1980s
Personal computers . Computers were once the size of a room , in the 1970s kit versions of “ personal ” computers became available , but it was the arrival of the IBM Desktop computer and the Sinclair ZX in the 1980s that really started the PC revolution . Graphical User Interfaces developed by Apple Macintosh and by Microsoft Windows , and software for wordprocessing and spreadsheets popularised the use of computers within the workplace . The development of the internet in the 1990s brought personal computers into the home .
www . computerhistory . org / timeline /
The world ’ s first commercial mobile phone was issued . It cost £ 2639 and had 30 minutes talk time ; talk was all that you could do on it .
Medical scanners : the CT Scanner ( Categorized Tomography X-ray scanner ) was created . Surpassed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging ( MRI ) in the 1980s .
In a decade of adventure and discovery , the Mars Viking Probes sent back the first colour pictures from another planet , whilst Voyagers 1 and 2 explored the rest of the solar system . Voyager 1 continued into interstellar space – the farthest travelled object ever made by humans . You can track it here :
voyager . jpl . nasa . gov / where /
Data encryption : use of prime factorisation for secure communications is used by the military and allows us to buy online today .
In the 1970s the quality of fibre optics improved enough for use in communications , and those little lamps you get given at Christmas .
The energy crisis of the 1970s started the modern movement to find alternative energy sources like photovoltaic solar energy and wind turbines .
Mobile phone inventor Dr . Martin Cooper
NASA / JPL-Caltech
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