Artificial intelligence is older than the Space Age. The term was coined in 1955 for the Dartmouth workshop held in the summer of 1956, while the first satellite flew only in October 1957.
The events
- Dartmouth workshop: AI is born1956 · Hanover, New Hampshire. In summer 1956 John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky and others gathered at Dartmouth College to explore thinking machines. The term 'artificial intelligence', coined by McCarthy for the proposal, gave the new field its name.
- Sputnik 1, the first satellite1957 · Baikonur. On 4 October 1957 the Soviet Union put the first artificial Earth satellite into orbit, its radio beeps picked up around the world. The launch opened the Space Age and started the space race between the USSR and the United States.
More amazing facts
- 1954 In 1954 'the fastest man on Earth' was a doctor.
- 1955 Einstein's brain weighed 1,230 grams, well within the normal human range.
- 1955 The Guinness Book of Records was created to settle pub arguments.
- 1955 · 1957 The Frisbee is named after a bakery and started out as the 'Pluto Platter'. Yale students tossed empty pie tins from the Frisbie Pie Company, so in 1957 the maker renamed its plastic disc the Frisbee.
- 1955 · 1967 Sweden switched to driving on the right despite a referendum.
- 1956 In autumn 1956 the world watched two crises at once: the Anglo-French landing at the Suez Canal and Soviet tanks in Budapest.