The barcodes that appear on almost every product bought and sold in shops around the world were born 75 years ago on a beach in Miami.
BBC article here
Some highlghts:
The lines on a barcode work as a sort of visual morse code to signify different digits that are allocated to companies and items (Credit: BBC)
BBC article here
Some highlghts:
Lasers. That's what supermarket staff need, insisted Paul McEnroe. Scanners in the checkout and little pistol-shaped laser guns, too. Point, shoot, sell!
In 1969, it was an outlandish vision of the future: these lasers would scan weird little black-and-white markings on products that McEnroe and his colleagues at IBM had designed. It would speed up supermarket queues, he enthused. The solution would come to be known as the barcode.
At this point in history barcodes had never been used commercially – though the idea had been brewing for decades following a patent filed on 20 October 1949...
There were objections from IBM's lawyers, finally overturned by.... monkeys.In 1969, it was an outlandish vision of the future: these lasers would scan weird little black-and-white markings on products that McEnroe and his colleagues at IBM had designed. It would speed up supermarket queues, he enthused. The solution would come to be known as the barcode.
At this point in history barcodes had never been used commercially – though the idea had been brewing for decades following a patent filed on 20 October 1949...
What if people intentionally injured their eyes with the scanners and then sued IBM? What if supermarket staff went blind? No, no, this was a mere half-milliwatt laser beam, McEnroe tried to explain. There was 12,000 times more energy in a 60-watt lightbulb. His pleas fell flat.
And so he turned to Rhesus monkeys imported from Africa, though now he can't remember how many. "I think it was six..."
In an unexpected twist, the laboratory used by McEnroe subsequently told him it would be sending him the monkeys. They were his problem now. "It was crazy," he recalls, laughing. "I found a zoo in North Carolina."
There were also objections from the general public and some religious groups.And so he turned to Rhesus monkeys imported from Africa, though now he can't remember how many. "I think it was six..."
In an unexpected twist, the laboratory used by McEnroe subsequently told him it would be sending him the monkeys. They were his problem now. "It was crazy," he recalls, laughing. "I found a zoo in North Carolina."
...A 1975 article suggested that, eventually, barcodes would be "laser tattooed" onto everybody's forehead or the back of their hand, ready for presentation at supermarket checkouts... 
...And yet there is, arguably, something strangely dystopian about barcodes. For some, they have become symbols of capitalism in its coldest form. They also often turn up in chilling sequences in movies. In The Terminator, we learn that prisoners of killer robots in an apocalyptic future receive barcode markings on their arms for identification...
...And yet there is, arguably, something strangely dystopian about barcodes. For some, they have become symbols of capitalism in its coldest form. They also often turn up in chilling sequences in movies. In The Terminator, we learn that prisoners of killer robots in an apocalyptic future receive barcode markings on their arms for identification...
The lines on a barcode work as a sort of visual morse code to signify different digits that are allocated to companies and items (Credit: BBC)
And yet, despite being everywhere, most people wouldn't give barcodes a second thought. "The biggest testament to their success," says Frith, "is that we never think about them."
