Timeline: Harlan Jacob Wittmer: Gerber Family of Langnau

Print Bookmark

1916 - 1997 (80 years)

Chart width: Refresh

Timeline

Harlan Jacob Wittmer (1916 - 1997)

	Date	Event(s)
1	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.
2	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
3	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
4	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
5	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
6	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.
7	1922	1922: London, UK - BBC launched as limited company 1922: Turkey - Kemal Atatürk Founds Modern Turkey 1922: Ireland - 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
8	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.
9	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
10	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
11	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
12	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
13	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
14	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
15	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
16	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
17	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
18	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
19	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.
20	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.
21	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
22	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
23	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
24	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
25	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.
26	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
27	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.
28	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.
29	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.
30	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.
31	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.
32	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.
33	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
34	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.
35	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.
36	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).
37	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
38	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.
39	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.
40	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.
41	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.
42	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.
43	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.
44	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.
45	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
46	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.
47	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.
48	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
49	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.
50	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.
51	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.
52	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
53	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
54	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
55	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'
56	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.
57	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.
58	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
59	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.
60	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
61	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.
62	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
63	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)
64	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.
65	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
66	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
67	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
68	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
69	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
70	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
71	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
72	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
73	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
74	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)
75	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
76	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
77	1992	1992: Waco, TX, USA - Cult Compound in Waco, Texas Raided
78	1993	1993: Use of the Internet Grows Exponentially 1993: New York, NY, USA - World Trade Center Bombed 1993: USA - William Jefferson Clinton president of the USA 1993-2001. 1993: USA - The pentium processor invented. 1993: Europe - Channel Tunnel Opens, Connecting Britain and France
79	1994	1994: USA - Lorena Bobbit Takes Brutal Revenge 1994: South Africa - Nelson Mandela Elected President 1994: USA - O.J. Simpson Arrested for Double Murder 1994: Rwanda - Rwandan Genocide Begins 1994: UK - HIV protease inhibitor invented. 1994: Zaire - Ebola Virus Spreads
80	1995	1995: Tokyo, Japan - Gas Attack in Subway 1995: UK - Yitzhak Rabin Assassinated 1995: Balkans - Intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina: United States as part of NATO acted peacekeepers in former Yugoslavia 1995-1996. 1995: USA - The Java computer language invented. 1995: USA - DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) invented. 1995: UK - Mad Cow Disease Hits Farms
81	1996	1996: UK - Two Royal Divorces 1996: UK - Web TV invented. 1996: UK - UK General Election: Labour routs Tories and Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister
82	1997	1997: Hale-Bopp Comet Visible 1997: Hong Kong, China - Hong Kong Returned to China 1997: Pathfinder Sends Back Images of Mars 1997: Paris, France - Princess Diana Dies in Car Crash 1997: Scotland - Scientists Clone Sheep 1997: UK - Daimler Benz and Toyota launched prototype fuel-cell powered cars 1997: Asia - India and Pakistan Test Nuclear Weapons

Gerber Family of Switzerland

Harlan Jacob Wittmer

Text Title 1

Text Title 2

Search

Text Title 3