7,955/year in 1939 (latter rise because willful desertion, cruelty and incurable insanity added to causes in 1937) 1910: UK - Strikes of seaman, dock and transport workers, general railway strike for higher wages during period to 1912 20 Jan 1910: UK - George V, ruler of England to 1936. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): 2nd son of Edward VII, married Princess Mary of Teck.
43	1911	1911: China - The Chinese Revolution 1911: UK - Ernest Rutherford Discovers the Structure of an Atom 1911: UK - Greenwich Mean Time Adopted 1911: Peru - The Incan City of Machu Picchu Discovered 1911: Paris, France - Mona Lisa Is Stolen 1911: Antarctica - Roald Amundsen Reaches the South Pole 1911: USA - Standard Oil Company Broken Up 1911: USA - Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Catches on Fire 1911: USA - Charles Franklin Kettering invents the first automobile electrical ignition system
44	1912	1912: North Sea - The Sinking of the Titanic: 1,515 people lose their lives. 1912: UK - Parachutes Invented 1912: UK - Piltdown Man, the 'Missing Link,' Discovered but later revealed as a fraud 1912: SOS Accepted as Universal Distress Signal 1912: UK - Motorized movie cameras invented, and replaced hand-cranked cameras. 1912: UK - The first tank patented by Australian inventor De La Mole. 1912: USA - Clarence Crane created Life Savers candy
45	1913	1913: USA - Leo Baekeland invented a plastic laminate, known as Bakelite, and later as Formica 1913: Detroit, MI, USA - First assembly line introduced in Ford automobile factory 1913: New York, NY, USA - The Armory Show, an international display of some 1600 works of modern art, and one of the more important U.S. art exhibitions ever held, opens at the 69th-regiment armory. It arouses public curiosity, generates sensational news coverage, and helps change the direction of American art 1913: USA - Personal Income Tax introduced 1913: Washington, DC, USA - Woodrow Wilson president 1913-1921. 1913: UK - The crossword puzzle was invented by Arthur Wynne. 1913: USA - The Merck Chemical Company patented what is now known as ecstasy. 1913: USA - Mary Phelps Jacob invents the bra 1913: USA - Gideon Sundback invents the modern zipper.
46	1914	1914: UK - Battle of the Marne 1914: USA - Charlie Chaplin First Appeared as the Little Tramp 1914: UK - First Traffic Light 1914: Panama - Panama Canal Officially Opened 1914: Egypt - Britain proclaims protectorate over Egypt 1914: France - Stunning British casualty figures come from Loos -60,000; in on the Somme, 60,000 in one day; total for 5-month offensive - 400,000; Germans use poison gas at Ypres 1914: Ireland - Easter Monday Irish rebellion, Irish Volunteers (later Irish Republican Army) proclaim Irish Republic; German submarine lands Sir Roger Casement who is arrested, German ship with rifles intercepted off Irish coast, Casement executed; Sinn Fein and Ulster cannot agree on partition 1914: France - Passchendaele, British advance of 5 miles costs 400,000 casualties 1914: UK - Balfour Declaration promises Jews home in Palestine 1914: UK - First use of massed tanks (Battle of Cambrai) 1914: UK - King George V adopts Windsor as Royal Family's English surname in place of family's German name 1914: USA - Garrett A. Morgan invents the Morgan gas mask 4 Aug 1914: World War I begins and lasts until 1918, because Germany violates a treaty to respect neutrality of Belgium; Turkey enters war on Germany's side
47	1915	1915: Armenia - Armenian Genocide 1915: USA - D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation is Released 1915: UK - Lusitania Sunk by German U-Boat 1915: Ypres, France - Second Battle of Ypres 1915: New York, NY, USA - Eugene Sullivan and William Taylor co-invent Pyrex
48	1916	1916: UK - Navy employs animal trainer 'Captain' Joseph Woodward's music hall sea lions for U-boat sabotage. 1916: USA - Coca-Cola adopts a distinctive bottle which identifies the company internationally 1916: France - Battle of the Somme 1916: Verdun, France - Battle of Verdun 1916: Ireland - Easter Rising 1916: USA - First Self-Service Grocery Store Opens 1916: UK - Radio tuners invented that received different stations. 1916: UK - Stainless steel invented by Henry Brearly.
