CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta name="description" content="Milestones in human evolution timeline, world history timeline, civilization timeline"> <meta name="author" content="C.P. Doncaster"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp,noydir" /> <meta name="format-detection" content="telephone=no"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <meta charset="UTF-8"> <title>Timeline of the human condition | Milestones in evolution and history</title>  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-C8Z4S9KBGN"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-C8Z4S9KBGN'); </script>  <script> function numberWithCommas(x) { return x.toString().replace(/\B(?=(\d{3})+(?!\d))/g, ","); } </script> <base target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> <style> body { margin: 0; } p { margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; } /* Styles for table design */ table { width:100%; border-style: outset; border-width: 1px; border-color:#000; } td { vertical-align:top; padding: 6px 6px 6px 6px; border-style:inset; border-width:1px; border-color:#000; -webkit-text-size-adjust:none; text-size-adjust:none; } td.title { text-align:center; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; font-size:8px; color:#900; background-color:#FFC; } td.left-header { padding: 9px 6px 9px 6px; width:126px; text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom; } td.right-header { padding: 9px 6px 9px 6px; text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom; } td.left-cell { width:126px; text-align:right; white-space:nowrap; } td.left-cell-BCE { width:65px; text-align:right; color:#C90; } td.left-cell-CE { width:65px; text-align:right; color:#900; } td.left-cell-ya { width:45px; text-align: right; } td.section { background:#CFF; color:#C06; font-family:'Arial','sans-serif'; } /* Background colour of table rows */ #section0 tr { background-color: #FDFDF9; /* light yellow (RGB: 253+253+249=755) */ } #section1 tr, #section2 tr { background-color: #FAFAFF; /* light blue (RGB: 250+250+255=755) */ } #section3 tr, #section4 tr, #section5 tr, #section6 tr, #section7 tr, #section8 tr { background-color: #FFFAFA; /* light pink (RGB: 255+250+250=755) */ } #section9 tr { background-color: #FAFFFA; /* light green (RGB: 250+255+250=755) */ } /* Highlight table row on cursor hover and on random selection */ #section0 tr:hover, #section0 .selection { background-color: #FCFCE9; /* darker yellow (RGB: 252+252+233=737) */ } #section1 tr:hover, #section2 tr:hover, #section1 .selection, #section2 .selection { background-color: #ECF6FF; /* darker blue (RGB: 236+246+255=737) */ } #section3 tr:hover, #section4 tr:hover, #section5 tr:hover, #section6 tr:hover, #section7 tr:hover, #section8 tr:hover, #section3 .selection, #section4 .selection, #section5 .selection, #section6 .selection, #section7 .selection, #section8 .selection { background-color: #FFF1F1; /* darker pink (RGB: 255+241+241=737) */ } #section9 tr:hover, #section9 .selection { background-color: #F1FFF1; /* darker green (RGB: 241+255+241=737) */ } span.bracket { display:inline-block; } .header { background-position-x:0%; background-position-y:0%; background-attachment:scroll; background-color:#f1f1f1; font-family:'Arial','sans-serif'; } .sticky { top: 0; width:100%; position:fixed; } .key { text-align:left; font-size:13px; border: solid; border-width:thin; border-color:#900; background-color:#FFD; padding: 3px 3px 3px 3px; } .bottom { padding-top:0px; text-align:right; } /* Styles for within-table contents */ a { text-decoration: none; } a.anchor { position: relative; top: -80px; visibility: hidden; } img.cell { height:15px; float:left; margin-top:2px; } img.legend { height:15px; float:none; vertical-align:middle; margin-top:0px; } img.globe { height:19px; float:none; vertical-align:top; margin: 1px 0px -1px 0px; /* top right bottom left */ } img.globe-legend { height:17px; float:none; vertical-align:top; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; /* top right bottom left */ } img.star { height:19px; float:none; vertical-align:top; margin:-4px -5px 2px -7px; /* top right bottom left */ } img.arrow { padding: 0px 0px 3px 0px; height:15px; width:15px; vertical-align:bottom; display:inline-block; } img.key-arrow { height:13px; width:13px; vertical-align:middle; display:inline-block; } #down-arrow { cursor: pointer; } #up-arrow { cursor: pointer; } #bullseye { height:18px; width:18px; vertical-align:middle; cursor: pointer; display::inline-block; } #bullseyekey { cursor: pointer; } .icon { /*location symbol: polo mint*/ display: inline-block; box-sizing: border-box; /*include border in width and height*/ width: 14px; height: 14px; vertical-align:top; margin: 2px 0px -2px 0px; /* top right bottom left */ border: 2px solid blue; border-radius: 100%; /*disc*/ } .icon::after { /*location symbol: inverted triangle*/ display: inline-block; content: ''; /*triangle*/ vertical-align:top; margin: 10px 0px -4px 0px; /* top right bottom left */ border: 5px solid transparent; /*breadth*/ border-top: 6px solid blue; /*depth*/ border-bottom: none; /*let it drop*/ } .key-icon { /*location symbol in key: polo mint*/ display: inline-block; box-sizing: border-box; width: 13px; height: 13px; border: 2px solid blue; border-radius: 100%; } .key-icon::after { /*location symbol in key: inverted triangle*/ display: block; content: ''; top: 100%; left: 50%; margin: 9px 0px -4px 0px; border: 4px solid transparent; border-top: 6px solid blue; border-bottom: none; } .n-w { /*prevent line break between icon and next non-space element*/ white-space: nowrap; } /* Styles for popup images bedded in overlay */ #popupId { /* pointing-finger cursor as for html link */ cursor: pointer; } #popup { /* style for popup, linked to pies */ display: none; position: fixed; top: 50%; left: 50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%); z-index: 2; } #overlay { /* overlay style to bed popup */ display: none; position: fixed; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); z-index: 1; /* stacking on z-axis, above background */ } @media only screen and (min-height: 480px) { /* desktop devices */ #fullsizeImage { /* full-size popup image style to half-fill screen */ max-height: 25vh; /* Set the maximum height of the image */ max-width: 80vw; /* Set the maximum width of the image */ margin: 0 auto; /* Center the image horizontally */ } } @media only screen and (max-height: 479px) { /* mobile devices */ #fullsizeImage { /* full-size popup image style to half-fill screen */ max-height: 50vh; /* Set the maximum height of the image */ max-width: 80vw; /* Set the maximum width of the image */ margin: 0 auto; /* Center the image horizontally */ } } #popup2 { /* style for popup2, linked to sticky-header 'Event' */ display: none; position: fixed; top: 50%; left: 50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%); z-index: 2; /* stacking on z-axis, above 'z-index: 1' */ } #overlay2 { /* overlay style to bed popup2 */ display: none; position: fixed; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7); z-index: 1; } #fullsizeImage2 { /* full-size popup2 image style to fill screen */ max-height: 90vh; /* Set the maximum height of the image */ max-width: 100vw; /* Set the maximum width of the image */ margin: 0 auto; /* Center the image horizontally */ } /* End styles for popup images bedded in overlay */ </style> </head> <body lang=EN-GB link=blue vlink=purple> <table> <tr> <td class="title"> <br> <span style="font-size:21px;"><strong>TIMELINE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION</strong></span> <br><br> <span style="font-size:18px;">— Milestones in Evolution and History —</span> <br><br><br> <p class="key"><span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Key:</strong></span> <img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/13800mya.png"> pies fill with colour as time passes towards the present (click on boxed pies <img id="popupId" class="legend" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 13.8 Bya birth of Universe → 4 Bya emergence of sustained life" src="pies/13800mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/13800mya-popup.png')">, further explanation <a title="bottom" href="#Ages" target="_self"><img class="key-arrow" alt="bottom" src="pies/BottomArrow.png"></a> below); click on <img id="bullseyekey" class="legend" alt="targets random age" title="go to random age" src="pies/Bullseye.png" onClick="gotoRandomRow()"> to explore random ages; click on arrows to go <a title="next section" href="#II-1" target="_self"><img class="key-arrow" alt="down" src="pies/NextDownArrow.png"></a> to next section, <span title="top of section"><img class="key-arrow" alt="up" src="pies/NextUpArrow.png"></span> to top of current section, <a title="Summary" href="history-summary.html" target="_self"><img class="key-arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a> to Summary, and <a title="Synopsis" href="history-synopsis.html" target="_self"><img class="key-arrow" alt="to Synopsis" src="pies/SynopsisArrowR.png"></a> to Synopsis; click on <a href="pies/1640mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe-legend" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a> to see a global map of contemporaneous tectonic plates; click on <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@0.00,-17.34,-12861.9a,63182866d,35y,0h,0t,0r/"><i class='key-icon'></i></a></span> to go to the location in Google Earth (desk browser or mobile App); click <span class="n-w">on <a href="pies/Colour-indigo.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span> for illustrations</p> </td> </tr> </table> <table class="header" id="sticky-header" border=1> <tr> <td class="left-header"><img id="bullseye" class="legend" alt="targets random age" title="go to random age" src="pies/Bullseye.png" onClick="gotoRandomRow()"><strong>      Years ago</strong></td> <td class="right-header"><span style='float:left;'><div id="popupId" title="popup timeline of events after the birth of the Universe each more-or-less half way to the present from the preceding event" onClick="showPopup2('pies/Ages.png')"><font color = blue><strong>Event</strong></font></div></span><a title="bottom" href="#Ages" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="bottom" src="pies/BottomArrow.png"></a>   <span title="next section" id="down-arrow"><img class="arrow" alt="down" src="pies/NextDownArrow.png"></span>   <a title="9500 BCE" href="#BCE" target="_self"><font color = #C90><strong>BCE</strong></font></a>   <a title="CE 1" href="#CE" target="_self"><font color = #900><strong>CE</strong></font></a>   <span title="top of section" id="up-arrow"><img class="arrow" alt="up" src="pies/NextUpArrow.png"></span>   <a title="top" href="#" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="top" src="pies/TopArrow.png"></a> </td> </tr> </table> <section id="section0"> <table> <tr> <td class="section" colspan=3>I. COSMOLOGICAL ANTECEDENTS<a class="anchor" id="I"> </a><span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary I" href="history-summary.html" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a>  </span> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 13.8 Bya birth of Universe → 4 Bya emergence of sustained life" src="pies/13800mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/13800mya-popup.png')">13,800,000,000</td> <td>Big Bang singularity: <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/universe/overview/">cosmic inflation</a>, creation of all particles of <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-powered-the-big-bang">matter</a> and counterpart <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/6QXB-5QwHRg4Lg">antimatter</a>, and the laws of physics governing their interactions; expansion and cooling of space, emergence of the first elements → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02417-7">formation</a> of the observable Universe, its <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Hubble_traces_hidden_history_of_the_Andromeda_Galaxy">galaxies</a>, solar systems, stars, planets, moons, asteroids and <span class="n-w">comets<a href="pies/Comet.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/13550mya.png">13,550,000,000</td> <td>ignition of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-02616-8">hydrogen stars</a>, bathing the Universe in first light of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1239">cosmic dawn</a> → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zprp3g9">helium</a> in stars fusing into carbon, leading to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103%2FRevModPhys.29.547">stellar nucleosynthesis</a> of all elements; earliest <a href="https://webbtelescope.org/contents/early-highlights/nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-finds-most-distant-known-galaxy">galaxies</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02460-5">black holes</a> forming 290 million and 400 million years after the Big Bang</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/13000mya.png">13,000,000,000</td> <td>aggregation of stars into the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04496-5">Milky Way</a> galaxy: now a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay9675">warped</a> spiral disc of <a href="https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/blueshift/index.php/2015/07/22/how-many-stars-in-the-milky-way/">100 billion</a> stars, one of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abc881">200 billion</a> galaxies in the observable Universe</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/12200mya.png">12,200,000,000</td> <td>earliest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2620">water</a>: an interstellar vapour, and repository for oxygen</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/4570mya.png">4,570,000,000</td> <td>formation of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo941">Sun</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba9938">Solar System</a> within the Milky Way, orbiting a supermassive black hole, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01320-y">Sagittarius</a> <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2406"><span style="letter-spacing:-2px">A*</span></a>, at its <a href="https://www.jameswebbdiscovery.com/astronomy-news/galactic-center-of-milky-way-observed-by-james-webb-telescope">Galactic</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.287.5450.85">Centre</a> every 220 million years</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/4510mya.png">4,510,000,000</td> <td>formation of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1602365">Moon</a> from a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1225542">massive impact</a> of protoplanet <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03385-9">Theia</a> with proto-Earth, during chaotic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zggglnw">instability</a> of the giant planets</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/4500mya.png">4,500,000,000</td> <td>formation of planet <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/466822a">Earth</a> with 510 million km² of surface area, orbiting the Sun on a yearly cycle, rotating eastward on a day-night cycle around a tilted axis that perpetuates opposing polar seasons</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/4400mya.png">4,400,000,000</td> <td>formation of Earth’s <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/article.29592">oceans</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc1338">moist</a> <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/earth-s-earliest-climate-24206248/">atmosphere</a>, protected from solar wind and cosmic rays by Earth’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.288.5473.1987">magnetosphere</a> generated by its <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq2618">iron core</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/4400mya.png">4,400,000,000</td> <td>earliest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1130/G34886.1">subduction</a> of Earth’s crust → continental <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/article.23529">plate tectonics</a> by at least <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zacmqmq">3.5 billion years ago</a>, unique to Earth in the Solar System; plate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2024.101922">boundaries</a> <a href="pies/Tectonics.html">shifting</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03005-6">continuously</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/4300mya.png">4,300,000,000</td> <td>basaltic rock glass catalyses formation of RNA (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add3257">Hadean</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2022.0027">Eon</a>): long-strand molecules carrying information across self-replicating generations and synthesising peptides → pre-biotic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01256-3">RNA</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00574-4">world</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00544-4">?</a></td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section1"> <table> <tr> <td class="section" colspan=3>II. HUMAN ANCESTRY AND EVOLUTION<a class="anchor" id="II-1"> </a><p style="font-size:6px;"> </p>1. Evolution of life on Earth<span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary II-1" href="history-summary.html#II-1" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a>  </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 4 Bya earliest life → 2.1 Bya multicellular life" src="pies/4000mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/4000mya-popup.png')">4,000,000,000</td> <td>earliest life on Earth: single-celled prokaryotic Archaea (<a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aad4732">Hadean</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21377">Eon</a>, 3.7-<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.z2x162s">4.2 billion</a> years ago), each a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-024-01666-y">vesicle</a> of inherited genes composed of stable DNA, instructing the translation of RNA in ribosomes into proteins that catalyse metabolic reactions, driving reproduction → planet Earth harbouring <a href="https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/search-for-life/are-we-alone/">the only life</a> in the Universe<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01418-x">?</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/3500mya.png">3,500,000,000</td> <td>photosynthesising bacteria amongst the Archaea (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar7944">Archean</a> Eon), converting sunlight into chemical energy to power cellular activity → <span class="n-w">cyanobacteria<a href="pies/Colour-cyan.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.09.040">most abundant</a> of all organisms ever existing on Earth</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/3400mya.png">3,400,000,000</td> <td>earliest atmospheric oxygen, present at low levels (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.288.5466.658">Archean</a> Eon) → aerobic and anaerobic microbes evolving the metabolic pathways that drive planetary <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1153213">biogeochemical cycling</a> of elements <a href="https://periodic-table.rsc.org/element/1/hydrogen">H</a>, <a href="https://periodic-table.rsc.org/element/6/carbon">C</a>, <a href="https://periodic-table.rsc.org/element/7/nitrogen">N</a>, <a href="https://periodic-table.rsc.org/element/8/oxygen">O</a>, <a href="https://periodic-table.rsc.org/element/16/sulfur">S</a>, essential to all life on Earth</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/3260mya.png">3,260,000,000</td> <td>a gigantic meteorite strikes Earth (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2408721121">Archean</a> Eon <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-25.9008829,31.00588282,1406.94350082a,6986.65925942d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>),</span> triggering a global tsunami, boiling the world’s ocean, lowering sea level, darkening the sky, churning up nutrients for iron-cycling microbes</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 3.2 Bya first land ecosystem → 500 Mya land plants" src="pies/3200mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/3200mya-popup.png')">3,200,000,000</td> <td>emergence of Earth’s first continents from the ocean (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2105746118">Archean</a> Eon, 3.3 to 3.2 billion years ago), supporting microbial mats in Earth’s first <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq5220">land ecosystem</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/2330mya.png">2,330,000,000</td> <td>the Great Oxygenation Event: 1-10 million years of rapidly accumulating atmospheric oxygen (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600134">Proterozoic</a> Eon), a product of photosynthesis and energy source for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1209927110">complex life</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 2.1 Bya multicellular life → 890 Mya earliest animals" src="pies/2100mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/2100mya-popup.png')">2,100,000,000</td> <td>early multicellular life, with cell-to-cell signalling and coordinated responses (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09166">Proterozoic</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2024.107453">Eon</a>) → the human body containing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2303077120">28-36</a> trillion cells in <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d42859-024-00060-5/index.html">hundreds</a> of mutually-dependent <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d42859-024-00060-5/assets/XJJzBVVnRK/hca-body-18nov-900x1006.jpg">types</a>, plus a similar order of commensal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533">microbes</a> without which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2013.10.011">we die</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1640mya.png">1,640,000,000</td> <td>earliest Eukaryotes amongst the Prokaryotes (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro.2017.133">Proterozoic</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1538">Eon</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/1640mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>),</span> arising from the merger of an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01316-0">archaeon</a> with a bacterium: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01847-8">single-celled</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adk3208">multicellular</a>; sexual reproduction with meiosis and recombination of genetic material from two parents</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1500mya.png">1,500,000,000</td> <td>giant viruses associating with red algae (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-05931-1">Proterozoic</a> Eon <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/1500mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> viruses present from the dawn of cellular life<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zx12xx1">?</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1000mya.png">1,000,000,000</td> <td>earliest fungi amongst the Eukaryotes (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1217-0">Proterozoic</a> Eon <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/1000mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> shallow-water estuarine <em>Ourasphaira giraldae</em></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 890 Mya earliest animals → 520 Mya ancestral vertebrates" src="pies/890mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/890mya-popup.png')">890,000,000</td> <td>earliest Metazoa – animals – amongst the Eukaryotes: ctenophore <span class="n-w">‘comb<a href="pies/Comb-jelly.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>jellies’ with neurones and muscles, yet no <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.07.084">sense of self</a>, segregating from fungal lineages (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05936-6">Proterozoic</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03773-z">Eon</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02066-9">?</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/717mya.png">717,000,000</td> <td>massive volcanism and outgassing triggers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adj7226">Snowball Earth</a> glaciation lasting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1130/G51669.1">56 million years</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/717mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>:</span> the most extreme interval of icehouse climate in Earth’s history → further <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax5539">brief</a> snowball episodes</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/700mya.png">700,000,000</td> <td>Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event: 100 million years of rising photosynthesis with <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl7415">lengthening days</a> as Earth’s rotational speed slows, improving conditions for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/530268a">complex life</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/635mya.png">635,000,000</td> <td>earliest stem Cnidaria amongst the animals (early <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12116">Ediacaran</a> Period <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/635mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>),</span> ancestor of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.2490">jellyfish</a> and immortal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2118763119">hydra</a>: nervous system and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.acx9492">sleep/wake</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.08.068">cycle</a> → without <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02307-z">sleep</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.049">we die</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/550mya.png">550,000,000</td> <td>earliest bilaterian animals, with left-right symmetry (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02985-z">Ediacaran</a> Period): burrowing <em>Ikaria</em> with mouth and gut; segmented <em>Yilingia</em> with paired legs and musculature; roundworm <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.030"><em>Uncus</em></a>, earliest of now the most plentiful animal group</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/540mya.png">540,000,000</td> <td>explosion in animal diversification over 20 million years (earliest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2006.1846">Cambrian</a> Period <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/540mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>);</span> emergence of modern body plans, resolving to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34962-y">phyla</a> over 40 million years</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/535mya.png">535,000,000</td> <td>earliest chordates amongst the bilaterians (<a href="https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/chordata/">Early Cambrian</a> Period): pharyngeal gill slits, notochord and brain → unique cognitive abilities of the <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-024-03425-y/">human brain</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 520 Mya ancestral vertebrates → 340 Mya fully-terrestrial vertebrates" src="pies/520mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/520mya-popup.png')">520,000,000</td> <td>ancestral vertebrates amongst the chordates (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13414">Cambrian</a> Period), with stomach, gill arches, camera-type eyes, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14437">olfactory organ</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/520mya.png">520,000,000</td> <td>earliest acute visual perception: compound and stalked eyes of stem arthropods (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11495">Cambrian</a> Period) → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10689">vision</a> catalysing animal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc6721">diversification</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 500 Mya earliest land plants → 350 Mya earliest land vertebrates" src="pies/500mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/500mya-popup.png')">500,000,000</td> <td>first colonisation of land by plants: <span class="n-w">green<a href="pies/Colour-green.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>algae of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1719588115">Middle Cambrian</a> Period <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/500mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>,</span> probably facilitated by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28920-x">fungi</a> → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00995-2">continental greening</a> that creates soils, Earth’s single most <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2304663120">biodiverse</a> habitat, and meanders rivers</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/500mya.png">500,000,000</td> <td>earliest excursions onto land by animals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1629">Middle Cambrian</a> Period): snails on tidal sandflats, 100 million years before full terrestrialisation among invertebrates, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1666/0022-3360(2004)0782.0.CO;2">millipedes</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/480mya.png">480,000,000</td> <td>radiation of vertebrates (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14437">Early Ordovician</a> Period), possibly facilitated by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02299-z">genome duplication</a>: aquatic with a mineralised skeleton, armour and scales</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/479mya.png">479,000,000</td> <td>earliest insects amongst the arthropods (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1257570">Early Ordovician</a> Period) → flight by 406 million years ago; modern insects exhibiting capacity for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1520084113">subjective experience</a>, a marker for consciousness</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/460mya.png">460,000,000</td> <td>earliest vertebrate skeletons with living bone: <em>Astraspis</em> jawless fish (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.z0tkwoe">Ordovician</a> Period) → self-repairing bones</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 445 Mya 1st of 6 mass extinction events" src="pies/445mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/445mya-popup.png')">445,000,000</td> <td>mass extinction in two pulses across 1 million years, eliminating more than three-quarters of all species (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1130/G47377.1">Late Ordovician</a> Period <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/445mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>),</span> linked to volcanic activity</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/430mya.png">430,000,000</td> <td>evolution of paired nostrils amongst the fishes (<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0021-8782.2004.00345.x">Silurian</a> Period), a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11766">prerequisite</a> to the development of jaws → human nose <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02833-4">detecting</a> more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1249168">1 trillion odours</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02714-2">categorised</a> by associated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01626-x">memories</a><a href="https://archive.org/details/InSearchOfLostTimeCompleteVolumes/page/n41/mode/2up"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/420mya.png">420,000,000</td> <td>earliest jawed vertebrates amongst the fishes (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14438">Late Silurian</a> Period) → diversification of feeding niches; capacity for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.03.011">yawning</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq5158">empathy</a>, omnipresent across disparate modern lineages; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zcvt4y7">synovial joints</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/407mya.png">407,000,000</td> <td>earliest acoustic communication, by aquatic vertebrates (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33741-8">Early Devonian</a> Period): sound production and hearing for signalling, displaying and surveillance</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/407mya.png">407,000,000</td> <td>earliest woody stems of vascular plants (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1208882">Early Devonian</a> Period, France, Gondwana <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@47.37074786,-0.82896166,-2.57711499a,15390.23599846d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/407mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>)</span> → evolution driven by hydraulic constraints, pre-adapting plants for taller morphologies</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/395mya.png">395,000,000</td> <td>earliest tetrapods amongst the vertebrates (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08623">Devonian</a> Period, Poland, Euramerican shallow marine lagoons <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@50.9686068,20.69213357,365.86073355a,53304.94218207d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/395mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> limbs replacing paired fins; still fully aquatic</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/390mya.png">390,000,000</td> <td>earliest forests (<a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/earths-earliest-forest-somerset">Devonian</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2023-204">Period</a>, Britain, Euramerica <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.22889692,-3.90466265,45.46610143a,5245.62437616d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/390mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>)</span> → three-dimensional terrestrial habitat, trees connected by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/41557">mycorrhizal fungi</a>; rising <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba6333">atmospheric O₂</a> and diminishing CO₂</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/380mya.png">380,000,000</td> <td>earliest vertebrate multi-chambered heart (placoderm fish, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf3289">Devonian</a> Period, Australia, Gondwanan onshore reefs <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-18.18846629,125.88065928,151.28354381a,102963.02223701d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/380mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>)</span> → the human heartbeat a <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/works/55151">hearty</a>, <a href="https://archive.org/details/ost-english-conrad_joseph_1857_1924_heart_of_darkness/page/n1/mode/2up">heartless</a> or <a href="https://archive.org/details/romeojuliet0000shak_i0i3/page/42/mode/2up">heartfelt</a> rhythm, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/news050207-11">broken</a> by emotional trauma</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 375 Mya 2nd of 6 mass extinction events" src="pies/375mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/375mya-popup.png')">375,000,000</td> <td>mass extinction in a series of pulses across 20 million years, eliminating more than two-thirds of all species (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030%3C0711:CAOSIC%3E2.0.CO;2">Late Devonian</a> Period <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/375mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>),</span> linked to climatic cooling</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/350mya.png">350,000,000</td> <td>earliest land vertebrates (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/418035a">Early Carboniferous</a> Period, Britain, Euramerica <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@55.95597289,-4.53073752,112.27716938a,13644.98724221d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/350mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> semi-aquatic amphibian tetrapods, with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2220404120">blinking</a> eyes and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi8592">tongues</a> → human tongues detecting sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savoury tastes</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 340 Mya fully-terrestrial vertebrates → 178 Mya true mammals" src="pies/340mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/340mya-popup.png')">340,000,000</td> <td>earliest fully terrestrial tetrapod vertebrates, laying amniote eggs (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/19071">Carboniferous</a> Period, Britain, Euramerica <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@56.06090561,-2.81727717,3.73007254a,9702.05186497d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/340mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/305mya.png">305,000,000</td> <td>earliest evidence of parental care of offspring by a tetrapod: a varanopid synapsid (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1030-z">Carboniferous</a> Period, Nova Scotia, Pangaea <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@46.31585613,-60.29647855,15.05769023a,14849.07576672d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/305mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/289mya.png">289,000,000</td> <td>earliest record of skin (reptile <em>Captorhinus aguti</em>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.008">Permian Period</a>, North America, Pangaea <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@34.77443244,-98.4065627,370.99626659a,134771.53535558d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/289mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>),</span> the largest organ among extant limbed vertebrates; defending, protecting and insulating the body, sensing texture and temperature</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 251.9 Mya 3rd of 6 mass extinction events" src="pies/251.9mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/251.9mya-popup.png')">251,900,000</td> <td>Earth’s largest mass extinction, eliminating four-fifths of all species during 61,000 years (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav736">Permian</a>-<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat1327">Triassic</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-00646-4">transition</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/252mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>),</span> caused by hot and acidifying CO₂ emissions from vocanic Siberian Traps <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@69.03068283,93.932907,907.7662815a,1065242.45470807d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> amplified by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.z04mx5b">mega-El Niños</a> → rapid biotic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00383-9">recovery</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 233 Mya earliest dinosaurs" src="pies/233mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/233mya-popup.png')">233,000,000</td> <td>dawn of the modern world: major biological turnover linked to volcanism (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba0099">Late Triassic</a> Period <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/233mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>)</span> → rapid diversifications and originations of conifers, insects, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03889-y">dinosaurs</a>, reptiles and stem mammals</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/210mya.png">210,000,000</td> <td>earliest warm-blooded stem mammals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01975-7">Late Triassic</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/210mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> faster metabolism sustaining endothermy in a cooler climate</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 201.3 Mya 4th of 6 mass extinction events" src="pies/201.3mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/201.3mya-popup.png')">201,300,000</td> <td>mass extinction event, eliminating more than two-thirds of all species (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15325-6">Triassic</a>-<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb6704">Jurassic</a> transition), linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2415486121">volcanic CO₂</a> from the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/201mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>,</span> equivalent to projections for <font size="-1">CE </font>21ˢᵗ century anthropogenic emissions</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 178 Mya true mammals → 55 Mya earliest primates" src="pies/178mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/178mya-popup.png')">178,000,000</td> <td>earliest true mammals amongst the terrestrial vertebrates (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03170-7">Jurassic</a> Period <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/178mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> lactation, fur and endothermy; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zmqgna6">external</a> ears; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2008.02.001"><font size="-1">REM</font></a> sleep; natural lifespan of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04618-z">3,200</a> somatic mutations → humans averaging <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00976-w">47</a> annually</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 150 Mya transition to birds → 66 Mya extinction of non-avian dinosaurs" src="pies/150mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/150mya-popup.png')">150,000,000</td> <td>evolutionary transition to birds from therapod dinosaurs (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02757-5">Late Jurassic</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/150mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1863.0003"><em>Archaeopteryx</em></a>, with feathered <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13467">body</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1642">wings</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03296-8">active flight</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1120331">toothed beak</a> and <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/297106#page/340/mode/2up">bony tail</a>; birds sharing the air with reptilian <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.023">pterosaurs</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/135mya.png">135,000,000</td> <td>major radiations of flowering <span class="n-w">plants<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07324-0/figures/1"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>and their insect pollinators in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay3662">Early Cretaceous</a> Period <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/135mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>:</span> an “abominable mystery” (Charles Darwin, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/61309#page/36/mode/2up">18</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1592">79</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/101.5mya.png">101,500,000</td> <td>aerobic bacteria embed into oxic sediment of the South Pacific Gyre <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-23.85,-165.65,-10269a,8749480d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> (Cretaceous Period <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/101mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>),</span> reviving after <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17330-1">101.5 million years </a>to grow into microbial communities</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/92mya.png">92,000,000</td> <td>earliest mammal louse (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01833-6">Cretaceous</a> Period <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/92mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>)</span> → body-, pubic- and head-<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adm8415">lice</a>, bedbugs, screwworms and botflies, fleas, ticks, scabies and chiggers amongst the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-4557-4801-3.00293-9">ectoparasites</a> of modern humans, with 300 worm and 70 protozoan <a href="https://doi.org/10.1128%2FCMR.15.4.595-612.2002">endoparasites</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 66 Mya 5th of 6 mass extinction events" src="pies/66mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/66mya-popup.png')">66,000,000</td> <td>abrupt mass extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, with three-quarters of all species, following the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04446-1">springtime</a> impact of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006087117">10-km</a> wide <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02647-4">asteroid</a> at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-14199-x">Chicxulub</a>, Mexico <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@21.27774518,-89.50118865,42.752a,477034d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1817407116">Cretaceous-Paleogene</a> transition <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/66mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>)</span> → rapid diversification of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf1969">flowering plants</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz9741">mammals</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/65mya.png">65,000,000</td> <td>radiation of placental mammals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1229237">post-Cretaceous-Paleogene</a> boundary): placenta, and birth of well-developed young → now occupying every continent and ocean</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 55 Mya earliest primates → 25.2 Mya earliest apes" src="pies/55mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/55mya-popup.png')">55,000,000</td> <td>earliest primates amongst the mammals (<a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/article.26002">Eocene</a> Epoch <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/55mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> brachiation; modern primates exhibiting sociality and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1439-0310.2000.00627.x">social play</a> amongst adults, as in other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105124">mammals</a> and in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105621">birds</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/44mya.png">44,000,000</td> <td>divergence of Old World from New World primates (<a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/hominoid-origins-135874580/">Eocene</a> Epoch <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/44mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> colour vision, opposable thumbs; capacity to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12512">grieve</a>, as in other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211740">mammals</a>, and to recognise <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104123">deceptions</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20734">extended sexuality</a> → extreme in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613485965">humans</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/34mya.png">34,000,000</td> <td>freezing over of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42152-2">Antarctica</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/34mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>,</span> henceforth shrouding the continental landmass in ice</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/30mya.png">30,000,000</td> <td>a virus embeds its DNA into a primate’s genome, evolving into an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf5335">endogenous retrovirus</a> → active in modern humans: domesticated and territorial, protecting the placenta</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 25.2 Mya earliest apes → 7 Mya earliest hominins" src="pies/25.2mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/25.2mya-popup.png')">25,200,000</td> <td>earliest hominoids (apes) amongst the Old World primates (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12161">Tanzania</a>, Oligocene Epoch <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/25mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> tailless, enlarged brain; dawn of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw3916">speech</a> in contrasting vowel sounds – no language without vowels</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/16.8mya.png">16,800,000</td> <td>earliest hominids (great apes) amongst the hominoid gibbons in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13679">Asia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/16mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>:</span> larger body size and sexual dimorphism; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1187921">tool kits</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aai8851">empathy</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2017.72">consolation</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2009.05.028">infant laughter</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2412450122">sensitive</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001939">gesturing</a>, long-distance communication by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.07.013">drumming</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1079/PNS2003257">self</a>-<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01289-w">medication</a>, as in other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104271">animals</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/13mya.png">13,000,000</td> <td>hominids <em>Pierolapithecus catalaunicus</em> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1103094">Spain</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@41.52196844,1.80880917,239.86699797a,6011.23054663d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> and <em>Nyanzapithecus alesi</em> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23456">Kenya</a> <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@2.9683833,35.86615,487.27653156a,843.96431151d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/13mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>,</span> possible ancestors of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2218778120">hominins</a> and modern apes respectively, the former with <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abb4363">upright posture</a>; capacity for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2345">playful teasing</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 7 Mya earliest hominins → 2.8 Mya earliest human" src="pies/7mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/7mya-popup.png')">7,000,000</td> <td>earliest hominin <em>Sahelanthropus</em>, then <em>Orrorin</em> and <em>Ardipithecus</em>, amongst the hominids in <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/the-earliest-hominins-sahelanthropus-orrorin-and-ardipithecus-67648286/">Africa</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/7mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>:</span> reduced canines, arboreal habit, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02313-7">bipedal</a> capability</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/4.2mya.png">4,200,000</td> <td>replacement of the earliest hominins by <i>Australopithecus</i> spp. in <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/overview-of-hominin-evolution-89010983/">Africa</a>: fully upright, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/278317a0">bipedal</a> and free-striding gait – unique amongst mammals, slowing mobility, freeing the hands for dextrous activity</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/3.3mya.png">3,300,000</td> <td>earliest knapped stone artefacts: Lomekwian tools (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14464">Kenya</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@3.87343215,35.75415559,464.5a,9162.827d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/521294a">hominin</a> technological behaviour<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0904-4">?</a> → <em>Paranthropus</em> sp. using <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00386-6">Oldowan tools</a> by <em>c</em>. 2.8 million years ago</td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section2"> <table> <tr> <td class="section" colspan=3>2. Human evolution<a class="anchor" id="II-2"> </a><span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary II-2" href="history-summary.html#II-2" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a>  </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 2.8 Mya earliest human → 1.5 Mya earliest control of fire" src="pies/2.8mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/2.8mya-popup.png')">2,800,000</td> <td>earliest human, <em>Homo</em> sp., amongst the hominins (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa1343">Ledi-Geraru</a>, Ethiopia <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@11.35109206,40.86249296,40.86,463.11a,40022d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/3mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>):</span> rounded chin as <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/lucy-a-marvelous-specimen-135716086/"><em>Australopithecus</em></a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zr6fwrp"><em>afarensis</em></a>, but smaller and slimmer molars as the later <em>Homo habilis</em></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/2.7mya.png">2,700,000</td> <td>range expansion of hominin genus <em>Paranthropus</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb4590">East Africa</a>), <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zz4tt5x">co-existing</a> with humans</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/2.6mya.png">2,600,000</td> <td>incorporation of meat and marrow into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1809439115">generalist</a> diets of hominins (<a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/evidence-for-meat-eating-by-early-humans-103874273/">Africa</a>); hunting by ambush, stalking, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01876-x">endurance pursuit</a> of prey?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/2.6mya.png">2,600,000</td> <td>earliest stone tools produced by humans (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0350">Gona</a>, Ethiopia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@11.10183102,40.52938471,560.1748a,8390.138d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> Oldowan tools, chopping through flesh, bone, bark</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/2.588mya.png">2,588,000</td> <td>start of the current geological period of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-59425-9.00030-5">Quaternary</a> glaciation, possibly initiated by a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl4554">supernova blast</a> 150-300 light-years away, luminous as the full Moon</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/2.4mya.png">2,400,000</td> <td><i>Homo habilis</i> in <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/overview-of-hominin-evolution-89010983/">Africa</a>, using stone tools for cleaving meat from bone</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/2.12mya.png">2,120,000</td> <td>earliest evidence of human ancestors outside of Africa: tool-using hominins in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0299-4">Shangchen</a>, northern China <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@34.225833,109.4775,891.557a,1790.868d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 2 Mya appearance of Homo erectus → 110 Kya disappearance of H. erectus" src="pies/2mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/2mya-popup.png')">2,000,000</td> <td>early <em>Homo erectus</em>, direct ancestor of modern humans, coexisting with <em>Australopithecus</em> – soon extinct, and <em>Paranthropus</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw7293">South Africa</a>): delayed maturity, enlarged brain and smaller teeth</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1.8mya.png">1,800,000</td> <td>migrations of <i>Homo erectus</i> from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/316788a0">Africa</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb4590">Eurasia</a> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1106638108">Georgia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@41.33747405,44.34428718,906.06a,12288.2256d,35y,0h,0t,0r,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>;</span> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.10.001">Lantian</a> in northern China <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@34.18375001,109.4899167,723.96060226a,3077.11204845d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by 1.63 million years ago; to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2011.04.009">Java</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-7.46629803,110.85501699,723.96060226a,3077.11204845d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by 1.5 million years ago<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2318903121">?</a>); ecological success underwritten by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.95.3.1336">postmenopausal</a> care of young?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1.77mya.png">1,770,000</td> <td>earliest evidence of extended childhood (11-year old <em>Homo</em>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08205-2">Dmanisi</a>, Georgia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@41.33747405,44.34428718,906.06a,12288.2256d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>),</span> characteristic of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.322.5904.1040">modern humans</a>, linked to slow development of baby teeth</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1.7mya.png">1,700,000</td> <td>earliest stone hand axes (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep17839">Olduvai Gorge</a>, Tanzania <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-2.99032342,35.34963753,1426.7278a,44595.7541d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> Acheulean tools, standardised for butchering, cutting, stripping, hammering, drilling → population mobility</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 1.5 Mya earliest control of fire → 780 Kya cooked food" src="pies/1.5mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/1.5mya-popup.png')">1,500,000</td> <td>earliest control of fire, by <em>Homo erectus</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.01.010">Koobi Fora</a>, Kenya <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@4.15,36.4,527.87438a,37060.29d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> uniquely human capability, extending the day with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1404212111">firelight</a> → cooked food improving nutrient uptake by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01910-z">780,000 years ago</a>; widespread use of fire by 400,000 years ago</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1.5mya.png">1,500,000</td> <td>male-male alliances in <em>Homo erectus</em> social groups (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28766">Ileret</a>, Kenya <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@4.312222,36.271111,409.4017a,7288.85d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> cooperative networks, perhaps including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2121723119">unrelated</a> individuals</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1.45mya.png">1,450,000</td> <td>hominins butchering and consuming other hominins (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02082-x">Koobi Fora</a>, Kenya)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1.4mya.png">1,400,000</td> <td>earliest organic tools: a hand axe made from hippopotamus bone (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006370117">Konso-Gardula</a>, Ethiopia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@5.43,37.42,1232.283a,7659.1716d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> perhaps conscious <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2016482117">symbolism</a>, or proforma: copying multistep know-how from others → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00427-8">cumulative culture</a> by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2319175121">600,000 years ago</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1.4mya.png">1,400,000</td> <td>replacement of <em>Homo habilis</em> by <em>Homo erectus</em> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb4590">Africa</a>, also dispersing into eastern <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00627-2">Europe</a> and spreading west, establishing in Europe at least by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.z9ievmh">900,000 years ago</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 1 Mya extinction of last sibling genus → 315 Kya earliest evidence of Homo sapiens" src="pies/1mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/1mya-popup.png')">1,000,000</td> <td>extinction of <em>Paranthropus</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb4590">South Africa</a>), our last remaining sibling genus</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/1mya.png">1,000,000</td> <td>ancestral humans undergo the first of a series of bifurcations into weakly differentiated populations connected by gene flow (<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06055-y/figures/3">pan</a>-<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06055-y">Africa</a>) → no single <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01664-z">birthplace</a> of modern humans</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.9mya.png">900,000</td> <td>population bottleneck for the ancestors of modern humans in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq7487">Africa</a>, reducing from <em>c</em>. 100,000 to 1,300 individuals, persisting for <em>c</em>. 100,000 years during drastic climate change → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2318903121">diaspora</a> from Africa to Europe</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.9mya.png">900,000</td> <td><em>Homo antecessor</em> in western Europe (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc0184">Gran Dolina</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2153-8">Spain</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@42.35189867,-3.51884858,940.691a,13015.89d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, closely related to the last common ancestor of Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.9mya.png">900,000</td> <td>flint scrapers associated with <em>Homo antecessor</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1999.0336">Gran Dolina</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.06.013">Spain</a>), suitable for preparing animal hides → clothing?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.8mya.png">800,000</td> <td>earliest cannibalism, in <em>Homo antecessor</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-016-9306-y">Gran Dolina</a>, Spain), practised throughout human history; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44707">social</a> motivation?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.7mya.png">700,000</td> <td>rise of <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01050-1">Africa</a> and <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology-south-east/news/2020/aug/eating-out-was-very-social-matter-early-humans-new-archaeology-boxgrove">Europe</a>, possible ancestor of <em>Homo sapiens</em> and <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em>; supplementing meat with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021655118">starchy plants</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.7mya.png">700,000</td> <td>diminutive <em>Homo floresiensis</em> on the Indonesian island of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/534188a">Flores</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-8.70388872,121.10611105,221.666a,3647.463d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> probable <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50649-7">descendent</a> of <em>Homo erectus</em></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.5mya.png">500,000</td> <td>earliest abstract markings: a zigzag engraving on a freshwater-mussel shell by <em>Homo erectus</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13962">Trinil</a>, Java <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-7.37438108,111.35779407,48.036a,28025.68d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → uniquely human capacity for abstraction</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.5mya.png">500,000</td> <td>earliest use of stone-tipped spears, by <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1227608">Kathu Pan</a>, South Africa <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-27.6663889,23.0072222,1221.4921a,65611d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> for hunting large game</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.476mya.png">476,000</td> <td>earliest wooden construction (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06557-9">Kalambo Falls</a>, Zambia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-8.59366926,31.24283586,1174.233a,966.752d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, of interlocking logs joined by a cut notch: walkway, platform, or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02928-4">shelter</a>?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.45mya.png">450,000</td> <td> rise of Neanderthals <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em> across <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02075-9">Europe</a>: similar brain size but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02895-2">fewer neurones</a> compared to modern humans</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.43mya.png">430,000</td> <td>Denisovans diverge from Neanderthals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17405">southern Siberia</a>) → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x">Tibetan Plateau</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@35.44886548,102.5721934,3229.56120331a,12228.77065321d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01372-0">Laos</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@20.21168761,103.40902328,1117.68525128a,4574.11777573d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by 160,000 years ago; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zi9n4zp">subsequent</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06004-0">interbreeding</a>, possibly also with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb3777"><em>Homo erectus</em></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.4mya.png">400,000</td> <td>multiple hominin dispersals across Arabia (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02321-z">Nefud Desert</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@28.3,41,595.1817a,469076d,35y,0h,0t,0r,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=ClUaUxJNCiUweDE1NzRjNWM0ODc4MDJjMjc6MHhlN2ZmNzAwNjJiZjI5ZTRjGZx0EZX87jxAIT0uBf-29URAKhJOZWZ1ZCBTYXVkaSBBcmFiaWEYASABOgMKATA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, during windows of desert greening at four-, three-, two- and one-hundred thousand years ago</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.4mya.png">400,000</td> <td>earliest evidence of food storage for later consumption: bone marrow (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav9822">Qesem Cave</a>, Israel <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.10132738,34.99421677,93.61a,10494.84d,35y,360h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → food economy, incentivised by anticipation of future need</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.32mya.png">320,000</td> <td>long-distance transport of obsidian for fine blades and points, and <span class="n-w">ochre<a href="pies/Colour-ochre.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>for pigments (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao2646">Olorgesailie</a>, Kenyan rift valley <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-1.5772,36.44470007,1005.82616a,45384.67d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.359.6381.1200">trade?</a> → technological transition to Middle Stone Age during intensifying climate swings</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 315 Kya earliest H. sapiens → 170 Kya widespread use of clothing" src="pies/0.315mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/0.315mya-popup.png')">315,000</td> <td>earliest evidence of our species, <em>Homo sapiens</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22336">Jebel Irhoud</a>, Morocco <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.89673608,-8.86483859,363.06a,37408.67d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba4534">facial</a> and dental structure similar to modern humans, yet still archaic elongation of the braincase</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.3mya.png">300,000</td> <td>wood age of <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em> and <em>H. neanderthalensis</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.08.004">Schöningen</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.z5hff6o">Germany</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@52.13200978,10.99535513,82.99135a,8464.7426d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> spears, throwing sticks, shafts, digging and piercing sticks, designed and carved from fire-hardened wood</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.25mya.png">250,000</td> <td>replacement of <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em> by <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0904119106">Europe</a>, and by <em>Homo sapiens</em> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1040-6182(00)00079-3">Africa</a> over the subsequent 100,000 years </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.23mya.png">230,000</td> <td>earliest anatomically modern <em>Homo sapiens</em>, in eastern Africa (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04275-8">Omo-Kibish</a>, Ethiopia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@4.80,35.97,382.14a,166382.1d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> chin and tall cranial vault</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.21mya.png">210,000</td> <td><em>Homo sapiens</em> enter <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02075-9">Eurasia</a> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1376-z">Greece</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@36.6625523,22.3625636,13.1027a,1816.68d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> first of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03244-5">multiple dispersals</a> out of Africa by humans with early modern traits, including globular braincase and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1130-6">descended larynx</a> facilitating spoken <a href="https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1078-6">language</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.2mya.png">200,000</td> <td>compassion among Neanderthals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adn9310">Cova Negra</a>, Spain <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@38.9648753,-0.4961544,114.35266688a,639.66847119d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=Cn8aURJLCiQweGQ2MTk4ZWQ3YTIzYTZiZDoweDEwZWY3MTY2YWYyNTMxMzQZ7RupCIF7Q0AhYA5xYv7A378qEUNvdmEgTmVncmEsIFNwYWluGAIgASImCiQJwHCRhXhVQkARwj99eSRUQkAZqBz7mYxfNkAhCFSuVRVaNkBCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> caregiving and collaborative parenting for a child with Down syndrome</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.2mya.png">200,000</td> <td>recurrent interbreeding of <em>Homo sapiens</em> with <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi1768">Eurasia</a> and subsequently <a href="https://doi.org/doi:10.1038/nature.2016.19394">Siberia</a>) → accumulation of modern traits through gene flow</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.2mya.png">200,000</td> <td>earliest adhesive: birch tar used by Neanderthals for hafting stone tools (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2006.01.006">Campitello</a>, Italy <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@43.48371534,11.61533961,225.237a,9691.9716d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1911137116">pyro</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109025">technology</a></td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section3"> <table> <tr> <td class="section" colspan=3>III. CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT<p style="font-size:6px;"> </p>3. Hunter-gatherer nomads<a class="anchor" id="III-3"> </a><span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary III-3" href="history-summary.html#III-3" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a>  </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.176mya.png">176,000</td> <td>earliest social construction: underground edifices built from broken stalagmites by Neanderthals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18440">Bruniquel Cave</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18291">France</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@44.06436791,1.67591258,124.5653a,3066.581d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → material culture, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00048596">augmenting</a> the natural space</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 170 Kya widespread use of clothing → 40 Kya habitual use of solid footwear" src="pies/0.17mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/0.17mya-popup.png')">170,000</td> <td>widespread use of clothing, setting humans apart from all other animals, evidenced in the divergence of clothing lice from head lice (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msq234">Africa</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.16mya.png">160,000</td> <td>coastal shellfish harvested by <em>Homo sapiens</em> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06204">southern Africa</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-34.20779839,22.08953848,24.3964a,3644.6812d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> and by Neanderthals in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.02.007">western Mediterranean</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@36.62077122,-4.49704125,21.19a,52006.78d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> → fatty acids boosting cognitive development</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 142 Kya earliest symbolic ornaments → 73 Kya earliest drawing" src="pies/0.142mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/0.142mya-popup.png')">142,000</td> <td>earliest symbolic ornaments: marine-shell beads made by humans in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abi8620">Morocco</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.68241047,-9.53667875,175.14956a,42519.412d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> spreading to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1128139">Levant</a>: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-022-00587-4">conscious</a> experience of selfhood; painted beads by Neanderthals in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aar5255">Spain</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.5853044,-0.98580081,0.7112314a,99.92309253d,35y,0h,59.9982401t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by 115,000 years ago</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.126mya.png">126,000</td> <td><em>Homo</em> with mix of archaic-human and Neanderthal traits (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh3169">Nesher Ramla</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj3077">Israel</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.90784248,34.92850832,57.879346a,39463.49d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> stone-tool industry, cooking meat; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh3020">cultural exchange</a> with humans?