History in Numbers
Historical Events — How Many Years Ago?
Landmark moments that shaped the world. See exactly how many years, weeks, and days have passed since each event.
On This Day — October 17
1973 — 53 years ago
Arab members of OPEC imposed an oil embargo on countries supporting Israel, causing a global energy crisis
395
Events
1946
Years Covered
12
Categories
0080
Earliest Event
Showing events -
No events match your search.
Alexei Leonov floated in space for 12 minutes outside Voskhod 2
1965-03-18
Details →
The Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite
1957-10-04
Details →
An oxygen tank exploded mid-mission, forcing a dramatic emergency return
1970-04-13
Details →
Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven crew
1986-01-28
Details →
Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry, killing all seven crew
2003-02-01
Details →
Space Shuttle Columbia completed the first orbital shuttle mission
1981-04-12
Details →
NASA launched Voyager 1, which later became the first human-made object to leave the solar system
1977-09-05
Details →
The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from Discovery, transforming astronomy
1990-04-24
Details →
NASA's Curiosity rover touched down inside Gale Crater on Mars
2012-08-06
Details →
The Event Horizon Telescope captured the first image of a black hole in galaxy M87
2019-04-10
Details →
The most powerful space telescope ever built launched from French Guiana
2021-12-25
Details →
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made the first close flyby of Pluto
2015-07-14
Details →
SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful operational rocket
2018-02-06
Details →
The first long-duration crew arrived at the International Space Station
2000-11-02
Details →
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter completed the first powered flight on Mars
2021-04-19
Details →
A cabin fire during a launch rehearsal killed three NASA astronauts
1967-01-27
Details →
Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Neptune, the only spacecraft to do so
1989-08-25
Details →
NASA launched the first Artemis mission, sending Orion around the Moon without crew
2022-11-16
Details →
Mariner 4 returned the first close-up photographs of the Martian surface
1965-07-14
Details →
Dennis Tito became the first fare-paying passenger to reach the ISS aboard a Soyuz
2001-04-28
Details →
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin at St Mary's Hospital
1928-09-28
Details →
Watson and Crick described the double-helix structure of DNA
1953-04-25
Details →
The Chicago Pile-1 achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
1942-12-02
Details →
Albert Einstein published the special theory of relativity, redefining space and time
1905-09-26
Details →
Charles Darwin published his theory of natural selection and evolution
1859-11-24
Details →
Isaac Newton published Principia Mathematica, laying the foundations of classical mechanics
1687-07-05
Details →
Dmitri Mendeleev published the first widely recognized periodic table of elements
1869-03-06
Details →
Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays while experimenting with cathode ray tubes
1895-11-08
Details →
Guglielmo Marconi successfully transmitted radio signals over long distances
1895-05-07
Details →
Alexander Graham Bell made the first successful telephone call
1876-03-10
Details →
Thomas Edison successfully demonstrated a practical incandescent light bulb
1879-10-21
Details →
Max Planck proposed that energy is quantized, founding quantum mechanics
1900-12-14
Details →
CERN announced experimental confirmation of the Higgs boson particle
2012-07-04
Details →
LIGO detected gravitational waves for the first time, confirming Einstein's prediction
2016-02-11
Details →
Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity while studying uranium salts
1896-03-01
Details →
J.J. Thomson discovered the electron, the first subatomic particle identified
1897-04-30
Details →
Penzias and Wilson discovered cosmic microwave background radiation, confirming the Big Bang
1964-05-20
Details →
Galileo Galilei first turned an astronomical telescope to the night sky, discovering Jupiter's moons
1609-08-25
Details →
Copernicus published his theory that the Earth orbits the Sun, not the other way around
1543-05-24
Details →
James Watt patented his improved steam engine, launching the Industrial Revolution
1769-01-05
Details →
Bell Labs scientists invented the transistor, the building block of modern electronics
1947-12-16
Details →
WHO officially declared smallpox eradicated - the only human disease completely eliminated
1980-05-08
Details →
Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was declared safe and effective, beginning the end of polio
1955-04-12
Details →
Banting and Best isolated insulin, revolutionizing treatment of diabetes
1921-10-31
Details →
Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful human heart transplant in Cape Town
1967-12-03
Details →
Louise Brown became the world's first baby born through in vitro fertilization
1978-07-25
Details →
CDC published the first report describing what would become known as the AIDS epidemic
1981-06-05
Details →
Luc Montagnier and colleagues identified the HIV retrovirus as the cause of AIDS
1983-05-20
Details →
Scientists announced the completion of the Human Genome Project, mapping all human DNA
2003-04-14
Details →
Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier published the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique
2012-06-28
Details →
Scientists at the Roslin Institute announced the first successful cloning of a mammal
1997-02-22
Details →
The FDA granted emergency authorization to the first mRNA vaccine for COVID-19
2020-12-11
Details →
Felix Hoffmann at Bayer synthesized acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) in pure stable form
1897-08-10
Details →
William Morton publicly demonstrated ether anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital
1846-10-16
Details →
Joseph Lister published his work on antiseptic surgical techniques, saving millions of lives
1867-03-16
Details →
Researchers produced the first MRI image of a live human body
1977-07-03
Details →
Karl Landsteiner discovered the ABO blood group system, making safe transfusions possible
1901-06-14
Details →
The Altair 8800 was sold as a kit, sparking the personal computer revolution
1975-01-01
Details →
Ray Tomlinson sent the first email between two computers on ARPANET
1971-10-29
Details →
The first message was sent over ARPANET, the precursor to the internet
1969-10-29
Details →
The world's first website went live at CERN, created by Tim Berners-Lee
1991-08-06
Details →
Mark Zuckerberg launched TheFacebook from his Harvard dorm room
2004-02-04
Details →
YouTube went online, transforming how the world shares and watches video
2005-02-14
Details →
Twitter sent its first tweet and opened to the public
2006-03-21
Details →
Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched Wikipedia as a free online encyclopedia
2001-01-15
Details →
Linus Torvalds announced the Linux kernel, launching the open-source operating system
1991-08-25
Details →
Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin block, creating the first cryptocurrency
2009-01-03
Details →
Neil Papworth sent the first SMS text message reading 'Merry Christmas'
1992-12-03
Details →
OpenAI released ChatGPT, triggering a global wave of AI adoption
2022-11-30
Details →
Apple introduced the Macintosh with its iconic 1984 TV advertisement and graphical interface
1984-01-24
Details →
Microsoft released Windows 1.0, its first graphical operating environment
1985-11-20
Details →
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Company
1976-04-01
Details →
Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico
1975-04-04
Details →
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon as an online bookstore in his garage
1994-07-05
Details →
Atari's Pong became the first commercially successful video game arcade cabinet
1972-11-29
Details →
Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded Netflix as a DVD-by-mail service
1997-08-29
Details →
Netflix launched its streaming video service, beginning the end of DVD rentals
2007-01-15
Details →
Spotify launched in Europe, transforming the music industry with streaming
2008-10-07
Details →
Instagram launched on the App Store and gained 25,000 users on day one
2010-10-06
Details →
Samuel Morse sent 'What hath God wrought' as the first long-distance telegraph message
1844-05-24
Details →
Joseph Nicephore Niepce created the first surviving permanent photograph
1826-07-01
Details →
Johannes Gutenberg developed the movable-type printing press in Europe
1440-01-01
Details →
IBM shipped the 350 Disk File, the first commercial hard disk drive, storing 5 MB
1956-09-13
Details →
Sam Altman, Elon Musk and others co-founded OpenAI to develop safe artificial intelligence
2015-12-11
Details →
The armistice ending the Great War was signed at 11am
1918-11-11
Details →
Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in the largest seaborne invasion in history
1944-06-06
Details →
Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
1941-12-07
Details →
The United States dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima
1945-08-06
Details →
Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes, killing nearly 3,000 people in the USA
2001-09-11
Details →
North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel, starting the Korean War
1950-06-25
Details →
1990-08-02
Details →
US-led coalition launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan after September 11
2001-10-07
Details →
William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II, changing English history forever
1066-10-14
Details →
Napoleon Bonaparte suffered his final defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington
1815-06-18
Details →
Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, starting the US Civil War
1861-04-12
Details →
Confederate General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, ending the Civil War
1865-04-09
Details →
The US and USSR entered a tense 13-day standoff over Soviet missiles in Cuba
1962-10-16
Details →
Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, starting the 74-day war with Britain
1982-04-02
Details →
Operation Dynamo began evacuating over 330,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk
1940-05-26
Details →
The Battle of Stalingrad began - the bloodiest battle in human history
1942-08-23
Details →
An armistice was signed ending active fighting in the Korean War
1953-07-27
Details →
The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War and founded the modern nation-state system
1648-10-24
Details →
The 'shot heard round the world' at Lexington and Concord started the American Revolution
1775-04-19
Details →
The United States declared independence from Britain
1776-07-04
Details →
The Soviet Union was officially dissolved on Christmas Day
1991-12-25
Details →
Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in prison
1990-02-11
Details →
King John of England signed the Magna Carta, establishing that everyone is subject to the law
1215-06-15
Details →
Parisian revolutionaries stormed the Bastille fortress, igniting the French Revolution
1789-07-14
Details →
France's National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
1789-08-26
Details →
Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd, establishing the world's first communist government
1917-11-07
Details →
Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China from Tiananmen Gate
1949-10-01
Details →
The United Nations Charter came into force, establishing the international organization
1945-10-24
Details →
East and West Germany were formally reunified after 45 years of division
1990-10-03
Details →
The Maastricht Treaty was signed, creating the European Union
1992-02-07
Details →
The UK voted 52-48 to leave the European Union in a historic referendum
2016-06-23
Details →
India gained independence from British rule, with Jawaharlal Nehru as first Prime Minister
1947-08-15
Details →
David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel
1948-05-14
Details →
The North Atlantic Treaty was signed, creating the NATO military alliance
1949-04-04
Details →
US President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas
1963-11-22
Details →
Richard Nixon announced his resignation as US President over the Watergate scandal
1974-08-09
Details →
Barack Obama became the first African American elected President of the United States
2008-11-04
Details →
The 19th Amendment was ratified, giving American women the right to vote
1920-08-18
Details →
President Truman's address to Congress marked the formal beginning of the Cold War
1947-03-12
Details →
The Treaty of Versailles formally ended World War I and imposed harsh conditions on Germany
1919-06-28
Details →
The UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1948-12-10
Details →
Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first democratically elected president
1994-05-10
Details →
The UK handed sovereignty over Hong Kong to China after 156 years of British rule
1997-07-01
Details →
The WHO was established as a specialized agency of the United Nations
1948-04-07
Details →
Fidel Castro's forces entered Havana as Batista fled, completing the Cuban Revolution
1959-01-08
Details →
Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of the French in Notre-Dame Cathedral
1804-12-02
Details →
The League of Nations came into being, the world's first international peacekeeping organization
1920-01-10
Details →
President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, providing $13 billion to rebuild postwar Europe
1948-04-03
Details →
Five European nations signed the Schengen Agreement, abolishing passport controls
1985-06-14
Details →
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted, the first international treaty binding countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions
1997-12-11
Details →
Chinese troops opened fire on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square
1989-06-04
Details →
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his landmark speech at the March on Washington
1963-08-28
Details →
President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin
1964-07-02
Details →
Patrons of the Stonewall Inn resisted police raids, sparking the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement
1969-06-28
Details →
Mahatma Gandhi began his 240-mile Salt March to protest British colonial salt taxes
1930-03-12
Details →
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis
1968-04-04
Details →
The Representation of the People Act gave British women over 30 the right to vote
1918-02-06
Details →
The MeToo hashtag spread globally following allegations against Harvey Weinstein
2017-10-15
Details →
Protesters occupied Zuccotti Park in New York, launching the Occupy movement against inequality
2011-09-17
Details →
South Africa's National Party enacted the first formal apartheid laws
1948-06-01
Details →
President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring enslaved people free
1863-01-01
Details →
The Slavery Abolition Act came into effect throughout the British Empire
1834-08-01
Details →
The United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals to guide global action to 2030
2015-09-25
Details →
Wright Brothers flew the first powered aircraft at Kitty Hawk
1903-12-17
Details →
Charles Lindbergh completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight
1927-05-21
Details →
Christopher Columbus's fleet made landfall in the Bahamas, connecting the Old and New Worlds
1492-10-12
Details →
Elcano completed Magellan's expedition - the first circumnavigation of the Earth
1522-09-06
Details →
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest
1953-05-29
Details →
Roald Amundsen's expedition became the first to reach the geographic South Pole
1911-12-14
Details →
The Panama Canal opened, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
1914-08-15
Details →
The Suez Canal opened after 10 years of construction, linking the Mediterranean and Red Sea
1869-11-17
Details →
The golden spike was driven at Promontory Summit, completing the first US transcontinental railroad
1869-05-10
Details →
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descended to the deepest point in the ocean in bathyscaphe Trieste
1960-01-23
Details →
Robert Ballard's team located the wreck of the Titanic 2.4 miles below the Atlantic surface
1985-09-01
Details →
Robert Peary claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole
1909-04-06
Details →
Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut, India, establishing a sea route from Europe to Asia
1498-05-20
Details →
Captain James Cook raised the British flag in eastern Australia, claiming it for the Crown
1770-08-22
Details →
The Corps of Discovery departed to explore and map the newly acquired western territories
1804-05-14
Details →
Ernest Shackleton set sail on the Endurance for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
1914-12-05
Details →
Vasco Nunez de Balboa became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the New World
1513-09-25
Details →
Robin Knox-Johnston became the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world
1969-04-22
Details →
Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel
1901-10-24
Details →
Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope
1488-02-03
Details →
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent fires destroyed most of San Francisco
1906-04-18
Details →
Mount St. Helens erupted in the deadliest and most destructive volcanic event in US history
1980-05-18
Details →
The Krakatoa eruption was heard 3,000 miles away and caused a global temperature drop
1883-08-27
Details →
A magnitude 9.1 earthquake triggered a tsunami killing over 225,000 people across 14 countries
2004-12-26
Details →
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince, killing over 200,000 people
2010-01-12
Details →
