Inventions & Breakthroughs of December 1975
Gadgets, lab surprises, odd bets, and future-shocks from this slice of the calendar.
1 
Personal Computer (Altair 8800)
2 
Laser Printer
3 
Supercomputer (Cray-1)
4 
Digital Camera Prototype
5 
Portable Email Systems
6 
Programmable Calculator
7 
Consumer Microwave Oven Adoption
8 
Speech Recognition System
9 
Satellite TV Broadcasting
10 
Computer Networking Expansion
The Sounds of
Popular recordings and roots/country selections associated with the year
HEADLINES ON December 29, 1975
Full News Archive
- Headline: Miscast and Mismanaged: 'Luckly Lady'. Impact: The disastrous reception of 'Luckly Lady' led to a sudden boom in amateur theater as aspiring actors believed they could do better. Many ended up starting their own productions, eventually giving rise to the thriving community theater scene, where mismanagement and miscasting became an art form in its own right.. Fact: Did you know that 'Luckly Lady' was so mismanaged that they considered changing the title to 'Unluckily Stuck'? True story!.
- Headline: Black Bird: A Spoof of The Maltese Falcon. Impact: 'Black Bird' being a flop led to countless misguided attempts at spoofing classic films, resulting in an entire generation believing that parody is just a fancy way of saying 'let's make it worse'. This eventually paved the way for the creation of cringe-worthy YouTube channels that flourish even today.. Fact: Fun fact: 'Black Bird' was so poorly received that it caused a temporary shortage of popcorn in theaters as people were too busy cringing to snack..
Wall Street Time Machine
The Right Call: If you'd invested $1,000 in any one of these companies in 1975, here's what the stored 2025 dataset estimates.
Rank #1
MO
Philip Morris
Price in 1975
$0.02
2025 dataset value
$2,924,036
Philip Morris - If you invested $1,000 in 1975, it would be worth $2,924,036 today (2924.0x return)
Rank #2
BA
Boeing
Price in 1975
$0.18
2025 dataset value
$1,159,830
Boeing - If you invested $1,000 in 1975, it would be worth $1,159,830 today (1159.8x return)
Rank #3
WMT
Walmart
Price in 1975
$0.00
2025 dataset value
$32,670,879
Walmart - If you invested $1,000 in 1975, it would be worth $32,670,879 today (32670.9x return)
🦸 Top 5 Comics
Giant-Size X-Men #1
$13,300
X-Men #94
$3,000
Marvel Preview #2
$75
The Invincible Iron Man #75
$50
Tomb of Dracula #45
$150
🧸 Top 5 Toys
Pet Rock
$100.00
Playmobil Sets
$75.00
Pogo Ball
$150.00
Weebles
$75.00
Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle
$1,050.00
🎮 Top 5 Video Games
Gun Fight
$200.00
Pong Doubles
$50.00
Crash 'N Score
Unknown
Indy 800
$500.00
Hi-way
$200.00
⚾ Top 5 Trading Cards
1975 Topps Baseball George Brett Rookie Card
$50,400
1975 Topps Mini Robin Yount Rookie Card
$30,000.00
1975 Panini Calciatori Diego Maradona Rookie Sticker
$250,000
1975 Topps Football Lynn Swann Rookie Card
$2,500
1975 O-Pee-Chee WHA Bob Lemieux Rookie Card
$250,000