The following list of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) milestones represents key historical achievements in electrical and electronic engineering.
Prior to 1800
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1751 – Book Experiments and Observations on Electricity by Benjamin Franklin
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1757–1775 – Benjamin Franklin's Work in London
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1799 – Alessandro Volta's Voltaic pile
1800–1850
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1804 – Francisco Salvá Campillo's Electric Telegraph
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1820–1827 – The Birth of Electrodynamics
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1828–1837 – Pavel Schilling's Pioneering Contribution to Practical Telegraphy
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1836 – Nicholas Callan's Pioneering Contributions to Electrical Science and Technology
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1838 – Demonstration of Practical Telegraphy
1850–1870
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1852 – Electric Fire alarm system
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1860–1871 – Maxwell's equations
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1860–1863 – First Studies on Ring armature for Direct-Current Dynamos
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1861 – Transcontinental Telegraph
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1861–1867 – Standardisation of the Ohm
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1866 – Landing of the Transatlantic Cable
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1866 – Valentia Island
1870–1890
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1876 – First Intelligible Voice Transmission over Electric Wire
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1876 – Thomas Alva Edison Historic Site at Menlo Park
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1876 – First Distant Speech Transmission in Canada
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1882 – Vulcan Street Plant
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1882 – First Central Station in South Carolina
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1882 – Pearl Street Station
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1884 – First AIEE Technical Meeting
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1885 – Galileo Ferraris Rotating Fields and Early Induction motor
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1886 – Alternating Current Electrification, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, by William Stanley, Jr.
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1886 – First Generation and Experimental Proof of Electromagnetic Waves
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1886–1888 – Electric Lighting of the Kingdom of Hawaii
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1887 – Thomas A. Edison West Orange Laboratories and Factories
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1887 – Weston Meters, first portable current and voltage meters
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1888 – Richmond Union Passenger Railway
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1889 – Power System of Boston's Rapid Transit
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1889 – First Exploration and Proof of Liquid Crystals
1890–1900
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1890 – Discovery of Radioconduction by Édouard Branly, making use of a coherer
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1890 – Keage Power Station, Japan's First Commercial Hydroelectric Plant
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1891 – Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant
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1893 – Mill Creek No. 1 Hydroelectric Plant
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1893 – Birth and Growth of Primary and Secondary Battery Industries in Japan
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1894 – First Millimeter-wave Communication Experiments by Jagadish Chandra Bose
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1895 – Adams Hydroelectric Generating Plant
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1895 – Popov's Contribution to the Development of Wireless Communication
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1895 – Guglielmo Marconi's Experiments in Wireless telegraphy
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1895 – Electrification by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
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1895 – Krka-Šibenik Electric Power System
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1895 – Folsom Powerhouse three-phase system
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1896 – Budapest Metro
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1897 – Chivilingo Hydroelectric Plant
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1898 – Decew Falls Hydro-Electric Plant
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1898 – Rheinfelden Hydroelectric Power Plant
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1898 – French Transatlantic Telegraph Cable
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1899–1902 – First Operational Use Of Wireless Telegraphy in the Anglo-Boer War
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1899 – Calcutta Electric Supply Corp
1900–1920
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1900 – Georgetown Steam Hydro Generating Plant
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1901 – Transmission of Transatlantic Radio Signals
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1901 – Reception of Transatlantic Radio Signals
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1901 – Early Developments in Remote control by Leonardo Torres Quevedo
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1901–1902 – Rationalization of Units
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1901–1905 String Galvanometer
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1902 – Poulsen-Arc Radio Transmitter
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1903 – Vučje Hydroelectric Plant
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1904 – Alexanderson Radio Alternator
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1904 – Fleming valve
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1904 – Radar
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1906 – Pinawa Hydroelectric Power Project
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1906 – First Wireless Radio Broadcast by Reginald Fessenden
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1906 – Grand Central Terminal Electrification
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1907 – Alternating-Current Electrification of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
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1909 – Shoshone Transmission Line
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1909 – World's First Reliable Hight Voltage Power Fuse
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1911 – Discovery of superconductivity
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1914 – Panama Canal Electrical and Control Installations
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1915–1918 – Invention of Sonar
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1916 – Czochralski Process
1920–1930
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1920 – Westinghouse Radio station KDKA (AM)
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1920 – Funkerberg Königs Wusterhausen first radio broadcast in Germany
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1921–1923 – Piezoelectric Oscillator
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1921 – RCA Central, 220 kW transoceanic radio facility
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1922 – Neutrodyne
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1924 – Directive Shortwave Antenna (Yagi–Uda antenna)
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1924–1941 – Development of electronic television
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1924 – Enrico Fermi major contribution to semiconductor statistics
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1925 – Bell Labs
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1926 – First Public Demonstration of Television
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1928 – One-way police radio communication
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1928 – Raman Effect
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1929 – Shannon Scheme for the electrification of the Irish Free State
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1929 – Largest private (DC) generating plant in the U.S.A.