Hurricane Katrina made landfall, flooding New Orleans and killing over 1,800 people
2005-08-29
Details →
A tsunami triggered by the Tohoku earthquake caused three nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima
2011-03-11
Details →
Reactor 4 at Chernobyl exploded, causing the worst nuclear disaster in history
1986-04-26
Details →
Methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide plant, killing thousands in Bhopal
1984-12-03
Details →
A fire started in a bakery on Pudding Lane and destroyed 13,200 houses in London
1666-09-02
Details →
The Spanish flu pandemic began its deadly second wave, ultimately killing 50-100 million people
1918-09-01
Details →
The bubonic plague arrived in Sicily, beginning the Black Death that killed a third of Europe
1347-10-01
Details →
A massive earthquake followed by fires and a tsunami virtually destroyed Lisbon on All Saints Day
1755-11-01
Details →
A Category 4 hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, killing 6,000-12,000 in the deadliest US natural disaster
1900-09-08
Details →
A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck Tangshan, China, killing between 240,000 and 650,000 people
1976-07-28
Details →
The Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of oil
1989-03-24
Details →
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, causing the largest marine oil spill in history
2010-04-20
Details →
The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by 73 million Americans and launching Beatlemania
1964-02-09
Details →
Woodstock Music and Art Fair drew 400,000 people for three days of peace, love and music
1969-08-15
Details →
The first Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
1929-05-16
Details →
Star Wars: A New Hope was released, becoming a cultural phenomenon and changing cinema forever
1977-05-25
Details →
The BBC began the world's first regular high-definition television broadcasts
1936-11-02
Details →
KDKA in Pittsburgh made the first commercial radio broadcast, reporting US election results
1920-11-02
Details →
The Eiffel Tower opened to the public for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris
1889-03-31
Details →
Johannes Gutenberg produced the first major book printed with movable metal type in Europe
1455-01-01
Details →
Michelangelo unveiled the completed ceiling of the Sistine Chapel after four years of work
1512-11-01
Details →
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premiered in Vienna - composed entirely after he went deaf
1824-05-07
Details →
Pablo Picasso's Guernica was exhibited at the Paris International Exposition
1937-06-04
Details →
The Globe Theatre, home of Shakespeare's company, opened on the south bank of the Thames
1599-01-01
Details →
Construction of the Taj Mahal in Agra was completed by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan
1653-01-01
Details →
NBC made the first commercially licensed color television broadcast
1954-01-01
Details →
James Cameron's Titanic was released, becoming the first film to gross $1 billion worldwide
1997-12-19
Details →
The Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum) was inaugurated by Emperor Titus in Rome
0080-01-01
Details →
The major phase of Great Wall construction under the Ming Dynasty was completed
1644-01-01
Details →
The Relation aller Fuernemmen und gedenckwuerdigen Historien became the first regularly published newspaper
1605-01-17
Details →
Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, transforming how Christmas was celebrated
1843-12-19
Details →
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published
1997-06-26
Details →
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring was published
1954-07-29
Details →
1896-04-06
Details →
The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL Championship
1967-01-15
Details →
Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile in 3:59.4 at Oxford
1954-05-06
Details →
Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, defying Nazi racial ideology
1936-08-03
Details →
The US amateur hockey team defeated the heavily favored Soviet Union 4-3 at the Lake Placid Olympics
1980-02-22
Details →
Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) shocked the world by defeating Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title
1964-02-25
Details →
A 17-year-old Pele scored twice in the final as Brazil won the 1958 World Cup
1958-06-29
Details →
Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, surpassing Babe Ruth's all-time record
1974-04-08
Details →
The first Wimbledon Championships were held at the All England Lawn Tennis Club
1877-07-09
Details →
Usain Bolt set the 100m world record of 9.58 seconds at the Berlin World Championships
2009-08-16
Details →
Michael Jordan won his sixth and final NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls
1998-06-14
Details →
Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single NBA game - a record that has never been broken
1962-03-02
Details →
The inaugural Tour de France cycling race took place over 19 days and six stages
1903-07-01
Details →
The Basketball Association of America and National Basketball League merged to form the NBA
1949-08-03
Details →
The Football Association was formed in England, establishing the standardized rules of association football
1863-10-26
Details →
The New York Stock Exchange crashed on Black Thursday, triggering the Great Depression
1929-10-24
Details →
The NASDAQ reached its all-time peak at 5,132 before the dot-com bubble burst
2000-03-10
Details →
Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, triggering the global financial crisis
2008-09-15
Details →
James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill, triggering the California Gold Rush
1848-01-24
Details →
Twenty-four stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement, founding what became the NYSE
1792-05-17
Details →
The euro was introduced as an electronic currency in 11 European countries
1999-01-01
Details →
44 nations signed the Bretton Woods Agreement, creating the IMF and World Bank
1944-07-22
Details →
Henry Ford introduced the Model T, the first affordable automobile for the general public
1908-10-01
Details →
Arab members of OPEC imposed an oil embargo on countries supporting Israel, causing a global energy crisis
1973-10-17
Details →
The World Trade Organization replaced GATT and became the global body overseeing international trade
1995-01-01
Details →
The International Monetary Fund was formally established to oversee the global financial system
1945-12-27
Details →
The Spinning Jenny was patented by James Hargreaves, symbolizing the start of the Industrial Revolution
1770-07-12
Details →
The Universe Apollo, the first supertanker, was launched, revolutionizing global oil transport
1959-01-01
Details →
Diners Club issued the first general purpose credit card, accepted at 27 restaurants
1950-02-08
Details →
Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press, democratizing knowledge
1440-01-01
Details →
Thomas Paine published Common Sense, persuading colonists to support independence from Britain
1776-01-10
Details →
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto
1848-02-21
Details →
England's Habeas Corpus Act established the right not to be imprisoned without trial
1679-05-27
Details →
New Zealand became the first self-governing country to grant women the right to vote
1893-09-19
Details →
Napoleon Bonaparte staged the coup of 18 Brumaire, ending the French Revolution
1799-11-09
Details →
Churchill and Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter, laying the foundation for the post-war world order
1941-08-14
Details →
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Mvezo, South Africa
1918-07-18
Details →
Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott
1955-12-01
Details →
The Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional, ending the 381-day boycott
1956-12-20
Details →
President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting discriminatory voting practices
1965-08-06
Details →
The United Nations Charter was ratified by the required number of nations
1945-10-24
Details →
President Carter brokered a peace agreement between Egypt's Sadat and Israel's Begin
1978-09-17
Details →
The Good Friday Agreement was signed, bringing peace to Northern Ireland after 30 years of conflict
1998-04-10
Details →
The Dayton Accords ended the Bosnian War after nearly four years and over 100,000 deaths
1995-11-21
Details →
Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran and established an Islamic Republic
1979-02-01
Details →
North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon as the last US helicopters evacuated the American embassy
1975-04-30
Details →
Apollo 8 astronauts took the iconic Earthrise photograph from lunar orbit
1968-12-24
Details →
Concorde made its maiden flight, beginning supersonic commercial aviation
1969-03-02
Details →
The Wright Brothers filed their patent for a flying machine, protecting their invention
1906-05-22
Details →
