{"id":6615,"date":"2023-05-02T13:26:16","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T12:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=6615"},"modified":"2024-05-09T15:34:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T14:34:17","slug":"no-the-first-touchscreen-was-not-developed-in-nis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2023\/05\/02\/no-the-first-touchscreen-was-not-developed-in-nis\/","title":{"rendered":"No, the first touchscreen was not developed in Nis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Original article<\/a> (in Serbian) was published on 20\/04\/2023<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The daily Vecernje novosti<\/a> published an article in its Easter issue under the title \u201cThe first touchscreen was developed in Nis 36 years ago\u201d. In a touching story about the former Nis company \u201cEI Televizori\u201d, one of the engineers of the mentioned company, Zoran Stevanovic, recalls the year 1987, when that company produced \u201cJugotid\u201d, which according to Novosti\u2019s journalist, was \u201cthe first prototype of a touch device\u201d. However, even though \u201cJugotid\u201d kept pace with modern technology at that time, it cannot be claimed that \u201cthe first touchscreen was developed in Nis\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When was the first touchscreen developed?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first screen that was sensitive to the touch of a finger was created in Great Britain at the Royal Radar Establishment<\/a>, a research centre sponsored by the Air Ministry. It was invented by engineer Erik A. Johnson back in 1965. In the same year, Johnson wrote about his invention in an article titled \u201cTouch display – A novel input\/output device for computers<\/a>\u201d in the scientific journal \u201cElectronics letters\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mentioned article, Johnson writes that his device has \u201cwires, sensitive to the touch of a finger, on the front side of the cathode ray tube on which the computer can write information\u201d. At the end of the article, he also states that one such device was made and \u201cprogrammed for air traffic control tasks\u201d, and that \u201chis evaluation in this role is still ongoing\u201d. Johnson explained his invention in more detail by attaching photographs in an article titled \u201cTouch displays: A programmed man-machine interface<\/a>\u201d, published in the magazine \u201cErgonomics\u201d in 1967, and two years later he patented<\/a> his device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Screenshot<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Touchscreen development at CERN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of the seventies of the last century, in the laboratories of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, better known as CERN, plans were made for the creation of a new research complex under the name Super Proton Synchrotron<\/a> (SPS). SPS is currently the second largest machine in CERN’s accelerator complex and is almost seven kilometres in circumference. It is used, among other things, to search for matter as it could have been in the first moments of the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a complex machine would have to be controlled using hundreds of buttons and switches, so researchers and engineers at CERN decided to find a more efficient way to control the machine. Frank Beck, who would later become in charge of the central control hub in the SPS control room, asked the Danish engineer Bent Stumpe to solve the problem. In just a few days, Stumpe suggested to Beck that they create a capacitive touchscreen with a fixed number of buttons featured on the display. The proposal was accepted, and Beck and Stumpe described their technology in detail in a report<\/a> from May 1973. This technology was used in the SPS control room until 2008 (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercialization of touchscreens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although touchscreens developed at CERN were commercialized<\/a> and sold to institutes and companies already at the end of the seventies, true commercialization occurred in the early eighties of the last century, when touchscreens became more widely available. In 1983, the company Hewlett-Packard \u2013 HP presented its new computer HP 150<\/a> to the public, which, in addition to the keyboard, also had a touchscreen. The HP 150 personal computer cost a little less than 3,000 US dollars, and this company earned about 350 million dollars from that model by 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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