High-Tech Milestones During the JFK Era

Spacewar!, one of the earliest known digital computer games, was invented in 1961 by Steve Russell, Martin Graetz and Wayne Witaenem.

On May 16, 1960, Hughes Lab researcher Theodore Maiman became the first person on Earth to build a laser. Fifty years later, the technology is now one of the most ubiquitous on the planet.

AT&T launches Telstar I, the first active communications satellite.

In 1960, IBM had an 81.2-percent share of the computer market. The company's 1400 series machines was state-of-the-art for its time. Input and output was on punch cards, magnetic tape and high-speed line printers.

NASA launches TIROS, the first weather satellite into space. TIROS was an acronym for Television Infrared Observation Satellite Program.

AT&T introduced the dataphone as well as the first known MODEM.

FORTRAN code on a punched card, showing the specialized uses of columns 1-5, 6 and 73-80.

Digital introduced the first minicomputer, called the PDP-1. At the far right of this picture is the IBM Model B typewriter with the Type 30 display to its left. The cabinet to the left of the display is the processor itself, the main control panel is visible just above the tabletop, the paper tape reader above it (metallic), and the output of the Teletype model BRPE paper tape punch above that (vertical slot).

Leonard Kleinrock receives the Medal of Science from President George W. Bush.

AT&T Touch-Tone Telephone, 1963. Early Touch-Tone sets had only 10 buttons. AT&T added the * and # keys in 1968 for use in advanced services.

Unimate was the first industrial robot. It was put into service on a General Motors assembly line in New Jersey, in 1961.

The Mariner II is outfitted with a Motorola transmitter for its voyage to Venus. The Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to successfully encounter another planet. The objective was to fly by Venus and return data on the planet's atmosphere, magnetic field, charged particle environment, and mass.