A miraculous quarter of a century

Consider all the amazing scientific and technological developments that occurred between 1939 and 1969. A comprehensive list would take up too much space, so I will just list some of the more significant developments (in alphabetical order): affordable (reliable and safe) automobiles, antibiotics, artificial satellites, atomic power, beating smallpox, computers, discovery of DNA, electronics (particularly transistors), gas turbines, helicopters, high-speed trains, integrated circuits, the internet, jet aircraft, mapping of the human genome, oral contraceptives, organ transplant, probes exploring the planets and beyond, RADAR, robotics and automation, space travel by humans (including putting a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth), television, video recording … and the list goes on.

Incidentally, during this period many dramatic social changes/events also occurred, including:  the cultural revolution in the 1960s that led to changes in behaviour, dress, and attitudes and an explosion in popular music, decolonisation, decriminalisation of abortion and homosexuality, feminism, the Green Revolution in agriculture, mass aviation, Woodstock and Youth Culture. There is a strong argument to be made for this miraculous quarter of a century being the time when the modern world was somehow invented; before it everything that happened seems old fashioned and remote – almost Victorian – after, it all appears modern. 1969; the dawn of the modern era: with events that summer that include the lunar landings, the first flight of Concorde, and Woodstock (Scooby Doo also debuted in that year, which is something that I have always considered important and also, somehow modern).

So, these three short decades seemed to have resulted in absolutely momentous developments and change in many areas that must, surely, greatly outstrip anything that has been seen since. Why did this occur at that time? Of course, many people will suggest that it has to do with the war and there is no doubt some truth in this. For example, the race to manufacture faster and faster aircraft spurred Britain and Germany on to produce jet-powered aircraft, and without the invention of Hitler’s V2 vengeance weapon, what would have been America’s chances of actually designing and building that Saturn V rocket that was needed to get Armstrong and Aldrin to the Moon before the end of the 1960s?

But this is only part of the picture, since rapid technological development did not cease in 1945; in fact, if anything it seemed to accelerate, resulting in the emergence of marvels of new technology such as colour television and the Concorde – a unique commercially operating jet airliner that cruised at twice the speed of sound!