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1960-1969

Universal Soil Loss Equation
Society: ASABEMain Category: Agricultural & BiologicalEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1965National Soil Erosion Research LabWest LafayetteState: INZip: 47907Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asabe.org/awards-landmarks/asabe-historic-landmarks/universal-soil-loss-equation-41.aspx

The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was developed at the USDA National Runoff and Soil Loss Data Center at Purdue University in a national effort led by Walter H. Wischmeier and Dwight D. Smith. The USLE was published in 1965 in USDA Agriculture Handbook 282.

YearAdded:
2003
Image Caption: The Universal Soil Loss Equation for estimating average annual soil erosion.

A = average annual soil loss (in tons/acre)
R = rainfall erosivity index
K = soil erodibility factor
LS = topographic factor
C = cropping factor
P = conservation practice factor
Once-Over Mechanical Harvesting of Cucumbers
Society: ASABEMain Category: Agricultural & BiologicalSub Category: MechanizationEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1963Farrall Agricultural Engineering HallEast LansingState: MIZip: 48824Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asabe.org/awards-landmarks/asabe-historic-landmarks/the-once-over-mechanical-harvesting-of-cucumbers-55.aspxCreator: Bill Stout

The concept of once-over mechanical, as opposed to multiple-pick hand or experimental multiple-pick machine harvesting, represented a major break-through in the practice of producing vine fruit such as pickling cucumbers.  In the 1950s the cost of hand harvesting was as high as 50% of the production cost.  Once-over mechanical harvesting, coupled with increasing plant population, reduced this cost to 25% thereby making production economically viable.

YearAdded:
2011
Image Caption: The concept represented a major break-through in the practice of producing vine fruit such as pickling cucumbers.
ASABE Headquarters
Society: ASABEMain Category: Agricultural & BiologicalEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1969ASABE HeadquatersSt. JosephState: MIZip: 49085Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asabe.org/awards-landmarks/asabe-historic-landmarks/asabe-hq-47.aspx

Established in 1907, the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) was managed by volunteers. In 1925, local editor Raymond Olney was named secretary, thus establishing ASAE in this area. By 1969, with over 7,000 members in 100 countries, an ASAE building was constructed at this site in St. Joseph, Mi. In 2005, ASAE became ASABE to recognize the importance of biology in the profession. ASABE collects and maintains the unique body of knowledge for the agricultural/biological engineering profession.

YearAdded:
2007
Air-Inflated, Double-Layer Polyethylene Greenhouse
Society: ASABEMain Category: Agricultural & BiologicalSub Category: StructuresEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1964Foran HallNew BrunswickState: NJZip: 08901Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asabe.org/awards-landmarks/asabe-historic-landmarks/air-inflated-double-layer-polyethylene-greenhouse-44.aspxCreator: Roberts, William J.

A crucial step in the evolution of modern plant agriculture was the development of low-cost, energy-efficient greenhouse structures that provide optimum growing conditions year-round. In 1964, Professor William J. Roberts developed the first air-inflated double-layer polyethylene greenhouse covering system at Cook College, Rutgers University.

YearAdded:
2004
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Dwight Sipler (CC BY 2.0)Image Caption: A cat scales an air-inflated double-layered polyethylene greenhouse
Society: ASMEMain Category: MechanicalEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1963PR-625AreciboState: PRZip: 00612Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/engineering-history/landmarks/216-arecibo-radiotelescope

A drive system that keeps the antenna pointed with millimeter precision regardless of factors such as environmental change

 

The Arecibo Observatory has the largest radio telescope ever constructed.  Maintaining the greatest electromagnetic wave gathering capacity of any telescope, it has been an essential tool in modern astronomy, ionosphere and planetary studies.

YearAdded:
2001
Image Credit: Public DomainImage Caption: Arecibo Radiotelescope
Society: ASMEMain Category: MechanicalEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1968ILC DoverFredericaState: DEZip: 1996-2080Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/engineering-history/landmarks/255-apollo-space-suit, https://www.asme.org/wwwasmeorg/media/ResourceFiles/AboutASME/Who%20We%20Are/Engineering%20History/Landmarks/ApolloBR.pdf

Apollo astronauts who ventured outside of the protective confines of their pressurized capsules faced a number of hazards, among them: exposure to cosmic debris, solar radiation, and surface temperatures that widely varied. The suit also needed to accommodate a wide range of motion to allow the duties of the missions to be successfully accomplished.