The German airship Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed while landing in New Jersey
1937-05-06
Details →
Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took 66 Americans hostage
1979-11-04
Details →
President Bush announced a ceasefire after 100 hours of ground combat liberated Kuwait
1991-02-28
Details →
South Africans of all races voted for the first time in fully democratic elections
1994-04-27
Details →
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, died in a jet crash during a training flight
1968-03-27
Details →
South Korean scientists reported the first cloned human embryo, raising global bioethics debate
2004-02-12
Details →
Director James Cameron piloted a submersible to the deepest point in the ocean solo
2012-03-26
Details →
BOAC flew the first commercial jet passenger service between London and Johannesburg
1952-05-02
Details →
The Soviet Union tested the Tsar Bomba - the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated
1961-10-30
Details →
US and Soviet spacecraft docked in orbit, symbolizing the end of the Space Race
1975-07-17
Details →
The United States handed control of the Panama Canal to Panama
1999-12-31
Details →
Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first handheld mobile phone call
1973-04-03
Details →
Percy Spencer accidentally discovered microwave cooking while working on radar technology
1945-10-08
Details →
Swiss engineer George de Mestral patented Velcro after observing how burrs attached to his dog
1955-10-13
Details →
Roy Plunkett accidentally discovered polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) at DuPont laboratories
1938-04-06
Details →
The FDA approved AZT as the first drug treatment for AIDS
1987-03-19
Details →
Google's IPO raised $1.67 billion and set the stage for Silicon Valley's modern era
2004-08-19
Details →
Facebook's IPO raised $16 billion in one of the largest US tech IPOs in history
2012-05-18
Details →
Stock markets worldwide crashed on Black Monday, with the Dow falling 22.6% in a single day
1987-10-19
Details →
The US launched the first operational GPS satellite, beginning the global navigation system
1978-02-22
Details →
The Pirate Bay launched, becoming the world's largest BitTorrent index and a flashpoint for copyright debates
2003-11-01
Details →
Napster launched peer-to-peer music file sharing and ignited a war between the music industry and the internet
1999-06-01
Details →
Apple opened the iTunes Store, selling music at 99 cents per song and rescuing the music industry
2003-04-28
Details →
AT&T demonstrated the first two-way public video telephone call at the 1964 World's Fair
1964-04-20
Details →
The IEEE 802.11b wireless networking standard was published, forming the basis of Wi-Fi
1999-09-16
Details →
Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors, named after inventor Nikola Tesla
2003-07-01
Details →
Tesla unveiled the Roadster, the first all-electric sports car with over 200 miles of range
2006-07-19
Details →
Elon Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) to reduce the cost of space access
2002-03-14
Details →
Apple launched the iPad, creating the modern tablet computer market
2010-04-03
Details →
The T-Mobile G1 became the first commercially released Android smartphone
2008-10-22
Details →
Eric Yuan left Cisco to found Zoom Video Communications
2011-04-21
Details →
Symbolics.com became the first domain name ever registered on the internet
1985-03-15
Details →
11.5 million documents from Mossack Fonseca exposing global financial secrecy were published
2016-04-03
Details →
Edward Snowden leaked classified documents revealing mass surveillance programs by the NSA
2013-06-05
Details →
Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks to publish classified and sensitive information
2006-10-04
Details →
Ernest Rutherford became the first person to artificially split the atom at Cambridge
1917-04-01
Details →
Shuttle astronauts repaired Hubble's flawed mirror, restoring the telescope to full capability
1993-12-11
Details →
SpaceX's Falcon 1 became the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit
2008-09-28
Details →
SpaceX successfully landed and recovered a Falcon 9 first stage for the first time
2015-12-21
Details →
SpaceX's Crew Dragon carried astronauts to the ISS - the first crewed US spacecraft since 2011
2020-05-30
Details →
Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1
1947-10-14
Details →
Two US Army Air Service planes completed the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe
1924-09-28
Details →
Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
1932-05-21
Details →
The Hindenburg began transatlantic passenger service between Germany and the United States
1936-03-26
Details →
The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable was completed, connecting Europe and North America
1866-07-27
Details →
Russia launched the Zarya module - the first component of the International Space Station
1998-11-20
Details →
NASA's Mars Pathfinder lander and Sojourner rover landed, becoming the first rover to operate on another planet
1997-07-04
Details →
Laika the dog became the first animal to orbit Earth aboard Sputnik 2
1957-11-03
Details →
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6
1963-06-16
Details →
Presidents Bush and Gorbachev formally declared the Cold War over at the Malta Summit
1989-12-03
Details →
British scientists discovered a massive hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica
1985-05-16
Details →
The Montreal Protocol was signed, beginning the global effort to protect the ozone layer
1987-09-16
Details →
Ukraine opened the Chernobyl exclusion zone to organized tourists for the first time
2011-01-01
Details →
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm in the Kingdom of Wurttemberg, German Empire
1879-03-14
Details →
Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, Serbia, and would go on to invent alternating current electricity
1856-07-10
Details →
Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, for her work on radioactivity
1903-12-10
Details →
Marie Curie won her second Nobel Prize in Chemistry, becoming the first person to win in two different sciences
1911-12-10
Details →
Arne Larsson became the first person to receive an implantable cardiac pacemaker
1958-10-08
Details →
Joseph Murray performed the first successful kidney transplant between identical twins at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital
1954-12-23
Details →
Thomas Starzl performed the first human liver transplant, though the patient survived only 22 days
1963-03-01
Details →
The worst Ebola outbreak in history began in Guinea, eventually killing over 11,000 people
2013-12-26
Details →
WHO issued a global alert about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a novel coronavirus
2003-03-12
Details →
E. Donnall Thomas performed the first successful bone marrow transplant
1956-08-12
Details →
WHO reported sleeping sickness cases fell below 1,000 for the first time in 80 years
2018-01-01
Details →
Dr. Philippe Mouret performed the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy, revolutionizing surgery
1987-03-01
Details →
Surgeons implanted the first 3D-printed trachea into a patient, opening a new era of bioprinting
2011-06-01
Details →
The Plague of Justinian struck the Byzantine Empire, killing up to 25 million people
0541-01-01
Details →
The last major epidemic of bubonic plague in England killed about 100,000 Londoners
1665-01-01
Details →
The first cholera pandemic spread from India to much of the world, killing millions
1817-01-01
Details →
Sulfonamide antibiotics were first used successfully to treat a human bacterial infection
1932-12-26
Details →
The first CT scanner produced a clinical image, revolutionizing diagnostic medicine
1972-10-01
Details →
Charles Darwin arrived in the Galapagos Islands, observations that would inspire evolution theory
1835-09-15
Details →
Isaac Newton formulated the universal law of gravitation
1687-07-05
Details →
Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant in the USSR became the world's first nuclear power station to generate electricity
1954-06-27
Details →
A partial meltdown at Three Mile Island nuclear plant caused the worst US nuclear accident
1979-03-28
Details →
The Haitian Revolution began - the only successful slave revolution in history, creating the first Black republic
1791-08-22
Details →
The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution formally abolished slavery
1865-12-06
Details →
The Wyoming Territory became the first US jurisdiction to grant women the right to vote
1869-12-10
Details →
The National Labor Union was founded in Baltimore, the first national labor federation in the US
1866-08-20
Details →
Henry Ford introduced the 8-hour workday and $5 daily wage, transforming labor relations
1914-01-05
Details →
Henry Dunant founded the International Committee of the Red Cross after witnessing the Battle of Solferino
1863-02-17
Details →
The UN General Assembly adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as the global development roadmap