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1929 – Yosami Radio Transmitting Station
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1929 – First blind takeoff, flight, and landing; using designated radio and aeronautical instrumentation
1930–1940
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1930–1945 – Development of Ferrite magnet and their applications
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1931 – Invention of Stereo Sound Reproduction
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1932 – First Breaking of Enigma machine Code by the Team of Polish Cipher Bureau
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1933 – Two-way radio
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1933 – Invention of a Temperature-Insensitive Quarz Oscillaiton Plate
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1934 – Long-Range Shortwave Voice Transmissions from Byrd's Antarctic Expedition
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1937 – Westinghouse Atom Smasher
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1938 – Zenit Parabolic Reflector L-Band Pulsed Radar
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1939 – Atanasoff–Berry Computer
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1939–1945 – Code-breaking at Bletchley Park during World War II
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1939 – Single-element Unidirectional Microphone – Shure Unidyne
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1939 – Claude Shannon, development of Information Theory
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1939–1949 – Development of the Cavity Magnetron
1940–1950
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1940 – FM radio Police radio Communication
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1940–1945 – MIT Radiation Laboratory
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1940–1946 – LORAN, long range navigation
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1941 – Opana Radar Site
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1942–1945 – US Naval Computing Machine Laboratory
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1944–1959 – Whirlwind Computer, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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1944–1959 – Harvard Mark 1 Computer
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1945 – Merrill Wheel-Balancing System
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1945 – Rincón del Bonete Plant and Transmission System
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1946 – Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)
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1946–1953 – Monochrome-Compatible Electronic Color Television
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1946 – Detection of Radar Signals Reflected from the Moon
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1947 – Invention of the First Transistor at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.