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.125mya.png">125,000</td> <td>prelude to Earth’s Last Glacial Period: global average temperature never again as high until <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02179-1"><font size="-1">CE </font>2021</a>, during intensifying anthropogenic warming</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.125mya.png">125,000</td> <td>Neanderthals living and working in large groups (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg9641">northern</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2309427120">European</a> plain <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.32444438,11.89888893,121.25846698a,98270.79623588d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, evidenced by butchered 13-tonne elephants, each provisioning 100 people for a month</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.12mya.png">120,000</td> <td>burial of dead, by anatomically modern humans in <a href="https://doi.org/10.4000/paleo.4848">Qafzeh Cave</a>, Israel <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.679184,35.29555416,245.544a,3586.79d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> and by Neanderthals in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0443">Tabun Cave</a>, Israel <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.6705,34.9655,38.99a,7765.150d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>:</span> mortuary rituals, mourning the dead</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 2 Mya appearance of Homo erectus → 110 Kya disappearance of H. erectus" src="pies/0.11mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/0.11mya-popup.png')">110,000</td> <td>last appearance of <em>Homo erectus</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1863-2">Ngandong</a>, Java <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-7.31103437,111.42353771,31.3912a,5578.517d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, 1.89 million years after its first appearance → the longest enduring species of human</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.105mya.png">105,000</td> <td>hoarding of non-utilitarian objects by <em>Homo sapiens</em>: crystals and ostrich eggshell fragments (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03419-0">Kalahari</a>, southern Africa <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-27.38420585,23.3437584,1421.57466a,2885.91d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.1mya.png">100,000</td> <td>possible first arrival of <em>Homo sapiens</em> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zmipwyw">East Asia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@36.61666671,107.25,1242.77a,18927.734d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> attracted to verdant landscapes produced by strengthening monsoons</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.1mya.png">100,000</td> <td>toolkit for mixing and storing pigments: ochre, <span class="n-w">charcoal,<a href="pies/Colour-charcoal.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>bone, hammerstones, grindstones and abalone-shell containers (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1211535">Blombos Cave</a>, South Africa <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-34.41438257,21.22253273,242.92637545a,3754.88494465d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → complex human cognition</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.1mya.png">100,000</td> <td>earliest human etchings on rock: cross-hash decorations or symbols (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat9450">Blombos Cave</a>, South Africa) → conceptual imagination</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.09mya.png">90,000</td> <td>manufacture of bone harpoons, for hunting catfish (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.7725100">Semliki river</a>, DR Congo <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-0.0868367,29.5980492,925.371a,3318.672d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.09mya.png">90,000</td> <td>fisher-hunter-gatherer Neanderthals eating mussels, crab, eels, sea bream and shark, dolphins and seals, hoofed game and waterfowl; pine-nut economy (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz7943">Figueira Brava</a>, Portugal <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@38.470556,-8.986111,31.3912a,5578.517d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.078mya.png">78,000</td> <td>earliest symbolic human burial, a 3-year old <em>Homo sapiens</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03457-8">Panga ya Saidi Cave</a>, Kenya <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-3.6520822,39.74806199,108.01036507a,56970.04971541d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00805-6">funerary practices</a> by our ancestors</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.077mya.png">77,000</td> <td>construction of bedding from sedges, topped with aromatic leaves containing insecticidal and larvicidal chemicals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1213317">Sibudu</a> rock shelter, South Africa <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-29.522639,31.085889,71.6434a,2167.685d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.077mya.png">77,000</td> <td>early modern <em>Homo sapiens</em> present in southeast Asia (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01903-3">Tam Pà Ling Cave</a>, Laos <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@20.20975595,103.411841,1096.839a,5275.26d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, possibly migrating through as early as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38715-y">86,000 years ago</a>, settling at least by 68,000 years ago</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.075mya.png">75,000</td> <td>earliest jewellery fashions: shifts in styles of threaded shell beads (<a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/article.26304">Blombos Cave</a>, South Africa)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 73 Kya earliest drawing → 44 Kya earliest figurative painting" src="pies/0.073mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/0.073mya-popup.png')">73,000</td> <td>earliest drawing by humans: criss-crossed lines on a grindstone drawn with red-ochre crayon (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06664-y">Blombos Cave</a>, South Africa)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.071mya.png">71,000</td> <td>earliest heat-treatment of bladelets, for atlatl darts or arrows (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11660">Pinnacle Point</a>, South Africa <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-34.20779839,22.08953848,24.3964a,3644.6812d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> communication of complex technology → emergence of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11751">modern mind</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.07mya.png">70,000</td> <td>cooking of crushed pulse seeds by Neanderthals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.143">Shanidar Cave</a>, Iraqi Kurdistan <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@36.83444,44.220944,788.7389a,8077.0225d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> tolerance of bitter and astringent tastes → food culture</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.065mya.png">65,000</td> <td>rapid colonisation of Australia by humans during <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21551-3">5,000 years</a> (ancient <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22968">Sahul</a>): <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42946-9">maritime</a> exploration; transecting the continent along <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01106-8">superhighways</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0648mya.png">64,800</td> <td>earliest symbolic cave paintings by Neanderthals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.359.6378.852">La Pasiega Cave</a>, Spain <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@43.289153,-3.966081,262.7922a,2241.4287d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.08.004">?</a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0617mya.png">61,700</td> <td>bow-and-arrow technology, with bone arrowhead (<a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.11">Sibudu rock shelter</a>, South Africa); a sprung bow the first instrument to hold energy for controlled release</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.06mya.png">60,000</td> <td>earliest number symbols: notched-bone tally marks by Neanderthals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0518">Les Pradelles</a>, France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@45.74025858,0.43195658,112.487a,10274.569d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → uniquely human <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01429-6">number culture</a>, record keeping, seasonal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774322000415">calendars</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.06mya.png">60,000</td> <td>symbolic burial of dead by Neanderthals <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316780110">(La Chapelle-aux-Saints</a>, France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@44.98711344,1.72413872,138.9355a,1138.834d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> funerary practices</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.06mya.png">60,000</td> <td>beginning of range expansion by modern humans out of Africa into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03244-5">Eurasia</a>, enduring 10,000 years → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18964">ancestors</a> of all modern non-Africans; onset of behavioural modernity</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.054mya.png">54,000</td> <td>modern humans, <em>Homo sapiens</em>, settling briefly in western Europe (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj9496">Grotte Mandrin</a>, France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@44.46950565,4.77136279,228.6958a,4978.4082d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00389-9">?</a></span> – preceded by and preceding Neanderthal settlements</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 51.2 Kya earliest figurative painting → 11 Kya extended narrative scenes" src="pies/0.0512mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/0.0512mya-popup.png')">51,200</td> <td>earliest representational art: figurative painting of anthropomorphic figures with a pig (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07541-7">Leang Karampuang</a>, Sulawesi <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-5.0295648,119.68004154,46.64372232a,1439.72201233d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → narrative storytelling</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.051mya.png">51,000</td> <td>a giant deer’s phalanx bone becomes a Neanderthal artist’s canvas, prepared by scraping and boiling before etching (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01506-z">Harz Mountains</a>, Germany <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.635,10.404194,377.395a,4244.91d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.05mya.png">50,000</td> <td>earliest use of string: a cord of three-plied bark fibres (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61839-w">Abri du Maras</a>, France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@44.30838679,4.56340441,119.7895a,6893.5788d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → clothing, mats, baskets, nets, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh5217">rope</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774323000173">ladders</a>, bowstrings, snares and fishing lines, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.02.029">watercraft</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.05mya.png">50,000</td> <td>earliest eyed needle, made from bone by Denisovans (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.07.027">Denisova Cave</a>, Siberia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.39715307,84.67643807,688.96037142a,10688.85021006d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, suitable for tailoring garments</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.05mya.png">50,000</td> <td>Neanderthal fire-lighting technology (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28342-9">France</a>): striking flint axes with mineral pyrite → wood the predominant fuel for cooking and heating until the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.10.013"><font size="-1">CE </font>19ᵗʰ century</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.05mya.png">50,000</td> <td>Eurasian <em>Homo sapiens</em> co-existing with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.19651"><em>Homo floresiensis</em></a> (soon extinct) and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01019-7"><em>Homo luzonensis</em></a>, interbreeding with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-04065-y">Neanderthals</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.19394">Denisovans</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0485mya.png">48,500</td> <td>a giant virus freezes into permafrost of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/v15020564">Yukechi</a> alas, Siberia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@61.760861,130.474661,230.72a,115053d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> melting back to virulent activity 48,500 years later → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02830-7">pandemic risk</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.048mya.png">48,000</td> <td>self-medication by Neanderthals, with pain-killing salicylic acid in poplar leaves, and antibiotic-producing <em>Penicillium</em> mould (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21674">El Sidrón</a>, Spain <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@43.38271559,-5.323111,168.694a,3624.02d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.046mya.png">46,000</td> <td>anatomically modern humans<i>, Homo sapiens,</i> established in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10484">Europe</a> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.368.6492.697">Bacho Kiro</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2259-z">Bulgaria</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@42.94712548,25.43027908,333.2a,2192.51d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>;</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06923-7">Ilsenhöhle</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02303-6">Germany</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@50.6626449,11.56513681,389.108a,2537.677d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq3010">mating</a> with Neanderthals, spreading eastwards.</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.046mya.png">46,000</td> <td>complex processing of food plants by anatomically modern humans (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.08.011">Niah Cave</a>, Borneo <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@3.81919416,113.77832293,43.18386a,8296.4858d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> detoxifying yam, <em>Dioscorea hispida</em></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.045mya.png">45,000</td> <td>extinction of giant flightless mihirung thunder birds, hastened by human exploitation of their eggs (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2109326119">Australia</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.044mya.png">44,000</td> <td>figurative painting of therianthropes hunting anoa and pigs (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1806-y">Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4</a>, Sulawesi <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-4.80494682,119.61201467,72.69646a,5539.67d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03826-4">mythological</a> storytelling</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.042mya.png">42,000</td> <td>earliest musical instruments: bone and ivory flutes (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08169">Swabian Jura</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.03.003">Germany</a>), stirring the emotions with harmony, melody, rhythm, <span class="n-w">timbre<a href="pies/Music.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>→ no human society without music</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.042mya.png">42,000</td> <td>earliest record of fish-hooks, manufactured from broken shell (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1207703">Jerimalai shelter</a>, East Timor <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-8.41827681,127.292218,210.14a,12066d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> deep-sea fishing for pelagic tuna and parrotfish, sharks and marine turtles</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0415mya.png">41,500</td> <td>most recent reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles, lasting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb8677">500 years</a>, degrading stratospheric ozone, driving global climate shifts and extinction events</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.04mya.png">40,000</td> <td>anatomically modern humans <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13621">replace</a> Neanderthals, our last remaining sibling species</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 40 Kya full development of language → 5.2 Kya full writing" src="pies/0.04mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/0.04mya-popup.png')">40,000</td> <td>full development of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10539-006-9058-2">language</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adp3757">personal names</a> facilitating efficient social bonding through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00032325">gossip</a> → now over <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/">7,000</a> living languages, over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2103683118">2,000</a> vanishing</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.04mya.png">40,000</td> <td>earliest habitual footwear (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2007.12.002">Tianyuan</a>, China <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@39.657778,115.871389,228.6958a,4978.4082d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, opening permafrost regions to occupancy; widespread across Russia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@56.17603897,40.50256638,159.658a,461324.56d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by 27,000 years ago → hay socks by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.301.5629.43b">5,000 years ago</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.04mya.png">40,000</td> <td>earliest figurative sculpture, in ivory, of a therianthrope with lion’s head and human torso (<a href="https://doi.org/10.7485/QU61_07">Hohlenstein-Stadel</a>, Germany <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@48.54953058,10.17482234,483.5628a,6979.706d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>: emodying a story</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.04mya.png">40,000</td> <td>earliest images of human form: hand stencils (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13422">Maros karsts</a>, Sulawesi <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-4.99814556,119.66113789,69.81842806a,9195.52972108d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>;</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0679-9">Lubang Jeriji Saléh</a>, Borneo <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@1.14645621,117.33027968,353.53a,42330d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.037mya.png">37,000</td> <td>earliest artistic representation of human form: engravings of vulvas (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1119663109">Abri Castanet</a>, France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@44.99986261,1.10133305,101.16305894a,1832.99506816d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> fertility symbol?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.035mya.png">35,000</td> <td>earliest animation in cave art (<a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1426/">Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1523158113">France</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@44.38819514,4.41591676,212.73333164a,5587.11051652d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> breaking down animal <a href="https://doi.org/10.4000/palethnologie.861">movement</a>, prefiguring <a href="pies/Azema.html">cinema</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.035mya.png">35,000</td> <td>earliest fully human sculpture and female imagery: a mammoth-ivory ‘Venus’ figurine (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07995">Hohle Fels</a>, Germany <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@48.37928842,9.75375251,531.115a,673.495d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> fertility totem?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.034mya.png">34,000</td> <td>cultural identity exhibited in personal ornaments fashioned from stone, shell, ivory, bone, and teeth from humans and animals (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zvl3z51">Gravettian technocomplex</a>, pan-European)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0326mya.png">32,600</td> <td>processing of heat-dried wild oats with grindstones (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1505213112">Grotta Paglicci</a>, Italy <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@41.6540773,15.6152539,142.543a,5274.84d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>;</span> soon appearing across <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1006993107">Europe</a>, <a href="https://australian.museum/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/cultural-objects/grindstones/">Australia</a>), to make flour for storage and cooking</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.032mya.png">32,000</td> <td>fruits of the campion <em>Silene stenophylla</em> freeze in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118386109">Siberian</a> tundra <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@68.6012878,158.14365325,59.526a,137022.5d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> regenerating from cryobiosis 32,000 years later into fertile plants</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.032mya.png">32,000</td> <td>possible first human incursions into the Americas (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2509-0">Mexico</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@24.61758218,-101.13077553,2707.322a,6490.24d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, certainly within the next 10,000 years (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02597-1">New</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl2172">Mexico</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.83278559,-106.407971,1193.626a,58713.676d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, migrating along the coast from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02137-3">Siberia</a>?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.031mya.png">31,000</td> <td>earliest surgical amputation, of a child’s lower leg (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02849-8">Liang Tebo</a>, Borneo <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@1.10532056,117.31258496,53a,42330d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> the amputee surviving for 6 to 9 years, then burial</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.03mya.png">30,000</td> <td>earliest woven fabrics, made from dyed fibres of wild flax (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.325_1329a">Georgia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@42.31220053,43.31736335,495.2a,1808.69d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → baskets, textile clothing</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0295mya.png">29,500</td> <td>earliest stone statuette: ochre-tinted oolitic limestone <em>Venus of Willendorf</em> (<a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/venus-of-willendorf-natural-history-museum-vienna/kgJi0EokEjjAKA?hl=en">Austria</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@48.32328073,15.40425058,222.09a,9066.857d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.027mya.png">27,000</td> <td>possible first human incursions into South America (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.0316">Santa Elina</a>, Brazil <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-15.457778,-56.81678988,414.59297555a,38462.17072237d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> colonising <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1602778">Peru</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-7.91490178,-79.30470469,11.66a,45905.15d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by 15,000 years ago; humans henceforth occupying every continent except Antarctica</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.025mya.png">25,000</td> <td>a coronavirus epidemic sweeps through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.05.067">East Asia</a>, driving genetic adaptations still present in modern humans</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.024mya.png">24,000</td> <td>use of poison arrows, with wooden ricin applicator (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1204213109">Lebombo mountains</a>, South Africa <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-27.021944,31.988611,539a,8380.16d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.024mya.png">24,000</td> <td>a bdelloid rotifer freezes into ice in the Alayeza river (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.077">Russian Arctic</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@69.338889,154.996944,222.09a,9066.857d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, reviving 24,000 years later to full vigour</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.023mya.png">23,000</td> <td>fisher-hunter-gatherer brush huts (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2008.03.012">Sea of Galilee</a>, Levant <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.72226138,35.57223991,-216a,9067d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> sealed floor, hearth, berry and seed stockpiles, grindstones, sleeping area with grass <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0308557101">bedding</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.023mya.png">23,000</td> <td>earliest fishing-net sinkers (<a href="https://doi.org/10.2218/jls.v3i3.1646">Sea of Galilee</a>, Levant) → modern industrial fishing currently in 55% of ocean area, covering <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao5646">4×</a> agricultural area</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img id="popupId" class="cell" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 23 Kya domestication of dogs → 10.4 Kya domestication of livestock" src="pies/0.023mya-pop.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/0.023mya-popup.png')">23,000</td> <td>first domestication: dogs from grey wolves <em>Canis lupus</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2010083118">Siberia</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.acx9380">Japan</a>), for companionship, <a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2016.115">hunting technology</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1929">pulling sledges</a> → 700 million dogs by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2012.07.005"><font size="-1">CE </font>21ˢᵗ century</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.022mya.png">22,000</td> <td>possible earliest use of transport technology (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.qsa.2025.100274">New Mexico</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.83278559,-106.407971,1193.626a,58713.676d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> drag marks consistent with a travois handcart, transporting possessions and resources</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.02mya.png">20,000</td> <td>earliest pottery vessels (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1218643">Xianrendong Cave</a>, China <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@28.7333649,117.1789597,62.986a,10031.1d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> cooking food in pots during the Last Glacial Maximum → Early-Holocene <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01491-8">cultural transmission</a> across Northern Eurasia</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.02mya.png">20,000</td> <td>beginning of sea-level rise from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53643-3.00131-X">deglaciation</a> in a warming global climate; stabilising at today’s 120-m higher levels by <em>c</em>. 10,000 years ago</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.019mya.png">19,000</td> <td>replacement of early modern humans across <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj7133">Eurasia</a> by the ancestors of today’s populations</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.016mya.png">16,000</td> <td>a quaking aspen sapling grows into a tree amongst other clones of the same root system, some perhaps 64,000 years older, spreading across 40 ha over the next 16,000 years (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03570-4">Utah</a>, North America <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@38.52444759,-111.75065653,2730.85017441a,507.47571668d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.015mya.png">15,000</td> <td>introgression of last remaining <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax5054">Denisovans</a> into the modern human genome? Anatomically modern humans henceforth the only hominin</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.015mya.png">15,000</td> <td>colonisation and occupation of North America by humans, from northeastern <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01374-5">Siberia</a> over the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aat5447">Bering</a> land bridge, bringing their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.107221">dogs</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.015mya.png">15,000</td> <td>semi-permanent forager settlements of Natufians (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1619137114">Ain Mallaha</a>, Levant <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@33.08697502,35.57915899,68.6148a,8548.827d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, evidenced by presence of house mice</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.015mya.png">15,000</td> <td>earliest record of a string instrument: the musical bow (cave painting at <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40461485">Trois Frères</a>, France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@43.03231844,1.21181205,474.22670104a,1160.18597936d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → music initiated outside the body</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.015mya.png">15,000</td> <td>earliest thaumatrope (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00062785">Laugerie-Basse</a> rock shelter, France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@44.9487964,0.9982449,150.8457a,2991.888d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> an optical toy, creating movement by juxtaposition of images</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0144mya.png">14,400</td> <td>evidence of baking bread: unleavened flatbread from wild einkorn and club-rush tubers (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1801071115">Shubayqa</a>, Jordan <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.406437,37.22810001,739.0265a,28208.65d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1318176111">caries</a> from consumption of starchy foods</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.014mya.png">14,000</td> <td>earliest lime plaster, used as an adhesive for hafting (<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/530304">Kebaran culture</a>, North Sinai <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@30.78564844,33.43698934,417.65138995a,5926.25887149d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → mortar by 1000<font size="-1"> BCE</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0134mya.png">13,400</td> <td>earliest evidence of large-scale inter-communal violence: projectile and blunt-force trauma (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-89386-y">Jebel Sahaba</a>, Sudan <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@21.85899297,31.33395748,192.69a,25435.7d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0608329103">warfare</a> and conflict driving human misery</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.013mya.png">13,000</td> <td>earliest record of ritual torture, by strangulation (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adl3374">Addaura Cave</a> engravings, Sicily <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@38.18684008,13.35215721,76.938a,809.128d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.013mya.png">13,000</td> <td>earliest record of artistic expression through dance, as rite of passage (engravings in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2019-0036">Sicily</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@38.18684008,13.35215721,76.938a,809.128d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>;</span> paintings in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2286">India</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@22.93889687,77.60334214,540.135847a,6030.33519281d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> rhythms that elevate the spirit → collective desire for cosmic order</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0128mya.png">12,800</td> <td>climate shift contributing to megafaunal extinctions and human cultural changes (<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/younger-dryas">Younger Dryas</a>): triggered by a comet airburst over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103677">North America</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60867-w">Europe</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adb1944">?</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0123mya.png">12,300</td> <td>earliest evidence of humans using tobacco (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02789-9">West Desert</a>, North America <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@40.08138759,-113.03561066,1348.63a,41576.53d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.012mya.png">12,000</td> <td>domestication of <em>Cannabis</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg2286">East Asia</a>) → breeding for hemp-type and drug-type varieties by <em>c</em>. 