History of Aberystwyth
1940-1960
1939-1945
World war
1941
May 12: Programmable
Z3 the 1st programmable computer (Its switching elements are electromechanical relays)
1942
December 2: Fusion
Enrico Fermi's team produce 1st controlled self-sustaining fusion reaction.
1945
January 11: Caradoc Evans
Living locally Welsh novelist and playwright Caradoc Evans died.
July 16: Atom Bomb
July 27: Dodgy Ice-Cream
An outbreak of typhoid feaver in Aberystwyth that killed 4 people and put many dozens in the local hospitals was traced to a single barrel of locally made ice-cream.
October 8: Microwave
Cooking using microwaves patented by Percy Spencer of the American military contractor called the Raytheon Company. It would take over 20 years to refine the device into a domestic product.
1947
December 22: Transistor
1st transistor built by Bardeen, Shockley, Brattain in USA
1948
June 21: Baby Runs!
'Baby' the 1st computer to store both data and programs in its main memory runs its 1st program
January: National Railway
Railways were nationalised
April: National Electric
Electricity suppliers were nationalised
July 5: NHS
1950
World Population
- 1750
- 0.79
- 1850
- 1.26
- 1950
- 2.52
- 1960
- 3.02
- 1975
- 4.07
- 1990
- 5.26
- 2000
- 6.07
1950's
Principal
The university principal, locally born Goronwy Rees, is hounded out of college.
1951
Census
Population 9315 Inhabited houses 2471
Panty'
Pantycelyn hall opened - extended in 1953 & 1967[17]
1952
IC
Eisteddfod
National Eisteddfod held in Aberystwyth
December 5-9: Big Smoke
A trapped layer of air over London does not permit the pollution to escape. Freezing fog made thicker every day by the trapped chimney fumes causes breathing difficulties for many vulnerable people. The Great Smog causes 4000 excess deaths during these 4 days and another 8000 excess death in the following few months.
1953
Grass
Founded in 1919, the Welsh Plant Breading Station moves out of the university to its own site (Plas Gorgerddan) 4km north of Aberystwyth.
(In 2008 it would become part of the university again.)
1954
February 10: Disk Drive
The IBM successfully tests a disk drive
1955
Welsh Capital
Cardiff was declared the capital city of Wales
August 8: Queen
The Queen arrives in Aberystwyth to open the - finally - completed National Library of Wales and the Milford Laboratories of the Welsh Plant Breeding Station.[7] (The National Library of Wales has been added to several times over the years as shelf space runs out).
1956
Local Television
TWW (Television Wales & the West) got the franchise to produce local programs for the region
Clock
Town Clock condemned as unsafe and pulled down. Many town's people remember that it proved much more difficult to demolish than expected. (The clock mechanism is now in the Museum)
1957
October 4: Satellite
From Kazakhstan the Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1 the 1st man made satellite.
October 8-12: Radiation
Whilst transmuting materials for a H-bomb a Nuclear reactor catches fire at Windscale in England. Officially played down at the time, this would remain world's worst nuclear accident for 22 years.
July 26: Royal Welsh Flood
Royal Welsh Show held at Blaendolau is flooded 1m deep
September 8: Fire
Fire damages town hall - the rebuilt town hall is the one we have today
1957-62
Hydroelectric
Building of Rheidol hydroelectric power station.
1958
September 12: IC
1959
Biology
Biology building opened on Penglais campus[17]