Inventions of the 1980s

Things were invented and therefore we are able to enjoy them. I don't think we even stop to think about what these inventions are because it has become an innate part of our daily lives. I don't say we must keep thinking about these inventions every time we look at the TV screen or switch on the air conditioner or get out the toaster to make ourselves a ham sandwich, but what's the harm in going through some of the important inventions, I say? And to make it a little more interesting, let's try and focus on the inventions of the 1980s. Don't ask me why, it just seems like a quaint little period to pick and choose things from.

Best Inventions of the 80s

The 1980s were a time of the new awakening. Technology burst at its seams trying to make way and head for an era that would be dominated by machines, medicines, technology, and science. Here is a brief account of some of the most important inventions of this decade.

Hepatitis Vaccine
The Hepatitis virus is a disease that affects the liver and can lead to several complications of the liver, giving rise to several conditions like liver cancer, liver failure and liver scarring, even death. That is why this invention by Baruch Blumberg is considered a real breakthrough in the field of medicine. Baruch was an American research physician who discovered an antigen that released antibodies into the blood stream which worked against the hepatitis virus, particularly the Hepatitis B virus.

Apple Mackintosh
The Apple Mackintosh was the first successful home computer. This was commercially successful because it was the first time that a mouse and a graphical user interface (GUI) were used. The Mac design was complete with a QuickDraw picture language and interpreter in 64 Kb of ROM. It had over 128 KB of RAM. The RAM was expendable to 512 KB. The final product's screen was 9 inches, and it had a 512x342 pixel monochrome display. It was brought into the market on January 24, 1984.

CD-ROM
Compact Disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) is a device that comes in the form of a pre-pressed compact disc and contains data that can be accessed but not written onto. It was released with the intention of feeding it with music, but later it was made into a form by which any binary data could be stored in it. It was used to transfer games and other computer software. There are certain CD types which hold only audio and others have audio plus data. The data CDs can be played only on computers, whereas the audio can be played on CD players as well. This invention came to be invented in 1985.

Artificial Human Heart
The first artificial heart was implanted into a man named Dr. Barney Clark on December 2, 1982. and he survived for 112 days after that. The heart was created by Dr. Robert Jarvik and perfected over years of experimentation. The artificial heart's shape and design were oval so that it would fit into the human chest. A blood compatible polyurethane was developed by a biomedical engineer Dr. Donald Lyman and a fabrication method was used which was developed by Kwan-Gett. This made the inside of the ventricles seamless and smooth such that it reduced the dangerous blood clots that are capable of causing strokes.

List of Inventions of the 80s

• The disposable camera (1986)
• MS-DOS (1981)
• Doppler radar (1988)
• Apple Lisa (1983)
• The RU-486 (abortion pill) (1988)
• Windows operating system (1985)
• Soft bifocal contact lens (1983)
• Synthetic skin (1986)
• First 3-D video game(1987)
• Prozac (1988)
• Disposable contact lenses (1987)
• First IBM-PC (1981)
• Soft bifocal contact lens (1983)
• Human growth hormone (1982)
• High-definition television (1989)
• Digital cellular phones (1988)
• DNA fingerprinting (1984)
• Scanning tunneling microscope (1981)
• Indiglo nightlight (1988)

These were some inventions of the 1980s that really went about to change the world and make it into a place that we live in and love.