2015-09-25
Details →
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an Olympic Truce for the Atlanta games
1993-10-25
Details →
Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the Special Olympics to provide sports training for people with intellectual disabilities
1968-07-20
Details →
The first Ironman Triathlon was held in Hawaii - 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run
1978-02-18
Details →
The inaugural Formula One World Drivers Championship race took place at Silverstone
1950-05-13
Details →
Three-time Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna died after a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix
1994-05-01
Details →
The American Professional Football Association (later renamed NFL) played its first games
1920-10-03
Details →
Eight Chicago White Sox players were accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series
1919-09-28
Details →
Babe Ruth set a single-season home run record of 60, standing for 34 years
1927-09-30
Details →
The first Boston Marathon was run with 15 athletes, inspired by the revival of the Olympic marathon
1897-04-19
Details →
Muhammad Ali defeated George Foreman in Kinshasa using the rope-a-dope strategy
1974-10-30
Details →
Pele played his final professional game for the New York Cosmos against Santos in a farewell match
1977-10-01
Details →
Lance Armstrong was stripped of all seven Tour de France titles and banned from cycling for doping
2012-08-24
Details →
Tiger Woods won his first Masters at 21, becoming the youngest champion and the first person of color to win
1997-04-13
Details →
Serena Williams won her first Wimbledon title at age 17, beginning her dominance of women's tennis
1999-07-03
Details →
Michael Phelps won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, the most golds in a single Olympics ever
2008-08-17
Details →
Joan Benoit won the first women's Olympic marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Games
1984-08-05
Details →
Carl Lewis equaled Jesse Owens by winning four gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
1984-08-11
Details →
Johan Cruyff's Netherlands reached the World Cup Final playing Total Football, changing the game forever
1974-07-07
Details →
New Zealand won the inaugural Rugby World Cup, defeating France in the final
1987-06-20
Details →
Diego Maradona scored the controversial 'Hand of God' goal against England in the 1986 World Cup
1986-06-22
Details →
The first Home Nations Championship (later Five Nations, then Six Nations) was held
1883-01-01
Details →
IBM's Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a reigning world chess champion in a match
1997-05-11
Details →
Apollo 8 became the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon, and astronauts read from Genesis on Christmas Eve
1968-12-21
Details →
Scientists at Texas A&M University cloned the first domestic cat, named CC (Copy Cat)
2001-12-22
Details →
Bryan Allen pedaled the Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel using only human power
1979-06-12
Details →
Solar Impulse 2 completed the first around-the-world solar-powered flight
2016-07-26
Details →
Reinhold Messner became the first person to climb Mount Everest solo without supplemental oxygen
1980-08-20
Details →
Reinhold Messner became the first person to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters
1986-10-16
Details →
The Channel Tunnel linking England and France opened for passenger services
1994-11-14
Details →
The Golden Gate Bridge opened in San Francisco after four years of construction
1937-05-27
Details →
The Brooklyn Bridge opened, becoming the world's longest suspension bridge at the time
1883-05-24
Details →
The Empire State Building opened in New York City as the world's tallest building
1931-04-11
Details →
Construction began on the Eiffel Tower for the 1889 World's Fair
1887-01-28
Details →
President Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France to the United States
1886-10-28
Details →
The United States began construction of the Panama Canal after France abandoned the project
1904-05-04
Details →
The Hoover Dam was completed on the Colorado River, then the world's largest hydroelectric dam
1935-03-01
Details →
Queen Victoria and President Buchanan exchanged congratulatory messages over the first transatlantic telegraph cable
1858-08-16
Details →
The Universe Apollo, the first supertanker, was launched in Japan, transforming global oil transport
1959-03-01
Details →
The Seikan Tunnel in Japan opened as the world's longest and deepest undersea rail tunnel
1988-03-13
Details →
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened as the world's tallest building at 828 meters
2010-01-04
Details →
An oxygen tank exploded mid-mission, forcing a dramatic emergency return
Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven crew
Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry, killing all seven crew
Space Shuttle Columbia completed the first orbital shuttle mission
NASA launched Voyager 1, which later became the first human-made object to leave the solar system
The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from Discovery, transforming astronomy
NASA's Curiosity rover touched down inside Gale Crater on Mars
The Event Horizon Telescope captured the first image of a black hole in galaxy M87
The most powerful space telescope ever built launched from French Guiana
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft made the first close flyby of Pluto
SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful operational rocket
The first long-duration crew arrived at the International Space Station
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter completed the first powered flight on Mars
Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Neptune, the only spacecraft to do so
NASA launched the first Artemis mission, sending Orion around the Moon without crew
Mariner 4 returned the first close-up photographs of the Martian surface
Dennis Tito became the first fare-paying passenger to reach the ISS aboard a Soyuz
The Chicago Pile-1 achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction
Albert Einstein published the special theory of relativity, redefining space and time
Charles Darwin published his theory of natural selection and evolution
Isaac Newton published Principia Mathematica, laying the foundations of classical mechanics
Dmitri Mendeleev published the first widely recognized periodic table of elements
Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays while experimenting with cathode ray tubes
Guglielmo Marconi successfully transmitted radio signals over long distances
Thomas Edison successfully demonstrated a practical incandescent light bulb
Max Planck proposed that energy is quantized, founding quantum mechanics
CERN announced experimental confirmation of the Higgs boson particle
LIGO detected gravitational waves for the first time, confirming Einstein's prediction
Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity while studying uranium salts
J.J. Thomson discovered the electron, the first subatomic particle identified
Penzias and Wilson discovered cosmic microwave background radiation, confirming the Big Bang
Galileo Galilei first turned an astronomical telescope to the night sky, discovering Jupiter's moons
Copernicus published his theory that the Earth orbits the Sun, not the other way around
James Watt patented his improved steam engine, launching the Industrial Revolution
Bell Labs scientists invented the transistor, the building block of modern electronics
WHO officially declared smallpox eradicated - the only human disease completely eliminated
Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was declared safe and effective, beginning the end of polio
Banting and Best isolated insulin, revolutionizing treatment of diabetes
Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful human heart transplant in Cape Town
Louise Brown became the world's first baby born through in vitro fertilization
CDC published the first report describing what would become known as the AIDS epidemic
Luc Montagnier and colleagues identified the HIV retrovirus as the cause of AIDS
Scientists announced the completion of the Human Genome Project, mapping all human DNA
Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier published the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique
Scientists at the Roslin Institute announced the first successful cloning of a mammal
The FDA granted emergency authorization to the first mRNA vaccine for COVID-19
Felix Hoffmann at Bayer synthesized acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) in pure stable form
William Morton publicly demonstrated ether anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital
Joseph Lister published his work on antiseptic surgical techniques, saving millions of lives
Karl Landsteiner discovered the ABO blood group system, making safe transfusions possible
The Altair 8800 was sold as a kit, sparking the personal computer revolution
