Timeline: Living: Gerber Family of Langnau

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	Date	Event(s)
1	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 - Juan Perón Becomes President 1946: Nuremberg, Germany - Nazi War crime Trials 1946: UK - Winston Churchill Gives His Iron Curtain Speech 1946: UK - The microwave oven invented by Percy Spencer.
2	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.
3	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® invented by Walter Frederick Morrison and Warren Franscioni. 1948: USA - Velcro® invented by George de Mestral. 1948: USA - Robert Hope-Jones invented the Wurlitzer jukebox
4	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.
5	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.
6	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).
7	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
8	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.
9	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.
10	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.
11	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.
12	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.
13	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.
14	1959	1959: Edinburgh, Scotland - Beyond the Fringe debuts 1959: Cuba - Fidel Castro Becomes Dictator 1959: Antarctica - International Treaty Makes Antarctica Scientific Preserve 1959: UK - Kitchen Debate Between Nixon and Khrushchev 1959: USA - The Sound of Music Opens on Broadway 1959: USA - U.S. Quiz Shows Found to be Fixed 1959: UK - The internal pacemaker invented by Wilson Greatbatch. 1959: UK - Barbie Doll invented.
15	1960	1960: Vietnam - Vietnam War Begins 1960: USA - The halogen lamp invented 21 Apr 1960: Brazil - Capital moved to a brand new city called Brasília 16 Jun 1960: USA - Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho Released 9 Dec 1960: UK - Launch of Coronation Street
16	1961	1961: Hague, Netherlands - Adolf Eichmann on Trial for Role in Holocaust 1961: Cuba - Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961: Berlin, Germany - Berlin Wall Built 1961: USA - Peace Corps Founded 1961: Baikonaur, USSR - Yuri Gagarin is First Man in Space 1961: USA - John F. Kennedy president 1961-1963. 1961: UK - Valium invented. 1961: UK - Non-dairy creamer invented.
17	1962	1962: USA - Movie Actress Marilyn Monroe dies of an overdose of sleeping pills. 1962: New York, NY, USA - Andy Warhol Exhibits His Campbell's Soup Can 1962: Cuba - Cuban Missile Crisis 1962: Berlin, Germany - First Person Killed Trying to Cross the Berlin Wall 1962: USA - Rachel Carson Publishes Silent Spring 1962: USA - The audio cassette invented. 1962: Japan - The fiber-tip pen invented by Yukio Horie. 1962: USA - Spacewar, the first computer video game invented. 1962: USA - Dow Corp invents silicone breast implants.
18	1963	1963: USA - Betty Friedan Publishes The Feminine Mystique 1963: USA - Martin Luther King Jr. Makes His I Have a Dream Speech 1963: USA - Lyndon B. Johnson president 1963-1969. Vice president under John F. Kennedy, he is sworn in as president aboard Air Force One upon death of Kennedy. 1963: UK - The first videodisc invented. 22 Nov 1963: Dallas, TX, USA - President John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald
19	1964	1964: USA - The Beatles Become Popular 1964: UK - Cassius Clay (a.k.a. Muhammad Ali) Becomes World Heavyweight Champion 1964: USA - Civil Rights Act Passes 1964: USA - Hasbro Launches GI Joe Action Figure 1964: South Africa - Nelson Mandela Sentenced to Life in Prison 1964: UK - Acrylic paint invented. 1964: UK - Permanent-press fabric invented. 1964: USA - BASIC (an early computer language) is invented by John George Kemeny and Tom Kurtz.
20	1965	1965: Vietnam - The United States begins air raids in Vietnam, committing 190,000 U.S. troops there by year's end. 1965: UK - Cigarette ads banned 1965: Japan - Bullet Train Opens 1965: Los Angeles, CA, USA - Los Angeles Riots 1965: UK - Astroturf invented. 1965: UK - Soft contact lenses invented. 1965: USA - NutraSweet invented. 1965: USA - The compact disk invented by James Russell.
21	1966	1966: UK - Private theatre clubs lose immunity from censorship 1966: London, UK - World Cup won by England at Wembley (4-2 in extra time v West Germany) 1966: Aberfan, Wales - Aberfan disaster - slag heap slip kills 144, incl. 116 children 1966: USA - Black Panther Party Established 1966: China - Mao Zedong Launches the Cultural Revolution 1966: USA - Mass Draft Protests 1966: USA - Star Trek TV Series Airs 1966: UK - Electronic Fuel injection for cars invented.