49	1917	1917: Russia - Bolshevik revolution installs a new government headed by V.I. Lennin 1917: New York, NY, USA - French artist Marcel Duchamp submits a porcelain urinal, signed 'R. Mutt' and titled Fountain, to the New York Independents Exhibition; it is rejected. 1917: UK - First Pulitzer Prizes Awarded 1917: Germany - Mata Hari Executed for Being a Spy Apr 1917: USA - The United States joined World War I on the side of the Triple Entente
50	1918	1918: UK - Influenza Epidemic 1918: Russia - Czar Nicholas II and his family are killed 1918: UK - Summer:Great Influenza Epidemic begins, reaches height end of year, new outbreak first quarter of 1919: England and Wales lose 150,000 (15,000 in London alone) 1918: UK - Final casualties for World War I - almost 1 million British Empire men killed, about 3 million maimed (744,000 killed are from UK) 1918: UK - Women over 30 given the vote (complete voting equality with men comes in 1928), all men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons) given vote 1918: UK - Consumer purchasing power now about 1/3 of what it was in 1914 1918: USA - Charles Jung invented fortune cookies. 1918: UK - Police strikes this year and the next 9 Nov 1918: Europe - Kaiser abdicates, peace signed two days later at Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I
51	1919	1919: UK - Eddington and Frank W. Dyson measured the bending of starlight by the gravitational pull of the sun, thus confirming Einstein's general theory of relativity 1919: USA - Prohibition Begins in the U.S. 1919: Ireland - Irish Republican Army begins terrorist campaign against police ('Black and Tans') and their families 1919: London, UK - First woman in House of Commons, Viscountess Astor 1919: Ireland - Alcock and Brown arrive after flying across the Atlantic 1919: UK - Strikes and riots in Glasgow for 40- hour week; National Industrial Conference convenes, trades union representatives resign in disgust 1919: Europe - Regular air service commences across the English Channel 1919: UK - Post-war boom collapses, unemployment problem, 1920 Act provides small payment under National Insurance Scheme 1919: UK - Most war-time rationing ends 1919: UK - One-week railway strike - Emergency Powers Act passed to give government war-time powers to deal with threats from 'Triple Alliance' of miners, railwaymen and dockers, re high prices, shortage of housing 1919: UK - The pop-up toaster invented by Charles Strite. 1919: UK - Short-wave radio invented. 1919: UK - The arc welder invented. 1919: UK - Runaway inflation; Coal Mines Act (1919) and Mining Industry Act (1920) create 7-hour day for miners plus minor reforms Jun 1919: UK - Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting atom
52	1920	1920: India - Bubonic Plague strikes 1920: UK - League of Nations Established 1920: UK - Population of England/Wales - 37,887, Scotland - 4,882, N.Ireland - 1,258 1920: UK - Economic slump, 2,170,000 unemployed 1920: Palestine - Serious clashes between Jews and Arabs 1920: USA - US restricts immigration 1920: Ireland - Southern Irish parliament passes Government of Ireland Act, civil war effectively ends (until 1968) 1920: UK - Lloyd George sells honours in return for party contributions, partly responsible for downfall of Coalition government 1920: Egypt - Britain recognizes Egyptian independence 1920: UK - British Broadcasting Company (BBC) begins transmission of speech over air to public 1920: Italy - Benito Mussolini becomes fascist dictator 1920: UK - First football cup final at Wembley 1920: UK - Greyhound racing becomes popular 1920: UK - Radio and cinema begin growth (by 1929, 3,000 cinemas in Britain) 1920: UK - Convictions for drunkenness fall from 189,000 in 1913 to 53,000 in 1930 1920: France - Tuberculosis vaccine developed 1920: UK - The tommy gun patented by John T Thompson. 1920: USA - The Band-Aid invented by Earle Dickson 1920: Ireland - Irish Republican Army begins Civil War with raids on police barracks and income tax offices all over Ireland 1920: UK - Communist Party of Great Britain founded; affiliation with Labour Party rebuffed = schism between communism and socialism 1920: UK - Population of Great Britain has grown by 5 per cent, emigration overseas declines from 256,000 in 1923 (post-war peak) to 92,000 in 1930 and many return to offset those leaving; British population gravitates to south and away from depressed areas of South Wales and northern England, Greater London is now over 8 million Dec 1920: Ireland - New Government of Ireland Act proposes partition of Ireland into Ulster (north) and Irish Free State (south), each to have its own government
53	1921	1921: UK - Stage debut of John Gielgud 1921: Germany - Extreme Inflation sets in 1921: Ireland - Irish Free State Proclaimed 1921: Washington, DC, USA - Warren Harding president in 1921. He dies of an embolism in San Francisco. He had taken ill on 31 Jul 1921 1921: Washington, DC, USA - Calvin Coolidge president 1921-1929. Vice president under Warren Harding, he was sworn in as president the day after Harding dies. 1921: UK - The first robot is built. 1921: CA, USA - John Larson, a University of California medical student, invented the modern lie detector (polygraph), used by police since 1924.