1800<font size="-1"> BCE</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.012mya.png">12,000</td> <td>oldest record of a culturally transmitted ritual practice (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zkuhe1s">Cloggs</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01912-w">Cave</a>, Australia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-37.50581851,148.21275586,75.1a,7309.89d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> ceremonial use of fat-smeared sticks through 12,000 years, at least to <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-26150595/view?partId=nla.obj-26166025#page/n6/mode/1up">1887</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.012mya.png">12,000</td> <td>extinction of megafauna including woolly mammoths from continental <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2316419121">Eurasia</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21201-8">North America</a>, caused by human hunting and climate change</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0117mya.png">11,700</td> <td>start of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2004.07.001">Holocene Epoch</a> within the Quaternary Period, characterised by warm and stable climate until the late <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910114117"><font size="-1">CE </font>20ᵗʰ century</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0117mya.png">11,700</td> <td>in the North American Mojave desert <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@33.90,-115.90,661.178a,99134.8d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> a seed germinates and grows into a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12329">deadly</a> creosote bush, which segments to sprout new stems, sprouting and segmenting for <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2442649">11,700 years</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell"><img class="cell" alt="" src="pies/0.0116mya.png">11,600</td> <td>earliest monumental ritual art (<a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2018.48">Shigir</a>, Siberia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@@57.6149,59.9962,270.329a,60783.9d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> 5-m tall larchwood plank carved with human forms and signs → complex <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat9796">ideas</a> expressed by hunter-gatherers</td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section4"> <table> <tr> <td class="section" colspan=3>4. Agricultural farming and settlements <a class="anchor" id="BCE"> </a><a class="anchor" id="III-4"> </a><span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary III-4" href="history-summary.html#III-4" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a>  </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE"><font size="-1">BCE </font>9500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 9500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>cultivation of wild barley and oats around village settlements (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1240496">Fertile Crescent</a>) → dawn of farming on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01322-w">Anatolian peninsula</a>; <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/article.31143">storable grains</a> sustaining population growth</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">9500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 9500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest monumental temple (<a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1572">Göbekli Tepe</a>, Anatolia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.223242,38.922364,722.679a,14343.874d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> carved stone stelae up to 4-m tall serving ritualistic purposes; associated <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aan7029">skull cult</a>; ceremonial <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01681-w">porridge and beer</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">9500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 9500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest calendar (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1751696X.2024.2373876">Göbekli Tepe</a>, Anatolia), recording 12 lunar months of a 365-day year anchored by spring and autumn equinoxes, and the Younger Dryas comet strike <em>c</em>. 1,300 years earlier</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">9500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 9500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest use of brick architecture: sun-dried mudbricks (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21401">Anatolia</a> and the Levant, spreading to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3210928">Mesopotamia</a>) → fired bricks by 3000<font size="-1"> BCE</font> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12014">China</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">9000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 9000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest continuous settlements (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0812764106">southern Levant</a>), including Jericho <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.86971564,35.443865,-222.368a,42985.08d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>:</span> stone and mudbrick <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1017642108">architecture</a> developing into a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/203413">walled</a> town of up to 900 people → modern cities of <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/city-populations-to-2035?country=Mexico+City~Tokyo~Delhi~Shanghai~Osaka~Sao+Paulo~Cairo~Dhaka~Istanbul~Mumbai~Beijing~Buenos+Aires~New+York~Manila~Lagos">30 million people</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@28.61390376,77.20902597,250.714a,90834.3187d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">9000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 9000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of grapes (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add8655">Western Asia and Caucasus</a>): selection for palatability, hermaphroditic reproductive mode, muscat flavour and skin colour</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">9000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 9000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest record of storytelling in an extended narrative scene (<a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.125">Sayburç</a>, Anatolia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.11197773,38.62062523,677.62a,17968.8d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> the subject as the body of the work, the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24738398">art as the spirit</a> that animates it, sustaining its relevance through the ages</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">9000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 9000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest artistic representation of human sexual intercourse: 10-cm phallic sculpture of sensual and tender intimacy (<a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1958-1007-1"><span style="letter-spacing:-2px">‘A</span>in Sakhri</a>, Levant <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.63939565,35.24881673,447.16204353a,2870.44777853d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">9000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 9000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest record of fire-stick farming (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00693-6">Australia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-12.517667,131.08075,25.3963a,81121.2774d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> mosaics of frequent and low-intensity fires set early in the dry season, reducing the intensity of subsequent wildfires</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">8400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 8400) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of goats and sheep (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2100901118">Fertile Crescent</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2110930119">Anatolia</a>) → milk, meat, wool, hide and capital from 1.32 billion sheep and 1.13 billion goats by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a>, rising trend</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">8100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 8100) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td><span style="color: red"><strong><em>global population of humans passes <a href="https://themasites.pbl.nl/tridion/en/themasites/hyde/basicdrivingfactors/population/index-2.html" style="color: red;">5 million</a></em></strong></span>; annual energy use per person averages <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00029-y">1,700 kWh</a>, 2.4× the resting metabolism</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">8000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 8000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>continental <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/ice-sheets-and-sea-level-in-earth-24148940/">ice-sheets</a> withdraw from Europe and North America</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">8000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 8000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of cattle, from aurochs (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04737-0">Near East and Indus Valley</a>) → haulage, milk, meat, hide and capital from 1.58 billion head of cattle by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a>, rising trend</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">8000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 8000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of wheat (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1143986">Mesopotamia</a>): <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl6957">hybrid vigour</a> efficiently converting solar energy into food energy, aided by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41286-7">earthworms</a> → 798 million tonnes of wheat per year by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL/visualize"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a>, using 220 million ha of land</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">8000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 8000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of the bottle gourd <em>Lagenaria siceraria</em>, indigenous to Africa, in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0509279102">Americas</a> from Asian stock: global diffusion for <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/3gUB1-GIC08IJw">containers</a>, musical instruments, fishing floats</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">7500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 7500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of cats, from Near Eastern wildcats <em>Felis silvestris lybica</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan6984">Middle East</a>) → 400 million domestic cats by <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5675408m/f725.item.r"><font size="-1">CE </font>20ᵗʰ century</a>, a substantial <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2380">threat</a> to wildlife</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">7200</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 7200) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest large-scale representations of complete human forms: lime plaster statues 1-m tall (<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/506791"><span style="letter-spacing:-2px">‘A</span>in Ghazal</a>, Jordan <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.9865164,35.97568824,478.59026846a,3866.40257331d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">7000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 7000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of maize (corn, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.052125199">Mexico</a>) → 1.24 billion tonnes per year and rising by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL/visualize"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a> using 208 million ha; with wheat and rice accounting for <a href="https://stories.undp.org/counting-on-nature-for-the-food-we-eat">60%</a> of all human calorie supply, using 4% of global land area</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">7000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 7000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of the potato (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1714380114">Andes</a>, southern Peru) → 383 million tonnes per year by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL/visualize"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a>, using 17 million ha of land; a <a href="http://www.fao.org/potato-2008/pdf/iypbook-en.pdf">food-security crop</a> worldwide, not a globally traded commodity</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">7000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 7000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of pigs (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad1692">Anatolia and China</a>) → meat, hide, bristles, capital and medical research from 994 million pigs by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL/visualize"><font size="-1">CE </font>2015</a>: peak production?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">7000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 7000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>big-game hunting practised by males and females (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd0310">Wilamaya Patjxa</a>, Andean highlands <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-16.242199,-69.728322,3886.99a,105346.6733d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → hunting mostly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287101">not the preserve of men</a> in recent hunter-gatherer societies</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">7000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 7000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>emergence of privilege and elite status within communities (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288075">Ba`ja</a>, Jordan <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@30.41337036,35.46117302,1165.578a,2028.117d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, evidenced by an elaborate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288075.g023">necklace</a> in a child’s tomb</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">7000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 7000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>rise of Transeurasian languages, with the spread of millet farming from the Liao River Valley (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03037-w">north-eastern</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04108-8">China</a>) → 80 languages now spoken from Tokyo to Istanbul</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6900) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest use of bee products: beeswax lining pottery vessels (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15757">Çatalhöyük</a>, Anatolia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.66643717,32.82565991,1009.91a,9559.1889d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, spreading rapidly across Eurasia from the 5ᵗʰ millennium <font size="-1">BCE</font> for technological and cultural functions</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6700</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6700) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>extinction of woolly rhinos (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ztq7yw8">northeast</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2316419121">Siberia</a>), caused by human hunting, following millennia of climate-driven habitat loss and fragmentation</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest mining of metal: heating, hammering and grinding copper into projectile points (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi6135">Great Lakes</a>, North America <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@45.93516254,-89.2354566,258.89a,820531.8d,35y,0h,0t,0r,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest cattle dairying (north-western <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07180">Anatolia</a>), for milk and its products of cheese and ghee: protein and fat obtained without killing the capital asset</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>beginning of a wave of migrations from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920051117">Middle East</a> northwest through Anatolia, spreading farming practices into Europe</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6100) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>rise of languages with subject-verb-object syntax – as in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1113716108">English</a> – from a subject-object-verb root (Proto-Indo-European, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adj9993">southern</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abg0818">Caucasus</a>) → carried into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14317">Europe</a> with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00382-y">migrations</a>; other <a href="https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1072-z">syntaxes</a> arising later</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of rice (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/514S58a">Asia</a>) → 799 million tonnes per year and rising by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL/visualize"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a>, using 168 million ha of land, with potential to boost yield by more than a third through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi8455">genetic modification</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>underground explorations of up to 1.5 km into deep caves <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-024-09649-6">(Saint-Marcel cave network</a>, France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@44.33219448,4.5409856,109.56a,14292d,35y,-0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> engagement with the subterranean environment</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>foraging for honey (Mesolithic painting in the <a href="http://ceres.mcu.es/pages/Viewer?accion=4&AMuseo=MAN&Ninv=1982/38/D/275">Araña Caves</a>, Spain <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@39.1102333,-0.8633317,536.2a,2321.1d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → 102 million beehives and rising by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL/visualize"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest grape wine and viniculture (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1714728114">South Caucasus</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@41.39049682,44.82088553,441.1a,660076d,35y,0h,0t,0r,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → wine as a social lubricant, medicine and commodity throughout western civilisation</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">6000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 6000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest forts (central <a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.164">Siberian</a> taiga <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@63.6905556,67.3305556,23.19a,8717.09d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> a hunter-gatherer innovation → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zw35moc">cultural diversity</a> within fortified settlements</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5900) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>start of the Copper Age (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-019-09134-z">Fertile Crescent</a>), spread of copper smelting for weapons and tools</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5800</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5800) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>cultivation of cotton <em>Gossypium barbadense</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511793790.010">north Peru</a>); <em>G. arboreum</em> cultivated in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/jasc.2001.0779">Pakistan</a> by 5500<font size="-1"> BCE</font> → clothing, fishing nets, sheets, towels, rugs, wadding</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5600</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5600) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>cultivation of poppies for opium (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76924-3">western Mediterranean</a>), widespread by 4500<font size="-1"> BCE</font>, domestication by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88964-4">3100<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a> → psychoactive, medicinal and alimentary uses</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>flooding of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.279.5354.1132">Black Sea</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@43.76730251,34.60022062,-55.849a,1719059d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> from the Mediterranean Sea: perhaps the great flood of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the biblical flood of Noah’s Ark</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest salt production, by evaporation of brine (<a href="https://doi.org/10.4000/mediterranee.8246">Provadia-Solnitsata</a>, Bulgaria <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@43.1283261,27.4724546,23.919a,784.054d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> preserving food, enhancing flavour → high consumption in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn.81.2.341">Western diet</a>, with no evolutionary precedent</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5480</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5480) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>extraordinarily large influx of cosmic rays from an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1613144114">abnormal Sun</a>, possibly caused by solar proton events → potential for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2013.03.001">DNA damage</a> on a global scale</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5200</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5200) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest use of bitumen, for waterproofing reed-bundle boats (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0471.2005.00041.x">As-Sabiyah</a>, Kuwait <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@29.58023688,48.01726979,-9.69369563a,121269.33d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → 65 billion tons of asphalt in roads and pavements by <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3010-5/tables/1"><font size="-1">CE </font>2020</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5200</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5200) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest seaborne trading networks (<a href="https://doi.org/10.12681/bgsg.18588">Aegean</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@38.09735902,25.65096681,10.35667a,936704d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> for obsidian, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X0009325X">Persian Gulf</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@27.1774,52.44476,-4.8a,2543227d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> for Ubaid pottery), with mast and sail technology: the first harnessing of natural forces to replace human labour</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5100) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>ritual landscape of large-scale mustatil monuments (<a href="https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2021.51">western Saudi Arabia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@25.31367429,39.43309199,859.6826a,1765.46634d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> entranceways to courtyards, chambers, orthostats; associated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281904">cattle cult</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5050</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5050) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest city-sized population centres, with up to 3,000 houses, yet devoid of social hierarchy (Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-04216-1">eastern Europe</a>) → 2,000 years of egalitarian societies</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5050</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5050) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest burials by ritualistic mummification (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1116724109">Chinchorro culture</a>, Atacama Desert <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-19.1898,-70.2620056,34.14273821a,167179.99303132d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, some involving disassembly of the body</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest imitation of social prestige (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2024.106011">Iberian Peninsula</a>): simulating amber bead jewellery from mollusc shells coated in pine resin mixed with beeswax and pigment</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>early cultivation of forest gardens <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2402304121">(Pacific Northwest</a>, North America): transplantation, stewardship and management of non-domesticated hazel shrubs</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>cultivation of sugarcane (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-021-01015-0">Indo</a>-<a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/335962">China</a>); spreading to Africa and the Americas, slave labour providing sugar to Europe and North America from <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27779029"><font size="-1">CE </font>16ᵗʰ century</a> → 2.03 billion tonnes/year and rising by <a href="https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL/visualize"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a>, using 27 million ha; the most-produced food, most productive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-013-9366-8">biofuel</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of bananas from <em>Musa acuminata</em> and subsequent hybridisations (<a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.969220">Papua New Guinea</a>) → 1.2 trillion bananas produced annually by <a href="https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL/visualize">2023</a>; rising trend, subject to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf3420">disease risks</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of tobacco (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1813796115">Andean Highlands</a>, South America), spreading to North America by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.05.013">1520<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a> → smoking kills 100 million people worldwide in <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43818"><font size="-1">CE </font>20ᵗʰ century</a>, the worst preventable <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00165-7">killer</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">5000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 5000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of donkeys (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.acx9238">East Africa</a>), spreading rapidly throughout Eurasia → first land-based transport: pack animals for carrying materials and water, transforming society</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">4800</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 4800) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest artistic representation of introspection: <em>Thinker and Sitting Woman</em> figurines (Hamangia culture, <a href="https://www.rciusa.info/post/the-history-of-romania-in-one-object-the-thinker-and-the-sitting-woman">Cernavodă</a>, Romania <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@https:/earth.google.com/web/@44.3582941,28.03514067,43.8a,14518d,35y,0h,0t,0r,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → capacity for soul-searching and contemplation</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">4500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 4500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>monogamous relationships and patrilineal descent through seven generations of a western European farming community (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02402-1">Gurgy</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06350-8">‘les Noisats’</a>, France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@47.8751,3.56384,103.89641321a,8268.4079463d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">4200</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 4200) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest construction of wheels, by potters for crafting wheel-coiled bowls (<a href="https://doi.org/10.3406/paleo.1997.4643">southern Levant</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2016.1230379">northern Mesopotamia</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">4000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 4000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of chili pepper <em>Capsicum</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1308933111">Tehuacán Valley</a>, Mexico <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@18.277414,-97.192111,1630.86367073a,95558.25911058d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, spreading rapidly into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1136914">South America</a>; brought to Europe by Columbus <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42954701"><font size="-1">CE </font>1492</a> → now used daily by a quarter of the global <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97217-6_1">population</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">4000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 4000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest use of <span class="n-w">indigo<a href="pies/Colour-indigo.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>blue, from <em>Indigofera</em> plants, for dyeing cotton fabric (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501623">Huaca Prieta</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1602778">Peru</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-7.91490178,-79.30470469,11.66a,45905.15d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> use in Egypt by 2400<font size="-1"> BCE</font>, China by 1000<font size="-1"> BCE</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">4000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 4000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest folk tale? A smith willingly trades his soul with the devil for skill to weld together any materials; his wish comes true, he welds the devil to a tree and keeps his soul (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150645">Indo-European</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">4000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 4000) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest board games (<a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/anbd/hd_anbd.htm">Egypt</a>), moving pieces on a track according to outcomes determined by a throw stick → computers outperform humans in all board games by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16961"><font size="-1">CE </font>2016</a> and in strategy games by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04246-7"><font size="-1">CE </font>2022</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3700</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3700) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>preliterate knowledge of science: geology, physics, geometry and astronomy, used in megalith construction (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adp1295">Dolmen of Menga</a>, Spain <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.0241672,-4.5482665,494.78918447a,662.88865908d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CqABGnYScAojMHhkNzI4ZmVlYzAzNmZkYmQ6MHg2YzdlNTY2MDM0ZTZiMzIZZdEq6ReDQkAhM_j7xWwxEsAqN0RvbG1lbiBvZiBNZW5nYSwgQ2FycmV0ZXJhIGRlIE3DoWxhZ2EsIEFudGVxdWVyYSwgU3BhaW4YAiABIiYKJAml1gdf6zZGQBGC0rIryiRGQBlXp0zx1SU8QCGRo7sDKOw7QDoDCgEw"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>: engineering expertise by trial-and-error</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3600</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3600) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest direct evidence of malaria infection (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07546-2">Leubingen</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zfsvwsw">Germany</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.20620099,11.183455,148.2159a,23387.86d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → by 2020 malaria sickening 240 million people worldwide, killing 600,000</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3600</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3600) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest engineering of water delivery and storage, for people, animals and irrigation (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2007.05.001">Jawa</a>, Jordan <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.33492184,37.00267353,1015.25186271a,1801.5436221d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → landscape engineering of dams, levees, ditches in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1710516114">China</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@30.38697318,119.92438388,17.18984767a,21287.88852055d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by 3100<font size="-1"> BCE</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest ploughs for tilling soil (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.12.006">Italy</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@39.38152242,16.50973186,1136.772a,15020.22d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> harnessing domestic animals for work; landscape engineering for crops</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>rising human fertility, enabled by earlier weaning of babies fed with milk of domestic ruminants (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00911-7">southern Britain</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3500) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>domestication of horses (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade2451">Central Asian steppes</a>), revolutionising <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh4447">mobility</a>, economy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2004360117">warfare</a> → widespread mobility from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07597-5">2200<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.acx9397">transport</a>, haulage, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn3517">cavalry</a>, meat and capital; 57 million horses by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a>, declining</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3400) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest wheeled wagons (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00068289">Germany</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3986/9789612545611">Slovenia</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00065522">Near East</a>) → breakthrough in haulage and locomotion: mechanical advantage equalling ratio of wheel to axle radii, moderated by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.95.10.5448">friction</a>; nanoscale wheel and axle by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2007.16"><font size="-1">CE </font>2007</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3300</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3300) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>start of the Bronze Age (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19310">Near East</a>), bronze replacing copper for weapons, tools, nails, utensils; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14507">mixing</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add9059">Eurasian</a> peoples → rapid westward spread of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abd6535">farming</a>, conversion of forest to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03798-4">dairy</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920051117">pasture</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3300</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3300) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>cultivation of cacao trees for chocolate (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav8839">upper Amazon</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-4.6364896,-79.130285,1040.588a,6672.91d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → domestication in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-018-0168-6">Mesoamerica</a> by 1600<font size="-1"> BCE</font>, sacrificing productivity for stimulant and disease-resistance genes</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3300</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3300) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest numeral systems: pictograms of economic units on clay tablets (<a href="https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oimp/oimp-32-visible-language-inventions-writing-ancient-middle-east-and">Uruk</a>, Mesopotamia) → cuneiform sexagesimals in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00407-019-00221-3">Mesopotamia</a> by <em>c</em>. 3200<font size="-1"> BCE</font>, and hieroglyph decimals in <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/40000073">Egypt</a> by 3100<font size="-1"> BCE</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3200</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3200) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>full writing (cuneiform in <a href="https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oimp/oimp-32-visible-language-inventions-writing-ancient-middle-east-and">Mesopotamia</a>, hieroglyphics in <a href="https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oimp/oimp-32-visible-language-inventions-writing-ancient-middle-east-and">Egypt</a>), on clay tablets using the rebus principle → bookkeeping, instruction, commemoration, scripture, prayer, historical records</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3200</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3200) * 0.01) * 100)));</script></td> <td>earliest evidence of all-out warfare (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43026-9">north-central Iberia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@42.88611094,-2.94777803,735.463a,8809d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <em>c</em>. 