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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Several technologies created or decisively advanced in the 1970s still operate behind ordinary digital life. GPS guides a phone, email carries messages, TCP/IP moves data between networks, Ethernet links wired devices, and microprocessors power almost every modern computer. Research into rechargeable lithium batteries during the decade also helped make today’s lithium-ion devices possible. In each case, the current technology is an evolved descendant—not a piece of 1970s hardware preserved unchanged.
What “still used” means for a 1970s invention
A technology can remain in everyday use in three different ways. Its original design may still be deployed, as with Ethernet networking. Its underlying method may have expanded into a much more capable descendant, as with microprocessors. Or research from the decade may have supplied an important step toward a later commercial product, as happened with rechargeable lithium batteries.
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This distinction matters because a smartphone is not using a 1970s GPS receiver, email server or microprocessor. Modern versions are smaller, faster, more secure and integrated with many other systems. The enduring invention is the architecture, protocol or engineering approach that later generations continued to refine.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstall| Technology | 1970s milestone | Where it appears now | How to interpret the connection |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPS | Modern program organized in 1973; first NAVSTAR GPS satellite launched in 1977 | Phone navigation, location services, surveying, aviation and maritime systems | A long-running satellite-navigation program, not 1970s phone navigation |
| Ray Tomlinson sent an early network email in 1971 and used “@” in addresses | Personal, business and automated messages worldwide | The user-facing service evolved from early network messaging | |
| TCP/IP | Protocols took shape as a way to interconnect separate computer networks | The Internet and private IP networks | Hidden infrastructure rather than a visible consumer product |
| Ethernet | Local-area networking technology developed in the 1970s | Wired links for computers, switches, servers, televisions and access points | The same broad networking approach remains practical, with newer speeds and media |
| Microprocessors | Intel 4004, released in 1971, demonstrated a general-purpose computer on a chip | Phones, PCs, vehicles, appliances, industrial controllers and embedded devices | The integrated-processor concept survived; modern chips are radically more capable |
| Lithium battery research | Research into lithium-based rechargeable batteries during the decade | Lithium-ion batteries in phones, laptops, power tools and electric vehicles | A contribution to later commercialization, not a claim that today’s lithium-ion cell was finished in the 1970s |
GPS: a 1970s satellite program behind everyday navigation
How the modern GPS program began
The modern form of the Global Positioning System began in 1973, when the U.S. Department of Defense called for a joint program office, according to DARPA’s historical timeline. The Office of Naval Research records the 1977 launch of Navigation Technology Satellite II as the first satellite in the NAVSTAR GPS system. These were milestones in a military and research program, not the arrival of the turn-by-turn navigation app people use today.
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GPS determines a receiver’s position by comparing the timing of signals from satellites. That basic satellite-ranging idea has remained, while the satellites, atomic clocks, receivers, antennas, software and correction services have been repeatedly redesigned. A phone can now combine satellite signals with cellular, Wi-Fi and motion-sensor data, making location available in a small, low-power device.
Where GPS is used today
Navigation is the most visible use: a smartphone can display a route, estimate arrival time and identify nearby places. The Office of Naval Research also lists air-traffic control, scientific surveying, harbor navigation and ocean-wave measurement as peacetime applications. Surveying receivers can use correction data for far greater precision than a typical consumer map, while aviation systems use GPS as one element in a broader navigation and safety framework.
The spread from military satellites to civilian phones illustrates how a 1970s invention can change category. The original program supplied a global reference system; mass-market receivers, digital maps, mobile networks and software created the everyday experience.
Precision time is part of the story, not a GPS accuracy claim
Satellite navigation depends on extremely accurate time measurement. The National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) reported that its NBS-6 atomic clock had enough accuracy and stability in 1975 to “neither gain nor lose a second in 400,000 years.” That figure describes the clock’s timekeeping performance under the stated test conditions; it is not a claim that a phone’s GPS position is accurate to a particular distance or that the receiver never needs corrections. NIST’s history is available at https://www.nist.gov/atomic-clocks/brief-history-atomic-time.
Historical milestones for GPS are documented by the Office of Naval Research at https://www.onr.navy.mil/about-onr/history/timeline/1970 and by DARPA at https://www.darpa.mil/about/innovation-timeline/miniaturized-gps-receivers.
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Email and TCP/IP: the visible service and the network beneath it
Email turned computer messaging into a general-purpose service
Ray Tomlinson sent an early network email in 1971. The U.S. Department of State credits him with choosing the “@” symbol to separate a recipient’s name from the destination computer in an address. That notation remains recognizable in every modern email address.
The modern service is far more elaborate than a 1970s message transfer. Mail clients synchronize across phones and computers; servers authenticate users, filter spam and malware, encrypt connections and store messages in data centers. Attachments, mailing lists, calendars and automated notifications all use the same basic idea: a message addressed to a user can be transmitted through a computer network and retrieved later.
TCP/IP makes separate networks interoperate
Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol, commonly called TCP/IP, took shape in the 1970s as methods for connecting independent computer networks. IP supplies addressing and routing so packets can travel between networks. TCP traditionally provided reliable, ordered delivery by detecting loss and arranging retransmission; many current applications also use related protocols such as UDP and newer transport designs when different trade-offs are useful.
TCP/IP is therefore less visible than email. You do not open a “TCP/IP app,” but an email, web page, video call or software update can cross many networks because common protocols let those networks exchange packets. Today’s Internet adds wireless links, fiber, cloud data centers, encryption and application protocols, yet the inter-networking model remains a foundation. The State Department’s overview of email and TCP/IP is at https://stories.state.gov/american-inventions/.