54	1922	1922: London, UK - BBC launched as limited company 1922: Turkey - Michael Collins Killed in Ambush 1922: Rome Italy - Benito Mussolini Marches on Rome 1922: USA - The Reader's Digest is first published 1922: UK - Insulin invented by Sir Frederick Grant Banting 1922: USA - The first 3-D movie (spectacles with one red and one green lens) is released. Nov 1922: Thebes, Egypt - Tomb of Tun-ankh-amen discovered
55	1923	1923: USA - Electrolux produced the first electric refrigerator 1923: USA - Kodak introduces home movie equipment 1923: UK - Charleston Dance Becomes Popular 1923: Germany - Adolf Hitler Jailed After Failed Coup 1923: Ruhr, Germany - Ruhr Occupied by French and Belgian Forces 1923: USA - Teapot Dome Scandal 1923: USA - Garrett A. Morgan invents a traffic signal 1923: USA - Early television or iconoscope invented by Vladimir Kosma Zworykin. 1923: UK - John Harwood invented the self-winding watch. 1923: UK - Clarence Birdseye invents frozen food.
56	1924	1924: UK - First Olympic Winter Games 1924: USSR - V.I. Lenin Dies 1924: UK - First Labour government headed by Ramsay MacDonald 1924: UK - The dynamic loudspeaker invented by Rice and Kellogg. 1924: UK - Notebooks with spiral bindings invented. Aug 1924: UK - Housing Act to produce 2.5 million houses by 1939 becomes law 4 Nov 1924: London, UK - Government falls due to purported link with Communists in Russia, known as Red Letter scare, Stanley Baldwin forms new government
57	1925	1925: UK - Flapper Dresses in Style 1925: Germany - Adolf Hitler Publishes Mein Kampf 1925: UK - Infants' Custody Act, women finally secure same rights as men with regard to custody of children
58	1926	1926: UK - General Strike paralyses transport, mining and many other areas of the economy 1926: Wolverhampton, UK - The first automatic traffic light was installed. It remained in service until 1968 1926: UK - A.A. Milne Publishes Winnie-the-Pooh 1926: UK - Houdini Dies After Being Punched 1926: USA - Robert Goddard Fires His First Liquid-Fuel Rocket 1926: A Woman Swims the English Channel 1926: UK - Imperial Conference sets stage for colonies and dominions to become Commonwealth of Nations
59	1927	1927: USA - The Jazz Singer - first film talking movie released 1927: London, UK - John Logie Baird demonstrates electro-mechanical television system 1927: USA - Babe Ruth Makes Home-Run Record 1927: Atlantic - Charles Lindbergh Flies Solo Across the Atlantic 1927: London, UK - Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act makes sympathetic striking illegal and prohibits political use of Union funds 1927: UK - JWA Morrison invents the first quartz crystal watch. 1927: USA - Philo Taylor Farnsworth invents a complete electronic TV system. 1927: USA - Technicolor invented. 1927: UK - Erik Rotheim patents an aerosol can. 1927: UK - Philip Drinker invents the iron lung. 4 Jun 1927: London, UK - Stanley Baldwin resigns, Ramsay MacDonald forms another Labour government, includes first female Cabinet Minister, Margaret Bondfield, Minister of Labour
60	1928	1928: Los Angeles, USA - First Mickey Mouse cartoon 1928: Oxford, UK - First Oxford English Dictionary Published 1928: UK - Kellogg-Briand Treaty Outlaws War 1928: London, UK - Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin. 1928: USA - Bubble gum invented by Walter E. Diemer. 1928: UK - Jacob Schick patented the electric shaver. 1928: UK - Long, critical illness of George V this year and the next
61	1929	1929: UK - Economic upturn this year and the next 1929: UK - First UK television broadcast 1929: UK - Frank Whittle, combining the concepts of rocket propulsion and gas turbines, invented jet propulsion. Independently, Hans von Ohain put together the same combination in 1933 1929: Antarctica - Byrd and Bennett Fly Over South Pole 1929: USA - First Academy Awards 1929: USA - New York Stock Market Crashes 1929: USA - St. Valentine's Day Massacre 1929: UK - Further serious clashes between Jews and Arabs in Palestine 1929: USA - Herbert Hoover president 1929-1933. 1929: USA - Paul Galvin invents the car radio. 1929: USA - Yo-Yo re-invented as an American fad. 1929: UK - Great Depression (to 1932), British segment hits worst in 1931, when unemployment surges quickly to more than 3.25 million in 1931, then more slowly to a high of 3.75 million in September 1932