The first message was sent over ARPANET, the precursor to the internet
The world's first website went live at CERN, created by Tim Berners-Lee
YouTube went online, transforming how the world shares and watches video
Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched Wikipedia as a free online encyclopedia
Linus Torvalds announced the Linux kernel, launching the open-source operating system
Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin block, creating the first cryptocurrency
Neil Papworth sent the first SMS text message reading 'Merry Christmas'
Apple introduced the Macintosh with its iconic 1984 TV advertisement and graphical interface
Microsoft released Windows 1.0, its first graphical operating environment
Atari's Pong became the first commercially successful video game arcade cabinet
Netflix launched its streaming video service, beginning the end of DVD rentals
Spotify launched in Europe, transforming the music industry with streaming
Instagram launched on the App Store and gained 25,000 users on day one
Samuel Morse sent 'What hath God wrought' as the first long-distance telegraph message
Joseph Nicephore Niepce created the first surviving permanent photograph
Johannes Gutenberg developed the movable-type printing press in Europe
IBM shipped the 350 Disk File, the first commercial hard disk drive, storing 5 MB
Sam Altman, Elon Musk and others co-founded OpenAI to develop safe artificial intelligence
Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in the largest seaborne invasion in history
Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
The United States dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima
Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes, killing nearly 3,000 people in the USA
Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War and a UN-authorized response
US-led coalition launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan after September 11
William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II, changing English history forever
Napoleon Bonaparte suffered his final defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington
Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, starting the US Civil War
Confederate General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, ending the Civil War
The US and USSR entered a tense 13-day standoff over Soviet missiles in Cuba
Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, starting the 74-day war with Britain
Operation Dynamo began evacuating over 330,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk
The Battle of Stalingrad began - the bloodiest battle in human history
General Francisco Franco led a military uprising against Spain's republic
The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War and founded the modern nation-state system
The 'shot heard round the world' at Lexington and Concord started the American Revolution
King John of England signed the Magna Carta, establishing that everyone is subject to the law
Parisian revolutionaries stormed the Bastille fortress, igniting the French Revolution
France's National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd, establishing the world's first communist government
Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China from Tiananmen Gate
The United Nations Charter came into force, establishing the international organization
East and West Germany were formally reunified after 45 years of division
India gained independence from British rule, with Jawaharlal Nehru as first Prime Minister
Richard Nixon announced his resignation as US President over the Watergate scandal
Barack Obama became the first African American elected President of the United States
The 19th Amendment was ratified, giving American women the right to vote
President Truman's address to Congress marked the formal beginning of the Cold War
The Treaty of Versailles formally ended World War I and imposed harsh conditions on Germany
The UN adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community
Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first democratically elected president
196 parties adopted the Paris Agreement on climate change at COP21
The UK handed sovereignty over Hong Kong to China after 156 years of British rule
The WHO was established as a specialized agency of the United Nations
Fidel Castro's forces entered Havana as Batista fled, completing the Cuban Revolution
Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of the French in Notre-Dame Cathedral
The League of Nations came into being, the world's first international peacekeeping organization
President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, providing $13 billion to rebuild postwar Europe
Five European nations signed the Schengen Agreement, abolishing passport controls
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted, the first international treaty binding countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions
Chinese troops opened fire on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his landmark speech at the March on Washington
President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin
Patrons of the Stonewall Inn resisted police raids, sparking the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement
Mahatma Gandhi began his 240-mile Salt March to protest British colonial salt taxes
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis
The Representation of the People Act gave British women over 30 the right to vote
The MeToo hashtag spread globally following allegations against Harvey Weinstein
Protesters occupied Zuccotti Park in New York, launching the Occupy movement against inequality
South Africa's National Party enacted the first formal apartheid laws
President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring enslaved people free
The Slavery Abolition Act came into effect throughout the British Empire
The United Nations adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals to guide global action to 2030
Charles Lindbergh completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight
Christopher Columbus's fleet made landfall in the Bahamas, connecting the Old and New Worlds
Elcano completed Magellan's expedition - the first circumnavigation of the Earth
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest
Roald Amundsen's expedition became the first to reach the geographic South Pole
The Suez Canal opened after 10 years of construction, linking the Mediterranean and Red Sea
The golden spike was driven at Promontory Summit, completing the first US transcontinental railroad
Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descended to the deepest point in the ocean in bathyscaphe Trieste
Robert Ballard's team located the wreck of the Titanic 2.4 miles below the Atlantic surface
Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut, India, establishing a sea route from Europe to Asia
Captain James Cook raised the British flag in eastern Australia, claiming it for the Crown
The Corps of Discovery departed to explore and map the newly acquired western territories
Ernest Shackleton set sail on the Endurance for the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Vasco Nunez de Balboa became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the New World
Robin Knox-Johnston became the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world
Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel
Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent fires destroyed most of San Francisco
Mount St. Helens erupted in the deadliest and most destructive volcanic event in US history
The Krakatoa eruption was heard 3,000 miles away and caused a global temperature drop
A magnitude 9.1 earthquake triggered a tsunami killing over 225,000 people across 14 countries
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince, killing over 200,000 people
Hurricane Katrina made landfall, flooding New Orleans and killing over 1,800 people
A tsunami triggered by the Tohoku earthquake caused three nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima
Reactor 4 at Chernobyl exploded, causing the worst nuclear disaster in history
Methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide plant, killing thousands in Bhopal
A fire started in a bakery on Pudding Lane and destroyed 13,200 houses in London
The Spanish flu pandemic began its deadly second wave, ultimately killing 50-100 million people
The bubonic plague arrived in Sicily, beginning the Black Death that killed a third of Europe
A massive earthquake followed by fires and a tsunami virtually destroyed Lisbon on All Saints Day
A Category 4 hurricane struck Galveston, Texas, killing 6,000-12,000 in the deadliest US natural disaster
A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck Tangshan, China, killing between 240,000 and 650,000 people
The Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of oil
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, causing the largest marine oil spill in history
