1 April 1971 was the day PIE’s parent publication, KI Group, was born. But that was not all that happened in 1971 – it was packed full of many other memorable events. Let us look at a brief selection of some of the other highlights:

8 February: NASDAQ goes online as the first electronic stock market. Starting out as a quotation system without trading – and somewhat unpopular since it reduced the profits of brokers – it is now second only to the New York Stock Exchange.

4 April: The first-ever report of marine litter. A newspaper quotes biologist Ed Carpenter, who together with Ken Smith found plastics floating in the Sargasso Sea during an expedition on the east coast of the US: “Plastic has only been produced in large quantities since World War II. I find it terrifying that after 25 years it appears in the middle of the ocean. You ask yourself what will be in 50 or 100 years?”

Undated: The @ sign (also known as the “at sign”) saw the (virtual) light of the day for the first time. Its inventor, US electrical engineer Ray Tomlinson, at the age of 30, sent the first email in the history of mankind, from one computer to another. His invention back then made a bigger impact than the present-day Plastixx index. Now, more than 280 bn emails are despatched worldwide in a single day.

13 June: The second magical moment of journalism (after the premiere of KI on 1 April): The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers, involving top-secret documents about the US war in Vietnam. President Richard Nixon came under heavy pressure because of this revelation.

14 October: Environmental organisation Greenpeace was founded in Canada. Today, with assets of over USD 60m, it is one of the biggest, most popular and powerful non-profit organisations in the world.

20 October: Award for a true democrat: the acting federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Willy Brandt, received the Nobel Peace Prize for implementing his policy of rapprochement for the communist Eastern Bloc.

23 October: A bagful of air became a lifesaver as Daimler-Benz patented the airbag. Since then, pyrotechnics, compressed gas and a fabric of polyamide 6.6 have been bringing greater safety in road traffic.

15 November: The world’s first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, was officially launched, an event that served as a significant milestone on the path to the digital age. The groundbreaking product also came in a version packaged in plastic, the P4004.

22 December: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, was founded in Paris. Journalists and doctors got together to provide medical aid in areas affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from healthcare. Nearly 65,000 people worldwide are now part of the movement.