62	1930	1930: UK - Gandhi's Salt March 1930: USA - Clyde Tombaugh discovers planet Pluto 1930: UK - Sliced Bread Available 1930: USSR - Stalin Begins Collectivizing Agriculture 1930: UK - Sir Oswald Mosely, former Conservative MP and now Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, resigns and forms New Party (Fascist) 1930: USA - Scotch tape patented by 3M engineer Richard G. Drew. 1930: Boston, MA, USA - The differential analyzer, an analog computer, is invented by Vannevar Bush at MIT
63	1931	1931: UK - Housing Act passes, provides subsidies for slum clearance 1931: USA - Al Capone Imprisoned for Income Tax Evasion 1931: UK - Auguste Piccard Reaches Stratosphere 1931: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Christ Monument Built on Hilltop 1931: New York, NY, USA - Empire State Building Completed 1931: USA - First official US National Anthem 1931: UK - Census shows British professional workers now number .75 million (8 per cent); up from 80,000 in 1921 Census: population: England/Wales - 39,952, Scotland - 4,842, N. Ireland - 1,243 1931: USA - Harold Edgerton invented stop-action photography. 1931: Germany - Germans Max Knott and Ernst Ruska co-invent the electron microscope. 24 Aug 1931: UK - Resignation of Labour government accepted by King, asks Ramsay MacDonald to form National Government (Coalition) to deal with economic crisis 21 Oct 1931: UK - General Election, vote for National Government overwhelming, more votes for Conservatives, Liberal party in disarray
64	1932	1932: UK - Agricultural Marketing Act passed, regulates quality of produce 1932: USA - Air Conditioning Invented 1932: Amelia Earhardt First Woman to Fly Solo Across the Atlantic 1932: Cambridge, UK - Scientists Split the Atom 1932: USA - Zippo Lighters Introduced 1932: Ireland - De Valera succeeds Cosgrave as Prime Minister of Irish Free State, ousts British Governor-General, abolishes senate, alters law re citizenship to distinguish Irish nationality from British, but still claims Commonwealth membership 1932: USA - Polaroid photography invented by Edwin Herbert Land. 1932: UK - Unemployment falls from 3 million to below 2 million in July 1935; production rises, but imports steady, exports decline; new industries booming - chemicals, rayon, cars, radio, cost of living falls Sep 1932: UK - 6-7 million living on 'dole', worse in Tyne and Tees and Welsh valleys
65	1933	1933: UK - First Mars bar 1933: USA - Singing telegrams introduced 1933: Germany - Adolf Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany 1933: Germany - First Nazi Concentration Camp Established 1933: Loch Ness, Scotland - Loch Ness Monster First Spotted 1933: USA - Prohibition Ends 1933: Wiley Post Flies Around the World in 8.5 Days 1933: UK - Special Areas Act passes, designed to encourage workers to move to more prosperous Midlands or expanding light industries of South, not very effective 1933: USA - Franklin Roosevelt president 1933-1945, Launches New Deal. 1933: USA - Frequency modulation (FM radio) invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong. 1933: UK - Stereo records invented. Feb 1933: Oxford, UK - Oxford Union Society passes its famous motion This House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country. Peace societies become popular
66	1934	1934: UK - Communist and Fascist disorders, especially in London's East End, cause Incitement to Disaffection (1934) and Public Order Acts (1936), extending police powers, suppressing wearing of political uniforms and limiting holding of provocative processions 1934: Munich, Germany - Konrad Zuse built a series of computers, Z1 through Z4, utilizing binary arithmetic and stored programs. Along the way he invented the first programming language and began to analyze methods by which a computer could play chess 1934: USA - The first comic books appear on newsstands 1934: USA - Bonnie and Clyde Killed by Police 1934: USA - Cheeseburger Created 1934: USA - The Dust Bowl 1934: China - Mao Zedong Begins the Long March 1934: UK - Parker Brothers Sells the Game Monopoly 1934: UK - Charles Darrow claims he invented the game Monopoly 1934: UK - Joseph Begun invents the first tape recorder for broadcasting - first magnetic recording.
