Born in 1926, Queen Elizabeth II has lived through it all – from multiple wars and times of conflict to joyous moments of scientific innovation, cultural progression and sporting success. 2022 finds Her Majesty celebrating an unprecedented 70 years on the throne.
Elizabeth II took over the crown at the age of just 25 when her father, King George VI, died of lung cancer and her formal coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on 2nd June, 1953. Throughout her long reign, there have been a number of technological breakthroughs and here we provide a timeline of just some of these momentous and world-changing events…
1954 – Colour television was introduced to consumers
1955 – The Space Race between the United States and Soviet Union started
1957 – Sputnik 1 – the first artificial Earth satellite – was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union
1961 – Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to travel into space
1962 – LED lights were invented by Nick Holonyak, Jr
1969 – The Apollo 11 mission saw the first humans – Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – set foot on the moon
1973 – The first mobile cell phone was invented by Motorola
1977 – Star Wars: A New Hope was released in cinemas
1980 – The Pac-Man arcade game was released
1980 – CNN – the world’s first 24-hour rolling-news channel – made its debut
1984 – The first Apple Macintosh computer was put on sale
1989 – Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web
1990 – The Hubble Telescope was launched into orbit
1992 – The first text message was sent
1995 – Toy Story – the first entirely computer-animated feature film – was released
1998 – Google was launched
2000 – Broadband was invented
2001 – Apple launched the iPod
2005 – Tech21 was established
2005 – YouTube debuted
2007 – Apple announced the launch of the first iPhone
2007 – Netflix launched its streaming service
2008 – Samsung announced the first Galaxy device
2011 – Siri launched on the iPhone 4s
2011 – Uber was launched in San Francisco
2014 – Announcement of the Apple Watch
2019 – Disney Plus and Apple TV both launched
2020 – Tech21 launches recycled phone cases and biodegradable phone cases
2021 – Tech21 launched Evo Max – the most protective rugged case on the market