Timeline Filter by: Decade or Famous Calls The Network The Business
1870s | 1880s | 1890s | 1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s
Cable to Cuba, Laying Undersea Cable (AT&T)
Cable to Cuba, Laying Undersea Cable (AT&T)
1950
Telephone Blues (Sonny Terry)
Telephone Blues (Sonny Terry)
1950
The Step-By-Step Switch
The Step-By-Step Switch
1951
First direct-dialed transcontinental call
First direct-dialed transcontinental call
1951
Direct long-distance dialing begins
Direct long-distance dialing begins
1951
Lucy Gossips on the Phone
Lucy Gossips on the Phone
1952
Claude Shannon demonstrates "Theseus" Machine Learning @ Bell Labs (High Quality)
Claude Shannon demonstrates "Theseus" Machine Learning @ Bell Labs (High Quality)
1952
IT&T acquires Kellogg
IT&T acquires Kellogg
1952
Pfann invents zone refining (melting), enabling purer silicon for transistors and semiconductors
Pfann invents zone refining (melting), enabling purer silicon for transistors and semiconductors
1952
The Transistor (Bell System)
The Transistor (Bell System)
1953
Transistors first used in telephone equipment
1953
Karnaugh invents the Karnaugh Map
Maurice Karnaugh
1953
Dia M For Murder phone scene
Dia M For Murder phone scene
1954
Now You Can Dial
Now You Can Dial
1954
First practical solar cell developed, at Bell Labs
First practical solar cell developed, at Bell Labs
1954
Dialing the Nation (AT&T)
Dialing the Nation (AT&T)
1955
GTE Acquires Automatic Electric
1955
The Bell Solar Battery
The Bell Solar Battery
1956
AT&T settles U.S. antitrust suit
AT&T settles U.S. antitrust suit
1956
Bell Labs scientists win Nobel Prize for the transistor
John Bardeen Walter Brattain William Shockley
1956
L2/Bell2 programming language launched
Richard Hamming Ruth A. Weiss
1956
Hawkins co-invents low-cost polymer cable sheathing
Walter Lincoln Hawkins
1956
Transatlantic telephone cable (TAT-1)
Transatlantic telephone cable (TAT-1)
1956
Is Your Phone Tapped?
Is Your Phone Tapped?
1957
Improved echo suppressors deployed
1957
Joybubbles (Joe Engressia) discovers he can whistle at 2600 Hz.
Joybubbles
1957
A Surreal Look at Telephone Switching
A Surreal Look at Telephone Switching
1958
Submarine Cable Systems Development
Submarine Cable Systems Development
1958
Queen Calls Edinburgh
Queen Calls Edinburgh
1958
Masers in development at Bell Labs
Masers in development at Bell Labs
1958
Bell Labs engineers conceive Project Echo (first passive communications satellite)
Rudolf Kompfner John R. Pierce
1958
Cable to the Continent, the Second Transatlantic Telephone Cable
Cable to the Continent, the Second Transatlantic Telephone Cable
1959
Modern Telephone
Modern Telephone
1959
Kahng and Atalla invent the MOSFET
Mohamed M. Atalla Dawon Kahng
1959