80 Fun Facts About Name That Decade

In which decade did the Wright brothers make the first sustained, controlled powered flight?

The Flyer's 12-horsepower engine kept it aloft for 12 seconds on the first hop at Kitty Hawk.

In which decade did the Ford Model T go into production?

The moving assembly line came later, in 1913, and helped push the price below $300 by the 1920s.

In which decade did the Titanic sink on her maiden voyage?

She went down two hours and forty minutes after striking the iceberg, with up to 1,635 people lost.

In which decade was the Panama Canal formally opened to shipping?

The first vessel through was the cargo ship SS Ancon; the US had taken the project over from the French a decade earlier.

In which decade were the first Winter Olympic Games held, at Chamonix?

They were staged as an 'International Winter Sports Week' and only retroactively named the first Winter Olympics.

In which decade did The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length 'talkie', reach cinemas?

Al Jolson performed six songs using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, and the silent era was effectively over.

In which decade did Mickey Mouse make his official debut in Steamboat Willie?

He had actually appeared months earlier in a test screening of Plane Crazy, but this was the film that made him a star.

In which decade did Parker Brothers first publish Monopoly?

Charles Darrow's patent for the game was granted on the last day of that same year.

In which decade did the Golden Gate Bridge open to the public?

At its opening it was both the longest and the tallest suspension bridge in the world.

In which decade did the airship Hindenburg burst into flames in New Jersey?

It was the lead ship of the largest class of flying machine ever built, and it was filled with hydrogen.

In which decade did Superman first appear, in Action Comics #1?

Batman followed in Detective Comics a year later, and Wonder Woman arrived in All Star Comics in 1941.

In which decade was the Empire State Building constructed?

It took just over a year to build and was the tallest building in the world for four decades.

In which decade was the Slinky first demonstrated to shoppers, at Gimbels in Philadelphia?

Naval engineer Richard James had been working on the spring since 1943 and sold the entire stock in 90 minutes.

In which decade did Raytheon sell the first commercial microwave oven, the Radarange?

Percy Spencer noticed a chocolate bar melting in his pocket near a radar magnetron, and the first ovens were the size of refrigerators.

In which decade did French designer Louis Réard introduce the modern bikini?

He named it after the atoll where a nuclear bomb had been publicly tested four days earlier.

In which decade did Columbia Records introduce the 33 1/3 rpm LP record?

RCA answered with the 45 rpm single the following year, and the two formats coexisted for decades.

In which decade did Mattel introduce the Barbie doll?

Ruth Handler based her on the German Bild Lilli doll she had bought on a trip to Europe.

In which decade did Wham-O turn the plastic hula hoop into a craze?

The idea came from Australian children twirling bamboo hoops; the 'hula' comes from the Hawaiian dance.

In which decade did the Soviet Union launch Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite?

It beeped for three weeks before its batteries died and burned up on re-entry three months after launch.

In which decade did Disneyland open in Anaheim, California?

It is the only Disney park built under Walt Disney's direct supervision.

In which decade was Diners Club, the first independent payment card company, formed?

Frank McNamara reportedly got the idea after forgetting his wallet at a New York restaurant.

In which decade did Hasbro first distribute Mr. Potato Head, the first toy advertised on television?

Early sets came with only the parts; children were expected to supply a real potato.

In which decade did Apollo 11 land the first humans on the Moon?

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were all on their second and final spaceflight.

In which decade did East Germany begin building the Berlin Wall?

It stood for 28 years, complete with a 'death strip' of trenches and guard towers, until it fell in 1989.

In which decade was the Woodstock festival held on Max Yasgur's dairy farm?

More than 460,000 people turned up for what was billed as three days of peace and music.

In which decade did the original Star Trek series premiere on NBC?

It ran for only three seasons before syndication turned it into a franchise.

In which decade did Ford launch the Mustang, creating the 'pony car' segment?

Ford expected to sell about 100,000 in the first year and sold more than four times that.

In which decade was the world's first cash machine installed, at a Barclays branch in Enfield, London?

It beat a Swedish rival by nine days; the actor Reg Varney of On the Buses made the first withdrawal.

In which decade did Atari release Pong in arcades?

Allan Alcorn built it as a training exercise; Magnavox later sued because it resembled a game on the Odyssey console.

In which decade did Ernő Rubik invent the puzzle cube that bears his name?

He called it the Magic Cube; the international launch by Ideal Toy did not come until 1980.

In which decade was the original Star Wars film released?

It was later retitled Episode IV – A New Hope once the prequels were planned.

In which decade did Sony introduce the Walkman portable cassette player?

It was briefly sold in the US as the Soundabout before the Japanese name stuck worldwide.

In which decade was Apple founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne?

Wayne sold his 10 percent stake back within days for $800.

In which decade was the first Earth Day held?

An estimated 20 million Americans took part, and it now involves about a billion people in more than 190 countries.

In which decade were Post-it notes launched across the United States?

3M's low-tack adhesive had been discovered by accident more than a decade earlier; an initial 1977 test flopped.

In which decade did Namco release Pac-Man?

It was called Puck Man in Japan; the name was changed for America to stop vandals altering the P.

In which decade did MTV go on the air?

The first video it played was 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by the Buggles.

In which decade did the compact disc first go on sale, in Japan?