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1947 – Invention of Holography
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1948 – Birth of the Barcode
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1948 – The Discovery of the Principle of Self-Complementarity in Antennas and the Mushiake Relationship
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1948 – First Atomic Clock
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1948–1951 – Manchester University "Baby" Computer and its Derivatives
1950–1960
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1950–1969 – Electronic Technology for Space Rocket Launches
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1950 – First External Cardiac Pacemaker
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1951 – Manufacture of Transistor
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1951 – Experimental Breeder Reactor I
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1951–1958 – SAGE-Semi-Automatic Ground Environment
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1951–1952 – A-0 Compiler and Initial Development of Automatic Programming
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1953 – First Television Broadcast in Western Canada
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1954 – HVDC Gotland
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1955 – WEIZAC Computer
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1956 – RAMAC
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1956 – The First Submarine Transatlantic Telephone Cable System (TAT-1)
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1956–1963 – Kurobe River No. 4 Hydropower Plant
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1956 – Ampex Videotape Recorder
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1956 – Birth of Silicon Valley
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1957–1958 – First Wearable Cardiac Pacemaker
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1957 – SRC/Thyristor
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1957–1962 – Atlas Computer and the Invention of Virtual memory
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1958 – First Semiconductor Integrated Circuit (IC) by Jack Kilby
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1958 – Star of Laufenburg Interconnection
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1958 – The Trans-Canada Microwave System
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1959 – Semiconductor planar process by Jean Hoerni and silicon integrated circuit by Robert Noyce
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1959 – Commercialization and industrialization of photovoltaic cells by Sharp Corporation
1960–1970
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1961–1984 – IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center
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1960 – TIROS I Television Infrared Observation Satellite
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1960 – First Working Laser
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1961–1964 – First Optical Fiber Laser and Amplifier
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1962–1967 – Object-oriented programming
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1962 – Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
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1962 – Alouette-ISIS Satellite Program
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1962 – First Transatlantic Television Signal via Satellite
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1962 – First Transatlantic Transmission of a Television Signal via Satellite
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1962 – First Transatlantic Reception of a Television Signal via Satellite
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1962–1967 – Pioneering Work on the Quartz Electronic Wristwatch at Centre Electronique Horloger, Switzerland
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1962 – Project Mercury spacecraft MA-6, Col. John Glenn piloted the Mercury Friendship 7 spacecraft in the first FAI-legal completed human-orbital flight on 20 February 1962.
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1962–1972 – Grumman Lunar Module
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1962–1972 – Apollo Guidance Computer
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1962–1968 – First Geographic Information System
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1962 – Semiconductor Laser
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1963 – NAIC/Arecibo Radiotelescope
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1963 – Taum Sauk Pumped-Storage Electric Power Plant
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1963 – First Transpacific Reception of a Television Signal via Satellite
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1963 – ASCII
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1964 – Mount Fuji Radar System
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1964 – Tokaido Shinkansen (Bullet Train)
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1964–1973 – Pioneering Work on Electronic Calculators by Sharp Corporation
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1964 – TPC-1 Transpacific Cable System
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1964 – High-definition television System
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1964 – BASIC Computer Language
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1965–1984 – Alvin Deep-Sea Research Submersible
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1965 – First 735 kV AC Transmission System
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1965–1971 – Railroad Ticketing Examining System (developed by OMRON of Japan)
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1965 – Dadda multiplier
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1965 – Moore's Law
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1965–1978 – Development of Computer Graphics and Visualization Techniques
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1966 – Interactive Video Games
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1966 – Shakey, the first mobile robot to be able to reason about its actions
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1966 – ProQuest Dialog
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1967 – First Astronomical Observations Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry
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1968 – CERN Experimental Instrumentation
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1968 – Liquid-crystal display by George H. Heilmeier
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1968 – Public Demonstration of Online Systems and Personal Computing
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1969 – Electronic Quartz Wristwatch, Seiko Quartz-Astron 35SQ
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1969 – Birth of the Internet
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1969 – Inception of the ARPANET
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1969–1975 – Invention of Public-key Cryptography
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1969 – Apollo 11 Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment (LURE)
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1969 – Parkes Radiotelescope
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1969–1995 – Mode S Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System
1970–1980
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1970 – World's First Low-Loss Optical Fiber for Telecommunications
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1971–1978 – The first word processor for the Japanese Language, JW-10
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1969–1970 – SPICE Circuit Simulation Program
