A Lesson in History 1: 10 Not So Well-Known Inventions Invented in the Second Half of the 20th Century

1971 – Kevlar

Kevlar is a fiber that’s five times stronger than steel. Some examples of its use include bulletproof vests, helmets, tennis rackets, and trampolines. It was invented by Stephanie Louise Kwolek in 1971.

1967 – Smoke Alarm

BRK Electronics designed the first residential smoke alarm in 1967. I don’t think I need to tell you how many lives these inexpensive battery-powered devices have saved over the past four decades.

1967 – Heart Transplant

On December 3^rd, 1967, South African heart surgeon Christiaan Neethling Barnard performed the first human heart transplant with the aid of 20 other surgeons. The procedure took 5 hours and was a complete success. It was definitely a major breakthrough in 20^th century medical science.

1960’s – Cell Phone

The first analog cellular phone came to existence in the 1960’s. Japan released commercial models on December 3^rd, 1979. Scandinavia saw them in 1981 and Chicago on October 13^th, 1983. So which North American company actually holds the patent for the cell phone? Believe it or not, it’s Motorola.

1959 – Pantyhose

In 1959, Allen Gant of North Carolina invented women’s pantyhose. At the time, this invention was extremely popular due to miniskirts. Pantyhose even came to replace nylon stockings.

1959 – Integrated Circuits

Integrated Circuits (ICs) are small silicon or germanium chips with many transistors in them. They allow devices such as computers to be very small and inexpensive. The first IC was invented in 1959 by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce.

1958 – LEGO

Ah, Lego – the popular Christmas toy of blocks that interlock together to form a ship, vehicle, even a real pinball machine. Although the company was founded in Denmark in 1932, the interlocking plastic blocks weren’t invented until 1958. Lego was first available for sale in the U.S. in 1961. Lego people came to exist in 1974.

1956 – Play-Doh

You may know that Play-Doh is modeling clay, but what you don’t know is that it was invented by Noah W. McVicker and Joseph S. McVicker. It was originally only available in the color white, but eventually expanded to being produced in other colors as well. What’s most interesting about Play-Doh is that even 50 years after its invention, the formula used to make the clay is still a secret.

1955 – World Wide Web

In London, England, Tim Berners-Lee invented what we now know as the World Wide Web (WWW). He wrote the computer language HTML (Hypertext Mark-Up Language) and created URLs (universal resource locators) to mark the locations of website pages. In 1990, he also wrote the coding for the first internet browser.

1951 – Liquid Paper

Liquid Paper – what we use to correct mistakes on essays and forms. It was invented in 1951 by artist and secretary Bessie Nesmith.