Im ellee pai hong. And im kerry sayers. And im your host, bill kurtis. This is through the decades. Author joseph kurtch wrote Technology Made large populations possible. Large populations now make technology indispensable. It is true that we have become incred d on technology. Not only does it make our lives easier and more efficient but it allows us to push on many of the boundaries that contains us as human beings. Today on through the decades, we look at some the most life changing advancements in Technology Man had devised. From the first mass produced automobile, to the development of the laser and perhaps the most influential tool of the last decade, the computer. Over a very short span, may have contributed more than any other in american history. Thomas edisons list of inventions is nearly endless but he remained most proud of one of his first the phonograph. His is one of the Great American sagas. Some say the greatest. Thomas edisons amazing career ended with more than a thousand patents collected. From his Invention Lab in menlo churned out the first versions of items that provide light and record moving pictures and he initailly tested that invention known as the phonograph in 1877. Edison had spent most of his early years learning to master the telegraph. That inspired him to create his first invention, the stock ticker. He sold it to Western Union for 40,000dollars because he had every month and a major one every six months. Edison used the money to start his Invention Lab in menlo park. A place where he turned tinfoil into a way to play back his own voice. Edison had already come up with a way to repeat morse code messages over the telegraph but he thought the same concept could be used with sound. Starting with paraffin paper before moving on to tinfoil, edison handcranked his new before moving on to tinfoil, edison handcranked his New Invention to record his through a vibrating needle. By late 1877, he had built the first working phonograph model ready to tweak in the months and years to come. He named it the phonograph. It became a sensation of the day and age. His first recording into his new phonograph was never saved but he relived that moment 50 years later with a newer version of the device. The first words i spoke in the original phonograph. A little mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as snow. And everywhere that mary went, the lamb was sure to go. by 1878, edison had been issued the patent for the device, number 200,521. He had showcased it and had the phonograph featured prominently in the journal scientific american. But for the device to catch on to the mainstream, he had to develop a way for to the mainstream, he had to develop a way for recordings to last longer break apart after just a few plays. It took ten years but edison finally developed a replacement in the form of wax cylinders. The vibrating needle would make indents on the outside of the cylinder then play it right back. Now, i want to say a few words on another cylinder so my young man can bring it over to the laboratory. Uh, goodbye, edison. The phonograph proved the recording method could work and after foil turned to wax as the preferred method for sustainable playback. Edison never stopped tinkering with the phonograph through his death in 1931. But 54 years earlier, he had created the precursor to the record players that would launch the world into the age of music. From the needle that scratched the tinfoil, a milliondollar industry was born. The phonograph was born the floor of edisons invention factory and eventually adopted in all corners of the globe. And eventually adopted in all corners of the globe. Despite creating some of the most worldtransforming inventions, edison always called the phonograph his favorite. As we look back on the notable milestones of our technological evolution, we see the debuts of many facets that we now cannot imagine living without from the invention that put america on wheels fiction became reality. We also look back on the invention that changed the classroom and put calculations in our pocket. Plus, the very first commercially produced electronic computer. Then, well look back at the start of a company that would become synonymous with search and when the public was given access to a revolutionary system of satellites. Stay with us, its all still ahead right here on through the automobile is one of those things the world of today couldnt do withoutand it owes just about everything to henry ford. In our look back at the best and the brightest, we recall the first modelt to roll off the Assembly Line. When henry ford, was 28 years old, he joined the edison illuminationpa an engineer. Within two years, he was chief engineer but he had a restless mind. On the side, he started experimenting with automobiles. It was 1896 when ford unveiled the quadricycle, a horseless carriage. The first car he ever designed. Cars in the late 1890s were alien. Horse and buggys still ruled the roads but ford was bent on changing that. Throughout the rest of the decade, he continued to build on his quadricycle concept the Ford Motor Company was incorporated in 1903 and set up shop in detroit. The companys first car was the modela. It would run through several variations some just prototypes others saw moderate success like the modeln. But it was the nineteenthmodel that would revolutionalize life as we know it. That would revolutionalize life as we know it. In 1908, the Ford Motor Company unveiled the modelt. Motorized transportation for the common man was born. Combination of low cost and high durability. Its production was intensely systematic. Engineered by a highly Efficient Assembly line turning auto manufacturing into a fast and inexpensive operation. The initial selling price was 825dollars not cheap by 1908 standards but that price wou o