67	1935	1935: USA - First successful three-color roll film available to amateur photographers as Kodachrome, for slides, this year, and as Kodacolor (for prints) in 1942. 1935: UK - First Kit Kat sold 1935: USA - Alcoholics Anonymous Founded 1935: Germany - Anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws issued 1935: UK - John Maynard Keynes Suggests New Economic Theory 1935: USA - Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invent nylon 1935: USA - The first canned beer made.
68	1936	1936: UK - Edward VIII, ruler of England 1936. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): Eldest son of George V. 1936: UK - BBC starts regular TV broadcasts 1936: USA - Dale Carnegie Publishes How to Win Friends and Influence People 1936: Germany - Nazi Olympics in Berlin 1936: Spain - Spanish Civil War Begins. Germany and Italy help rebels against government, Soviet Union aids government, as do International Brigade with volunteers from European countries and US during period to 1939 1936: UK - Arabs attack Jews and British troops and police, riots, strikes, outbursts of great violence, Jews attack Arabs and British, disorder continues through beginning of World War II 1936: USA - Bell Labs invents the voice recognition machine. 1936: USA - Samuel Colt patents the Colt revolver. 1936: Germany - Hitler and Mussolini make Rome-Berlin Axis agreement to conduct aggression together, followed by German agreement with Japan which Italy signs later 20 Jan 1936: UK - Death of King George V 12 May 1936: UK - George VI, ruler of England 1936-1952. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): 2nd son of George V, Duke of York; married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. 16 Nov 1936: UK - Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin learns Edward VIII wants to marry twice-divorced Mrs.Simpson and will abdicate if necessary, public storm breaks on 2- 3 December, King abdicates on 5 December, announces 10 December, Abdication Act rushes through 11 December; Duke of York (father of Queen Elizabeth II) becomes George VI
69	1937	1937: Guernica, Spain - German planes, aiding insurgents in the Spanish Civil War, bomb the historic Basque town of Guernica in Northern Spain, killing women and children and inflaming world opinion against facism. 1937: USA - Hindenburg airship crash - broadcast coast to coast in US 1937: UK - Aviator Amelia Earhart Vanishes 1937: San Francisco, CA, USA - Golden Gate Bridge Opened 1937: USA - Chester F. Carlson invents the photocopier. May 1937: Ireland - Irish Free State becomes republic of Eire, Northern Ireland remains part of United Kingdom 27 May 1937: UK - Joseph Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister Jul 1937: China - Japan suddenly attacks China, by end of year Japanese have captured Shanghai and Nanking
70	1938	1938: UK - UK's first weekly radio comedy series, Band Wagon 1938: USA - Broadcast of The War of the Worlds Causes Panic 1938: UK - Neville Chamberlain Announces Peace in Our Time 1938: UK - Extinct Fish Found 1938: Germany - Kristallnacht - The Night of Broken Glass 1938: UK - The ballpoint pen invented by Ladislo Biro. 1938: UK - Roy J. Plunkett invented tetrafluoroethylene polymers (Teflon) 1938: USA - Nescafe or freeze-dried coffee invented. 12 Mar 1938: Austria - Hitler annexes Austria; Neville Chamberlain decides not to help Czechoslovakia or French, who have treaty obligations to Czechs, Hitler tells Chamberlain if he can have Czechoslovakia he will not annex other countries, Chamberlain falls for it
71	1939	1939: UK - First Commercial Flight Over the Atlantic 1939: Europe - German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact Signed 1939: UK - Refugees on the St. Louis Refused Entry Everywhere 1939: Europe - World War II begins. Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan vs. Major Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, and Russia. 1939-1945. 1939: USA - Igor Sikorsky invents the first successful helicopter. Sep 1939: UK - UK declares war on Germany
72	1940	1940: London, UK - London Blitz 1940: USA - Disney's Fantasia 1940: UK - Battle of Britain 1940: USSR - Leon Trotsky Assassinated 1940: USA - Nylon Stockings on the Market 1940: France - Stone Age Cave Paintings Found 1940: USA - Peter Goldmark invents modern colour television system. 1940: UK - Karl Pabst invents the jeep.
