You’d be surprised by the number of inventions stemming from the nineteen fifties, I certainly was. This is by no means a full list, but it gives you an idea of how ahead of their time some people were.
1950 – Credit card – Frank X McNamara
1951 – Power steering, Super glue – Francis W. Davis
1951 – Videotape recorder (VTR) – Charles Ginsburg
1951 – Festival of Britain – this event marked the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The festival generated demand for new fashions in furniture and furnishings. The exhibits introduced new styles of pottery, ceramics, fabrics and furniture made from revolutionary materials – fibreglass, plywood, formica and plastics.
1952 – The first jet aeroplane to carry passengers, called Comet, began a regular passenger service. The small jet could not carry many people.
1953 – Black box flight recorder – David Warren
1953 – The summit of Mount Everest was reached for the first time by Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tenzinf, his Nepalese guide.
1954 – All rationing comes to an end
1954 – The first nonstick pan produced
1955 – Lego – Gotfried Kirk Christiansen
1956 – Velcro – George de Mestral
1956 – First hovercraft – Christopher Cockerell
1956 – The first computer hard disk used
1957 – The space Race began with the Soviet Union launching the first vehicle to orbit the Earth, the satellite Sputnik 1, on 4th October 1957. This was followed a month later by the launch of Sputnik 2. On board was the first living creature to travel from Earth into space, a dog named Laika.
1958 – The modem invented
1958 – Videotape – A.M Poniatoff
1959 – Barbie Doll
1959 – Britain’s first motorway, the M1, between Birmingham and London, opened.
1959 – The Mini is launched, designed by Alec Issigonis, and becomes the best-selling British car of all time. It cost £496 – about the amount of money someone earned in a whole year.
JRo Author 