1941 – Igor Sikorsky accomplished the first successful helicopter (or heliocopter as it was called then) lift-off from water near Stratford, CT.

1947 – Zoomar arrived. No, this is not about some comic book superhero or space alien. Zoomar is a lens demonstrated by NBC-TV in New York City. The Zoomar lens is a device that can feature close-up and long distance camera shots from a stationary camera. Eventually, the lens would be scaled down for use by regular photographers, not just for television. There are many different kinds of close-up/long distance lenses today, including the zoom lens named after the original Zoomar.

1961 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave approval for FM stereo broadcasting. FM stations to that time had been broadcasting in mono.

1972 – Apollo 16, commanded by John Young, landed on the moon.

And this week in 1977 – Optical fiber was used to carry live telephone traffic for the first time.