Science and Technology in the Super70s

By Patrick Mondout

The Super70s are remembered as a back to nature decade. From the popularity of musical acts like Seals and Crofts, James Taylor, and John Denver to the first ever Earth Day, to a revival in home-made fashions and decorations. The environmental movement made great strides beginning with the creation of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in 1970 - the same year Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published.

In aviation news, the Concorde, the L-1011, DC-10, A300 and the 747 both made their commercial debuts in the Super70s. The decade also saw the worst aviation accident of the 20th Century when two 747 Jumbos collided in the Canary Islands (read about all the major accidents). Check out our improved commercial aviation section created to celebrate the Centennial of Flight.

Although the United States responded to President Kennedy's challenge to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, the Super70s had its fair share of memorable space-related events as well and is now seen as a golden age of space flight. Read more in our Super70s Space Center.

We're also covering natural disasters like Hurricanes Celia and Belle, the Big Thompson Flood, and the '79 Chicago Blizzard.

Lastly, we've dedicated a few pages to pseudoscience as well: Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot, Cryptozoology, and UFOs.

Coming Fall 2004: A history of the personal computer. The microprocessor was born in 1971 at Intel. The first widely-available computer kit appeared on the front of Popular Electronics in January, 1975. That magazine cover inspired Bill Gates to leave Harvard for Albuquerque and start Microsoft with his partner Paul Allen. The Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS-80 personal computers shipped in 1977 and the revolution began in earnest. At the start of the Super70s, there were less than 10,000 computers in the world. By the end of the decade, Apple was shipping that many a month. The computing revolution started in the Super70s and we will be extensively covering this cultural shift.