22	1967	1967: FL, USA - Three astronauts killed in fire during launch pad test 1967: UK - First colour TV in Britain 1967: South Africa - First human heart transplant by Christiaan Barnard 1967: Cuba - Che Guevara Killed 1967: Middle East - Six-Day War 1967: USSR - Stalin's Daughter Defects 1967: USA - The first handheld calculator invented. 1967: Paris, France - Student riots
23	1968	1968: UK - Severe flooding 1968: Rome, Italy - Pope's encyclical condemns all artificial forms of birth control 1968: USA - Martin Luther King Jr Assassinated 1968: Czechoslovakia - Prague Spring 1968: UK - Robert F. Kennedy Assassinated 1968: Vietnam - Tet Offensive 1968: Stanford, CA, USA - The computer mouse invented by Douglas Engelbart 1968: USA - The first computer with integrated circuits made. 1968: USA - Robert Dennard invented RAM (random access memory). 1968: UK - John Lennon returns OBE due to government's support of Vietnam War
24	1969	1969: USA - Apollo 11 launched and successfully lands man on the Moon 1969: UK - Voting age lowered from 21 to 18 1969: USA - ARPANET, the Precursor of the Internet, is Created 1969: USA - Charles Manson and 'Family' Arrested 1969: Woodstock, NY, USA - Rock-and-Roll Concert 1969: Palestine - Yasser Arafat Becomes Leader of the PLO 1969: USA - Richard Nixon president 1969-1974. 1969: USA - The artificial heart invented. 1969: UK - The ATM invented. 1969: USA - The bar-code scanner is invented. 1969: USA - Damages awarded to Thalidomide victims
25	1970	1970: Vietnam - American Soldiers Accused of Murdering Entire Town of Vietnamese Civilians 1970: Egypt - Aswan High Dam Completed 1970: UK - The Beatles Break Up 1970: USA - Palestinian Group Hijacks Five Planes 1970: UK - Protesting Students shot at Kent State University 1970: UK - The daisy-wheel printer invented. 1970: USA - The floppy disk invented by Alan Shugart. 1970: USA - Intel builds the first microprocessor, 'a computer on a chip'
26	1971	1971: UK - Decimalisation of coinage 1971: London, UK - IRA Bomb explodes in Post Office tower 1971: London, UK - London Bridge sold to the U.S. 1971: UK - First domestic VCRs Introduced 1971: UK - The dot-matrix printer invented. 1971: USA - The food processor invented. 1971: UK - The liquid-crystal display (LCD) invented by James Fergason.
27	1972	1972: UK - Power workers strike crisis 1972: UK - Miners call off crippling coal strike 1972: USA - MASH* TV Shows Premiers 1972: USA - Mark Spitz Wins Seven Gold Medals 1972: Munich, German - Terrorists Attack at the Olympic Games 1972: Washington, DC, USA - Watergate Scandal Begins 1972: USA - The word processor invented. 1972: UK - Pong (first home video game) invented by Nolan Bushnell.
28	1973	1973: Europe - Britain enters EEC Common Market with Ireland and Denmark 1973: UK - Miners strike and oil crisis precipitate 'three-day week' until Mar 1974 to conserve power 1973: UK - Paul Getty Kidnapped 1973: Chicago, IL, USA - Sears Tower Built 1973: Vietnam - US Pulls Out of Vietnam 1973: USA - Vice President Resigns 1973: USA - Gene splicing invented. 1973: Palo Alto, CA, USA - The ethernet (local computer network) invented by Robert Metcalfe and Xerox. 1973: USA - Bic invents the disposable lighter. 1973: Middle East - OPEC oil shock
29	1974	1974: Ethiopia - Halie Selassie, Emperor, Deposed 1974: USSR - Mikhail Baryshnikov Defects 1974: China - Terracotta Army Discovered 1974: USA - The post-it note invented by Arthur Fry. 1974: Rome, Italy - Giorgio Fischer, a gynecologist, invents liposuction. 1974: Vietnam - End of Vietnam war 8 Aug 1974: Washington, DC, USA - President Nixon resigns over Watergate scandal 8 Aug 1974: USA - Gerald Ford president 1974-1977.
