The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. This was the sixth decade of the 20th century . By its end, the world had largely recovered from World War II and the Cold War developed from its modest beginning in the late 1940s to a hot competition between the United States and the Soviet Union by the beginning of the 1960s.
There were some new technologies in the fifties, including television. In 1950, Paper Mate made its first leak free ball point pen. The first copy machine was made in the same year.
The Chevrolet Corvette becomes the first car to have an all-fiberglass body in 1953. In 1954 Bell Telephone labs produced the first solar battery.
In 1954 you could get a yard of contact paper for only 59 cents. Polypropylene was invented in 1954.
In 1955 Jonas Salk invented a polio vaccine which was given to more than seven million American students.
In 1956 a solar powered wrist watch was invented.
A surprise came in 1957; a 184-pound (83 kg) satellite named Sputnik 1 was launched by the Soviets. The space race began 4 months later as the United States launched a smaller satellite.
In 1958 the first plastic Coke bottle appeared.