The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by 73 million Americans and launching Beatlemania
Woodstock Music and Art Fair drew 400,000 people for three days of peace, love and music
The first Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
Star Wars: A New Hope was released, becoming a cultural phenomenon and changing cinema forever
The BBC began the world's first regular high-definition television broadcasts
KDKA in Pittsburgh made the first commercial radio broadcast, reporting US election results
The Eiffel Tower opened to the public for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris
Johannes Gutenberg produced the first major book printed with movable metal type in Europe
Michelangelo unveiled the completed ceiling of the Sistine Chapel after four years of work
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony premiered in Vienna - composed entirely after he went deaf
Pablo Picasso's Guernica was exhibited at the Paris International Exposition
The Globe Theatre, home of Shakespeare's company, opened on the south bank of the Thames
Construction of the Taj Mahal in Agra was completed by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan
NBC made the first commercially licensed color television broadcast
James Cameron's Titanic was released, becoming the first film to gross $1 billion worldwide
The Flavian Amphitheatre (Colosseum) was inaugurated by Emperor Titus in Rome
The major phase of Great Wall construction under the Ming Dynasty was completed
The Relation aller Fuernemmen und gedenckwuerdigen Historien became the first regularly published newspaper
Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, transforming how Christmas was celebrated
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published
The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece, reviving the ancient tradition
Uruguay hosted and won the first FIFA World Cup with 13 teams competing
The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL Championship
Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile in 3:59.4 at Oxford
Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, defying Nazi racial ideology
The US amateur hockey team defeated the heavily favored Soviet Union 4-3 at the Lake Placid Olympics
Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) shocked the world by defeating Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title
A 17-year-old Pele scored twice in the final as Brazil won the 1958 World Cup
Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, surpassing Babe Ruth's all-time record
The first Wimbledon Championships were held at the All England Lawn Tennis Club
Usain Bolt set the 100m world record of 9.58 seconds at the Berlin World Championships
Michael Jordan won his sixth and final NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls
Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single NBA game - a record that has never been broken
The inaugural Tour de France cycling race took place over 19 days and six stages
The Basketball Association of America and National Basketball League merged to form the NBA
The Football Association was formed in England, establishing the standardized rules of association football
The New York Stock Exchange crashed on Black Thursday, triggering the Great Depression
The NASDAQ reached its all-time peak at 5,132 before the dot-com bubble burst
Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, triggering the global financial crisis
James Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill, triggering the California Gold Rush
Twenty-four stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement, founding what became the NYSE
44 nations signed the Bretton Woods Agreement, creating the IMF and World Bank
Henry Ford introduced the Model T, the first affordable automobile for the general public
Arab members of OPEC imposed an oil embargo on countries supporting Israel, causing a global energy crisis
The World Trade Organization replaced GATT and became the global body overseeing international trade
The International Monetary Fund was formally established to oversee the global financial system
The Spinning Jenny was patented by James Hargreaves, symbolizing the start of the Industrial Revolution
The Universe Apollo, the first supertanker, was launched, revolutionizing global oil transport
Diners Club issued the first general purpose credit card, accepted at 27 restaurants
Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press, democratizing knowledge
Thomas Paine published Common Sense, persuading colonists to support independence from Britain
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto
England's Habeas Corpus Act established the right not to be imprisoned without trial
New Zealand became the first self-governing country to grant women the right to vote
Napoleon Bonaparte staged the coup of 18 Brumaire, ending the French Revolution
Churchill and Roosevelt signed the Atlantic Charter, laying the foundation for the post-war world order
Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional, ending the 381-day boycott
President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting discriminatory voting practices
The United Nations Charter was ratified by the required number of nations
President Carter brokered a peace agreement between Egypt's Sadat and Israel's Begin
The Good Friday Agreement was signed, bringing peace to Northern Ireland after 30 years of conflict
The Dayton Accords ended the Bosnian War after nearly four years and over 100,000 deaths
Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran and established an Islamic Republic
North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon as the last US helicopters evacuated the American embassy
Apollo 8 astronauts took the iconic Earthrise photograph from lunar orbit
Concorde made its maiden flight, beginning supersonic commercial aviation
The Wright Brothers filed their patent for a flying machine, protecting their invention
The German airship Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed while landing in New Jersey
Iranian students seized the US Embassy in Tehran and took 66 Americans hostage
President Bush announced a ceasefire after 100 hours of ground combat liberated Kuwait
South Africans of all races voted for the first time in fully democratic elections
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, died in a jet crash during a training flight
South Korean scientists reported the first cloned human embryo, raising global bioethics debate
Director James Cameron piloted a submersible to the deepest point in the ocean solo
BOAC flew the first commercial jet passenger service between London and Johannesburg
The Soviet Union tested the Tsar Bomba - the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated
US and Soviet spacecraft docked in orbit, symbolizing the end of the Space Race
The United States handed control of the Panama Canal to Panama
Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first handheld mobile phone call
Percy Spencer accidentally discovered microwave cooking while working on radar technology
Swiss engineer George de Mestral patented Velcro after observing how burrs attached to his dog
Roy Plunkett accidentally discovered polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) at DuPont laboratories
Google's IPO raised $1.67 billion and set the stage for Silicon Valley's modern era
Facebook's IPO raised $16 billion in one of the largest US tech IPOs in history
Stock markets worldwide crashed on Black Monday, with the Dow falling 22.6% in a single day
The US launched the first operational GPS satellite, beginning the global navigation system
The Pirate Bay launched, becoming the world's largest BitTorrent index and a flashpoint for copyright debates
Napster launched peer-to-peer music file sharing and ignited a war between the music industry and the internet
Apple opened the iTunes Store, selling music at 99 cents per song and rescuing the music industry
AT&T demonstrated the first two-way public video telephone call at the 1964 World's Fair
The IEEE 802.11b wireless networking standard was published, forming the basis of Wi-Fi
Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors, named after inventor Nikola Tesla
Tesla unveiled the Roadster, the first all-electric sports car with over 200 miles of range
Elon Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) to reduce the cost of space access
The T-Mobile G1 became the first commercially released Android smartphone
Symbolics.com became the first domain name ever registered on the internet
11.5 million documents from Mossack Fonseca exposing global financial secrecy were published
Edward Snowden leaked classified documents revealing mass surveillance programs by the NSA
Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks to publish classified and sensitive information
Ernest Rutherford became the first person to artificially split the atom at Cambridge
Shuttle astronauts repaired Hubble's flawed mirror, restoring the telescope to full capability
