Science and Technology
From 1950, he implements the concept of fully electronic memories for storing instructions and data greatly developed over the preparation of programs or languages to be used in a digital computer was still fragile.
At this time opened the arrival of television in Portugal and Brazil also was the era of scientific breakthroughs such as DNA. In early 1950 very little was known about the genes and how they work. The great achievement of the decade was to determine the structure of DNA. With this knowledge, scientists determined that DNA contains the code of genes.
Important advances were made in American science during the 1950s. Great inventions and discoveries were almost daily events, and previously unknown technology improved and became commercially applicable. Another important factor was the creation of Sputnik, the first series of satellites designed to study the capabilities of launching payloads into space and to study the effects of weightlessness and radiation on living organisms. It also served to study the properties of the surface in preparation for the first manned space flight.
Discovery of the contraceptive pill
Advances in science have been responsible for many technologies that changed the course of history. Part of them for good, like vaccines, jets, computers, but there are bombs and all the technology of war. One of the findings of 50 years who may have been primarily responsible for the change in life and social role of women was the pill, which allowed a greater inclusion of women in the labor market and also a sexual freedom that she did not know yet.
The contraceptive pill is a hormonal contraceptive that has emerged in the 50s. Although there are some other contraceptives which allowed decisions about motherhood were under the control of women, such as the cervical cap (1838), the diaphragm (1882), Ogino and Knaus method or "rhythm method" (early twentieth century) and IUDs (the 20s), the pill that was carried with the emblem of "liberating".
Creation of the Brazilian Institute of Science and Technology (IBICT)
In the 50's was created by the Brazilian Institute of Science and Technology (IBICT), whose mission is to promote the development of information sector by proposing policies, implementation of research and diffusion of innovations that contribute to the advancement of science, technology and innovation for the competitiveness of the country
New drug discovery
The discovery of penicillin in 1928 precipitated the era of antibiotics, some of the most spectacular of modern medicine, it culminated in the 50's with the discovery of a profusion of antibacterial agents that can tackle a wide variety of microorganisms. Another important new drug, also from the 50s, was a broad range of psychoactive drugs, especially tranquilizers and antidepressants.
The satellite
In this frenetic pace of technological advances, the 50 would also bring major innovations: in 1957, began satellite communications with the launch of Sputnik I, the first satellite in history, developed and manufactured in Russia. "It was a low-orbit satellite that could be seen with the naked eye at night, like an intensely bright star." Although it survived for only three months represented the starting point for an extensive range of new civilian and military launches. In the following figure we can identify some of the characteristics of these systems.
It was still in its infancy, but there was born a couple that would soon be inseparable: laser and fiber optics. Soon after, in July 1960, Theodore Maiman announced the operation of the first LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) whose active medium was a ruby crystal, "is considered the most appropriate source to be used as a transmitter system optical transmission. " Thereafter, the laser and fiber optics have evolved rapidly, benefiting from a strategic digital telecommunications in the following decades.