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The following timeline provides a capsule narrative
of RLE’s notable events and achievements, and
some of the individuals who have played key roles in
the Laboratory’s development and growth.
1961 - The MIT
Department of Linguistics is formed, with major part
of its nucleus composed of RLE researchers in human
communication.
1962 - RLE graduate
research assistant Ivan E. Sutherland develops Sketchpad,
the first interactive computer graphics program and
the first graphical user interface (GUI). Sutherland
later becomes a vice president of Sun Microsystems.
1962 - Project
"Luna See," conducted by RLE's Louis Smullin
and George Fiocco, demonstrates high-power optical maser
technology by bouncing a laser beam off the moon's surface.
It was the first time outer space had been spanned by
laser light.
1963 - J.C.R.
Licklider, formerly of RLE, funds ARPA's Project MAC
at MIT with RLE's Robert M. Fano as its first director.
Project MAC spawns both the Artificial Intelligence
(AI) Laboratory in 1970 and the Laboratory of Computer
Science (LCS) in 1975. The two laboratories later merge
to become the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (CSAIL) in 2003.
1964 - Amar
G. Bose, who joined RLE in 1953 as a graduate student
working with RLE's Yuk Wing Lee and Norbert Wiener in
statistical communication theory, and who later conducted
research in RLE on physical acoustics and psychoacoustics,
founds Bose Corporation, which becomes an industry leader
in commercial audio products and applications.
1967 - RLE's
reading machine for the blind is the first affordable
optical character reader. With the PDP-1 computer, it
becomes the first system that could scan text and read
aloud.
1968 - RLE's
David H. Staelin and E.C. Reifenstein, using radio telescopes,
discover that the Crab Nebula contains a rapidly-rotating
central star. This discovery helps to connect supernovae,
neutron stars and pulsars.
1968 - RLE's
Thomas Huang uses an optical scanner to perform Fourier
transform coding, and introduces the concept of coding
in blocks smaller than the original image.
1969 - RLE's
Louis Braida and his collaborators begin a landmark
series of articles in the Journal of the Acoustical
Society of America on auditory intensity perception.
1971 - Jerome
B. Weisner, RLE's third Director, is appointed thirteenth
President of MIT.
1972 - RLE's
Bruno Coppi designs and constructs the first high-field
toroidal plasma machine, the Alcator A tokamak.
1973 - A major
portion of RLE moves into the new Sherman Fairchild
Complex (Buildings 36 and 38).
1975 - RLE's
William F. Schreiber and Donald E. Troxel collaborate
to produce the Laserphoto system for the Associate Press
(AP), which quickly replaces all AP Wirephoto machines
throughout the United States.
1975 - RLE's
Alan V. Oppenheim and Ronald Schafer of the Georgia
Institute of Technology publish "Digital Signal
Processing," which becomes the landmark textbook
in the field.
1976 - MIT's
Plasma Fusion Center (now the Plasma Science and Fusion
Center) is formed, with a significant part of its nucleus
composed of RLE's research in experimental plasma physics
and engineering.
1978 - RLE's
Henry I. Smith establishes RLE's Submicron Structures
Laboratory, now the NanoStructures Laboratory.
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