down, thanks to fords mastery of mass production. Sales of the modelt would skyrocket in the ensuing decade and pretty soon, the streets of america were heavily adorned by its familiar design. Tin lizzy, as many would call it, would be thecar for the first True Generation of drivers. Production would last until 1927 and by that time, the Ford Motor Company had sold and more importantly, laid the groundwork for every car to follow heralding a mobility that forever changed the world. From the Assembly Line forward, henry ford was reimagining our world. Thirtythree years after the modelt, ford was looking to thirtythree years after the modelt, ford was looking to again streamline technology. It was a unique offshoot of an ongoing search and obsession to reimagine the efficiency of our cars. After hed built the first affordable car, turned the country into a nation of drivers, henry ford wasnt done trying to reinvent the Auto Industry and this time, he wanted to do the farm. Ford grew up on a farm in michigan and later in life, became interested in combining industry with agriculture. In the 1930s, he turned his attention to the soybean, started experimenting and by january 13, 1941, those experimentations had turned into a patent for the first plastic car. The soybean car offered advantages over the traditional metal cars of the time. They were lighter which made them more fuel efficient and in the event of a crash, the cars body panels could be easily replaced. A protoype was introduced in august of 1941 but the ting could not have been worse. A few months later, America Production in the u. S. Was stopped and by the time the war ended, the soybean project was abandoned and along with it, efforts to build lighter, more fuel efficient cars. Edsel. Designed for elegance. Engineered for action. 1958s one really new car, the edsel. Engineered for action. 1958s one really new car, the edsel. In the postwar years, cars only seemed to get bigger and heavier, built for luxury and the comfort of the traveling american. A revolutionary new ride. A new highlevel ventilation system for greater comfort and new fourfender visibility and power. Throughout the 50s and 60s, there was little incentive to make any changes. Gas was cheap and the countrys infancy. It would take a crisis in 1973 to finally force the Auto Industry to rethink the car the way henry ford did several decades earlier. Arab oil fields like this one in kuwait will now produce five percent less oil per month and five percent less each following month until, as the arabs put it, israel withdraws from arab land conquered in 1967 and the rights of the Palestinian People restored. The 1973 oil crisis was a wake up call. Congress passed new fuel efficiency standards and what emerged in the ensueing decade was a significant trend awayfrom the large, muscle cars that once ruled the roads of america. Well the kcar is regarded as chryslers answer to General Motors xcar and they are both automobiles. Fuel efficiency increased throughout the early 80s but the government still desired cleanersources. Twenty years ago, we started on the job and if congress will act on the clean air reforms that im offering today, 20 years from now, every american in every city in america will breathe clean air. The American Public up to now has done nothing to convince me that it is willing to reach deep into its pocketbook to protect expectation is always let somebody else pay for cleaning up my environment. The push to get drivers andthe manufacturers to switch to alternative fuels, continues to be a tough sell but that hasnt stopped the search. From the soybean car to the hydrogen car, the Auto Industry has been presented with a long list of new ideas. Some have failed others major breakthroughs but both have shaped the an evolution that is far from over. We turn from the beginning of the conversation of Renewable Energy to the ability to harness the power of light when we return, the story of a single invention that would lay the foundation for a new era of technology and land its creators in a bitter 30year long patent war. Before, the Auto Industry was dealt an innovation ahead of its time, Albert Einstein early in his career developed a new theory for harnessing the power of light. It wasnt until 40years later, five years after einsteins death, that this idea, the laser, would be patented. The technology that drives our world would have been the stuff of pure fanatasy generations ago. The ability to flip a switch, and light a home to circle the globe in a metal bird or speak instantly with someone anywhere on the planet. They have all become ingrained parts of our life. The same can be said for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation or laser. At Bell Telephone laboratories, day by Day Development a new device which could revolutionize mans use of light. It is called a laser. Charles townes was a physicist at Columbia University. His brotherinlaw, arthur schawlow, a researcher at Bell Telephone labs. Together they worked on the technology that was patented for bell on march 22, 1960. The invention had its roots in work townes had done years before. During world war ii Bell Telephone laboratories working on microwaves and radar and i recognized from that work that molecules interact with microwaves. They absorb microwaves. In the early 1950s in an attempt to produce very strong microwaves, townes invented a micro wave amplifier or maser. Excited moleclues in a resonator box were stimulated to give up their excess energy in interactions with passing waves, amplifying the microwaves in the process. Townes and schawlow wanted to take that concept even further and believed the same principle behind microwave stimulation could be applied to light waves so they began to form a theory for an optical maser, thats because the atoms instead of radiating