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1971 – Demonstration of the ALOHA Packet Radio Data Network
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1971 – First Computerized Tomography (CT) X-ray Scanner
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1971–1977 – Development of the Commercial Laser Printer
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1972 – Nelson River HVDC Transmission System
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1972 – Development of the HP-35, the First Handheld Scientific Calculator
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1972 – Eel River High Voltage Direct Current Converter Station
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1972 – First Practical Field Emission Electron Microscope
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1972 – SHAKEY: The World’s First Mobile Intelligent Robot
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1972 – Polymer Self-Regulating Heat-Tracing Cable
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1972–1989 – Gravitational-Wave Antenna
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1972–1987 – Deep Space Station 43
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1972–1983 – The Xerox Alto Establishes Personal Networked Computing
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1973–1985 – Superconducting Magnet System for the Fermilab Tevatron Accelerator/Collider
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1973 – The First Two-Dimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI)
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1973–1985 – Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN)
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1974 – First 500 MeV Proton Beam from the TRIUMF
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1974–1982 – First Real-Time Speech Communication on Packet network
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1974 – The CP/M Microcomputer Operating System
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1974 – Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Enables the Internet
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1975 – Line Spectrum Pair (LSP) for high-compression speech coding
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1975 – Gapless Metal Oxide Surge Arrester (MOSA) for electric power systems
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1975 – Handheld Digital Camera
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1976 – Development of VHS, a World Standard for Home Video Recording
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1976–1978 – The Floating Gate EEPROM
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1977 – Lempel–Ziv Data Compression Algorithm
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1977 – Vapor-phase Axial Deposition Method for Mass Production of High-quality Optical Fiber
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1977 – Perpendicular Magnetic Recording
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1978 – Speak & Spell, the First Use of a Digital Signal Processing IC for Speech Generation
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1978 – First Digitally Processed Image from a Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar
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1978 – First Demonstration of a Fibre Bragg Grating
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1979 – Compact disc Audio Player
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1979 – 20-inch Diameter Photomultiplier Tubes
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1979 – Amorphous Silicon Thin Film Field-Effect Transistor Switches for Liquid Crystal Displays
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1979 – HEMT (high-electron-mobility transistor)
1980 to 1990
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1980 – International Standardization of Group 3 Facsimile
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1980–1982 – First RISC (Reduced Instruction-Set Computing) Microprocessor
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1980 – Outdoor large-scale color display system
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1980 – MPD7720DSP, programmable digital signal processor chip μPD7720
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1980–1981 – Inverter-Driven Air Conditioner
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1980–1999 – Origin of the IEEE 802 Family of Networking Standards
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1981 – 16-Bit Monolithic Digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for Digital Audio
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1981 – Map-Based Automotive navigation system
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1981–1988 – The Development of RenderMan for Photorealistic Graphics
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1982 – Nobeyama 45-m Telescope
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1982 – Human Rescue Enabled by Space Technology
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1982 – First Large-Scale Fingerprint ID
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1982 – Commercialization of Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors with Nickel Electrodes
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1984 – First Direct-broadcast satellite Service
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1984 – The MU (Middle and Upper atmosphere) radar
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1984–1989 – Active Shielding of Superconducting Magnets
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1984–1993 – MPEG Multimedia Integrated Circuits
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1984 – TRON Real-time Operating System Family
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1984–1996 – Development of 193-nm Projection Photolithography
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1985 – Toshiba T1100, a Pioneering Contribution to the Development of Laptop PC
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1985 – Emergency Warning Code Signal Broadcasting System
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1985 – Multiple Technologies on a Chip
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1985 – IEEE Standard 754 for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic
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1986 – Fiber Optic Connectors
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1987 – High-Temperature Superconductivity
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1987 – SPARC RISC Architecture
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1987 – Superconductivity at 93 Kelvin
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1987 – WaveLAN, Precursor of Wi-Fi
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1987–1995 – MTI Portable Satellite Communication Terminals
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1988 – Sharp 14-Inch Thin Film Transistor Liquid-Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) for TV
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1988 – Virginia Smith High-Voltage Direct-Current Converter Station
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1988 – Trans-Atlantic Telephone Fiber-optic Submarine Cable, TAT-8
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1988 – First Robotic Control from Human Brain Signals
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1989 – Development of CDMA for Cellular Communications
After 1990
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1994 – Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope
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1994 – QR (Quick Response) Code
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1996–1998 – PageRank and the Birth of Google
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1996 – Large-Scale Commercialization of a CDMA Cellular Communication System
Notes
External links