Today in Technology History
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September 4
Exactly half a century ago, the U.S. had its first live transcontinental TV broadcast as part of an event that helped create a technological superpower.
September 4, 1951 was the first day of the conference in San Francisco that formalized peace with Japan after World War II. President Harry S Truman delivered an address on the opening day, and his speech was televised on the east coast of the U.S. -- the first time any live TV signal had been transmitted from one side of the country to the other.
Just as the completion of the first transcontinental railroad marked the beginning of a new era in transportation, so too did this first use of the transcontinental coaxial cable buried beneath 12 states mark the beginning of an era of instant distant TV.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed on September 8 and it went into effect the next year. With that peace treaty concluded, Japan could concentrate on recovering from its crushing defeat in the war.
Japan's economy is today among the strongest in the world, in no small part thanks to the preeminence of Japanese high-tech firms like Mitsubishi, Sony, Fujitsu and Hitachi. In some areas of electronics and robotics research, Japan is far ahead of the rest of the world. (In fact, Japan has over half of the world's factory robots.) However, high-tech prowess notwithstanding, Japan has recently been in an economic slump, and the Japanese stock index (the Nikkei) yesterday fell to a 17-year low.
Related links:
Click here to read the text of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty.
Click here to read about an organization that studies the way Japanese businesses approach technology.
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