30	1975	1975: UK - Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act come into force 1975: London, UK - Arthur Ashe First Black Man to Win Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship 1975: Lebanon - Civil War in Lebanon 1975: Seattle, WA, USA - Microsoft Founded 1975: Cambodia - Pol Pot Becomes Communist Dictator 1975: UK - The laser printer invented. 1975: UK - The push-through tab on a drink can invented. 1975: CA, USA - First Apple computer
31	1976	1976: Mars - NASA's Viking Lander lands, starts looking for alien life 1976: UK - Long hot summer leads to water shortages. Parliament introduces Drought Act 1976: UK - Nadia Comaneci Given Seven Perfect Tens 1976: Vietnam - North and South Vietnam Join to Form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 1976: UK - Tangshan Earthquake Kills Over 240,000 1976: UK - The ink-jet printer invented. 1976: Paris, France - The Centre National d'Art et de la Culture Georges-Pompidou (Pompidou Centre or 'Beaubourg'), a Hi-Tech metal-framework building designed by Richard Rogers, is completed in Paris and proves immensely popular.
32	1977	1977: UK - UK road speed limits set at 70mph for dual roads; 60mph single 1977: UK - Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Silver Jubilee 1977: UK - Star Wars fever invades Britain as thousands flock to cinemas to watch the long-awaited sci-fi blockbuster 1977: USA - Elvis Found Dead 1977: USA - Mini-series Roots Airs 1977: South Africa - Anti-Apartheid Leader Steve Biko Tortured to Death 1977: USA - Jimmy Carter president 1977-1981. 1977: USA - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) invented by Raymond V. Damadian. 1977: Oldham, Lancashire, UK - World's first 'test tube' baby, Louise Browne born
33	1978	1978: London, UK - Writer and broadcaster Georgi Markov dies after an assassin stabs him with a poisoned umbrella at a London bus stop. 1978: Rome, Italy - Pope John Paul II elected by cardinals: first non-Italian for 450 years 1978: UK - Jonestown Massacre 1978: UK - The artificial heart Jarvik-7 invented by Robert K. Jarvik. 1978: UK - Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister to 1990 (Conservative)
34	1979	1979: UK - Public sector strike paralyses country 1979: Tehran, Iran - Ayatollah Khomeini Returns as Leader of Iran 1979: Tehran, Iran - Iran Takes American Hostages in Tehran 1979: Stockholm, Sweden - Mother Theresa Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 1979: NY, USA - Nuclear Accident at Three Mile Island 1979: Japan - Sony Introduces the Walkman 1979: UK - Cellular phones invented. 1979: USA - Cray supercomputer invented by Seymour Cray. 1979: USA - Scott Olson invents roller blades.
35	1980	1980: Tehran, Iran - Failed U.S. Rescue Attempt to Save Hostages in Tehran 1980: New York, NY, USA - John Lennon Assassinated 1980: USA - Mount St. Helens Erupts 1980: UK - Rubik's Cube Popular 1980: Atlanta, GA, USA - Ted Turner Establishes CNN 1980: UK - The hepatitis-B vaccine invented. 1980: Cape Canaveral, FL, USA - First US Space Shuttle (Columbia) launched
36	1981	1981: UK - Worst April blizzards of 20th century 1981: London, UK - Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer 1981: UK - Assassination Attempt on Pope John Paul II 1981: USA - Ronald Reagan president 1981-1989. 1981: USA - Assassination Attempt on U.S. President Ronald Reagan 1981: UK - AIDS Identified 1981: UK - Pac-Man is Extremely Popular 1981: USA - Personal Computer (PC) Introduced by IBM 1981: Seattle, WA, USA - MS-DOS invented. 1981: Falkland Islands - Argentina invades Falkland Islands
37	1982	1982: UK - Unemployment reaches 3 million 1982: Berkshire, UK - Women's peace protests against cruise missiles begin at Greenham Common 1982: USA - E.T. Movie Released 1982: UK - King Henry VIII's Ship the Mary Rose Raised from seabed After 437 Years 1982: New York, NY, USA - Reverend Sun Myung Moon Marries 2,075 Couples at Madison Square Garden 1982: USA - Human growth hormone genetically engineered. 1982: UK - Margaret Thatcher wins landslide second term election victory, taking 397 seats to Labour's 209
