Tech & Science · 1960
1960: Lasers, Deep Seas, and Space Frontiers
The dawn of the 1960s sparked a bold new era of exploration and technological triumph. From reaching the deepest trench in the ocean to sending the first living creatures into orbit and safely returning them, science redefined human limits.
- May 16, 1960 | USA
First Working Laser
Theodore Maiman successfully fires the world's first working optical laser using a synthetic ruby crystal at Hughes Research Laboratories.
- January 23, 1960 | Oceanography
Mariana Trench Descent
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh board the bathyscaphe Trieste to reach the ocean floor's deepest point, Challenger Deep.
- April 1, 1960 | NASA
TIROS-1 Weather Satellite
NASA launches the world's first successful weather satellite, forever changing meteorology by transmitting television images of Earth's cloud cover from orbit.
- May 9, 1960 | Medicine
FDA Approval of Enovid
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves Enovid, making it the world's first commercially available oral contraceptive pill.
- August 19, 1960 | USSR
Sputnik 5 Space Mission
The Soviet Union launches two dogs, Belka and Strelka, into orbit, marking the first time living creatures travel to space and return safely.
- August 12, 1960 | Telecommunications
Echo 1 Communications Satellite
NASA launches a giant metalized balloon into orbit, creating humanity's first passive communications satellite to bounce signals across continents.
- 1960 | Computing
DEC PDP-1 Computer Debut
Digital Equipment Corporation introduces the PDP-1, a pioneering minicomputer that laid the groundwork for interactive computing culture.
- May 10, 1960 | US Navy
USS Triton Submerged Circumnavigation
The nuclear radar picket submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, becoming the first vessel to circumnavigate the Earth entirely underwater.
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