Science
In this decade, there were a lot of new excitement involving science when it came to the idea of space and exploring it. All of the excitement came from watching the first moon walks in 1969. The capabilities helped America to feel stronger and more scientifically and technology advanced.
Space: One new invention that particularly caught the attention of many Americans was the idea of eating the same food that astronauts used. The products that were originally made for astronauts grabbed the attentions of people. One of the popular food items include Tang, an orange drink which was originally "the breakfast of astronauts". Another food item was " Food Sticks", a sweet, chewy snack. Lastly Actifed, a nasal decongestant, were advertised as well. In the early part of the decade, there were two lunar landings in both 1971 and 1972. In 1971, there was an Apollo 14 mission with the astronaut Alan Shepard. During this mission, he hit a golf ball on the moon. On the next mission, astronaut David Scott demonstrated how there was zero atmosphere when he dropped a hammer and a feather at the same time. NASA also launched the first space station in 1973. This space station was called Skylab and it was used for observation and studies on weightlessness. In 1975 Apollo and the Soviet Equivalent to Apollo both got together and this lead to thoughts of there being an international space station but that didn't occur. The whole fad of science and space began to fade as Americans confronted more pressing social issues: health, education, poverty, crime, and drug control. |
Medicine
While in the 1970s, there were a couple of advances in the medical world. Here are the medical miracles.
1970: First vaccine for rubella. 1974: First vaccine for chicken pox. 1977: First vaccine for pneumonia. 1978: First test-tube baby is born in the U.K. 1978: First vaccine for meningitis. Here is more information on some of the medical miracles during the 1970s. Rubella: The Rubella vaccine was created by the prolific vaccine researcher Maurice Hilleman. He used a rubella virus that he got from Division of Biologics Standards scientists Paul Parkman and Harry Meyer. His vaccine was used in combination measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Chicken Pox: Chicken pox, also known as varicella was first developed by Japanese researcher Michiaki Takahashi. He isolated the blood of a 3 year-old boy and then weakened the virus by putting it in a host cell. He then tested the virus on children. Pneumonia: People began trying to make a vaccine as early as 1911. Interest in the vaccine began to decline until people were still dying. The first pneumococcal vaccine was licensed in the United States in 1977. In Vitro Fertilization: The first test tube baby was Louise Joy Brown born to Lesley and John Brown. Lesley had blocked fallopian tubes but thanks to Dr. Patrick Steptoe in 1976 Lesley was able to start the very experimental in vitro. On July 25, 1978, their baby girl was born. |
Technology
During this decade, there was some new technology made.
One of these inventions included the creation of the silicon chip. This invention was made by Theodore Hoff in 1971. He did it by squeezing 2,300 transistors onto a thin chip of silicon, creating the microprocessor chip. This helped to change the world of technology by allowing one to obtain a lot of the power from the mainframe while being able to hold the chip in the palm of your hand. The next invention was the first Jumbo Jet. This revolutionary flight took place on January 21, 1970 which was called the Boeing 747. It could accommodate up to 490 passengers. It was labeled by the press as an "air bus". It could go forty-six hundred nautical miles without refueling. The next new technology was the use of fiber optics. Optical fiber is a thin strand of glass or plastic capable of transmitting light from one point to another. It is thin and can bend light. It is made of an extremely pure glass of optical fiber and it is enclosed in a reflective casing. This made it possible to use lights in place of electricity. Light could be transmitted easily, faster, cheaper, and more efficiently than electrical signals, which can be affected by motors, electrical generators, power lines, or lightning storms. The last thing of new technology was the creation of the compact disc. This was created in 1972. Lasers would burn small holes into the microscopic layer on the surface of the disc. Other layers would then detect the pits by first converting that information first into electrical impulses, then into sound waves. |