independently are forced or stimulated to emit by the way that its stored between the two mirrors. That makes light in an extremely pure form. Something weve just never had before. Extremely pure form. Something weve just never had before. Before filing their patent for the laser, schawlow and townes had published a seminal paper on their findings. While it established their place in history as the inventors of the working on similar concepts including gordon gould, a Columbia University graduate student, who had filed his own laser patent during the time it took for bell labs to work through the system. Goulds was denied by u. S. Patent office in favor of schawlows and townes sparking what would be known as the 30 year patent war the battles would be waged in the Patent Office and later in the courts and would eventually the Patent Office and later in the courts and would eventually win gould 48 patents millions of dollars in royalties. Meanwhile, the publication of schawlows and towness findings triggered furious Competition Among researchers. These days the laser plays a vital role in everything from our cd and dvd players to the scanner at the supermarket. They are key instruments in modern surgery and modern warfare. They explore the depths of dollar Communications Industry using lasers to send signals around the globe. In his 2002 autobiography, how the laser happened adventures of a scientist townes wrote, the development of the maser and laser and their subsequent applications followed no script except to hew to the nature of humans groping to understand, to explore and to create. Humans groping to understand, to explore and to create. In the years since his discovery more than 55thousand laserrelated patents have been granted in the u. S. Generating billions of llars in business and endless innovation in the conquest of light. It was the dice that gave way to pocket protectors and suspenders. Next, we remember the debut of that memorable accessory the pocket calculator. When the power of the web was first unlocked. Hi guys got the birthday girl a drum set. Drum set . Hes kidding [laughs] oh you guys must have Time Warner Cable. This is gonna be some party. Yeah, their free home wifi lets us connect all our devices at the same time. And theres no data cap, so. The kids must love that, huh . hey, theres the birthday girl lets get this Party Started get Time Warner Cable 50 meg internet. Thats more than 8 times faster than dsl and no data cap. Uploading honey, im goin viral call now. Get 15 megs for 39. 99 a month. Hi grandma miss you who is that . Are you gonna finish that . Ok. Switching is easy with Time Warner Cables exclusive onehour arrival window, so you dont have to wait around. Plus, theres no contract all with a moneyback guarantee. He overdid it. [snoring] [giggling] get 15 meg internet with unlimited data for 39. 99 per month. Access to nearly 500,000 wifi hotspots with select plans. Call today. The pocket calculator. A tired equipment of yesteryear today but in 1972, it was the latest in consumer technology. We take a look back at the high concept tech, the hp35, that helped us all translate the masse for the first time. Humans have been calculating for as long weve been walking this earth but only recently have we been able to do so electronically. Up until the late 1960s, slide rules, pen and paper were the arithmetic gotos. Texas instruments introduced the first handheld calculator in 1967. It featured ur basic functions addition multiplication and division. A year later, hewlettpackard introduced the 9100. The heart of the classroom system is the 9100 computing calculator. It can be used as either a very simple to operate calculator or a very powerful desktop computer. The 9100 far outperformed any other calculator at the time. And for students of trigonometry, analytic calculus, biology, chemistry and physics are a group of keys that automatically provide the trigonometric and logorithmic functions so often used in the advanced mathematics and the sciences. It was the first scientificcalculator but not only was it expensive, priced at nearly 5,000 dollars, it was also large u bill hewlett, posed a challenge to his staff build a similar machine but one that could fit in a shirt pocket. The early 1970s saw a number of pocketsized calculators hit the market like the sharp elsi8. The worlds first battery operated portable calculator. Introducing the answer. A really small calculator. A really silent electronic. A really fast thinker. One that works anywhere on battery or plugin. One with all the calculator know how youll probably ever need. But one year later, Hewlett Packard accomplishment what at the time seemed impossible cramming most of the functionally of the 9100 into a tiny handheld device. The hp35 socalled for its 35keys. The hp35 wasnt expected to be a runaway bestseller. In the first year, Hewlett Packard hoped to sell 10,000 units. They ended up selling ten timesthat amount. Before the hp35, slide rules were the most common devices used to perform trigonometric functions but by the end of 1972, they were nearly obsolete. The hp35 was sold until 1975 but would have many descendants. The hp35 was sold until 1975 but would have many descendants. All of which put a whole suiteof knowhow in the palm of our hands. Phones,tablets, laptops are all accessories of our daily routines and deeply ingrained in our lives. But before they could fit into our pockets, we had to learn just what we were missing and that process began back in 1951. And the word tonight is univac. To fit commercially produced electronic computer. , j. Presper eckert andohn mauchly created a nearly 500,000dollar machine called eniac that required 15,000 feet to warehouse. Because of eniacs computer power, it could add 5,000 numbers in one second. Scientists working on the First Hyd