38	1983	1983: UK - £1 coin goes into circulation 1983: USA - Ronald Reagan Announces Defense Plan Called Star Wars 1983: USA - Soviet Union Shoots Down a Korean Airliner 1983: Grenada - United States Intervention 1983: UK - Soft bifocal contact lens invented. 1983: USA - First Cabbage Patch Kids sold. 1983: USA - Programmer Jaron Lanier first coins the term virtual reality. 1983: UK - Miners' strike - High Court orders sequestration of NUM assets
39	1984	1984: Bhopal, India - Huge Poison Gas Leak from Union Carbide chemical plant 1984: India - Indira Gandhi, India's Prime Minister, Killed by Two Bodyguards 1984: UK - The CD-ROM invented. 1984: CA, USA - The Apple Macintosh invented. 1984: UK - BBC launches EastEnders as soap rival to Coronation Street
40	1985	1985: Ethiopia - Famine shocks the world 1985: Antarctica - Hole in the Ozone Layer Discovered 1985: USSR - Mikhail Gorbachev Calls for Glasnost and Perestroika 1985: UK - Wreck of the Titanic Found 1985: Seattle, WA, USA - Windows operating system created by Microsoft 1985: Libya - US bombing of Libya
41	1986	1986: Chernobyl, USSR - Chernobyl nuclear accident 1986: LiveAid, the biggest music event staged to date 1986: Cape Canaveral, FL, USA - Seven dead in Challenger space shuttle disaster 1986: Phillipines - Ferdinand Marcos Flees 1986: UK - Iran-Contra Scandal Unfolds 1986: USSR - Mir Space Station Launched 1986: Japan - Fuji introduced the disposable camera. 1986: UK - Margaret Thatcher wins record third term as prime minister
42	1987	1987: UK - DNA First Used to Convict Criminals 1987: Hague, Netherlands - Klaus Barbie, the Nazi Butcher of Lyons, Sentenced to Life in Prison 1987: New York, NY, USA - New York Stock Exchange Suffers Huge Drop on Black Monday 1987: Moscow, USSR - West German Pilot Lands Unchallenged in Red Square 1987: UK - The first 3-D video game invented. 1987: UK - Disposable contact lenses invented. 1987: Lockerbie, Scotland - Pan Am Flight 103 Is Bombed
43	1988	1988: UK - U.S. Shoots Down Iranian Airliner 1988: UK - Digital cellular phones invented. 1988: UK - The RU-486 'morning after' pill invented. 1988: UK - Doppler radar invented by Christian Andreas Doppler. 1988: UK - Prozac® invented at the Eli Lilly Company by Ray Fuller. 1988: Harvard, MA, USA - The first patent for a genetically engineered animal is issued to Harvard University researchers Philip Leder and Timothy Stewart. 1988: Berlin, Germany - Berlin Wall Falls
44	1989	1989: Alaska, USA - Exxon Valdez Spills Millions of Gallons of Oil on Coastline 1989: Beijing, China - Students Massacred in Tiananmen Square 1989: Panama - Invasion of Panama: United States vs Panama 1989-1990. 1989: USA - George H.W. Bush president of the USA 1989-1993. 1989: USA - High-definition television invented. 1989: UK - John Major Prime Minister to 1997 (Conservative)
45	1990	1990: Kuwait - Iraq invades Kuwait, triggering first gulf war 1990: London, UK - Violence flares in London Poll Tax demonstration 1990: London, UK - Margaret Thatcher quits as UK prime minister 1990: South Africa - Leading anti-apartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela freed from prison after 27 years 1990: Cape Canaveral, FL, USA - Hubble Telescope Launched Into Space 1990: Poland - Lech Walesa Becomes First President 1990: Geneva, Switzerland - The World Wide Web/Internet protocol (HTTP) and WWW language (HTML) created by Tim Berners-Lee. 1990: UK - Bronze Age Man Found Frozen in Glacier
46	1991	1991: USSR - Collapse of the Soviet Union 1991: Iraq - Operation Desert Storm 1991: South Africa - Apartheid Laws Repealed 1991: UK - The digital answering machine invented. 1991: Official End of the Cold War

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