73	1941	1941: USA - Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor 1941: USA - Manhattan Project Begins 1941: USA - Mount Rushmore Completed 1941: UK - Nazi Rudolf Hess Flies to Britain on a Peace Mission 1941: Leningrad, USSR - Siege of Leningrad
74	1942	1942: USA - Battle of Midway 1942: Stalingrad, USSR - Battle of Stalingrad 1942: USA - Japanese-Americans Held in Camps 1942: UK - Nazis Raze Town in Retaliation for Reinhard Heydrich's Death 1942: USA - T-shirt Introduced 1942: USA - John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry built an electronic digital computer.
75	1943	1943: USA - Autism identified 1943: France - French Resistance Leader Jean Moulin Killed 1943: Italy - Italy Joins the Allies 1943: Poland - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising 1943: USA - Richard James invents the slinky. 1943: USA - James Wright invents silly putty. 1943: USA - Swiss chemist, Albert Hofmann discovered the hallucinogenic properties of LSD. 1943: UK - Emile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau invent the aqualung.
76	1944	1944: France - D-Day landings 1944: France - First German V1 and V2 Rockets Fired 1944: Berlin, Germany - Hitler Escapes Assassination Attempt 1944: USA - The kidney dialysis machine invented by Willem Kolff. 1944: USA - Synthetic cortisone invented by Percy Lavon Julian.
77	1945	1945: Germany - Allied troops liberate Nazi death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau (January 26), Buchenwald (April 11), and Dachau (April 24), providing the world with the first photographic evidence of the horrific atrocities committed there 1945: Berlin, Germany - Hitler Commits Suicide 1945: Germany - Germans Surrender 1945: USA - United Nations Founded 1945: Japan - The Atomic Age begins with atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War II 1945: USA - Harry Truman president of the USA 1945-1953.
78	1946	1946: USA - ENIAC computer makes 5,000 additions in one second 1946: USA - Bikinis Introduced 1946: UK - Dr. Spock Publishes The Common Book of Baby and Child Care 1946: Argentina - Nazi War crime Trials 1946: UK - Winston Churchill Gives His Iron Curtain Speech 1946: UK - The microwave oven invented by Percy Spencer.
79	1947	1947: USA - Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier 1947: Egypt - Dead Sea Scrolls Discovered 1947: UK - Jewish Refugees Aboard the Exodus Turned Back by British 1947: USA - Marshall Plan 1947: UK - British/Hungarian scientist, Dennis Gabor, developed holography 1947: USA - Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley invent the transistor. 1947: USA - Earl Silas Tupper patented the Tupperware seal.
80	1948	1948: USA - Life magazine makes painter Jackson Pollock an overnight celebrity by devoting a three-page spread with color photographs to him and his paintings under the headline, Jackson Pollock: Is He the Greatest Living Painter in the United States?; Abstract Expressionism becomes a subject of widespread popular ridicule. 1948: Berlin, Germany - Berlin Airlift 1948: UK - Big Bang Theory Formulated 1948: India - Gandhi Assassinated 1948: South Africa - Policy of Apartheid Begun 1948: Israel - State of Israel Founded 1948: USA - The Frisbee 1948: USA - Velcro 1948: USA - Robert Hope-Jones invented the Wurlitzer jukebox
81	1949	1949: China - Mao Zedong proclaims Peoples Republic of China - China Becomes Communist 1949: First Non-Stop Flight Around the World 1949: UK - George Orwell Publishes Nineteen Eighty-Four 1949: USA - NATO Established 1949: USSR - Soviet Union Has Atomic Bomb 1949: USA - Cake mix invented.
82	1950	1950: UK - UK's longest running soap, The Archers, first airs on BBC Midlands Home Service 1950: USA - First Modern Credit Card Introduced 1950: UK - First Organ Transplant 1950: USA - First Peanuts Cartoon Strip 1950: Korea - Korean War Begins: United States (as part of the United Nations) and South Korea vs. North Korea and Communist China 1950-1953. 1950: USA - Senator Joseph McCarthy Begins Communist Witch Hunt 1950: USA - President Truman Orders Construction of Hydrogen Bomb 1950: USA - The first credit card (Diners) invented by Ralph Schneider. 26 May 1950: UK - Drivers cheer end of fuel rations.
