Year: 1977
Signifiance: 3D wireframe graphics

Like Bernie Mac, Baby Face Nelson and the giant barbecue rib, 3D graphics were born in Chicago. That was thanks largely to computer animation boffin Larry Cuba who toiled away for months on the city’s University of Illinois campus to match George Lucas’ idea for the pre-Death Star attack briefing. What he came up with was a wireframe mock-up the Empire’s moon-shaped HQ that made the Rebel Alliance’s IT department look seriously good. A special making-of feature that's well-worth ten minutes of your time, gives a fascinating behind-the-screens look at how his wireframe work came together. Ridley Scott called on similar wireframe technology for Alien’s LV-426 fly-over two years later, but it was Cuba, a true pioneer of CGI, who got the ball rolling. Most impressive, as a certain ex-Jedi might say.