14 Inventions That Actress Betty White Is Older Than

 

I feel truly blessed that I got to exist on this Earth with Betty White at the same time. Born January 22, 1922, she’s a seemingly unstoppable performer at 97 years old, and with all of that history, it turns out there are many everyday inventions that she’s older than. It’s a goofy way of putting some of modern history into perspective.

 

 

Sliced Bread

It’s weird to think about, but the technology to slice a loaf of bread efficiently didn’t exist until 1928, six years after Betty White’s birth. The technology was created by Otto Frederick Rohwedder.

 

 

Color Television

While color televisions were being introduced to the world in 1950, most people didn’t have them for many years to come. That didn’t stop the first broadcast of a color TV show in 1951 (even though most people literally didn’t see it that way).

 

 

Penicillin

Yeah, this antibiotic used all over the world was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming and wasn’t widely used until 1942.

 

 

Scotch Tape

Created in 1929, this incredibly famous product didn’t hit store shelves until 1930. The most curious thing about Scotch Tape though is its creator, Ricard Drew. What’s not strange is that he was an employee of 3M, what is strange is that his career beforehand was… A banjo player.

 

 

Canned Beer

(Forgive me Graysen, I couldn’t help using that GIF.)

You’d think that as soon as canned drinks existed, beer would have been a top priority, but apparently not. Canning beverages started in 1813, well before Betty White was born, but no one thought to can beer until 1935 when the Gottfried Krueger Brewery finally put two and two together.

 

 

The Slinky

There might not be a weirder example of serendipity than the Slinky. Originally intended to be a technology that would prevent items from breaking while shipping on boats, its creator, Richard T. James, debuted it at a toy store in 1945, two years after he invented it.

 

 

Bubble Gum

Another classic item created in the year 1928, and its origin is as strange as you might expect. While it was created at the Fleer Chewing Gum Company, its creator was an accountant for the company by the name of Walter E. Diemer. Even stranger, the only reason his first batch was pink was that that was the only food coloring he had immediately available.

 

 

The Internet

Look, if Betty White was born in 1922, she’s existed far longer than the internet. However, the earliest beginnings of the internet originated in 1965 at MIT, so it’s not as young as you’d think.

 

 

LSD

I was always under the impression that LSD was synthesized in the 1950s, but evidently not. It was first synthesized by Dr. Albert Hoffman in 1938, meaning that Betty White was 16 years old when the world instantly became a more interesting place.

 

 

Nuclear Fission

The discovery of nuclear fission was made the same year LSD was first synthesized (in fact, these discoveries were literally a few weeks apart), but while LSD was synthesized in Sweden, nuclear fission was discovered in Germany.

 

 

Bean Bag Chair

You know, I’ve never really given much thought as to when/where these things came from. And never in a million years would I answer “Italy in 1969,” which seems too… Soon. In any case, that’s their origin.

 

 

Barbie

Arguably one of the most iconic toys of all time, Barbie wasn’t unveiled until 1959. At that point, Betty White was 37 years old and had already starred in four different TV shows.

 

Big Mac

Again, I always thought Big Macs were older in the sense that I thought they were created in the 1950s. A McDonalds in Pittsburgh debuted the item in 1967, making it one of the “newer” inventions we’ve talked about here.