It was co-developed by Philips and Sony and was the second optical disc format after the LaserDisc.

In which decade did reactor 4 at Chernobyl explode?

It is one of only two nuclear accidents rated at the maximum level of the international severity scale, along with Fukushima.

In which decade did The Simpsons debut as a half-hour series on Fox?

The family had first appeared as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show two years earlier.

In which decade did the Nintendo Entertainment System get its nationwide launch in the United States?

It had been on sale in Japan as the Famicom since 1983.

In which decade did Coleco first produce Cabbage Patch Kids?

They set toy-industry sales records for three straight years and caused Christmas shopping riots.

In which decade was the World Wide Web opened to the public?

Tim Berners-Lee invented it at CERN in 1989 as a 'universal linked information system'.

In which decade was the Hubble Space Telescope launched into orbit?

Its flawed mirror needed a shuttle servicing mission three years later before it produced sharp images.

In which decade did Friends premiere on NBC?

It ran ten seasons, ending in 2004.

In which decade did Bandai release the Tamagotchi digital pet?

Its two creators shared an Ig Nobel Prize for economics for diverting millions of hours into pet-keeping.

In which decade was Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, born?

She was cloned from a mammary gland cell, which is why she was named after Dolly Parton.

In which decade was Google founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin?

The pair were PhD students at Stanford at the time.

In which decade were the first Pokémon games, Red and Green, released on the Game Boy?

They were sleeper hits in Japan before spawning the cards, anime and the world's highest-grossing media franchise.

In which decade was Wikipedia founded?

It began as an English-only side project and now exists in more than 300 languages.

In which decade did Apple release the first iPod?

It arrived ten months after iTunes and was discontinued in 2022 after an estimated 450 million sales.

In which decade was YouTube founded?

Three former PayPal employees started it; the first upload showed co-founder Jawed Karim at the zoo.

In which decade did the first iPhone go on sale?

Development had begun in secret in 2005, and the 4 GB model cost $499.

In which decade was Twitter launched?

It was initially called twttr, and the 140-character limit came from SMS message length.

In which decade did Nintendo release the Wii?

Its motion controls were aimed at players who had never picked up a gamepad, and it outsold the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

In which decade did Netflix launch its streaming service?

The company had already been mailing DVDs in red envelopes for nearly a decade.

In which decade was Instagram launched?

It began as an iOS-only app from Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and was bought by Facebook within two years.

In which decade did Pokémon Go send players into the streets to catch creatures in augmented reality?

It passed 500 million downloads in its first year.

In which decade did Disney release Frozen?

It was loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Snow Queen' from 1844.

In which decade did Psy release 'Gangnam Style'?

It became the first YouTube video to pass a billion views.

In which decade did NASA's Curiosity rover land on Mars?

It was lowered to the surface by a rocket-powered 'sky crane' inside Gale crater.

In which decade did Epic Games release Fortnite?

Battle Royale started as an early-access mode and quickly eclipsed the original Save the World.

In which decade was Snapchat launched?

It first appeared on iOS under the name Picaboo before being renamed a couple of months later.

In which decade was the Eiffel Tower completed?

It was the centrepiece of a World's Fair marking the centenary of the French Revolution.

In which decade was Coca-Cola first sold, at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta?

John Pemberton created it as a non-alcoholic version of his French Wine Coca after local prohibition laws passed.

In which decade were the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens?

Fourteen nations and 241 athletes, all men, took part.

In which decade did George Eastman patent the Kodak camera?

It came pre-loaded with film for 100 exposures; you sent the whole camera back for developing.

In which decade did George de Mestral conceive the hook-and-loop fastener sold as Velcro?

He got the idea from burrs sticking to his dog's fur, but the product was not patented until 1955.

In which decade did Wham-O buy the rights to the flying disc it would sell as the Frisbee?

The name came from the Frisbie Pie Company, whose tins Yale students had been throwing around.

In which decade was the Etch A Sketch introduced?

French inventor André Cassagnes had shown it at the Nuremberg toy fair the year before Ohio Art bought it.

In which decade did Sesame Street premiere?

It arrived a few months after the Moon landing, with Jim Henson's Muppets doing the teaching.

In which decade did the BBC first broadcast Doctor Who?

The first episode aired the day after President Kennedy was assassinated.

In which decade was the euro introduced to financial markets as an accounting currency?

Notes and coins did not appear until three years later.

In which decade was the first Angry Birds game released?

Its slingshot physics were inspired by the Flash game Crush the Castle.

In which decade did Alexey Pajitnov create Tetris?

He wrote it in the Soviet Union, and it has since appeared in about 220 versions on at least 70 platforms.

In which decade was Play-Doh first shown at an educational convention and sold in stores?

It had started life as a wallpaper cleaner two decades earlier.

In which decade did Willis Carrier invent air conditioning?

His 1902 system allowed precise control of both temperature and humidity indoors.

In which decade did Ruth Wakefield invent the chocolate chip cookie?

Her 1930 creation from Whitman, Massachusetts was called the Toll House Cookie.

In which decade did Sylvan Goldman invent the shopping cart?

Goldman, a grocery store owner, introduced the wheeled basket in 1937.

In which decade did Whitcomb L. Judson construct the first workable zipper?

The Chicago engineer's 1893 hook-and-eye device was intended for shoes.