3380-3000<font size="-1"> BCE</font>): extended conflict amongst young male warriors</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3150</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3150) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>organic medicinal remedies from herbal wines (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811578106">Abydos</a>, Egypt <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@26.18471107,31.91888869,77.87a,3156.8d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3100) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest evidence of the plague (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109278">Latvia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@57.79336,25.15352,41.955a,10138.277d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, possibly driving 3ʳᵈ millenium <font size="-1">BCE</font> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07651-2">Neolithic decline</a> and migrations across <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2015.18633">Europe and Asia</a>; infectious diseases dominate Holocene <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.19.100190.000513">causes of death</a>, shaping the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05775">course of history</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3100) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>association of love-making with war-mongering (<em>Inanna</em>, Sumerian goddess of love and war, <a href="https://archive.org/details/gods-demons-and-symbols-of-ancient-mesopotamia-an-illustrated-dictionary_202012/page/108/mode/2up">Uruk</a>): human capacity to unite passion with lust, rapture with glory, loyalty with brutality, conquests with casualties</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3100) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>development of governance systems with the rise of Uruk (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.335.6070.790">Mesopotamia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.3243503,45.6388031,30.11986207a,67952.79930219d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, Sumerian city of 30,000 residents, and cities of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.320.5881.1276">Indus Valley</a> → <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1928-1010-3">class</a> divisions, institutionalised <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108160186.005">slavery</a>: living off the labour of others</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3050</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3050) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest standard weights (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2105873118">Mesopotamia</a>) for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102444">balance scales</a>, and cubit length (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf1936">Egypt</a> by 2700<font size="-1"> BCE</font>): objective frames of reference for valuing commodities → integration of markets across Western Eurasia within 2 millennia</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest abacus, replacing tables of multiplication, reciprocals, powers (<a href="https://archive.org/details/the-universal-history-of-numbers-from-prehistory-to-the-invention-of-the-compute/page/130/mode/2up">Sumerian</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/hmat.2002.2343">Old Babylonian</a>, 3ʳᵈ millennium <font size="-1">BCE</font>) → nanoscale abacus storing numerical information in individual molecules by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.274.5290.1079"><font size="-1">CE </font>19</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1063/1.116824">96</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>emergence of herpes HSV-1 virus causing cold sores (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02246-1">Europe</a>), passed from parent to child; later spread more rapidly by romantic kissing, originating in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf0512">Mesopotamia</a> <em>c</em>. 2500<font size="-1"> BCE</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>cultivation of oil palm (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02342720">west and central Africa</a>) → palm oil now the most-consumed of all fats, from 409 million tonnes of oil-palm fruit per year by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL/visualize"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a> using 29 million ha, largely converted <a href="https://www.greenfacts.org/en/oil-palm-biodiversity/index.htm">tropical forest</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>global agricultural land use per person peaks at 2.72 ha → 0.61 ha by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-agricultural-land-use-per-person"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a>, declining steeply since 1960 with improvements in yield</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>synthesis of glass (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1093597">Phoenicia</a>) for beads → vessels by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1110466">1500<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>; lenses by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/dome.12065">700<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>; <font size="-1">CE </font>1ˢᵗ century <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/34003#page/146/mode/2up">mirrors</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.01.021">window</a> glass; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500031942">7ᵗʰ century</a> stained-glass windows; <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24619190">13ᵗʰ century</a> eyeglasses; <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/033313941/publication/US3206292A?q=pn%3DUS3206292A">late-20ᵗʰ century</a> float-glass skyscrapers</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest metal swords, for combat and prestige (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/pz.2011.001">Arslantepe</a>, <a href="https://archive.org/details/oxfordhandbookof0000unse_m5e2/page/864/mode/2up">Anatolia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@38.38194446,38.36111085,909.9518a,1582.7044d,35y,360h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → essential battle weapons through nearly 5 millennia to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jmh.2007.0009"><font size="-1">CE </font>1918</a> and the end of <a href="https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1203805">World War I</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">3000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 3000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>westward migration of steppe herders, integrating with Western European farmers over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adl2468">500 years</a>, introducing the wheel and Indo-European languages: first pan-European culture</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2800</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2800) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td><span style="color: red"><strong><em>global population of humans passes <a href="https://themasites.pbl.nl/tridion/en/themasites/hyde/basicdrivingfactors/population/index-2.html" style="color: red;">50 million</a></em></strong></span>; annual energy use per person averages <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00029-y">2,100 kWh</a>, 3× the resting metabolism</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2720</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2720) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>in the North American White Mountains <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.63,-118.25,4068.9a,147272d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> a seedling grows into a bristlecone pine tree, which sustains production of viable seeds over a lifespan extending beyond <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0531-5565(00)00234-5">4,700 years</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2650) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest measurement of the hour, as one-twelfth part of the day or night (Shulgi, King of Ur, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2013.03.021">Mesopotamia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@30.961667,46.105,30.11986207a,67952.79930219d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2650) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>magnetic compass, used to orient chariots (Emperor Hoang-Ti, <a href="https://www.chineancienne.fr/19e-s/klaproth-lettre-sur-l-invention-de-la-boussole/">China</a>, recorded in the <em>Zizhi Tongjian</em> <font size="-1">CE </font>1084, <em><a href="https://en.calameo.com/read/0002154983f72f4816998">Thoung Kian Kang Mou</a></em> edition) → navigation at sea by <font size="-1">CE </font>300, Tsin dynasty, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/013523a0">China</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2650) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest management of wildlife exploitation: every fisher and hunter taxed one-tenth of their take (pharaoh Djoser, Egypt, recorded in the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vm2m5.47"><em>Famine Stela</em></a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@24.0575789,32.87431401,122.767a,399.933d,35y,0h,0t,0r,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2650) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest massive architectural monuments: step pyramid tomb of pharaoh Djoser in <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/faience-tile-from-the-step-pyramid-of-djoser/xQHCydVyFTtXlA">Saqqara</a>, Egypt <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@29.8712634,31.216775,84.656a,901.5853d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>;</span> contemporaneous pyramidal architecture in <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1269">Caral-Supe</a>, Peru <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-10.8922984,-77.5218329,356.2a,1035.267d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>;</span> megalith at <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/373/">Stonehenge</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02584-2">Britain</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.17886663,-1.82618108,101.01329231a,115.83173318d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2600</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2600) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest explicit use of zero, for levelling masonry (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03024613">Meidum</a>, Egypt <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@29.38919701,31.15856857,41.755a,734.127d,35y,0h,0t,0r,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → use as place value in <a href="https://archive.org/details/the-universal-history-of-numbers-from-prehistory-to-the-invention-of-the-compute/page/340/mode/2up">4ᵗʰ century <font size="-1">BCE</font></a> Babylonia, as nought by <a href="https://archive.org/details/exactsciencesina00neug/page/10/mode/2up"><font size="-1">CE </font>150</a> in Alexandria, as nothing by <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23056849?seq=8"><font size="-1">CE </font>357</a> in Maya Mesoamerica, as algebraic number by <a href="https://archive.org/details/the-universal-history-of-numbers-from-prehistory-to-the-invention-of-the-compute/page/438/mode/2up"><font size="-1">CE </font>628</a> in India</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2550</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2550) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest dictionary: cuneiform tablets translating between Sumerian and Eblaic (<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3209872">Ebla</a>, Syria <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@35.79928699,36.79775289,418.43726023a,1531.07485142d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2550</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2550) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest writing on papyrus: <em>Diary of Merer</em>, documenting construction of the Great Pyramid (<a href="https://www.larecherche.fr/anglais/archaeology-unique-testimony-cheops-papyri-0">Wadi al-Jarf</a> harbour, Egypt <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@28.88838965,32.68148322,0.4065a,803.059d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → parchment displacing papyrus by 200<font size="-1"> BCE</font>, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/184331#page/210/mode/2up">ancient Greece</a>; paper from pulp by 100<font size="-1"> BCE</font>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0016549201063006001">China</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2550</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2550) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>architectural precision: the Great Pyramid of Giza (<a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/86/">Egypt</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@29.9791705,31.1342046,180.45791449a,900.50535518d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, taller than any other building in the world for <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43477/43477-h/43477-h.htm#page59">3,800 years</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2500) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest locks (<a href="https://oi-idb-static.uchicago.edu/multimedia/1234/AF_2.pdf">Egypt</a>): door bolts → emergence of private ownership and privacy; possessions under lock and key by 1500<font size="-1"> BCE,</font> for unguarded secrecy</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2500) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest urban drains and sewers for dwelling houses (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1989.9980100">Indus Valley</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@27.3268299,68.1370515,52.93879609a,408.51302274d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/irq.2015.9">southern Mesopotamia</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2004.08.033">Minoan Crete</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2500) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest animal husbandry to produce a hybrid: the kunga, foal of a female domestic donkey and male wild ass (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm0218">Umm el-Marra</a>, Syria <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@36.1338159,37.6941695,334.58822176a,1144.98750035d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CqYBGnwSdgolMHgxNTMwNzM1Y2ZjMzQxMWUxOjB4MzFjNDdiM2FiMDliYTk4YxmoFyHhIBFCQCG6MNKL2thCQCo7VW1tIGVsLU1hcnJhLCDYt9ix2YrZgiDYp9mFINin2YTZhdix2YnYjCwgRGF5ciBIYWZpciwgU3lyaWEYAiABIiYKJAkibsjPAuQ8QBHCHFww2OI8QBmw74IevVdAQCGPvKuQuFZAQDoDCgEw"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, used in diplomacy, ceremony, warfare</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>arliest alphabetic writing system (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03876-3">Umm el-Marra</a>, Syria <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@36.1338159,37.6941695,334.58814631a,1459.8671473d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → economy of signs</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2350</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2350) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest government reforms, addressing taxes and corruption (Uru-KA-gina, King of Lagash and Girsu, <a href="https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010120707">Mesopotamia</a>) → <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/corruption">modern corruption</a> suppressed by long exposure to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2727(99)00092-4">democracy</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2340</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2340) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first emperor of a state: Sargon the Great, Akkadian Empire (expanding across <a href="https://doi.org/10.14195/978-989-26-1626-1_5">Mesopotamia</a>, Levant, Anatolia) → beginnings of artistic emphasis on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/4241589">person</a> of the ruler as an individual</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2300</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2300) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest mechanical pump: the shaduf, a counterpoise for lifting buckets of river water (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-008-9095-2">Mesopotamia</a>) → suction pump by <a href="https://archive.org/details/cover_20200113_2057/page/n203/mode/2up"><font size="-1">CE </font>12</a><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/al-jazari-s-double-action-suction-pump/xgGpWT2O3rI4RQ">06</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2300</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2300) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest records of marriage (<a href="https://archive.org/details/ancientmesopotamia/page/n93/mode/2up">Akkad</a>): an economic pact for child rearing, men tending to conceive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00076-3">later</a> in age than women → a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022195265007">loving</a> relationship particularly in Western societies; <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/marriage-rate-per-1000-inhabitants?country=ARG~AUS~BOL~ITA~KOR~GBR~USA">now</a> declining globally</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2200</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2200) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>decline of Bronze-Age civilisations in Egypt, ancient Greece and Mesopotamia, and terminal decline of Indus Valley civilisation, caused by centuries of drought beginning <em>c</em>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00157-9">2200<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2100) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest code of law, applying general principles to particular cases (<em>Code of Ur-Nammu</em>, Sumerian King of Ur, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43075013">Mesopotamia</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@33.05918572,44.25135207,43.8355988a,344.76878375d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2030</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2030) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest recorded poetry (<a href="https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr2442.htm">Nippur</a>, Iraq <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.12901069,45.23311199,35.34315873a,781.62912304d,35y,0h,0t,0r,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> a Sumerian love poem of passionate ardour, expressing an emotional truth about the human spirit</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>extinction of last remnant population of woolly mammoths, on Wrangel Island, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evz279">Arctic Sea</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@71.23,-178.72,345.241a,699859d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest shift from fuelwood to coal (Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0959683614523155">China</a>), for smelting copper, cooking, heating; mining by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh0549">1600<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a> → 8.7 billion tonnes/year of global coal extraction by <a href="https://www.eia.gov/international/data/world/coal-and-coke/coal-and-coke-production"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a>, rising trend</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">2000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 2000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest poetic depictions of emotional weeping (goddess Ningal lamenting the destruction of Ur, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3209643">Mesopotamia</a>): uniquely human <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073915586226">tearful crying</a> in response to helplessness, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002442">protecting</a> against aggression</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1900) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest map of a territory: 3-dimensional topography covering 30 km of the Odet river valley, sculpted to scale on a schist rock slab (<a href="http://www.prehistoire.org/shop_515-47906-5446-800/04-2021-tome-118-1-p.-99-146-c.-nicolas-y.-pailler-p.-stephan-j.-pierson-l.-aubry-b.-le-gall-b.-le-gall-v.-lacombe-j.-rolet-la-carte-et-le-territoire-la-dalle-gravee-du-bronze-ancien-de-saint-belec-leuhan-finistere.html">Tumulus de Saint-Bélec</a>, France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@48.10745233,-3.8003166,173.04160651a,16918.80498054d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1900) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>establishment of a 7-day week (<a href="https://archive.org/details/babylonianorient03lond/babylonianorient03lond/page/34/mode/2up">Assyria</a> and <a href="https://digital.iai.spk-berlin.de/viewer/image/815367872/8/">Babylonia</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1850</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1850) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest architectural arch, a Canaanite gate (<a href="https://www.iaa-conservation.org.il/Projects_Item_eng.asp?site_id=31&subject_id=10">Ashkelon</a>, Israel <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.66194439,34.54611111,26.752a,7222.9d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → breakthrough in construction of gateways, vaults, doors, windows, bridges: converting tensile stress into compressive stress</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1850</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1850) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest record of suicidal thoughts (12ᵗʰ Dynasty Egypt, <a href="https://ethicsofsuicide.lib.utah.edu/selections/egyptian-didactic-tale/">1937-1759<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>): an ambivalent intention to die so as to fulfil a personal desire; always a <a href="https://www.iasp.info/wspd/resources/">value-laden</a> concept</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1825</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1825) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest record of contraception: <em>Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus</em>, prescribing crocodile dung (<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jfprhc.2010.0019">Lehun</a>, Egypt <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@29.23624357,30.97070134,48.621a,1148.3040294d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → distinction of sexual intercourse from reproduction</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1800</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1800) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest record of lipstick (graveyard, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-52490-w">Marḫa&scaron;i civilisation</a>, Mesopotamia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@28.10280175,57.86968313,485.598a,61393.371d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, made from red <span class="n-w">hematite<a href="pies/Colour-hematite.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>darkened with manganite and braunite: artificial enhancement of allure</td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section5"> <table> <tr> <td class="section" colspan=3>5. Empires and conquests<a class="anchor" id="III-5"> </a><span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary III-5" href="history-summary.html#III-5" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a>  </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE"><font size="-1">BCE </font>1800</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1800) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>beginnings of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn3517">complex societies</a>: Babylonian civilisation in <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/278">Mesopotamia</a>, 1800<font size="-1"> BCE</font>; Olmec civilisation in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2013.01.033">Mesoamerica</a>, 1800<font size="-1"> BCE</font>; Shang dynasty in <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1114">China</a>, 1600<font size="-1"> BCE</font>; New Kingdom in <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/87">Egypt</a>, 1600<font size="-1"> BCE</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1800</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1800) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest extraction and working of iron (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-019-09129-6">Anatolia</a>) → alloying with carbon to make steel in Cyprus by 1100<font size="-1"> BCE</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1800</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1800) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest prose fiction: <em>The Epic of Gilgamesh</em> (in cuneiform on clay <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-flood-tablet-relating-part-of-the-epic-of-gilgamesh/wQGL1dmyVmXRYA?avm=3">tablets</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-epic-of-gilgamesh-73444">Ur</a>, <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t56d6fb09&view=2up">Mesopotamia</a>), a heroic story of the tragicomedy of life, love won and lost, and inevitable death</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1780</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1780) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first female ruler of a royal dynasty: Pharaoh Nofrusobek, Middle Kingdom, <a href="https://archive.org/details/AncientEgyptianChronology_201303/page/n185/mode/2up">Egypt</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1750</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1750) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest principles of property insurance, against faulty construction that results in loss or damage (<em>Code of Hammurabi</em>, Babylonian <a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924060109703/page/84/mode/2up">Susa</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.18850474,48.24643571,87.74228694a,1623.87378728d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> proportionate compensation</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1750</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1750) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest cultivation of the tea plant <em>Camellia sinensis</em> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00395-4">China</a>, early 2ⁿᵈ millennium <font size="-1">BCE</font>) → now the most frequently consumed beverage worldwide, with many <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00394-5">health benefits</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1700</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1700) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest transcribed lullaby (<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40462120">Old Babylonian</a>, 1950-1530<font size="-1"> BCE</font>) → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0089">universally</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-00963-z">soothing</a> experience of lullabies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01410-x">across cultures</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1650) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>domestication of chickens (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2121978119">Thailand</a>) from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.368.6498.1411">red junglefowl</a> → meat and eggs from 27.2 billion chickens by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/QCL"><font size="-1">CE </font>2023</a> and rising, more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711842115">5×</a> the biomass of all wild birds</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1650) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>harvesting of latex from the <em>Castilla elastica</em> tree to make rubber for balls and figurines (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.284.5422.1988">Mexico</a>): the first plastic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0304">polymer</a> → unsurpassed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0039-6028(98)00051-X">sliding friction</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821420116">durable elasticity</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1650) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest team sport: rubber-ball game played in an architectural ballcourt (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aay6964">Paso de la Amada</a>, Mexico <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@14.87403655,-92.49375327,14.5677a,1618.125d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.2001.103.2.331">social compacts</a>; decapitation rituals by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2019.1610309"><font size="-1">CE </font>500</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1650) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest porcelaneous high-fired ceramics (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139970">Piaoshan kiln</a>, China <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@30.63309511,120.03875992,33.27245324a,13399.849d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> fragile when whole, indestructible as broken <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sqw6k">shards</a> → true porcelain by early <font size="-1">CE</font>, China</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1650) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest stencils of archetypes, for hyperbolae, ellipses and spirals, used in the <em>Gathering of Crocus</em> wall painting (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/TPAMI.2006.183">Thera</a>, Aegean Sea <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@36.36356527,25.47783614,359.09a,1845.81d,35y,360h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> knowledge of the foundations of geometry</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1630</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1630) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest planetary observations, of the motions of Venus (reign of Ammisaduqa, king of <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/cuneiform-tablet-with-observations-of-venus/uQGtUbfuWfzvLQ">Babylon</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@32.54249691,44.42110911,35.44504772a,7850.93673505d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1550</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1550) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>reckoning with fractions and geometry (<em>Rhind Mathematical Papyrus</em>, <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA10057">Thebes</a>, Egypt <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@25.7279952,32.6104602,80.98439917a,752.39268796d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1520</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1520) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first accurate timepiece: an outflow water-clock (Amenemhet, court of Amenhotep I, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-4403(86)90025-7">Thebes</a>, Egypt <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@25.73726098,32.60773452,109.08456643a,752.32704545d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> measuring night-time; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MIM.2011.5961371">shadow clocks</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.5451/unibas-ep35646">sundials</a> regulating daytime worker shifts</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1500) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest depiction of joyful and uninhibited celebration by ordinary people (Minoan <em>Harvester Vase</em>, <a href="http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/4/eh430.jsp?obj_id=7893">Agia Triada</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/750129">Crete</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@35.05925858,24.79312339,39a,872.32d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> happiness sought and found in meeting a need</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest colonisation of Remote Oceania (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2017.1331939">Mariana</a> archipelago <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@16.94,145.41,14.882a,1423359d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → migrations to all Pacific archipelagos over the next 3 millennia; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm6536">women settling</a>, men dispersing</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest notated music: Hurrian <em>Hymn to Nikkal</em><span class="n-w"><a href="pies/Hymn.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>(in cuneiform, <a href="https://archive.org/details/the-musicology-and-organology-of-the-anc/page/116/mode/2up">Ugarit</a>, Syria <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@35.60202345,35.78375767,25.49209287a,931.53284279d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> the <a href="https://archive.org/details/abcofmusicshortp0000hols/page/n17/mode/2up">singing voice</a> carrying further than the spoken voice, conveying feeling</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1370</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1370) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>early depiction of empathy: sister-in-law and brother of Ramose (<em>Funeral Banquet</em> limestone relief, tomb of Vizier Ramose, <a href="pies/Ramose.html">Thebes</a>, Egypt <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@25.7307556,32.60892755,88.2519a,4835.61d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.11.001">matching</a> heart <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868316628405">rhythms</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1330</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1330) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>early depictions of mutual affection: Nefertiti holding the hand of her husband pharaoh <a href="https://blog.smb.museum/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/h_00087532-1095x1400.jpg">Akhenaten</a>, and gentleness: Ankhesenamun anointing her husband pharaoh <a href="https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1257135">Tutankhamun</a> (Egypt <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@25.74037463,32.6013865,175.973a,4740.712d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> meaning in life found in engagement with others</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1200</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1200) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>sea-going trade in silver and dyes by Phoenicians, connecting the Levant with western Europe across the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1817951116">Mediterranean</a> to the Atlantic Ocean</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1180</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1180) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>beginning of 300 years of drought extending from Spain to India, contributing to the demise of the Mycenaean civilisation (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1130/G46491.1">ancient Greece</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1050</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1050) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>start of the Iron Age (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083117">Aegean</a>; <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/celtic-life-in-iron-age-britain-the-british-museum/CAKSz1O9u3piJg?hl=en">Britain</a> by 800<font size="-1"> BCE</font>), iron replacing bronze for tools and weapons</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>use of hydraulic plaster, mixing lime with silicates (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.023">Tell es-Safi/Gath</a>, Israel <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.6997861,34.84688061,174.211a,4970.25d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → concrete in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tca.2005.03.003">Ancient Rome</a> by <font size="-1">CE </font>70, the dominant building material of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3010-5/tables/1">modern times</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">1000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 1000) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest depiction of the cosmos: a bronze disc inlaid with gold symbols of the Sun, Moon, and stars including the Pleiades cluster (<a href="https://doi.org/10.11588/ai.2020.1.81418">Nebra</a>, Germany <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.28482899,11.51631852,244.5645a,15971.769d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">950</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 950) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first Jewish temple (King Solomon, <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/786829">Jerusalem</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.778013,35.235367,744.337a,4819.432d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → rise of Judaism for a <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.7.6?lang=bi&aliyot=0#:~:text=For%20you,people.">chosen people</a>, united by obedience to an imperturbable god; <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/I_Samuel.10.6?lang=bi#:~:text=The%20Spirit,with%20you">blessed</a> for <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Ezekiel.18.21?lang=bi#:~:text=Moreover,live.">just and right behaviour</a>, condemned for turning to <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Ezekiel.18.24?lang=bi#:~:text=So,die.">sin</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 900) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest centre of higher learning (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2018.1553490">Taxila</a>, Indus Valley <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@33.74391501,72.81915942,515.7682a,7256.783d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → Plato’s Academy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900357116">ancient Greece</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.9919737,23.7071386,36.283a,649.23d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by 387<font size="-1"> BCE</font>; Taixue, China <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@34.3046054,108.85869292,400.5507705a,5877.84438942d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by <font size="-1">CE </font>3; Al-Karaouine, Morocco <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@34.06494685,-4.97333151,297.55652687a,358.29261167d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by <font size="-1">CE </font>859; European medieval universities</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 900) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>accurate prediction of lunar eclipses (<em>Berlin Gold Hat</em>, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/golden-ceremonial-hat-berlin-gold-hat-artist-unknown/hAGC3knXgLdPZg">Germany</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 900) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>standardisation of value: adoption of cowrie shells as money (Middle Western Zhou period, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/156852303776172999">China</a>) → cowrie monetary systems in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23011676">Asia</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700037427">West Africa</a> during 3 millennia to modern times</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">820</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 820) * 0.05) * 20)));</script></td> <td>earliest professional army (Lacedaemonians of Sparta, ancient Greece <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.08167383,22.42615352,230.89a,877.767d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> described by Xenophon, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0210%3Atext%3DConst.