YearAdded:
2013
Image Credit: Public Domain - Take by Neil ArmstrongImage Caption: Edwin Aldrin wearing the A7L spacesuit on the moon.
Society: ASMEMain Category: MechanicalEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1960491 Dutton St #2LowellState: MAZip: 01854Country: USAWebsite: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/who-we-are/engineering-history/landmarks/251-19th-century-textile-tools-and-machinery

Referred to as the "catalyst of the Industrial Revolution," textile manufacturing helped to transform the American economy from an agricultural to a manufacturing economy. It led to transitions from human to mechanical power and from wood to metal construction. Population shifts resulted from significant numbers of people moving from rural areas to work in urban factories. The collection of tools and machinery housed at the American Textile History Museum (ATHM) represents a collection of ideas which developed during this period.

YearAdded:
2012
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/Z22Image Caption: Throstle frame in Lowell, Massachusetts.
First Transpacific Reception of a Television (TV) Signal via Satellite
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1963Ibaraki Satellite Communication CenterTakahagiZip: 318-0022Country: JapanWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Transpacific_Reception_of_a_Television_%28TV%29_Signal_via_Satellite,_1963

On 23 November 1963, this site received the first transpacific transmission of a TV signal from Mojave earth station in California, U.S.A., via the Relay 1 communications satellite. The Ibaraki earth station used a 20m Cassegrain antenna, the first use of this type of antenna for commercial telecommunications. This event demonstrated the capability and impact of satellite communications and helped open a new era of intercontinental live TV programming relayed via satellite.

YearAdded:
2009
Image Caption: Artist's vision of NASA Relay 1 satelliteEra_date_from: 1963
First Transatlantic Reception of a Television Signal via Satellite
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1962Parc du Radôme
Pleumeur-BodouCountry: FranceWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Transatlantic_Reception_of_a_Television_Signal_via_Satellite,_1962

On 11 July 1962 a station in Pimsleur-Bodou received the first transatlantic transmission of a TV signal from a twin station in Andover, Maine, USA via the TELSTAR satellite. The success of TELSTAR and the earth stations, the first built for active satellite communications, illustrated the potential of a future world-wide satellite system to provide communications between continents.

YearAdded:
2002
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Nicholas Lannuzel (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: The Radome in Pimsleur-Bodou.Era_date_from: 1962
First Radio Astronomical Observations Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry
Society: IEEEMain Category: ElectricEra: 1960-1969DateCreated: 1967Dominion Radio Astrophysical ObservatoryCaledenState: BCZip: V0H 1K0Country: CanadaWebsite: http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:First_Radio_Astronomical_Observations_Using_Very_Long_Baseline_Interferometry

On the morning of 17 April 1967, radio astronomers used this radiotelescope at DRAO and a second one at the Algonquin Radio Observatory located 3074 km away to make the first successful radio astronomical observations using Very Long Baseline Interferometry. Today, VLBI networks span the globe, extend into space and continue to make significant contributions to both radio astronomy and geodesy.

YearAdded:
2010
Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/bulliver (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: The Radiotelescope at DRAOEra_date_from: 1967
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Innovations

Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar Apparatus

The Southwest Research Institute Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar apparatus is a mechanical test instrument used to characterize the dynamic response of materials at high strain rates (typical of impacts and explosions).

The apparatus, based on devices invented by Bertram Hopkinson and…

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"Driven by the need to understand the characteristics of radio communication in Canada's North, Canadian researchers focused on the exploration of the earth's upper atmosphere, the ionosphere. Canada's satellite program commenced with the launch of Alouette-I on September 29, 1962. Alouette-II… Read More
The Apollo was the vehicle that first transported humans to the moon and safely back to earth. Nine lunar flights were made between 1968 and 1972. The command module, built by North American Aviation (at the time of launch, North American Rockwell Corporation), accommodated three astronauts during… Read More
When built in 1962, this shovel was the second largest in the world. It was used for the removal of overburden in the surface mining of thin coal seams. In its lifetime, it recovered nine million tons of bituminous coal from depths of 20 to 50 feet for local electric power generation. Standing 160-… Read More