Ethernet: a 1970s wired connection that still earns a place
What Ethernet actually does
Ethernet is a local-area networking technology developed in the 1970s. It defines how devices on a local network format and exchange frames over a physical medium, historically coaxial cable and later twisted-pair copper or fiber. A switch can connect computers, printers, servers, cameras, televisions and wireless access points on the same local network.
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The name is still printed on network ports and settings because wired Ethernet remains useful when consistent throughput, low latency or predictable reliability matters. Offices, data centers, production facilities and homes may use Ethernet for a desktop computer, game console, access point or network-attached storage even when most phones and tablets connect over Wi-Fi.
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What changed since the original implementation
Modern Ethernet is not limited to the speeds or cabling of early systems. Standards have added faster signaling, full-duplex switching, improved management and fiber options, while Power over Ethernet can carry electrical power to compatible devices over the network cable. The lasting invention is the interoperable local-network framework; the physical media and performance levels have changed substantially.
The Computer History Museum’s history of 1970s Internet development identifies Ethernet as one of the decade’s important networking advances: https://www.computerhistory.org/internethistory/1970s/.
Microprocessors: the “computer on a chip” inside modern devices
The 1971 breakthrough
The Computer History Museum identifies Intel’s 4004, released in 1971, as the first general microprocessor and describes it as a “computer on a chip.” Before this approach, processing functions were commonly assembled from many separate components. Integrating the central processing unit onto one chip made it practical to build smaller, standardized and increasingly affordable computers.
The enduring invention is not the 4004’s instruction set or performance. Modern processors may contain multiple cores, large caches, graphics engines, security features and billions of transistors. Nevertheless, they retain the core idea that programmable computation can be implemented in a compact integrated circuit.
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Why microprocessors are easy to miss
A phone contains application processors, radio processors, image processors and small controllers. Cars use processors for engine management, braking, driver assistance and entertainment. Washing machines, thermostats, routers and medical equipment can contain embedded processors that users never see. Software updates may change what a processor does without changing the hardware.
This makes the microprocessor a classic hidden foundation. The 1970s invention is present not because modern devices contain an old chip, but because nearly every digital device still relies on the integrated, programmable-processing model.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Lithium battery research: an important contribution, not a finished 1970s product
What 1970s research contributed
The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory says it was among the first research institutions to investigate lithium-based rechargeable batteries in the 1970s. That work informed the later commercial development of lithium-ion batteries, which are now common in phones, laptops, power tools and electric vehicles. A modern lithium-ion cell depends on decades of subsequent chemistry, materials engineering, manufacturing and safety development.
The accurate historical statement is therefore that 1970s research contributed to the path toward today’s rechargeable lithium-ion technology. It is inaccurate to say that the contemporary lithium-ion battery appeared fully formed during that decade.
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Do not confuse lithium-ion with the lithium-iodine pacemaker battery
A separate history concerns a lithium-iodine battery used in pacemakers. The Central Intelligence Agency says its researchers developed that chemistry in the 1960s and transferred the technology to the medical community in the early 1970s. It is not the same technology as the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in consumer electronics and electric vehicles.
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Keeping those histories separate prevents two common errors: dating modern lithium-ion batteries too early and treating every lithium battery as the same chemistry. The Naval Research Laboratory account is at https://www.nrl.navy.mil/Media/News/Article/4341368/navy-and-the-nation-five-everyday-technologies-born-from-naval-research/; the CIA’s account, published September 14, 2022, is at https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/cia-contributions-to-modern-technology-75-years/.
How these 1970s foundations work together in one ordinary day
Consider a phone user opening a map, joining a video call and sending a message. A microprocessor runs the operating system and applications. GPS supplies satellite-based location data, potentially assisted by other sensors and networks. TCP/IP carries packets across local and wide-area networks. Wi-Fi may provide the radio link, while Ethernet can connect the wireless access point to a router or switch. Email uses the same general network infrastructure to deliver a message to a remote server. The phone’s lithium-ion battery supplies portable energy to all of those systems.
No single 1970s invention creates the entire experience. The result comes from layering: integrated computation, network protocols, wired and wireless links, satellite timing and positioning, and improved energy storage. That is why the history is best understood as a set of foundations rather than a list of unchanged gadgets.
Common misconceptions about 1970s technology
- “GPS was on phones in the 1970s.” The GPS program and first NAVSTAR satellite belong to that era; consumer smartphone navigation arrived decades later after receivers, mobile computers and digital maps matured.
- “The Internet is one invention from one year.” TCP/IP supplied an inter-networking foundation, while later networks, hardware, applications and standards built the Internet people use.
- “Ethernet means old, slow cable networks.” Ethernet has continued through new speeds, switching methods and copper or fiber media.
- “A modern processor is basically the Intel 4004.” The enduring idea is programmable computation on an integrated chip, not the original chip’s capabilities.
- “Lithium-ion batteries were invented as finished products in the 1970s.” Rechargeable-lithium research from that decade contributed to later commercial lithium-ion development; the chemistry and products evolved over many years.
- “Atomic-clock accuracy equals phone-position accuracy.” Precise timing enables satellite navigation, but receiver conditions, signal obstructions and correction methods determine practical positioning performance.
The takeaway
The 1970s supplied several of the foundations that still make everyday technology work: a satellite-navigation program, network email, TCP/IP interconnection, Ethernet local networking and the microprocessor. Lithium battery research added an important step toward later rechargeable power. Their survival is not a sign that engineering stopped in the 1970s. It shows that durable architectures can be refined for decades, moving from military and laboratory projects into the phones, computers, vehicles and networks people use every day.
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