+Lac.%3Achapter%3D11%3Asection%3D1">388<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>), sustained by a social contract: duties rewarded with citizenship → militarily-assured power</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">776</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 776) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first Olympic games (Olympia, Peloponnesus <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.6384588,21.6298796,32.557a,815.78001377d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/517">776<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>): a 4-yearly truce bringing together athletes to compete for the symbolic reward of an olive wreath → revival in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2021.1996475"><font size="-1">CE </font>1896</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">750</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 750) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest cast-iron artefacts (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aia.2021.04.001">Tianma-Qucun</a> cemetery, China <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@35.7356796,111.58580063,505.62037759a,1179.21951666d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> widespread use for implements in China from <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/jar.0521004.0070.402">450<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a> → cannons, wheels, pipes, engine parts, buildings</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">700</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 700) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>fraudulent impersonation, parodying kingship: a letter supposedly written by mythological King Gilgamesh some 2,000 years earlier (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110714333-002">Sultantepe</a>, Anatolia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.0502778,38.9061111,435.6143a,2375d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">700</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 700) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>mythologies about gods, portraying eternal truths about humans (Hesiod’s <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130"><em>Theogony</em></a>, ancient Greece): dramas of <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=63&highlight=love">love</a> and <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=63&highlight=grief">sorrow</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=139&highlight=evil">evil</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=173&highlight=ambush">retribution</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=404&highlight=power">power</a> and <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=404&highlight=glory">glory</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=453&highlight=destined">destiny</a>, pride, wrath and <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=507&highlight=pride,wrath,cunning">deceit</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=901&highlight=quarrelled">jealousy</a> and <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0130:card=963&highlight=fulfilled">fulfillment</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">700</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 700) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first book of European literature: <em>The Iliad</em> (Homer, <a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html">ancient Greece</a>), an epic poem on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2019.1686803">pathos</a> of loss and suffering caused by war</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">700</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 700) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>Archimedes’ Screw, used to irrigate Sennacherib’s elevated garden (river Tigris at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2003.0011">Nineveh</a>, Babylon <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@36.3575346,43.1522155,237.9436a,442.223d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, described by Archimedes 4 centuries later</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 650) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest collection of scholarly texts, on 32,000 cuneiform tablets: the Library of Ashurbanipal (<a href="http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/asbp/whatisthelibrary/index.html">Nineveh</a>, Babylon)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">630</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 630) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest use of coinage (Ionia or Lydia, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ereh/hew018">Anatolia</a>): many denominations of stamped electrum, a gold-silver alloy → government-controlled economy of transaction costs</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">600</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 600) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first circumnavigation of the African continent, by Phoenicians sailing 26,000 km during 3 years, clockwise from the Red Sea <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-5.43595569,19.90676277,629.177a,19884846d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> (reported by Herodotus in <em>The Histories</em> <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D4%3Achapter%3D42%3Asection%3D2">430<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">550</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 550) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest cartography: a map of the known world, by Anaximander (ancient Greece, <em>c</em>. 550<font size="-1"> BCE</font>, reported in Strabo’s <em>Geographica</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/L049StraboGeographyI/page/n75/mode/2up">7<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">550</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 550) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first Persian Empire (Cyrus the Great, <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1880-0617-1941">Persia</a>), connecting the Mediterranean to the Indus Valley → code of just rule that respects others’ faiths</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">550</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 550) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>training in surgery and anatomy, described in the <em>Susruta Samhita</em> (<a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/susruta-samhita-ancient-indian-surgical-knowledge/8wKyx4LRDmyVKA">northern India</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2010.01294.x">6ᵗʰ century<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">550</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 550) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>professional policing, investigating criminal cases, addressing injustices (the paqūdu of Babylonia <em>c</em>. <a href="https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2015/08/policemen-in-1st-millennium-bc-babylonia/">550<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 500) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest construction of geoglyphs, depicting imaginary beings and intersecting straight lines (<a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/700/">Nazca</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2407652121">Pampa</a>, Peru <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-14.69729326,-75.12622261,469.07996947a,388.97833939d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> 500<font size="-1"> BCE</font> to <font size="-1">CE </font>500), visible from space</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 500) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>height of Greek civilisation (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316534908.003">slave society</a> of <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/404">ancient Greece</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.97150055,23.72662348,166.96433688a,838.61495948d,35y,328.79089947h,60t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> 6ᵗʰ to 4ᵗʰ centuries<font size="-1"> BCE</font>) → foundations of Western <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0090">philosophy</a>, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0054">ethics</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0056">poetry</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0012">drama</a>, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/103336#page/4/mode/2up">empirical</a> <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/70356#page/10/mode/2up">sciences</a>; first democracy <a href="https://www.stoa.org/demos/article_democracy_development@page=4&greekEncoding=UnicodeC.html">508<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 500) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>construction of a navigable canal from the Nile to the Red Sea <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@30.56751696,31.95119261,30.39a,101019d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> (Darius I of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/545471">Persia</a>) → Suez Canal <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@30.56667602,32.44657406,95.528a,256233.28d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by <a href="https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:ht250c11v"><font size="-1">CE </font>1869</a>, the shortest maritime route between Europe and Asia</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 500) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest direct evidence of cannabis used as a psychoactive substance (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw1391">Jirzankal Cemetery</a>, China <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.87088896,75.22544027,3049.96042966a,887.53536218d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → modern narco-trafficking spread by counter-drug <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1812459116">interdiction</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">470</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 470) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>early appeal to the <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sufficient-reason/">principle of sufficient reason</a>: nothing comes from nothing (Parmenides, <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/parmenides/#:~:text=And%20indeed%20what,not%20at%20all">ancient Greece</a>) → law of conservation of mass by <font size="-1">CE </font>1773</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">450</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 450) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>invention of a 360° zodiac (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00407-018-0216-0">Babylonia</a>) → longitudes of planets</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">450</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 450) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>collection of the sayings of Confucius (551-479<font size="-1"> BCE</font>, China <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@35.6186111,116.9863889,72.5628a,4574.9559d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> into the <a href="https://ctext.org/analects/xue-er"><em>Analects</em></a>, founding Confucianism, with a role for every person in society, and universal education</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">450</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 450) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>collection of the <em>Torah</em> and other scriptures into the <a href="http://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=4145201d-ee22-4382-9ae8-2c78d9138444&type=book"><em>Hebrew Bible</em></a> → Christian <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/codex-sinaiticus"><em>Old Testament</em></a> 500 years later, including the divine authority of the <a href="https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/exodus/20/">Ten Commandments</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha, ancient India <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@26.73917937,83.89065131,105.83257306a,1318.44531639d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <em>c</em>. 480-400<font size="-1"> BCE</font>) lays the foundations of <a href="https://suttacentral.net/">Buddhism</a>, with <a href="https://suttacentral.net/an6.78/en/sujato">joy</a> as a calling towards the path of <a href="https://suttacentral.net/t1670b2.44/en/guang">nirvana</a>; rebirth in <a href="https://suttacentral.net/iti64/en/ireland">hell</a> for misconduct</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>understanding that wisdom stems from knowing what we don’t know (attributed to Socrates, ancient Greece, in Plato’s <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0170%3Atext%3DApol.%3Asection%3D21d"><em>Apology</em></a>) → beauty in <a href="https://archive.org/details/freedomfromknown0000kris_y2x1/page/92/mode/2up">freedom</a> from the known</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>recognition of non-binary gender designation (Mahābhārata epic poem, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12058/12058-h/12058-h.htm#:~:text=Next%20appeared,or%20mother">India</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>counterfactual thinking (Thucydides&#x2019 <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.+1.11.2&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0200"><em>History of the Peloponnesian War</em></a>, ancient Greece), encompassing regrets and relief about unfulfilled <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107279551.008">possibilities</a>: what might have been</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest in-patient hospitals (King Paṇḍukābhaya, <a href="https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.188996/page/n139/mode/2up">Sri Lanka</a>) → professional care for the sick</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>Hippocratic Oath (ascribed to Hippocrates, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp048092">ancient Greece</a>, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0252">400<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>), swearing to uphold medical standards → modern versions still a rite of passage and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6629">moral compass</a> for clinicians</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">375</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 375) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>idea that justice and virtue are inherent qualities of inner harmony (Plato’s <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D4%3Asection%3D443d"><em>Republic</em></a>, ancient Greece): limits to the liability of external forces for conduct → moral conscience of Christianity</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">375</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 375) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>idea of enlightenment as the discomforting experience of layered reality (allegory of the cave, in Plato’s <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D7%3Asection%3D514a"><em>Republic</em></a>, ancient Greece): possibility of truth beyond intelligible reality</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">364</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 364) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first sighting of another moon: Jupiter’s Ganymede, discovered with the naked eye (Gan De, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0275-1062(81)90039-4">China</a>) → rediscovery by Galileo Galilei in <font size="-1">CE </font>1610, using a 20× telescope</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">350</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 350) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>concept of time-velocity space (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad8085">Babylonia</a>): displacement of Jupiter calculated as the area under a graph of its velocity over time, foreshadowing integral <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.351.6272.435">calculus</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">350</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 350) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>development of formal systems of reasoning, by logical deduction from axioms and postulates (Aristotle’s <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0052%3Abook%3D1%3Asection%3D980a"><em>Metaphysics</em></a>, ancient Greece) → scientific disciplines</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">350</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 350) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>understanding of the emotions as dimensions of feeling that affect judgement (Aristotle’s <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Rh.+2.1"><em>Rhetoric</em></a>, ancient Greece): <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Rh.+2.2">anger</a>, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Rh.+2.4">love</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Rh.+2.5">fear</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Rh.+2.6">shame</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Rh.+2.7">kindness</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Rh.+2.8">pity</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Rh.+2.10">envy</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Aristot.+Rh.+2.11">emulation</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">350</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 350) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>understanding of comedy as an absurdity exposed (Aristotle’s <em>Poetics</em>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0056%3Asection%3D1449a">ancient Greece</a>): uniquely human capacity for humour inciting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0176">contagious laughter</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">350</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 350) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>political theory of social welfare (Aristotle’s <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0058%3Abook%3D6%3Asection%3D1320a"><em>Politics</em></a>, ancient Greece): a state tax on <a href="https://doi.org/10.4314/actat.v23i1S.1">assets</a> of affluent citizens for distribution amongst the poor</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">320</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 320) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>compilation of the <em>Tao Te Ching</em> (<a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/sampler/9780231510103/google-preview">China</a>) on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9795.2012.00532.x">peace and war</a>, founding Taoism in ritual cultivation of life’s inherent natural and spiritual forces, benefitting all</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">300</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 300) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>mass persuasion, using silver coins stamped with the head of previous legendary ruler Alexander the Great (<a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1919-0820-1">Lampsacus</a>, Anatolia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@40.3466667,26.6991667,59.63566087a,11282.2879807d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>):</span> appropriating history to glorify the present</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">300</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 300) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest economic exploitation of chicken outside East Asia (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1504236112">Southern Levant</a>); now the world’s most ubiquitous species of livestock, a principle source of protein</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">300</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 300) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>postulation of Euclidean geometry of flat surfaces (Euclid of Alexandria, ancient Greece) → first printed edition of Euclid’s <em>Elements</em>, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_18198/?sp=7"><font size="-1">CE </font>1482</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">280</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 280) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first hypothesis that Earth revolves around the Sun (Aristarchus of Samos, ancient Greece, reported in Archimedes’ <em>The Sand Reckoner</em>, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://archive.org/details/aristarchusofsam00heatuoft/page/300/mode/2up?view=theater">260<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">250</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 250) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first estimation of π within known limits (Archimedes, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-013-9643-0">ancient Greece</a>), describing circles, discs, spheres, cones, orbits, loops, spirals and waves, using methods that anticipate <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27956626"><font size="-1">CE </font>17ᵗʰ century</a> calculus</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">250</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 250) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest accurate estimates of the circumference, diameter and tilt of a spherical Earth (Eratosthenes, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0315-0860(84)90025-9">ancient Greece</a>, <em>c</em>. 250<font size="-1"> BCE</font>, reported by Pliny <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/77245#page/174/mode/2up"><font size="-1">CE </font>77</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">250</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 250) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest watermills (<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3184857">Egypt</a>; <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0239:book=12:chapter=3">Anatolia</a> by 50<font size="-1"> BCE</font>, reported in Strabo’s <em>Geographica</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_P1IMAAAAYAAJ/page/n399/mode/2up">7<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>), milling grain, processing ore; the first machines to harness a natural force for mechanical work</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">220</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 220) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>construction of the Great Wall, stretching 1,900 km (Emperor Qin Shi Huang, <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/438">China</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@40.43272799,116.56380968,530.139a,3374.089d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → 21,196 km in total length by the Ming dynasty to <font size="-1">CE </font>1644</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">200</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 200) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>fusion of Indian cultures and traditions into <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/masterpiece-the-hindu-deity-shiva/4QICT4hPfeXIJA">Hinduism</a>, with worship posthumously rewarded by favourable rebirth; torment in hell for sinners → currently the third most populous religion, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/">after</a> Christianity and Islam</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">200</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 200) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>widespread adoption of seed drills (Han dynasty, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1154499">northern China</a>); reinvention by Jethro Tull in <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/71319#page/114/mode/2up"><font size="-1">CE </font>1701</a>, Britain → production efficiency heralding the dawn of modern agriculture</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">130</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 130) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest attempt to map the night sky (Hipparchus’ <em>Star Catalogue</em> <em>c</em>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00218286221128289">130<font size="-1"> BCE</font></a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03296-1">Rhodes</a>), accurate to within 1° → astronomy as predictive science</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 100) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>first analogue computer: Antikythera Mechanism of bronze gears, mechanising solar and lunar epicycles and eclipses, and motions of the planets in the known cosmos (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84310-w">Antikythera</a>, ancient Greece <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@35.87225588,23.33302976,77.88385a,313823.5739d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/444534a">unsurpassed</a> for <a href="https://archive.org/details/richardofwalling0000rich/page/320/mode/2up">1,400</a><a href="https://archive.org/details/richardofwalling0000rich/page/336/mode/2up"> years</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 100) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest positional system of decimal fractions, for algorithmic calculations with positive and negative numbers using counting rods (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73396-8_7">China</a>), a physical precursor to modern symbolic numerals from <font size="-1">CE </font>400-600</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE">100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 100) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>establishment of the Silk Roads, for overland trade between <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1442">East Asia</a> and <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1518">southern Europe</a> → China’s <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/regional-integration/brief/belt-and-road-initiative"><font size="-1">CE </font>2013</a> Belt and Road Initiative, opening routes to trade and investment in 70 economies</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-BCE"><font size="-1">BCE </font>27</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() + 27) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td><a class="anchor" id="CE"></a>establishment of the Roman Empire (<a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/91">Europe</a>), enduring <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904037116"><em>c</em>. 600 years</a> → expanding <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1458">infrastructures</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110638332-002">roads</a>, using designs that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024425118">still prevail</a>, and <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/34003#page/372/mode/2up">aqueducts</a>, lead-pipe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1706334114">plumbing</a> and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aae0194">sanitation</a>; <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/34003#page/308/mode/2up">self-strengthening</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.2138/am-2017-5993CCBY">concrete</a>; <a href="http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1988QJRAS..29..397S">leap years</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE"><font size="-1">CE </font>30</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 30) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>death of Jesus of Nazareth <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.77842983,35.2295228,771.8a,2950d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> and transcribing of his life in the <a href="http://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=b00f9a37-422c-4542-bfbd-b97bf3ce7d50&type=book"><em>New Testament</em></a> → rise of Christianity, promising salvation from <a href="https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/psalms/51/#:~:text=Surely%20I,me">sin</a> for those of <a href="https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/2-timothy/4/#:~:text=I%20have,appearing">righteous</a> <a href="https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/study/module/augustine/#:~:text=Once%20and,will">sentiment</a>, with <a href="https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/matthew/5/">heaven</a> as reward, otherwise <a href="https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/luke/12/">fear </a><a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_10650/?sp=48">hell</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">77</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 77) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest encyclopaedia (Pliny the Elder, Italy, <em>Naturalis Historia</em> books <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/77245#page/32/mode/2up">1-5</a>, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/184333#page/20/mode/2up">6-10</a>, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/184331#page/24/mode/2up">11-17</a>, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/57766#page/20/mode/2up">18-23</a>, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/57767#page/24/mode/2up">24-31</a>, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/34003#page/20/mode/2up">32-37</a> <font size="-1">CE </font><a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/77245#page/10/mode/2up">77</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 100) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>maritime trade routes between Africa, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/india-the-nexus-of-international-trade-in-the-first-millennium/tQJCX-I-izxuLw">India</a>, China, for spices, medicines, fabrics; connecting to Ancient Rome through Alexandria <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.21843543,29.79026321,-94.828a,687976d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 100) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>use of paper for writing and painting begins to supplant bamboo and silk in China (Emperor He, Eastern Han dynasty, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://heritage.bnf.fr/france-chine/fr/le-papier-article">100</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 100) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>in the North American Blue Mountains <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@44.12,-118.84,1596.21a,24446.6d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> a colony of the fungus <em>Armillaria ostoyae</em> extends its network of branching hyphae during <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/x03-065">1,900 years</a> to cover 9.6 km² with a <em>c</em>. 10,000-tonne subterranean mycelium</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">132</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 132) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>invention of the seismoscope (Zhang Heng, China, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6460-9_5">132</a>), detecting earthquakes 600 km away; the first device to enhance the reach of sensory perception since the orb-weaving spider first outsourced hearing to its <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2122789119">web</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">150</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 150) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>development of the astrolabe from celestial globes, locating Sun and stars in relation to the equator (Ptolemy, Alexandria, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/15700674-12342245">150</a>) → determination of latitude</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">150</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 150) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest industrial complex: watermills of Barbegal (France <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@43.7027039,4.72119571,19.68820806a,738.42434391d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aar3620">2ⁿᵈ century</a>), producing 25 tons/day of hardtack biscuits for local harbours</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">250</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 250) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>constructed wetlands for a circular economy of freshwater (Central America, Classic Maya period, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2306870120">250-900</a>), using aquatic microbes, zooplankton and plants to remove contaminants and pathogens</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">290</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 290) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>firing of natural gas in southwest China, to boil brine for salt (<em>Bowu zhi</em> <em>c</em>. <a href="https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=en&file=81620&page=31&remap=gb#%E5%90%8E%E7%81%AB%E8%BD%AC%E7%9B%9B%E7%83%AD%E7%9B%86%E7%9B%96%E4%BA%95%E4%B8%8A%E7%85%AE%E7%9B%90%E5%BE%97%E7%9B%90">290</a>), and to pipe into homes for lighting (<em>Huayang Guo Zhi</em> <em>c</em>. <a href="https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=en&file=62738&page=114&remap=gb#%E9%80%9A%E8%80%80%E6%95%B0%E5%8D%81%E9%87%8C%E4%BB%A5%E7%AB%B9%E7%AD%92%E7%9B%9B%E5%85%B6%E5%85%89%E8%97%8F%E4%B9%8B%E5%8F%AF%E6%8B%BD%E8%A1%8C%E7%BB%88%E6%97%A5%E4%B8%8D%E7%81%AD%E4%B9%9F%E4%BA%95%E6%9C%89">340</a>) → 4.1 trillion m³/year of global gas extraction by <a href="https://www.eia.gov/international/data/world/natural-gas/dry-natural-gas-production">2023</a>, rising trend</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">290</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 290) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>use of mineral oil in central China, to lubricate axles and to seal water tanks (<em>Bowu zhi</em> <em>c</em>. 