The 1992 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Georges Charpak, France, for his invention and development of detectors in high energy physics. Since 1959 Charpak had worked at CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics situated in the canton of Geneva in Switzerland. Charpak invented the…

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"SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) was created at UC Berkeley as a class project in 1969-1970. It evolved to become the worldwide standard integrated circuit simulator. SPICE has been used to train many students in the intricacies of circuit simulation. SPICE and its… Read More
Eddystone Station Unit #1

Operated by the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO), now known as Exelon Corp., Eddystone Station Unit #1 is a 325 MW pulverized-coal-fired plant that pushed the technology of steam-electric generating plants. When built in 1960, engineers sought to make a more efficient plant using higher…

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The Advanced Engine Test Facility was built in 1964, three years after President John F. Kennedy committed the United States to world leadership in aeronautical science. Conceived and designed by Wernher von Braun, the first director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, this facility was used to… Read More
Deciphering the Genetic Code

In 1961, in the National Institutes of Health Headquarters (Bethesda, MD), Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei discovered the key to breaking the genetic code when they conducted an experiment using a synthetic RNA chain of multiple units of uracil to instruct a chain of amino acids to add…

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"At 10:30 p.m., 29 October 1969, the first ARPANET message was sent from this UCLA site to the Stanford Research Institute. Based on packet switching and dynamic resource allocation, the sharing of information digitally from this first node of ARPANET launched the Internet revolution." (The plaque… Read More
NAIC/Arecibo Radiotelescope

The Arecibo Observatory has the largest radio telescope ever constructed. Maintaining the greatest electromagnetic wave gathering capacity of any telescope, it has been an essential tool in modern astronomy, ionosphere and planetary studies. Several feats of mechanical engineering went into the…

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Neil Bartlett and the Reactive Noble Gases

In 1962 Neil Bartlett demonstrated the first reaction of a noble gas. The noble gas family of elements - helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon - had previously been regarded as inert. By combining xenon with a platinum fluoride, Bartlett created the first noble gas compound. This…

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Newell Shredder

This machine, designed by Alton S. Newell, efficiently reduced automobile bodies into scrap metal for recycling. A body was fed into the shredder at a controlled rate, and rotating hammers, driven by a 500-hp motor, shredded it into small pieces that were easily shipped. The process took about…

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NS Savannah

The N.S. Savannah was the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey. The 74 maximum-power thermal megawatt pressurized-water reactor was supplied by the Babcock & Wilcox Company. Nearly 600 feet long with 22,000-tons…

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In fulfilling a contract for 25,000 U.S. Army rifles (Model 1841) and a like quantity for the British government, Robbins and Lawrence were the first to achieve interchangeability of parts on a fully practical level, contributing greatly to all subsequent mass production of machine products. This… Read More
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center was renamed in 2009 to the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Notable for: unique electromechanical devices and systems in the longest accelerator in the world

The Stanford two-mile accelerator, the longest in the world,…

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Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)

The basic research tool at SLAC is an intense beam of electrons that have been accelerated by an electric field equivalent to 30 billion volts, making this the most powerful electron beam in the world.

The two-mile linear accelerator produces this field using high-power microwaves…

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Tidbinbilla Tracking Station

Established 1965 the Tidbinbilla Tracking Station, as well as the Honeysuckle Creek (1967-1981) and Orroral Valley (1965-1985) sites, supported NASA’s Deep Space Network, Manned Space Flight Network, and Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network. The stations played a key role in…

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Orroral Valley Tracking Station

Established 1965 the Orroral Valley Station, as well as the Honeysuckle Creek (1967) and Tidbinbilla (1965) sites supported NASA’s Deep Space Network, Manned Space Flight Network, and Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network. The stations played a key role in supporting the Apollo 11…

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Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station

Established between 1967, the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, along with the Tidbinbilla and Orroral Valley sites, supported NASA’s Deep Space Network, Manned Space Flight Network, and Spacecraft Tracking and Data Acquisition Network. The stations played a key role in supporting the Apollo…

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