Timeline of SRI International Innovations: 1960s

The AT&T Telstar satellite transmitted TV broadcasts across the Atlantic—and around-the-clock programming was born. The Berlin Wall went up, the first man went into space, and by the end of the decade another had walked on the moon. U.S. scientists took close-up photos of Mars, and the FDA approved the first contraceptive pill.

SRI expanded from its West Coast base to build its reputation as an international R&D powerhouse. Breakthroughs in computing, robotics, engineering, and economic development helped put SRI on the world map as an innovation leader.

COMPUTERIZED AIRLINE RESERVATIONS: From 1962 to 1964, SRI led development of a real-time communications system for the Scandinavian Airline System (SAS) to process passenger reservations and check-in. The project resulted in new hardware and software that IBM took to other airlines and to banks, department stores, and other industries.
				PERSONAL COMPUTING AND COMPUTER MOUSE: In 1968, SRI publicly demonstrated a revolutionary change in how computers would be used. Integrated for the first time were text editing, the concept of windows, hypertext, videoconferencing, and the now ubiquitous mouse. SRI licensed the mouse to Xerox Corporation, Apple Computer, Inc., and other companies.
SHAKEY THE ROBOT: Developed in SRI's pioneering Artificial Intelligence Center from 1966 to 1972, Shakey was the world's first mobile robot with the ability to reason about its surroundings. Shakey, which greatly influenced modern robotics, now resides in the Computer History Museum.
				ARPANET: In 1969, SRI was one of the first four nodes—with the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah—and was the recipient of the first logon on this small computer network whose underlying technology would become the basis for a new worldwide digital communications system called the Internet.
CANCER TREATMENT: Since the 1960s, SRI has provided analytical chemistry services to the National Cancer Institute for the development of new therapeutic agents and submission of Investigational New Drug filings.
				JAPAN'S INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT: SRI's relationships with major Japanese companies led to the creation of the Japan-California Association (now the Japan-Western Americas Association) and the Pacific Basin Economic Council (which now represents 20 countries). SRI also collaborated in the design of the Nomura Research Institute, today one of Japan's largest research organizations.
CORPORATE PLANNING: SRI created some of the first comprehensive long-range planning and market analysis tools, and coined the term "stakeholder" in 1963 to define those who have a critical interest in the operation and success of an enterprise.
				SWOT ANALYSIS: SRI developed the SWOT (strengths-weaknesses- opportunities-threats) analysis, today a standard in the business planning world.
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: From 1969 to 1975, SRI's role in assessing the federal Head Start program resulted in groundbreaking methodology that has been widely replicated in the U.S. and abroad. Today, SRI performs research and evaluation on a variety of ealy childhood programs.
				OPTICAL READ-WRITE STORAGE: In the early 1960s, SRI developed one of the first read systems (and later a read-write system) to use optical disks.
THE DISH: Built and operated by SRI for the U.S. Government in the early 1960s, the 150-foot movable radio telescope near Stanford University was the world's third largest upon its completion. It is used today for satellite calibrations and spacecraft communications.
				LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY: From 1963 to 1968, SRI's subsidiary, Sarnoff Corporation, developed the first display panel utilizing liquid crystal technology, now the standard for flat-panel displays.
ACOUSTIC MODEM: In 1966, SRI patented two acoustic couplers: one that gave the deaf a way to communicate via telephone, and a second that enabled broad-area computer network access.
				HIGH-SPEED PRINTING: In the mid-1960s, SRI introduced printing techniques such as very high speed label printing and nonimpact printing delicate enough to print on the yolk of a fresh egg.
OPHTHALMOLOGIC LASERS: Through the introduction of more powerful argon lasers, SRI brought clinical utility to laser photocoagulation, enabling a wide variety of eye surgeries such as retinal reattachment, cauterization of bleeding, or removal of abnormal tissue.
				LIDAR: For 40 years, SRI pioneered laser radars that provide accurate data for weather and pollution monitoring, trace gas detection, and atmospheric science.
EYETRACKER: In 1965, SRI invented this device that precisely monitors eye movements to assist in research and medical applications.
				AIRGLOW: SRI pioneered the use of lab measurements to explain atmospheric observations of airglow—the light indirectly produced when ultraviolet radiation from the sun is absorbed by molecules in Earth's upper atmosphere. Airglow is related to aurora, the beautiful light show that occurs near Earth's polar regions.
IONOSPHERIC TESTS: From a radar-equipped yacht, SRI traveled the world studying the effects of the ionosphere on electromagnetic systems under nuclear and natural conditions for the U.S. Government.
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