290, reported in <em>Shui Jing Zhu</em> <em>c</em>. <a href="https://ctext.org/library.pl?if=en&file=85077&page=146#%E5%8D%9A%E7%89%A9%E5%BF%97%E7%A8%B1%E9%85%92%E6%B3%89%E5%BB%B6%E9%9D%92%E7%B8%A3%E5%8D%97%E5%B1%B1%E5%87%BA%E6%B3%89%E6%B0%B4%E5%A4%A7%E5%A6%82%E7%AC%9B%E6%B3%A8%E5%9C%B0%E7%82%BA%E6%BA%9D%E6%B0%B4%E6%9C%89%E8%82%A5%E5%A6%82%E8%82%89%E6%B1%81%E5%8F%96%E8%91%97%E5%99%A8%E4%B8%AD%E5%A7%8B%E9%BB%83%E5%BE%8C%E9%BB%91%E5%A6%82%E5%87%9D%E8%86%8F%E7%84%B6%E6%A5%B5%E6%9C%8B%E8%88%87%E8%86%8F%E7%8B%90%E7%95%B0%E8%86%8F%E8%BB%8A%E5%8F%8A%E6%B0%B4%E5%B8%B7%E8%BC%92%E7%94%9A%E4%BD%B3%E5%BD%BC%E6%96%B9%E5%85%A5%E8%AC%82%E4%B9%8B%E7%9F%B3%E6%BC%86%E6%B0%B4%E8%82%A5%E4%BA%A6%E6%89%80%E5%9C%A8%E6%9C%89%E4%B9%8B">500</a>) → 5.1 billion tonnes/year of global oil extraction by <a href="https://www.eia.gov/international/data/world/petroleum-and-other-liquids/annual-petroleum-and-other-liquids-production">2023</a>, rising trend</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">300</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 300) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>beginning of central Europe’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1197175">300-year</a> Migration Period: cultural and socioeconomic turmoil coinciding with climatic variability; 6ᵗʰ century Mongolian <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01165-7">Avar</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq3374">warriors</a> overwhelming the eastern Roman Empire</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>spread of urbanisation, with cities of over 100,000 people in <a href="https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/istanbul">Roman</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@41.00,29.01,21.875a,112304d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/content/xian">Chinese</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@34.25938038,108.9672088,427.37467261a,67720.71180166d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1988.90.3.02a00010">Mesoamerican</a> empires (Teotihuacan, Mexico <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@19.69232581,-98.84377286,2353.116a,1620.79d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> covering 18 km² <em>c</em>. <a href="https://archive.org/details/teotihuacanartfr00berr/page/16/mode/2up">400</a>) → specialisation of trades and occupations</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">400</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 400) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>spread of the modern decimal number-system, of written symbolic numerals (Hindu-Arabic, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://archive.org/details/the-universal-history-of-numbers-from-prehistory-to-the-invention-of-the-compute/page/323/mode/1up">400-600</a>): versatile, efficient and transmissible → modern algebra by 628</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">430</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 430) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>human desire for personal relations with god, communicated to the masses as a king’s privilege (<a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1894-0506-964">India</a>): Hindu ruler Kumaragupta I depicted on coins feeding a sacred peacock</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">517</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 517) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>observation that free-falling bodies accelerate independently of their masses (John Philoponus, Alexandria, <em>On Aristotle’s Physics</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/inaristotelisphy02phil/page/682/mode/2up">51</a><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philoponus/#TheoImpe">7</a>) → proved in <a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-ADV-B-00039-00001/74">16</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0273-1177(03)90335-8">87</a> for gravitational pull on bodies in a void; confirmed in space by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ade8874">2022</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">532</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 532) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>invention of <em>anno Domini</em>, or <font size="-1">AD</font> (Dionysius Exiguus, Romania, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1468-4004.2000.00408-2.x">532</a>); called <em>anno aerae nostrae vulgaris</em> by Johannes Kepler in <a href="https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_rrkRjuY3p0gC">1615</a>, now Common Era, or <font size="-1">CE</font> → no calendar year zero</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">536</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 536) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>crop failures across the northern hemisphere caused by extreme cold following volcanic eruptions in Iceland; then bubonic plague (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw0632">536-547</a>) → century of economic stagnation</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">550</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 550) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest block printing on paper (China, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0016549201063006001">550</a>) → widespread use of printed books in <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7312/bowm11004.7">11ᵗʰ century</a> Song dynasty China</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">620</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 620) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>discovery of Antarctica by Polynesian Māoris (Hui Te Rangiora on the vessel Te Ivi o Atea, from New Zealand, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2021.1917633">early 7ᵗʰ century</a>) → numerous visits over subsequent centuries</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">628</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 628) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>introduction of rules governing the use of zero in number systems (Brahmagupta, India, <em><a href="https://archive.org/details/Brahmasphutasiddhanta_Vol_1/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater">Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta</a></em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/the-universal-history-of-numbers-from-prehistory-to-the-invention-of-the-compute/page/438/mode/2up">628</a>): birth of modern <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30211868">algebra</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">632</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 632) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>death of the prophet Muhammad (Medina, Arabia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@24.46762381,39.61142357,603.54644a,3813.85766d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> 632) and transcribing of his revelations in the <a href="http://www.bl.uk/turning-the-pages/?id=0354faf0-a67a-11db-87d3-0050c2490048&type=book"><em>Qur'an</em></a> → rise of Islam, with <a href="https://www.clearquran.com/">prayer</a> guiding righteous deeds and <a href="https://www.clearquran.com/002.html">paradise</a> as reward; <a href="https://www.clearquran.com/003.html">hell</a> for disbelievers</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">700</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 700) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>over 700 European cities exceed 1,000 inhabitants in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/24523666-06010003"><font size="-1">CE </font>700</a>, of which only Constantinople <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@41.00,29.01,21.875a,112304d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> exceeds 100,000 → 22 such cities by 1800, thereafter rising exponentially to 665 by 2000</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">754</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 754) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>establishment of the Papal States (Pope Stephen II, central Italy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691153018.003.0011">754</a>) → global reach of the Catholic Church headed by a pope; 900 years of European art and architecture subjugated to <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015017041602&view=2up&seq=194&skin=2021">Christianity</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">790</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 790) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>Islamic Golden Age, from late-8ᵗʰ to mid-13ᵗʰ centuries: flourishing <a href="http://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;uk;Mus01;46;en">art</a>, <a href="https://courtauld.ac.uk/highlights/the-courtauld-bag/">design</a>, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/the-umayyad-mosque-of-damascus/gAIiDrQL2PCxIQ">architecture</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2016.1268190">scientific</a> <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/pQWBwUIF15iiLQ">innovation</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">841</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 841) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest use of statistical inference (Abū Yūsuf Ya'qūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī, Iraq, <em>Risalah fi Istikhraj al-Mu'amma</em> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1198/tas.2011.10191">841</a>), for cryptography → analysis of distributed variables</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">874</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 874) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>Norse colonisation of Iceland <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@63.80307448,-16.63789497,57.11541199a,6245.11254962d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.665">874</a>, from Norway <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@61.36168609,5.25606945,33.81516139a,56410.70786222d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CkAaPhI4CiUweDQ2MTdkYjU0M2FlYTg1MmY6MHhkODg4ODRjNGIzYjZkMWZmKg82MS4zNjE3LCA1LjI1NTgYAiABOgMKATA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> in the Viking Age; deforestation and sheep grazing erode soils, driving down the island’s vegetation irretrievably to a half, and forests to 4%, of original extent</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 900) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest windmills (Khorasan, Iran-Afghanistan, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://archive.org/details/dasbuchderlnder00germgoog/page/n242/mode/2up">900</a>, recorded by Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad Iṣṭakhrī) → nanoscale windmills by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.256802">2008</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 900) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>earliest record of polyphonic notation (Germany, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/earliest-known-piece-of-polyphonic-music-discovered">900</a>) → foundation of European musical <span class="n-w">culture<a href="pies/Bach.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>for 1,000 years; long-preceded by polyphonic oral traditions in <a href="https://archive.org/details/whydopeoplesing0000jose/page/20/mode/2up">sub-Saharan Africa</a> and <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/62095/pg62095-images.html#:~:text=When%20two,perform%20publicly.">Oceania</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">985</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 985) * 0.02) * 50)));</script></td> <td>Norse colonisation of Greenland <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@61.15142771,-45.5178768,78.826a,60574.2d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CpgBGm4SaAolMHg0ZWFiZTE2MGU4M2ZlZjUxOjB4OWM4ZmVhZDc4N2VlNTkyMhmwmp37YZNOQCG2rXfJScJGwCotTGVpZiBFcmlrc3NvbiBNb251bWVudCwgUWFzc2lhcnN1aywgR3JlZW5sYW5kGAIgASImCiQJpMAPIBaVTkARF1h65pqSTkAZPu75v92-RsAhvC4myKzFRsA6AwoBMA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by Viking Erik Thorvaldsson, <a href="https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/NFLDS/article/view/140/236">985</a>; Newfoundland <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.5964,-55.5337,9.488a,10513.4d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by his son Leif, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1907986116">at least</a> by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03972-8">1021</a>: human migrations henceforth encircling the globe → a century of harvesting North American stockfish and eiderdown</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1000) * 0.05) * 20)));</script></td> <td>sexagesimal subdivision of the hour into 60 minutes, and the minute into 60 seconds (Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, Iran, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://archive.org/details/chronologyofanci00biru/page/148/mode/2up">1000</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1021)));</script></td> <td>invention of the camera obscura (Ibn al-Haytham, Iraq, <em>Book of Optics</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/A.I.Sabraed.Trans.TheOpticsOfIbnAlHaythamBooksIIIIOnDirectVision.TranslatedWithI/page/n11/mode/1up">1011-1021</a>), projecting images through a pinhole to prove the independence of light from vision: birth of <a href="https://archive.org/details/A.I.Sabraed.Trans.TheOpticsOfIbnAlHaythamBooksIIIIOnDirectVision.TranslatedWithI/page/n5/mode/2up">evidence-based science</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1044</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1044)));</script></td> <td>formula for gunpowder, used for fire arrows, incendiary projectiles, smoke bombs (Northern Song dynasty, China, <em>Wujing Zongyao</em> <a href="http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/songdynasty-module/tech-gunpowder.html">1044</a>) → cannons by <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3105275">1128</a>, guns by <em>c</em>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/22127453-12341337">1270</a>, rockets by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/22127453-12341243">1272</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1055</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1055)));</script></td> <td>first hospice (Jerusalem, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://www.sosjinternational.org/history/">1055</a>) → professional palliative care for the dying</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1060</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1060)));</script></td> <td>beginning of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-229X.2008.00421.x"> 300 years</a> of warring Crusades in the name of the Latin Church, against Islamic rule in the biblical Land of Israel and Palestine</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1100</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1100)));</script></td> <td>rise of love as a central value in Eastern and Western societies from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01292-z">12th century</a>, tracking economic development, also cultural diffusion → love <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02504-1">matters</a> for passion in life, wellbeing, economies of scale, gender equality</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1120</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1120) * 0.1) * 10)));</script></td> <td>first government-issued paper money (Song dynasty, <a href="http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/songdynasty-module/econ-rev-money.html">China</a>) → a trusted <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2416229">IOU</a> combining <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0058%3Abook%3D1%3Asection%3D1256a">Aristotle’s</a> four functions of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118397109">money</a>, as medium of exchange, mode of payment, unit of account, store of value</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1150</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1150) * 0.1) * 10)));</script></td> <td>eastward migrating Asian Polynesians meet westward migrating South Americans (southern Pacific Marquesas Islands <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-9.18,-139.66,-15.192a,914087d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <em>c</em>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2487-2">1150</a>) → admixture on Easter Island <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-27.13,-109.38,242.868a,103113d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01983-5">13</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07881-4">80</a>, construction of monumental <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.08.015">stone</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02620-1">statues</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1206</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1206));</script></td> <td>rise of the Mongol Empire connecting the Pacific to the Mediterranean, founded by Genghis Khan; recounted by Marco Polo <em>c</em>. <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_14300/?sp=9">1300</a> → 16 million male-line descendants of Genghis Khan across modern <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/367774">Asia</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1215</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1215));</script></td> <td>first declaration of human rights: <em>Magna Carta</em> (King John of England, <a href="https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/magna-carta-1215-salisbury-cathedral1.jpg">15/6/</a><a href="https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item95692.html">1215</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.44448116,-0.56603101,18.47519573a,1719.42853972d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CqMBGnkScwolMHg0ODc2NzBhM2Q1MTBjNGM3OjB4M2JjNmM5ZmYyZDQxMGQ3YRnMvuH05LhJQCGRR8vc1xzivyo4TWFnbmEgQ2FydGEgTWVtb3JpYWwsIFdpbmRzb3IgUm9hZCwgT2xkIFdpbmRzb3IsIFdpbmRzb3IYAiABIiYKJAlpvxuBP7pJQBFp3vsJfblJQBl42BLqIhTivyF0a9UdY3vivzoDCgEw"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span> → the first and now oldest <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/United_Kingdom_2013?lang=en">national constitution</a>; Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1283</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1283));</script></td> <td>first mechanical clock with an escapement mechanism (Dunstable Priory, Britain <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.8860647,-0.517503,158.333a,464.883d,35y,0h,0t,0r,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139168847.004">12</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139168847.008">83</a>), regulating clock speed</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1286</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1286));</script></td> <td>discovery of the art of making eyeglasses (anon., Italy, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24619190">1286</a>), “one of the best and most necessary arts that the world has” – Friar Giordano da Rivalto, <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044020494878&seq=68&view=2up">23/2/1305</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@43.77477562,11.24907835,62.17154784a,281.31790363d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> → 2.5 billion people needing yet not having glasses in <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/eyeglasses-for-global-development-bridging-the-visual-divide">2016</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1300</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(numberWithCommas((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1300) * 0.1) * 10)));</script></td> <td>start of the northern hemisphere Little Ice Age (<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-original-climate-crisis-how-the-little-ice-age-devastated-early-modern-europe-178187">1300-1850</a>) → crop failures, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/massacre-of-the-innocents-pieter-bruegel-the-elder/qgGZ6pq1mTaabw">social upheaval</a>; perhaps curbed and curtailed by greenhouse-gas emissions during <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/427582a">8,000</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/B:CLIM.0000004577.17928.fa">years</a> of forest clearance for agriculture</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1337</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1337));</script></td> <td>accretion of personal wealth from gold by Mansa Musa I (<em>c</em>. <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Catalan_Atlas_BNF_Sheet_6_Western_Sahara.jpg">1280</a>-<a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52509636n/f7.item.zoom">1337</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@16.77154319,-3.01014413,271.9727916a,10086.81558969d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=Cp8BGnUSbwojMHhlMTdjZTk4ODgwNTc1ZWY6MHg0OTRkMmUyYzg0NDc3ZGUZ4HskyoPFMEAh-Qc2U8YUCMAqNkRqaW5nYXJleWJlciBNb3NxdWUsIEFza2lhIE1vaGFtZWQgQnZkLCBUaW1idWt0dSwgTWFsaRgCIAEiJgokCQuJAD9XxjBAEQiHry69xDBAGX2u9kTvCQjAIfNcM0Q9HwjAOgMKATA"><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, Emperor of Mali and richest person in history: peak of inequality amongst individuals → gold still a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2013.03.020">safe haven</a> in money markets</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1346</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1346));</script></td> <td>bubonic plague caused by the Black Death bacillus <em>Yersinia pestis</em> kills a third of all humans across much of Europe, <a href="https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item103973.html">1346-53</a>; originating in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04800-3">Kyrgyzstan</a> or the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1078/1438-4639-00259">Himalayas</a>, transmitted by rats and their fleas, and human body <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002625">lice</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1350</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1350) * 0.1) * 10));</script></td> <td>earliest cultivation of <em>Coffea arabica</em> for coffee (Yemen, using Ethiopian seeds, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61216-7">14ᵗʰ century</a>) → 100 million <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav3473">coffee farmers</a> supplying 2 billion <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j5024">cups per day</a>; extinction threats to most <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw7119">wild coffee species</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1350</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1350) * 0.1) * 10));</script></td> <td>birth of the European Renaissance (Italy, spreading throughout Europe <em>c</em>. <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/733">1350</a>-<a href="https://digitalcollections.folger.edu/img5303">1600</a>): rise of individuality, learning, reason and doubt, imagination and innovation, humanism and capitalism</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1397</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1397));</script></td> <td>earliest banking (Medici Bank, Italy <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@43.77022614,11.25500202,70.07555352a,1136.58719666d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/650959">1397</a>) → modern function as <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2022/press-release/">intermediary</a> between savers and borrowers; inherent vulnerability to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/261155">liquidity shocks</a>, with <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1808111">bank runs</a> driving economic downturns</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1418</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1418));</script></td> <td>accurate geometrical perspective in painting (Filippo Brunelleschi, Italy, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/genscheda.asp?appl=LIR&indice=63&xsl=slideshow&lingua=ENG&chiave=100985">1418</a>; codified by Leon Battista Alberti, Italy, <em>De Pictura</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/gri_000033125008508091/page/n65/mode/2up">14</a><a href="https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/content/zoom/15176267">36</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1438</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1438));</script></td> <td>Inca expansion, becoming the world’s largest empire by <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/274/">1500</a>, ruling 12 million people over 5,000 km of Andes <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-13.16280733,-72.54552824,2462.1a,1270.933d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>;</span> altiplano labour economy powered by <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1921-0721-1">llamas</a> for transport</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1440</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1440));</script></td> <td>first mechanical printing press with movable type (Johannes Gutenberg, Germany, <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1002%2Fddr.21369">1440</a>) → mass production, dissemination and survival of journals, pamphlets and books, of <a href="https://www.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/record.asp?LHPage=324v&LHvol=1&LHCopy=K&RHPage=1r&RHvol=2&RHCopy=K&disp=s&Linked=0#DispTop">theology</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42554174">governance</a>, <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-recuyell-of-the-historyes-of-troye">history</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.284">criticism</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1104718">science</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abl7655">fiction</a>, <a href="https://archive.org/details/completepoemsofs0000sapp/page/42/mode/2up">forbidden texts</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1478</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1478));</script></td> <td>establishment of the Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Spain and its territories, <a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924029393992/page/n13/mode/2up">1478</a>-<a href="https://archive.org/details/cu31924029393992/page/n155/mode/2up">1834</a>), <a href="https://archive.org/details/spanishinquisiti00henr/page/174/mode/2up">purging</a> the Catholic Church of suspected heretics by soliciting denunciations → <a href="https://archive.org/details/TheGulagArchipelago-Threevolumes/The-Gulag-Archipelago__vol1__I-II__Solzhenitsyn/page/n183/mode/2up">ideology</a> as justification for persecuting nonbelievers</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1492</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1492));</script></td> <td>European mariners reach the Americas <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@24.0351,-74.499,7.7872a,129192d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> (Christopher Columbus from Spain <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.21146425,-6.9281795,5.39565804a,1172.70382993d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/contact/text1/columbusletter.pdf">14</a><a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_02962/">92</a>) → colonial settlements; 16ᵗʰ century <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.24.2.163">Columbian Exchange</a> of cultural infrastructure between New and Old Worlds, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.12.004">Great Dying</a> of 56 million Indigenous Peoples of the Americas</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1498</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1498));</script></td> <td>European mariners reach India <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@11.43499022,75.69135248,29.25146622a,33566.78286471d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> (Vasco da Gama from Portugal <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@38.6936056,-9.2057194,36.80557594a,655.38954681d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_10068/?sp=5">1498</a>), connecting the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean → colonial empires in Africa and Asia; Indian Ocean trade; global multiculturalism</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1500) * 0.1) * 10));</script></td> <td>celebration of the unity of spiritual and bodily life: divine madman Drukpa Kunley (Tibet and Bhutan, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Drukpa-Kunle/10857">1500</a>), reviling superstition and celibacy, his flaming thunderbolt phallus symbolising discomfort at the truth</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1500</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1500) * 0.1) * 10));</script></td> <td>foundations of Western art laid by Leonardo da Vinci (Italy, 1452-1519) and Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (Italy, 1475-1564), in humanist <a href="http://www.italianrenaissance.org/michelangelos-pieta/">sculpture</a>, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/study-of-two-warriors-heads-for-the-battle-of-anghiari-leonardo-da-vinci/PgEGla7mGPRP-w">drawing</a>, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/portrait-of-lisa-gherardini-wife-of-francesco-del-giocondo-known-as-monna-lisa-la-gioconda-or-mona-lisa-1503-1519-leonardo-di-ser-piero-da-vinci-dit-l%C3%A9onard-de-vinci-1452-1519-paris-mus%C3%A9e-du-louvre/uQGZ28lYUJ3OGw">portraiture</a> and <a href="http://www.italianrenaissance.org/michelangelo-creation-of-adam/">frescos</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1510</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1510) * 0.1) * 10));</script></td> <td>technical drawing of anatomical features, mechanisms and engineering designs (Leonardo da Vinci, Italy, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/ten-key-facts-about-leonardo-da-vinci-s-codex-atlanticus/rwKy3jZHwWiyJA">1510</a><span class="n-w">)<a href="pies/Grove.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1516</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1516));</script></td> <td>concept of utopia, imagined as an island society in the New World that implausibly meets all human desires (Thomas More, Britain, <em>Utopia</em> <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/thomas-mores-utopia">1516</a>) → political ideal theory</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1517</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1517));</script></td> <td> Reformation, splitting the universal Christian world into sects (Martin Luther, Germany, <a href="https://www.e-rara.ch/bau_1/content/zoom/69647">1517</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1522</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1522));</script></td> <td>first circumnavigation of the globe (Ferdinand Magellan westward from Spain <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@37.3842801,-5.99884983,2.42540535a,405.91064189d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> to Philippines <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@10.28806933,123.98400855,461.447a,1665175.1d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> Juan Sebastián Elcano westward return to Spain, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_03082/?sp=49">1519-22</a>, 60,500 km) → globalisation of sea trade</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1526</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1526));</script></td> <td>beginning of the Atlantic slave trade by Europeans (<a href="http://slaveryandremembrance.org/articles/article/?id=A0146">1526</a>) → 12 million slaves exported from Africa to the Americas up to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2008.123.1.139">1900</a>, for labour on plantations</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1542</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1542));</script></td> <td><span style="color: red"><strong><em>global population of humans passes <a href="https://themasites.pbl.nl/tridion/en/themasites/hyde/basicdrivingfactors/population/index-2.html" style="color: red;">500 million</a></em></strong></span>; annual energy use per person averages <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00029-y">9,800 kWh</a>, 14× the resting metabolism</td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section6"> <table> <tr> <td class="section" colspan=3>6. Scientific Revolution<a class="anchor" id="III-6"> </a><span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary III-6" href="history-summary.html#III-6" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a>  </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE"><font size="-1">CE </font>1543</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1543));</script></td> <td>theory of Earth and the planets revolving around the Sun (Nicolaus Copernicus, Poland, <em>De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium</em> <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2012gen31925/?sp=36">1543</a>) → pursuit of supporting evidence and <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/71191/pg71191-images.html#:~:text=A%20Man,of%20ours:">consequences</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1550</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1550));</script></td> <td>earliest enumeration of probability distributions (Gerolamo Cardano, Italy, <a href="https://archive.org/details/isbn_0212900110/page/10/mode/2up">1550</a>), for dice → probability theory for quantifying uncertainty by <a href="https://archive.org/details/b2877839x/page/34/mode/2up">1713</a>, and its updating with experience by <a href="https://archive.org/details/philtrans09948070/page/n5/mode/2up">1763</a><a href="https://cpd57.shinyapps.io/uncertainty/"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1580</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1580));</script></td> <td>Iberian Union with much of central Europe (Habsburg dynasty <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@47.4627389,8.1810389,502.5323375a,549.2457709d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CnoaUBJKCiUweDQ3OTAxNTU3NzEyY2Y5NTk6MHgzYzNjMzQ3NTc2YzcyODMxGa_sgsE1u0dAIfSOri2XXCBAKg9oYWJzYnVyZyBjYXN0bGUYAiABIiYKJAnPRat5jLtHQBHrgRaT6bpHQBk1vhfpLl8gQCEmddZZM1ogQDoDCgEw"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://archive.org/details/grandstrategyofp00park/page/3/mode/1up?q=%22the+first+empire+in+history+on+which+the+sun+never+set.