1951

WCPT inaugurated in the Ingeniørhuset Restaurant, Copenhagen, Denmark
First warning that smoking is linked to cancer, in the Readers Digest

1952

WCPT initiates formal relationship with the World Health Organisation (WHO)

IBM produces its first computer in New York

First WCPT World Congress, London

Second General Meeting agrees that emblem used on Congress programme should be adopted as the official emblem of WCPT

Accounts for year ended 31st December 1953 show a bank balance of £580

Watson and Crick define DNA

WCPT represented at the Third International Poliomyelitis Conference in Rome, where Dr Jonas E Salk and Dr Albert B Sabin speak of their experiments with vaccines

Hydrogen bomb exploded at Bikini

Official relationship with the World Health Organisation begins

Salk polio vaccine introduced

Second Congress and Third General Meeting held in New York

Bobaths' first tour of the US.  Treaty establishing the European Economic Community comes into force

Launch of Sputnik 1, the first earth-orbiting satellite

WCPT gains consultative status with UNICEF

WCPT President Griffin completes her world tour of 18 countries

Fourth General Meeting and Third Congress held in Paris, France

Draft ethical principles for physical therapists ratified

Plans announced for WCPT to have a paid secretary and its own Secretariat

European Confederation of Physical Therapy formed

Salk vaccine for polio reported to be 95% effective

M J Neilson appointed the first Secretary General

WCPT represented at major meetings organised by WHO, UNICEF, and the International Union for Child Welfare

General Secretary Neilson visits Egypt twice and with President Agersnap, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia

First man in orbit around the earth, Major Yuri Gagarin

Wall erected between East and West Berlin

1962

Office accommodation obtained rent free from the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses in London

New octagonal WCPT emblem introduced

Miss Neilson visits Turkey and Greece

1963

WCPT publishes a glossary of terms commonly used by physical therapists

WCPT General Meeting and Congress held in Copenhagen, Denmark

The annual subscription, until now the same for all Member Organisations, becomes payable on a per capita basis

Miss Neilson visits Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Ceylon, India, UAR and Lebanon

President John F Kennedy assassinated

1964

The Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan show

Nelson Mandela jailed for life

1965

Miss Neilson visits Latin America and Poland to report on standards of physical therapy services and training programmes

1966

Miss Neilson visits Czechoslovakia to obtain information on training and working conditions for physical therapists

1967

WCPT General Meeting and Congress held in Melbourne, Australia

Christian Barnard performs first successful human heart transplant

1968

Miss Neilson visits West African countries to survey rehabilitation services

Epidural anaesthesia first used to ease childbirth pain

1969

Neil Armstrong takes man's first step on the Moon

1970

Elizabeth McKay becomes Secretary General of WCPT

WCPT 8th General Meeting and 7th Congress held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.  Articles of Association are revised allowing the allocation of votes based on the number of full-paying members in each Member Organisation

World Confederation for Manual Therapy (later to become IFOMT) formed in Amsterdam by physical therapists from nine countries

1971

WCPT publishes a manual for use by Member Organisations wishing to host a WCPT Congress

Intel invent microprocessor

1972

CT scanner first used to take cross sectional images of the human brain

1974

WCPT Congress and General Meeting in Montreal, Canada.  WCPT Sub Groups are approved in principle

Scientists first prove that CFCs are destroying the earth's ozone layer

1975

Bill Gates found Microsoft

1977

Scientists report using bacteria in the lab to produce insulin

1978

WCPT Congress and General Meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel

IFOMT confirmed as a Sub Group

John Paul II becomes Pope, after two of his predecessors die in the same year

The World's first test-tube baby born

1980

WCPT sets out the case against multi-purpose rehabilitation therapists, as proposed by the WHO

WHO declares the end of smallpox, after mass vaccination programme launched 14 years ago

John Lennon shot dead

1981

WCPT member organisations launch initiatives for International Year of Disabled People

AIDS first recognised

1982

WCPT Congress and General Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden

WCPT Development Fund initiated

Amended ethical principles adopted

European Confederation for Physical Therapy admitted as a Sub Group

Guidelines on specialisation adopted

First artificial heart replacement

Laser first used in cardiovascular surgery

1986

Elizabeth McKay stands down as WCPT Secretary General and replaced by Margaret O'Hare

Chernobyl nuclear reactor explodes, causing world's worst nuclear accident

1987

2,300 people attend WCPT Congress in Sydney, Australia.  General Meeting is inquorate, due to boycott

1988

WCPT Special Meeting held at the North London School of Physical Therapy

Regionalisation policy adopted in principle, and task force set up

Members pass resolutions appealing to all organisations to oppose apartheid, and pledging support for the South African society in their efforts to obtain equality in PT services

Change in WCPT articles to principle of one member one vote

WCPT co-operates with WHO on various projects on physiotherapy and care of the elderly and community based rehabilitation

1989

Report of WCPT's joint project with WHO on the role of physical therapy in the care of elderly people published

Presidents Bush and Gorbachev declare the end of the Cold War

Berlin Wall is opened for first time in 28 years

1990

WCPT's European, North America Caribbean and Asia West Pacific Regions hold their inaugural meetings

WCPT's first computer system installed

Nelson Mandela released from prison after 25 years

1991

WCPT secretariat moves to new headquarters in Abbots Place, London

WCPT Congress held for the second time in London, attended by 3,000 people and opened by the Queen.  Regionalisation policy agreed

1992

WCPT holds its first specialist conference, for private practitioners, in Hong Kong

WCPT logo revised to an oval shape

1993

WCPT publishes a guide for rehabilitation workers on working with children with cerebral palsy

Human genome project launched

1994

WCPT's Africa Region holds its first Regional Congress

South America Region formed

1995

WCPT General Meeting and Congress in Washington DC.  Declarations of principle and position statements adopted

International Private Practitioners Association confirmed as a Sub Group

Margaret O'Hare stands down as WCPT Secretary General and Brenda Myers take up post

WCPT News launched

Work begins on a new corporate identity for WCPT

1996

WCPT sets 8th September - the date of WCPT's first meeting - as International Physical Therapy Day

New Regional Fund comes into operation

WHO predicts TB will kill 30 million in the next decade

1997

WCPT publishes guides for rehabilitation workers in collaboration with WHO and WFOT

Hong Kong reverts to China

1999

WCPT moves to new offices in Victoria, London

WCPT General Meeting and Congress in Yokohama, Japan

International Acupuncture Association of Physical Therapists and International Organization of Physical Therapists in Women's Health confirmed as Sub Groups

New international description of physical therapy agreed

Work begins on developing a profile of physical therapy around the world