SpaceX's Falcon 1 became the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit
SpaceX successfully landed and recovered a Falcon 9 first stage for the first time
SpaceX's Crew Dragon carried astronauts to the ISS - the first crewed US spacecraft since 2011
Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1
Two US Army Air Service planes completed the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe
Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
The Hindenburg began transatlantic passenger service between Germany and the United States
The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable was completed, connecting Europe and North America
Russia launched the Zarya module - the first component of the International Space Station
NASA's Mars Pathfinder lander and Sojourner rover landed, becoming the first rover to operate on another planet
Laika the dog became the first animal to orbit Earth aboard Sputnik 2
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6
Presidents Bush and Gorbachev formally declared the Cold War over at the Malta Summit
British scientists discovered a massive hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica
The Montreal Protocol was signed, beginning the global effort to protect the ozone layer
Ukraine opened the Chernobyl exclusion zone to organized tourists for the first time
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm in the Kingdom of Wurttemberg, German Empire
Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, Serbia, and would go on to invent alternating current electricity
Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, for her work on radioactivity
Marie Curie won her second Nobel Prize in Chemistry, becoming the first person to win in two different sciences
Arne Larsson became the first person to receive an implantable cardiac pacemaker
Joseph Murray performed the first successful kidney transplant between identical twins at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital
Thomas Starzl performed the first human liver transplant, though the patient survived only 22 days
The worst Ebola outbreak in history began in Guinea, eventually killing over 11,000 people
WHO issued a global alert about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a novel coronavirus
E. Donnall Thomas performed the first successful bone marrow transplant
WHO reported sleeping sickness cases fell below 1,000 for the first time in 80 years
Dr. Philippe Mouret performed the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy, revolutionizing surgery
Surgeons implanted the first 3D-printed trachea into a patient, opening a new era of bioprinting
The Plague of Justinian struck the Byzantine Empire, killing up to 25 million people
The last major epidemic of bubonic plague in England killed about 100,000 Londoners
The first cholera pandemic spread from India to much of the world, killing millions
Sulfonamide antibiotics were first used successfully to treat a human bacterial infection
The first CT scanner produced a clinical image, revolutionizing diagnostic medicine
Charles Darwin arrived in the Galapagos Islands, observations that would inspire evolution theory
Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant in the USSR became the world's first nuclear power station to generate electricity
A partial meltdown at Three Mile Island nuclear plant caused the worst US nuclear accident
The Haitian Revolution began - the only successful slave revolution in history, creating the first Black republic
The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution formally abolished slavery
The Wyoming Territory became the first US jurisdiction to grant women the right to vote
The National Labor Union was founded in Baltimore, the first national labor federation in the US
Henry Ford introduced the 8-hour workday and $5 daily wage, transforming labor relations
Henry Dunant founded the International Committee of the Red Cross after witnessing the Battle of Solferino
The UN General Assembly adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as the global development roadmap
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an Olympic Truce for the Atlanta games
Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the Special Olympics to provide sports training for people with intellectual disabilities
The first Ironman Triathlon was held in Hawaii - 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run
The inaugural Formula One World Drivers Championship race took place at Silverstone
Three-time Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna died after a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix
The American Professional Football Association (later renamed NFL) played its first games
Eight Chicago White Sox players were accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series
Babe Ruth set a single-season home run record of 60, standing for 34 years
The first Boston Marathon was run with 15 athletes, inspired by the revival of the Olympic marathon
Muhammad Ali defeated George Foreman in Kinshasa using the rope-a-dope strategy
Pele played his final professional game for the New York Cosmos against Santos in a farewell match
Lance Armstrong was stripped of all seven Tour de France titles and banned from cycling for doping
Tiger Woods won his first Masters at 21, becoming the youngest champion and the first person of color to win
Serena Williams won her first Wimbledon title at age 17, beginning her dominance of women's tennis
Michael Phelps won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, the most golds in a single Olympics ever
Joan Benoit won the first women's Olympic marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Games
Carl Lewis equaled Jesse Owens by winning four gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
Johan Cruyff's Netherlands reached the World Cup Final playing Total Football, changing the game forever
New Zealand won the inaugural Rugby World Cup, defeating France in the final
Diego Maradona scored the controversial 'Hand of God' goal against England in the 1986 World Cup
The first Home Nations Championship (later Five Nations, then Six Nations) was held
IBM's Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a reigning world chess champion in a match
Apollo 8 became the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the Moon, and astronauts read from Genesis on Christmas Eve
Scientists at Texas A&M University cloned the first domestic cat, named CC (Copy Cat)
Bryan Allen pedaled the Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel using only human power
Solar Impulse 2 completed the first around-the-world solar-powered flight
Reinhold Messner became the first person to climb Mount Everest solo without supplemental oxygen
Reinhold Messner became the first person to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters
The Channel Tunnel linking England and France opened for passenger services
The Golden Gate Bridge opened in San Francisco after four years of construction
The Brooklyn Bridge opened, becoming the world's longest suspension bridge at the time
The Empire State Building opened in New York City as the world's tallest building
Construction began on the Eiffel Tower for the 1889 World's Fair
President Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France to the United States
The United States began construction of the Panama Canal after France abandoned the project
The Hoover Dam was completed on the Colorado River, then the world's largest hydroelectric dam
Queen Victoria and President Buchanan exchanged congratulatory messages over the first transatlantic telegraph cable
The Universe Apollo, the first supertanker, was launched in Japan, transforming global oil transport
The Seikan Tunnel in Japan opened as the world's longest and deepest undersea rail tunnel
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened as the world's tallest building at 828 meters
How Time Changes Our Perception of History
The further an event recedes into the past, the more its significance is tested. Some events - the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the invention of the internet - grow larger with time, their consequences compounding across decades. Others, dominant in their moment, fade to footnotes as the world changes around them.
Counting days and years is a way of anchoring history to lived experience. Knowing that D-Day was not an abstract entry in a history book but a specific number of days ago - a number you can measure against your own life - changes how you hold the event. It becomes real in a way that centuries and eras do not.
Each event in this collection is drawn from a different thread of history: science, war, politics, exploration, disaster, and culture. Together they form a rough map of how the world became what it is today.
Events by Category
33
22
20
31
29
53
36
22
35
37
51
26
Related Tools
Calculate days between any two dates
Count down to any upcoming event
How far through the year are we?
Calculate how old any date is