Tech From the 1960s: History's Best Sellers

Revisiting 1960s presents a grand parade of tech history, marked by Space Age wonder and counter-culture flair and enduring fan favorites. Unrivaled hits including Laser, Computer Mouse, and essential classics took top honors in living rooms and storefronts alike. Master craftsmen from industry leaders like Theodore Maiman and Douglas Engelbart led the vanguard, engineering high-caliber releases that spurred a pop-culture revolution across the nation. Dive into the full historical rankings below to see which standout creations won the day.

1. Laser

   Released in 1960 by Theodore Maiman, Hughes Research Laboratories

   On May 16, 1960, the world of science was forever altered in a quiet laboratory in Malibu, California. On this day, physicist Theodore Maiman, working at Hughes Research Laboratories, successfully operated the very first laser. While the theoretical principles of 'light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation' had been laid out by scientists like Einstein, Townes, and Schawlow, Maiman was the first to transform theory into a tangible reality. In a historical context marked by a technological race fueled by Cold War ambitions, Maiman's achievement was a pivotal moment. He didn't just invent a device; he unlocked a fundamentally new way to control and harness light, marking May 16th as the dawn of the laser age.

2. Computer Mouse

   Released in 1968 by Douglas Engelbart, SRI International

   On December 9, 1968, at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco, Douglas Engelbart and his team from the Augmentation Research Center at SRI presented a 90-minute live demonstration that would later be dubbed 'The Mother of All Demos.' This event was not a product launch but a stunning revelation of a future vision for computing. Engelbart introduced a comprehensive system called the oN-Line System (NLS), and for the first time publicly, he used a small, wheeled device to navigate the graphical interface: the computer mouse. This date marks the moment the world was introduced to a new paradigm of human-computer interaction, fundamentally changing the course of technology.