I had limited contact with electronics, beyond consumer level, before the eighties. I'd seen Nixie tubes but I don't remember seeing seven segment displays before calculators and consumer electronics made them ubiquitous.
Of course they're everywhere now but I was surprised they were patented in 1908. Seems they played out of town doing Summer Stock, Reparatory and maybe the Borsht Belt, paying their dues before they hit the big-time.