83	1951	1951: USA - The word brainwashing is coined 1951: USA - Color TV Introduced 1951: South Africa - Citizens Forced to Carry ID Cards Identifying Race 1951: USA - Truman Signs Peace Treaty With Japan, Officially Ending World War II 1951: UK - Winston Churchill Again Prime Minister 1951: UK - Super glue invented. 1951: USA - Power steering invented by Francis W. Davis. 1951: USA - Charles Ginsburg invented the first videotape recorder (VTR).
84	1952	1952: UK - Car Seat Belts Introduced 1952: UK - Jacques Cousteau Discovers Ancient Greek Ship 1952: UK - Polio Vaccine Created 1952: UK - Mr. Potato Head patented. 1952: USA - The first patent for bar code (US Patent #2,612,994) issued to inventors Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver. 1952: USA - The first diet soft drink, the No-Cal Beverage, a ginger ale sold by Kirsch. 1952: USA - Edward Teller and team build the hydrogen bomb. 6 Feb 1952: UK - Elizabeth II, ruler of England 1952-present. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): Elder daughter of George VI 25 Nov 1952: London, UK - The Mousetrap opens. It will become the world's longest-running play
85	1953	1953: Paris, France - Waiting for Godot debuts 1953: Cambridge, UK - DNA Discovered 1953: UK - Hillary and Norgay Climb Mount Everest 1953: USSR - Joseph Stalin Dies 1953: USA - Dwight Eisenhower president 1953-1961. 1953: UK - Radial tyres invented. 1953: USA - The first musical synthesizer invented by RCA. 1953: USA - Transistor radio invented by Texas Instruments.
86	1954	1954: USA - Raymond Kroc buys McDonald's franchise rights and begins the global proliferation of the golden arches. 1954: UK - Britain Sponsors an Expedition to Search for the Abominable Snowman 1954: USA - First Atomic Submarine Launched 1954: UK - Report Says Cigarettes Cause Cancer 1954: UK - Roger Bannister Breaks the Four-Minute Mile 1954: USA - Segregation Ruled Illegal 1954: UK - Oral contraceptives invented. 1954: UK - The first non-stick pan produced. 1954: UK - The solar cell invented by Chaplin, Fuller and Pearson.
87	1955	1955: UK - ITV formed 1955: USA - Disneyland Opens 1955: USA - James Dean Dies in Car Accident 1955: USA - Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat on a Bus 1955: UK - Warsaw Pact Signed 1955: UK - Optic fiber invented.
88	1956	1956: UK - Eurovision Song Contest starts 1956: USA - Elvis Gyrates on Ed Sullivan's TV Show 1956: Monaco - Grace Kelly Marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco 1956: Hungary - Hungarian Revolution 1956: USSR - Khrushchev Denounces Stalin 1956: UK - Suez Crisis - Britain, Israel and France invade Egypt 1956: UK - TV Remote Control Invented 1956: UK - The first computer hard disk used. 1956: UK - The hovercraft invented by Christopher Cockerell. 1956: USA - Bette Nesmith Graham invented Mistake Out, later renamed Liquid Paper, to paint over mistakes made with a typewriter.
89	1957	1957: USSR - The Space Age begins with the launch of Sputnik 1 - the first satellite 1957: USA - Dr. Seuss Publishes The Cat in the Hat 1957: Europe - European Economic Community Established 1957: USSR - Laika Becomes the First Living Animal in Space 1957: USA - Fortran (computer language) invented.
90	1958	1958: USA - UNIMATE is first industrial robot 1958: UK - Boris Pasternak Refuses Nobel Prize 1958: China - Mao Zedong Launches the Great Leap Forward 1958: USA - Hope Diamond is Donated to the Smithsonian 1958: UK - Lego Toy Bricks First Introduced 1958: USA - NASA Founded 1958: UK - The modem is invented. 1958: USA - Gordon Gould invents the laser. 1958: USA - The Hula Hoop is invented by Richard Knerr and Arthur 'Spud' Melin. 1958: CA, USA - The integrated circuit is invented by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce.