Industry Timeline
- 1609 – Famous astronomer, physicist, engineer and mathematician Galileo Galilei improves the telescope to make many significant astronomical discoveries.
- 1826 – First (surviving) photograph taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in Burgundy, France
- 1828 – Anyos Jedlik, a Hungarian, invented an early type of electric motor powering a small model car
- 1859 – Rechargeable batteries and the first practical electric car are produced
- 1879 – Thomas Edison invents the first electric light
- 1957 – First time the acronym “laser” is used by Gordon Gould
- 1957 – Basil Hirschowitz and Larry Curtiss invent the first fiber optic endoscope
- 1960-61 – First laser constructed and available commercially
- 1961 – First optical fiber and medical use lasers developed and used commercially
- 1964 – Xerox Corporation introduced (and patented) what many consider to be the first commercialized version of the modern fax
- 1968 – The hologram is invented by Stephen Benton while working at Polaroid Corp.
- 1969 – RCA introduced SelectVision, a color video cartridge player
- 1974 – First bar code read by a scanner on a pack of chewing gum
- 1977 – Birth of optical communication and the first underground fiber optic transmission system linking Illinois Bell and its customers
- 1982 – First audio CD is developed
- 1984 – CAD/CAM technology gains momentum and results in a demand for high resolution color graphic displays
- 2006 – OLED (Optical LED) is pioneered at Princeton University
- 2007 – Steve Jobs announces the iPhone, packed with photonics technology
- 2011 – Osama bin Laden is captured; enabled by satellites and the use of infrared technology
- 2013 – Curiosity Rover enabled by lasers lands on Mars
- 2017 – First quantum-encrypted virtual teleconference, between Beijing and Vienna
- 2019 – First time a quantum computer performs a calculation impossible for a classical computer