Because of the war, many important advancements in technology were discovered in the 40′s.  It was in 1940 that the color television was invented.  It wouldn’t be until another couple years until the common person could purchase one however.  The most well known invention in the 1940′s was that of the Atomic Bomb.  The first Atomic Bombs dropped in World War II were the cause of 220,000 deaths in Japan.  Not much is known about the history behind the Atomic Bomb since it was a secret military project during World War II.

For a less military like invention, the Slinky was invented in 1943 by Richard James.  He was working at a Navy station and used springs to hold up instruments on board ships.  He knocked one over on accident and observed the spring “walk” down the stairs.  This was the beginning of the Slinky.  A more important discovery occurred in the early 1940′s.  Percy Spencer was working on an active radar when a chocolate bar in his pocket melted.  He concluded that was odd and did more tests.  He became famous for inventing the first microwave oven from this accidental melting of a chocolate bar!

Last but not least one cannot help but mention the first computer was invented in the 1940′s.  The computer was known as Harvard Mark 1.  The computer was kept at Harvard University and was 51 feet in length, 8 feet high and 2 feet deep.  They then made more Harvard Mark computers up through Harvard Mark 4.

Mitchum

Clothing of the 1940′s was set by the film industry.  During the 40′s, the Fedora Hat became extremely popular, most from the movie Casablanca.  Also during this time, film producers began making Film Noir movies.  These movies depicted dark clothing (such as dark suites and an overcoat), along with a fedora hat. The tuxedo began to fade, while the suit and skinny ties began to become more popular.  Smoking was also becoming popular, so popular that even physicians began recommending smoking.  Below is a picture of Robert Mitchum, who was one of the classic film noir actors.

As you can see, the clothing was dark.  Even females wore very dark colored clothing to depict a time of uncertainty during the war.  After the war people began to start relaxing on dress codes, some people could even be seen just wearing a plain t-shirt!  From this decade and forward, the dress code would began to slack decade by decade.