As the steel industry was making huge technological advances, chemists tried to create a rustproof, or stainless steel. A French metallurgist observed that when carbon steel was combined with an alloy like chrome, it did yield a rust-resistant metal. A century would pass before two British scientists continued his work and, in 1913, Europe was introduced to stainless steel. Its smooth, hard surface doesn't trap dirt, bacteria or molds - and today, stainless steel is used in everything from silverware and jewelry to spacecraft.

The U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry, announced the results of a study on the health effects of smoking, ordered by President Kennedy in 1962. As America's first widely publicized official recognition of the dangers, it stated “Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action.” The report reviewed over 7,000 articles in medical journals, and concluded that cigarette smoking was a cause of lung and larynx cancer and chronic bronchitis. Male cigarette smokers were 1,000 times more likely to die from lung cancer than non-smokers. In 1965, the U.S. Congress required to print health warnings on cigarette packages.