1957
Exploration
Soviet Union
Artificial satellite
Sputnik 1 orbits the Earth and beeps at the world.
Why it mattered
Opened space, and with it global communications and observation.
Information Age
1957
2 recorded milestones at this point in the record.
1957
Technology
United States
FORTRAN and high-level programming
IBM's compiler let scientists write formulas rather than machine code.
Why it mattered
Made programming a skill for non-specialists.
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