360What happened in 1960?
4 moments from 1960 on 360n60, each told in 60 words or fewer.
- On this day · 23 January 1960
Two explorers dive to the deepest point of the ocean
On 23 January 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh took the bathyscaphe Trieste to the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the Pacific's Mariana Trench, about 10,900 m down. The descent took almost five hours. They saw a flat-looking fish, proof that life survives at enormous pressure.
- On this day · 22 March 1960
A patent for the laser is granted
On 22 March 1960, Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes received a US patent for the 'optical maser', the idea behind the laser. Theodore Maiman built the first working laser that May. Lasers now read barcodes, carry internet data along fibres, cut metal and help eye surgeons.
- On this day · 21 April 1960
Brasília becomes Brazil's capital
On 21 April 1960, Brasília was inaugurated as Brazil's new capital, built in about four years on an empty high plain in the centre of the country. Planned by Lúcio Costa, with buildings by the architect Oscar Niemeyer, its layout is shaped like an aeroplane or a bird.
- 1960 · from The 1960s: the first astronaut and the Moon landing
OPEC founded