The Evolution of Media Arts

By HillA8538

  • Electric Automatic Traffic Signal

    Electric Automatic Traffic Signal
    Garret Morgan invented the first electric automatic traffic signal in 1923. Though other versions of the traffic signal had been used since 1868, this design was revolutionary.

  • Television

    Television
    Before electronic televisions, there were mechanical televisions. The first electronic television was invented by Philo Taylor Farnsworth in 1927.

  • Jet Engine

    Jet Engine
    Hans von Ohain is the designer of the first working jet engine even though Frank Whittle is credited with the invention. Frank Whittle registered a patent in 1930 but did not perform a flight test until 1941

  • Electron Microscope

    Electron Microscope
    The electron microscope was invented by Max Knott and Ernst Ruska in 1931. Its development helped advance the understanding of cell structure greatly.

  • Microwave Oven

    Microwave Oven
    The microwave oven was developed and patented by Percy Spencer in 1945. During an experiment with radar, he had noticed that a magnetron was emitting heat-generating microwaves.

  • Vinyl Records

    Vinyl Records
    The first vinyl record was introduced in 1948. It used microgroove plastic to allow a 12-inch
    record to play 12 minutes of sound per side.

  • Credit Card

    Credit Card
    The wide-spread credit card was introduced by the Diners’ Club, Inc., in 1950.

  • Pacemaker

    Pacemaker
    The first definitive electronic pacemaker was implanted in 1958 by Senning and Elmqvist.

  • Lasers

    Lasers
    The technology for a laser was invented in 1960. Theodore H. Maiman is credited with designing the first laser.

  • Video Game Consoles

    Video Game Consoles
    Ralph Baer started work on prototyping game consoles in 1966 and finished his work in 1968. The console was first demonstrated in 1972.

  • Cell Phone

    Cell Phone
    The cell phone was invented by Martin Cooper in 1973. The first commercial cell phone was released ten years later.

  • Digital Camera

    Digital Camera
    In 1975 Terry Walker, Harry Garland, and Roger Melen invented the digital camera. The camera developed pictures at a maximum size of 32 by 32 pixels.

  • Personal Computer

    Personal Computer
    Though the idea behind computing started in the ‘70s it wasn’t until 1981 that the personal computer was launched by IBM.

  • Disposable Camera

    Disposable Camera
    The disposable camera was introduced by Fujifilm in 1986. It quickly became a tourism staple.

  • Sony PlayStation

    Sony PlayStation
    Sony released the first PlayStation in Japan in 1994. It was released in the US a year later.

  • Nintendo 64

    Nintendo 64
    In 1996 Nintendo 64 was released in Japan. It was the first home console with an analog stick as the main controller.

  • Camera Phone

    Camera Phone
    Camera phones became officially available in the year 2000. The first to the market was Sharp's J-SH04.

  • USB Flash Drive

    USB Flash Drive
    Although patented in 1999 by M-Systems, the first USB flash drive wasn’t sold until 2000 by IBM.

  • Blu-ray Disc

    Blu-ray Disc
    The Blu-ray disc was launched in 2002. Blu-ray discs have greater storage capacity and higher definition of video than CD-ROM and DVD.

  • Smart Devices

    Smart Devices
    Voice recognition systems like Siri and Alexa were invented in the 2010s. Siri in 2011 and Alexa in 2014.

  • Chromecast

    Chromecast
    Chromecast was released by Google in 2013. It allows people to stream from any device but have it play on the TV.