1964-1965
From CSI Wiki Farm
- 1964
- In January, an old building in New Haven, Connecticut which in 1878 housed the nation's first telephone exchange, is designated a national historic landmark by the Department of the Interior.
- IBM releases its famous Model 360 computer that eventually led to $100 billion in sales over its life cycle.
- George Heilmeier, at RCA's research labs, invents the liquid crystal display.
- Douglas Englebart at SRI patented the idea of the mouse.
- On February 13th, AT&T and RCA submit a joint proposal to the Communications Satellite Corporation for the design of an international commercial communications satellite system.
- March 2nd sees the General Electric Company's "switched service" private line network linking 100,000 telephones throughout the country placed in service.
- On April 20, the first transcontinental Picturephone call is made between Bell System exhibit at the World's Fair and Disneyland, California. July 6th marks the operation of the Federal Telecommunications System (FTS), the world's largest private line network.
- December, Charles K. Kao takes over STL optical communication program when Karbowiak leaves to become chair of electrical engineering at the University of New South Wales. Kao and George Hockham soon abandon Karbowiak's thin-film waveguide in favor of single-mode optical fiber.
- Bell updates the logo:
- 1965
Some important NASA achievements in 1965, including Syncom 2 & 3, the Early Bird, and the TIROS-9 and 10 satellites.
- The number of independent telephone companies dropped to 2,535 from the 2,675 in existence at the start of 1964.
- First cable from New Jersey to France.
- AT&T introduces stored program controlled switching.
- There are now 2421 telephone companies.
- March 1st sees the New York State law authorizing electronic eavesdropping declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Brooklyn.
- The first commercial communications satellite, Early Bird, is launched from Cape Kennedy on April 6th.
- April 23 sees the launch of the first Soviet communications satellite, Molniya 1, which carries our transmissions of television programs.
- On May 30 the first commercial electronic central office - Succasunna, N.J. - is brought into service. The 1ESS is a First computer controlled switching system. Initially, only 200 of the 4,300 subscribers take advantage of the memory services such as third party conferencing, speed dialing and transfer.
- Inward WATS service becomes available on a trial basis in the State of Alabama on June 14th.
- Michigan Bell becomes the first company to sell the Trimline telephone.
- The first geosynchronous communications satellite - 240 circuits or one TV signal
- Launched in January, NASA satellite TIROS-9 provides the first complete view of the world's weather.
- Launched in July, NASA satellite TIROS-10 was the last of the experimental TIROS series, and provided more than 400 images daily, each of a 640,000-square mile area with 2-mile resolution at the center.
- October sees the Common Carrier Bureau of the FCC issuing a report recommended creation of an integrated record message service under Western Union and the sale of TWX to Western Union. Other recommendations include investigation of Bell System interstate and international rates. The FCC issues a Memorandum Opinion and Order instituting the investigation of the above rates.