%22&view=theater">1580-1640</a>) → first worldwide power, controlling colonies in the Americas, Africa, Asia: the sun always shone on some portion of the House of Habsburg</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1582</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1582));</script></td> <td>introduction of the Gregorian calendar (Pope Gregory XIII, Italy, <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9737047x/f1.image">1582</a>) → <em>de facto</em> international standard for civil calendars</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1582</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1582));</script></td> <td>first entrepreneurial newspaper publishers (Ming Dynasty Beijing, China, <a href="https://archive.org/details/confusionsofplea0000broo/page/172/mode/2up">1582</a>) → independent reporting that <a href="https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/yo-lo-vi">witnesses</a> torment, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/ressa/facts/">investigates</a> oppression, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2021/muratov/facts/">safeguards</a> freedom of expression</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1605</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1605));</script></td> <td>first modern novel (Miguel de Cervantes, Spain, <em>Don Quixote</em> <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_07323/?sp=1">16</a><a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn4q86&view=2up&seq=12&skin=2021">05</a> and <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn4q87&view=2up&seq=13&skin=2021">1615</a>): an unreliable narrator describes the mercifully <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3723440">funny</a> consequences of <a href="https://archive.org/details/artofnovel0000kund_o1o3/page/8/mode/2up">free will</a> colliding with fate</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1608</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1608));</script></td> <td>invention of the refracting telescope (Hans Lipperhey, Netherlands, <a href="http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/lipperhey.html">1608</a>), enhancing the reach of visual perception by 3×</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1609</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1609));</script></td> <td>inversion of the refracting telescope to create a compound microscope (Galileo Galilei, Italy, described in <em>Il Saggiatore </em><a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_04184/?sp=132">1623</a>) → cryo-electron microscopy imaging atoms in molecules by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01658-1">2020</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1610</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1610));</script></td> <td>observations of the orbits of Jupiter’s moons (Galileo Galilei, Italy, <em>Sidereus Nuncius</em> <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_04170/?sp=48">1610</a>), falsifying church doctrine of Earth as the only centre of movement in the Universe → authority of evidence-based science</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1612</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1612));</script></td> <td>concept of a universal clock, calibrated on orbital periods of Jupiter’s moons (Galileo Galilei, Italy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1354336">1612</a>) → accurate estimation of longitude for navigation, given a stable observation platform</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1619</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1619));</script></td> <td>distances of planets from the Sun measured relative to Earth’s distance of 1 astronomical unit (Johannes Kepler, Germany, <em>Harmonices Mundi</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/ioanniskepplerih00kepl/page/189/mode/2up">1619</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1621</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1621));</script></td> <td>first medical treatise on mental welfare (Robert Burton, Britain, <em>The Anatomy of Melancholy</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/anatomyofmelanch00burt/page/n9/mode/2up?view=theater">1621</a>), the author confiding in his reader → association with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax0903">nature</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae465">arts</a> engagement, physical health and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30227-X">exercise</a>, social stability and <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response">inclusion</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1628</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1628));</script></td> <td>first graph of distributed observations (Michael Florent van Langren, Netherlands, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20799890">1628</a>); line graphs and bar charts by <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27643669">1786</a> → data visualisation that <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3399%2Fbjgp11X613179">saves lives</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1632</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1632));</script></td> <td>basic principle of relativity: the laws of nature apply equally to any frame of reference in constant linear motion, regardless of its speed (Galileo Galilei, Italy, <em>Dialogo</em> <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2013rosen1350/?sp=124">1632</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1637</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1637));</script></td> <td>idea that truth is the product of autonomous reason (René Descartes, France, <em>Discours de la Méthode </em><a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b86069594/f37.double">1637</a>; <em>Méditations</em> <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t2f77m39k&view=2up&seq=182">1641</a>) → emancipation from revelational truth and religious doctrine; distinction of mind from matter</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1642</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1642));</script></td> <td>earliest functioning mechanical calculator, for addition and subtraction: the Pascaline (Blaise Pascal, France, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/pascal-s-arithmetic-machine-later-known-as-the-pascaline-blaise-pascal/gAFw--kWgYsJ6A">1642</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1643</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1643));</script></td> <td>earliest sustained vacuum, created in the first barometer (Evangelista Torricelli, Italy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1152/physiol.00053.2012">1643</a>), proving in <a href="https://archive.org/details/b31875580/page/n29/mode/2up">1644</a> that “we live submerged at the bottom of a sea of the element air, which by unquestioned experiments we know has weight”</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1648</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1648));</script></td> <td>completion of the Taj Mahal, the grandest homage ever made by a man to a women: Islamic Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of Queen Mumtaz Mahal (Agra, India <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@27.17515188,78.04226254,190.84499868a,2007.01637799d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/252">1631-1648</a>); built by 20,000 artisans</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1650</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1650));</script></td> <td>relatedness of married couples averages about fourth cousin in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam9309">1650</a> for Europe and North America → decreasing only from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat2634">1870</a> onwards with cousin marriage prohibitions</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1656</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1656));</script></td> <td>first pendulum clock (Christiaan Huygens, Netherlands, <a href="https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/huyg003oeuv02_01/huyg003oeuv02_01_0078.php#:~:text=Il%20y%20eust,que%20moy">25/12</a>/<a href="https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/huyg003oeuv17_01/huyg003oeuv17_01_0007.php">1656</a>), developing on ideas by Galileo Galilei → unsurpassed accuracy on land for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01343.x">275 years</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1661</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1661));</script></td> <td>first experiments with desalination by freezing (Thomas Bartholin, Denmark, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9d7WFQW2yD8C&newbks=0&pg=RA1-PA36#v=twopage&q&f=false">1661</a>) → potential for passive freezing of seawater to provide <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2022.10.009">21ˢᵗ century</a> water security</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1665</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1665));</script></td> <td>identification of organismal cells (Robert Hooke, Britain, <em>Micrographia</em> <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/15485#page/158/mode/2up">1665</a>): the smallest unit of structure and function for <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/15485#page/274/mode/2up">all</a> life forms, the vehicle for all hereditary information defining each species</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1665</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1665));</script></td> <td>notion of gravitation as a universal force, occasioned to Isaac Newton by the fall of an apple (Britain <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@52.80910446,-0.63087833,104.47195593a,309.06116558d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CqMBGnkScwolMHg0ODc4MmYxODE2MjJlYmMzOjB4YzFmNWM5YjhkNTFhMGRlMRnInvMJj2dKQCFMePghJSzkvyo4TmF0aW9uYWwgVHJ1c3QgLSBXb29sc3Rob3JwZSBNYW5vciwgV2F0ZXIgTGFuZSwgR3JhbnRoYW0YAiABIiYKJAkQLNsot2dKQBFldOlNamdKQBngLqk5tBjkvyF8Gbkjm0fkvzoDCgEw"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> as recounted to William Stukeley in <a href="https://ttp.royalsociety.org/ttp/ttp.html?id=1807da00-909a-4abf-b9c1-0279a08e4bf2&type=book&pages=21">1726</a>) → four fundamental forces: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, weak nuclear</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1665</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1665));</script></td> <td>concept and measure of Gross Domestic Product: GDP (William Petty, Britain, <a href="https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/petty-the-economic-writings-of-sir-william-petty-vol-1#lf0605-01_head_029">1665</a>) → a globally favoured index of national prosperity from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/505283a">19</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-04029-8">53</a>, conflating growth in productivity with drawdown of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/legacy/introduction/A6D179F4DDBAF1404717B3F9C62F8332#:~:text=instead%20of%20GDP,increasing%20GDP">capital</a>; sustainability benefits of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04412-x">degrowth</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1669</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1669));</script></td> <td>artistic rendering of unconditional forgiveness, in Rembrandt’s <em>Return of the Prodigal Son</em> (Netherlands, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/return-of-the-prodigal-son/5QFIEhic3owZ-A?hl=en-GB">1669</a>): limits to the conditionality of transactions in the presence of humility</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1675</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1675));</script></td> <td>understanding of the unity of human nature with an intelligible Universe (Baruch Spinoza, Netherlands, <em>Ethics</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/the-collected-works-of-spinoza-volumen-1-and-2/page/n547/mode/2up">1675</a>) → virtue in being attentive to the natural order</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1676</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1676));</script></td> <td>first determination of the speed of light (Ole Rømer, Denmark, <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k56527v/f234.image">1676</a>) → 299,792 km per second in a vacuum; 9.46 trillion km per year: 1 light-year measure of distance</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1676</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1676));</script></td> <td>discovery of single-celled organisms (Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Netherlands, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1677.0003">1676</a>) → science of microbiology</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1687</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1687));</script></td> <td>formulation of laws of motion and universal gravitation, applicable to all the phenomena of the cosmos (Isaac Newton, Britain, <em>Principia </em><a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-ADV-B-00039-00001/9">1687</a>): foundation of classical mechanics → European Age of Enlightenment</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1690</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1690));</script></td> <td>extinction of the dodo (Mauritius <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-20.03674093,57.6989296,21.01382112a,207613.878d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <em>c</em>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/426235a">1690</a>) → symbol of stupidity: the pigeon that couldn’t fly; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01448-4">later</a> symbolic of human wreckage across three-quarters of Earth’s land and two-thirds of oceans</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1700</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1700) * 0.1) * 10));</script></td> <td>rapid colonisation of Americas, India and Australia by Europeans from the early 1700s → dominion of India by the British East India Company from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0019464618760449">1760s</a>; British rule <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/parliament-and-empire/parliament-and-the-american-colonies-before-1765/">1858-1947</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1700</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write((Math.round(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1700) * 0.1) * 10));</script></td> <td>modest improvements in global GDP per capita since <a href="https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2020?lang=en"><font size="-1">CE </font>1</a> henceforth begin accelerating in western Europe and North America → acceleration in Latin America and Asia from 1950, Africa from 2000</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1735</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1735));</script></td> <td>cataloguing of organisms by genera and species (Carl Linnaeus, Sweden, <i>Systema Naturae</i> <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/10277#page/2/mode/2up">1735-1768</a>) → modern classification of <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/biodiversity-and-wildlife#how-many-species-are-there">2 million</a> from an estimated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001127">8 million</a> eukaryote species, possibly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1521291113">1 trillion</a> microbes, most <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2024.08.001">living within</a> other species</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1759</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1759));</script></td> <td>first accurate sea clock: <a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-PBA-01740/6">H</a><a href="https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-PBA-01740/79">4</a> (John Harrison, Britain, <a href="https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-79142">1759</a>), a pocket watch with high-frequency balance wheel, solving the problem of longitude for <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/john-harrison-s-horological-legacy/VgJyYKoa1d8DIw">marine navigation</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1761</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1761));</script></td> <td>first observed transit of Venus across the Sun (<a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6541955w/f3.image.r">6/6/1761</a>) → 1 astronomical unit of <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6541950t/f4.image.r">distance</a> from Earth to Sun equal to 149,597,871 km</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1769</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1769));</script></td> <td>invention of the first cost-effective steam engine (James Watt, Britain, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/032484358/publication/GB176900913A?q=pn%3DGB176900913A">1769</a>) → powered machinery, Industrial Revolution</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1770</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1770));</script></td> <td>invention of the spinning jenny (James Hargreaves, Britain, <a href="https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item107855.html">1770</a>), mechanising the spinning of cotton → cloth weaving factories by <a href="https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/large106480.html">1771</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1773</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1773));</script></td> <td>establishment of the law of conservation of mass (Antoine Lavoisier, France, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/135506#page/207/mode/2up">1773</a>): the amount of matter cannot change – except perhaps in <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-unraveling-of-space-time-20240925/">black holes</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1774</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1774));</script></td> <td>vaccination with an attenuated pathogen: cowpox to treat smallpox (Benjamin Jesty, Britain, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(03)15111-2">1774</a>; Edward Jenner, Britain, <a href="https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/contagion/catalog/36-990065830920203941">1798</a>) → artificial attenuation by <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k7351t/f665.item.r">1881</a>; vaccination programmes save more lives than any other medical intervention in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-020-00479-7">history</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1776</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1776));</script></td> <td>declaration of independence of the United States of America from colonial rule, and of the unalienable rights of all humanity to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (<a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_02716/">4/7/1776</a>) → economic superstate of the USA</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1776</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1776));</script></td> <td>idea that pursuit of self-interest leads to the common good (Adam Smith, Britain, <em>The Wealth of Nations</em> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-42178">1776</a>) → free markets, producing unequal opportunity unless government regulates trade</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1778</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1778));</script></td> <td>first national nature reserve (Bogd Khan Uul, Mongolia <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@47.818604,106.9507421,1890.5a,6629.29d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/silk-road-themes/biosphere-reserve/bogd-khan-uul">1778</a>) → global protected areas cover <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/terrestrial-protected-areas?country=~OWID_WRL">15%</a> of land and <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/global-marine-protected-area">8%</a> of ocean by 2021</td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section7"> <table> <tr> <td class="section" colspan=3>7. Industrial Revolution<a class="anchor" id="III-7"> </a><span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary III-7" href="history-summary.html#III-7" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a>  </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE"><font size="-1">CE </font>1780</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1780));</script></td> <td>mass production of spun textiles, mechanised by water power; coal-fired and steam-powered production of iron and steel (beginning Britain, <em>c</em>. <a href="https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Daniel_Doncaster_and_Sons">1780</a>) → economies of scale in the automation of physical labour, rising polarisation of rich and poor nations, dominance of fossil fuels</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1780</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1780));</script></td> <td>mass production of wrought iron from scrap iron (76 Black metallurgists, Reeder’s Pen foundry, Jamaica <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@17.883328,-76.400003,17.40373159a,30667.5611164d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07341512.2023.2220991">1780</a>); patented by Henry Cort 1783-4 → <a href="https://archive.org/details/cihm_41965/page/n75/mode/2up">British</a> command of the global iron trade</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1781</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1781));</script></td> <td>inherent limits to the powers of reason (Immanuel Kant, Germany, <em>Critique of Pure Reason</em> <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=dul1.ark:/13960/t66446c9z&view=2up&seq=6">1781</a>): knowledge springs from understanding the objects of <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=dul1.ark:/13960/t66446c9z&view=2up&seq=127">experience</a>; pure reason is properly directed only to <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=dul1.ark:/13960/t66446c9z&view=2up&seq=727">moral</a> <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=dul1.ark:/13960/t66446c9z&view=2up&seq=733">imperatives</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1783</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1783));</script></td> <td>invention of aviation: first piloted free flight by humans, in a hot-air balloon constructed by Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (France, <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b550014675">21</a>/<a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b55001509z">11</a>/<a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b55001497d">1783</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1784</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1784));</script></td> <td>first postulation of black holes (John Michell, Britain, <a href="https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2009JAHH...12...90M/0000090.000.html">1784</a>); later predicted by <a href="https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol8-trans/192">general relativity</a> as <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/black-hole-singularities-are-as-inescapable-as-expected-20191202/">singularities</a> in spacetime, their gravitational fields pulling in all matter, and all electromagnetic radiation including light</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1789</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1789));</script></td> <td>spread of Republicanism (French Revolution, <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65716385/f1.image.r">1789</a>-<a href="http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/archim/0012/dafanch06_a103523n00001_2.htm">1799</a>) → radical socio-political transformation in western Europe; building of nation states; metric system of weights and measures by <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k110604s" target="_blank">1792</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1790</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1790));</script></td> <td>idea of beauty as universal and subjective (Immanuel Kant, Germany, <em>Critique of Judgement</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/critiquekantaest00kantuoft/page/n213/mode/2up">1790</a>), neither merely <a href="https://archive.org/details/critiquekantaest00kantuoft/page/n223/mode/2up">agreeable</a> to personal taste nor ruled <a href="https://archive.org/details/critiquekantaest00kantuoft/page/n225/mode/2up">good</a> or <a href="https://archive.org/details/critiquekantaest00kantuoft/page/n241/mode/2up">perfect</a> by any concept</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1792</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1792));</script></td> <td>indictment of double standards in the treatment of women by men (Mary Wollstonecraft, Britain, <em>A Vindication of the Rights of Woman</em> <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbc0001.2008amimp11328/?sp=6">1792</a>) → slow progress towards <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/">gender equality</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1798</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1798));</script></td> <td>calculation of Earth’s density, using a torsion balance (Henry Cavendish, Britain, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1798.0022">1798</a>) → Newton’s gravitational constant <em>G</em> determining the gravitational force between two masses</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1798</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1798));</script></td> <td>observation that population growth capacity always outpaces improvements in resources (Thomas Malthus, Britain, <a href="https://www.econlib.org/library/Malthus/malPlong.html">1798</a>) → the struggle for existence facing all organisms; the challenge to human wellbeing, until the advent of oil-based economies</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1799</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1799));</script></td> <td>first electrochemical battery (Alessandro Volta, Italy, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspl.1800.0016">1799</a>), sandwiching electrolyte-soaked pasteboard between two dissimilar metals to create a steady <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00016">voltage</a> → mobile energy storage</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1804</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1804));</script></td> <td>proof that light behaves as a wave (Thomas Young, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1804.0001">1804</a>) → wave-particle duality of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01938-6">photons</a> and other quantum phenomena</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1805</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1805));</script></td> <td>concept of the mutual dependence of physical, climatological and organic phenomena (Alexander von Humboldt, Prussia, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/37872#page/155/mode/1up">18</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904585116">05</a>), from which humans escape only by activity of <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/73406#page/372/mode/2up">mind</a> → <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/73406#page/92/mode/2up">science</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0980-5">biogeography</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1808</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1808));</script></td> <td>discovery of atoms, uniquely defining each chemical element of ordinary matter (John Dalton, UK, <a href="https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/newsystemofchemi11dalt">1808</a>) → atomic masses of the <a href="https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table">94 natural elements</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2186">hydrogen</a> accounting for nine tenths of all atoms in the Universe</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1817</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1817));</script></td> <td>invention of the bicycle (Karl von Drais, Germany, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/the-invention-of-the-bicycle/fwLSBYATtgPOLg">1817</a>); pedals by <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136137358/view">1853</a>, chain by <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-150865040/view">1886</a>, derailleur by <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/le-d%C3%A9railleur-jean-baptiste-panel-dit-joanny-brevet-d-invention-d%C3%A9pos%C3%A9-le-20-01-1912-pour-un-changement-de-vitesse-pour-bicyclette-2be439224/XgGrYi1IP-SjFg">1895</a> → the most efficient human-powered land <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/2-wheels%E2%80%94200-years-freiherr-von-drais-and-the-history-of-the-bicycle/6wJiIoWklpvSLQ">vehicle</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1821</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1821));</script></td> <td>first demonstration of an electromagnetic rotary device (Michael Faraday, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1832.0006">1821</a>) → dynamos to generate electricity; electric motors to convert electricity into mechanical energy</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1822</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1822));</script></td> <td>first prediction of Earth’s greenhouse effect (Joseph Fourier, France, <a href="https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_TDQJAAAAIAAJ/page/n7/mode/2up?view=theater">1822</a>; tested empirically by Eunice Foote, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2020.0031">18</a><a href="https://archive.org/details/mobot31753002152491/page/382/mode/2up">56</a>, John Tyndall, Ireland, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1861.0001">1859</a>) → CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels cause global <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd9184">climate warming</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1825</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1825));</script></td> <td>first public railway for steam locomotives (George Stephenson, UK, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27710/27710-h/27710-h.htm#page142">1825</a>), outpacing carriage horses, previously the fastest land transport during 5,300 years of human history</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1826</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1826));</script></td> <td>publication of String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor <span class="n-w">Op. 131<a href="pies/Beethoven.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>by Ludwig van Beethoven (Germany, <a href="http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_29997_fs001r">1826</a>): “hear only the direct revelation from another world” – Richard Wagner, <a href="https://archive.org/details/wagneronconducti00wagn/page/112/mode/2up">18</a><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt6wp854.7">70</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1827</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1826));</script></td> <td>first permanent photograph taken by a camera (Nicéphore Niépce, France, <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras%2C_Joseph_Nic%C3%A9phore_Ni%C3%A9pce.jpg">1827</a>) → first image of a person, <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Boulevard_du_Temple_by_Daguerre.jpg">1838</a>: Louis Daguerre <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/dcmsiabooks.romanceofmodernp00gibs/?sp=39">seizing the light, arresting its flight</a> on silvered plate, preserving a moment in history</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1834</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1834));</script></td> <td>invention of the Analytical Engine (Charles Babbage, UK, <a href="https://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/history/">1834</a>), an unbuilt functional computer → first computer program by Ada Lovelace, <a href="https://archive.org/details/charlesbabbagehi0000babb/page/286/mode/2up">1843</a>, in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2003.1253887">collaboration</a> with Babbage; programmable computers by 1940s</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1838</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1838));</script></td> <td>first scheduled trans-Atlantic steamer: coal-fired Great Western (Isambard Kingdom Brunel, UK, <a href="https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/148808.html">1838</a>) → globalisation of economies</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1846</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1846));</script></td> <td>first use of quinine, from Andean <em>Cinchona</em> trees, as a malaria prophylaxis (Thomas Thomson, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)89770-7">1846</a>), enabling European <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.24.2.163">colonisation</a> of tropical Africa and Asia → malaria vaccine by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.acx9310">2021</a> boosting childhood <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl5503">survival</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1848</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1848));</script></td> <td>scale of absolute temperature (Lord Kelvin, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511996009.040">1848</a>) → fundamental limit to degree of coldness at 0 Kelvin, −273.15°C; quantum gases forced <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2013.12146">lower</a> get <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1227831">hotter</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1850</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1850));</script></td> <td>principles of conservation of energy and gain of entropy (Rudolf Clausius, Germany, and Lord Kelvin, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.18501550306">18</a><a href="https://archive.org/details/londonedinburghd02lond/page/n13/mode/2up">50</a>) → laws of thermodynamics: heat flows from a warmer to a colder body – unless reversed by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aat9953">inertia</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1850</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1850));</script></td> <td>industrial processing of flour and sugar; fattening of cattle in feedlots (Europe and USA, beginning <em>c</em>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn.81.2.341">1850</a>) → biggest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.2536">dietary shift</a> since the beginning of agriculture</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1856</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1856));</script></td> <td>first practical compression refrigerator (James Harrison, Australia, <a href="https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/2101">1856</a>), for storing perishable foods → globalisation of trade in fresh and frozen meat, seafood, fruit and vegetables</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1859</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1859));</script></td> <td>invention of the lead-acid cell (Gaston Planté, France, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/9781847552228-00100">1859</a>), the first rechargeable battery → practical electric vehicles by <a href="https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-electric-car">1880s</a>; modern batteries using lithium, extracted from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00213-0">brine</a><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-23.53886607,-68.37112143,2302.62956376a,2413.37977111d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=Cn8aURJLCiUweDk2YThmYTA1OGVjMThlY2I6MHhlNDY3ZWY1YzA5YWJlZTcxGQAAAAAAgDfAIQAAAAAAEFHAKhBBdGFjYW1hIHNhbG11ZXJhGAIgASImCiQJGaK83gXENsARJX4JZWTbNsAZu7et6L1LUcAhqhGzQaFYUcBCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1859</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1859));</script></td> <td>theory of evolution by natural selection (Charles Darwin, UK, <em>On the Origin of Species</em> <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/135954#page/11/mode/2up">1859</a>), a law unique to biological systems → heritable adaptations of individuals to their environment, speciation of populations through time, the <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/135954#page/510/mode/2up">diversity</a> of life</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1859</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1859));</script></td> <td>first training manual for care of the sick regardless of their means (Florence Nightingale, UK, <em>Notes on Nursing</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/NotesOnNursingByFlorenceNightingale/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater">1859</a>) → professional nursing, health benefits of fresh air and personal cleanliness</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1860</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1860));</script></td> <td>factory production of internal-combustion engines (Jean Lenoir, Belgium, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/051987758/publication/FR43624A?q=pn%3DFR43624A">1860</a>; user manual <a href="https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3705453/f5.image">1864</a>) → electricity generators, motorised transport</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1860</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1860));</script></td> <td>development of Western modern art <em>c</em>. 1860-1960, depicting impressions of <a href="https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/oeuvres/le-pont-dargenteuil-1297">light</a> and <a href="https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/oeuvres/danseuses-129106">movement</a>, expressive <a href="https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0149V1962">colours</a> and <a href="https://archive.org/details/SCHONBERGPierrotLunaire-NEWTRANSFER">harmonies</a>, primitive <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79766">forms</a> and <a href="https://archive.org/details/cd_the-rite-of-spring_igor-stravinsky-lorin-maazel-the-cleveland">rhythms</a>, <a href="https://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/musee/collections/oeuvres/thinker#group_84-4">solitary</a> and <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/works/80682">collective</a> struggles, decisive <a href="https://www.moma.org/interactives/objectphoto/objects/83982.html">moments</a>, formative <a href="https://archive.org/details/l-atalante.-1934.1080p.-blu-ray.x-264-yts.-lt">experience</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1865</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1865));</script></td> <td>theory of light as electromagnetic <span class="n-w">radiation,<a href="pies/Waves.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span> arising from the mutual action of charges and currents, propagated through space as oscillating electric and magnetic fields (James Maxwell, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1865.0008">1865</a>) → quantum physics</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1866</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1866));</script></td> <td>discovery of the unitary character of heritable traits, and the independent assortment of their alternative forms (Gregor Mendel, Austria, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/124139#page/132/mode/2up">18</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.116.195198">66</a>) → the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2008.0086">gene</a> as unit of heredity, contained in chromosomes – but not for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01947-3">Borgs</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1867</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1867));</script></td> <td>theory that capitalism exploits labour, with the objectionable consequence of empowering the rich by disadvantaging the poor (Carl Marx, Germany, <em>Das Kapital</em> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-25773">1867</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-25620">1885</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-25739">1894</a>) → <a href="https://archive.org/details/marxismversussoc01simk/page/n5/mode/2up">Marxism</a>, socialism, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/130466">Stalinism</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1874</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1874));</script></td> <td>discovery of unequal infinities: the infinite continuum of all real numbers exceeds in size any infinite set of natural numbers (Georg Cantor, Germany, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/crll.1874.77.258">1874</a>) → <a href="https://doi.org/10.4007/annals.2021.193.3.3">three</a> sizes of infinity?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1876</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1876));</script></td> <td>invention of the telephone (Alexander Bell, USA, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/magbell.25300201/?sp=1">1876</a>), enabling conversation between distant voices → <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/a-pocketful-of-devices-the-inventions-that-shaped-the-smartphone%C2%A0/CgIS2s9noby7IA">telecommunications</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1877</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1877));</script></td> <td>invention of the phonograph (Thomas Edison, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/002269927/publication/US200521A?q=US200521A">1877</a>): first practical sound recording → gramophone and mass-produced records by <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/the-evolution-of-recorded-sound/RgJi4BWR60ujJQ">1890s</a>, popularising individual <span class="n-w">artists<a href="https://archive.org/details/5120b5125aolmanriverpaulrobeson"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1879</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1879));</script></td> <td>invention of the first cheap and safe electric light bulb (Thomas Edison, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/051210904/publication/US223898A?q=pn%3DUS223898A">1879</a>), extending the working day → organic light-emitting diodes by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abc8530">21ˢᵗ century</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1880</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1880));</script></td> <td>invention of the photophone (Alexander Bell and Sumner Tainter, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/002304859/publication/US235496A?q=US235496A">1880</a>), transmitting sound on a beam of light → fibre-optic data transmission by <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/007557308/publication/US3845293A?q=pn%3DUS3845293">1966</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1880</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1880));</script></td> <td>adult literacy reaches 20% of the global population by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/literacy">1880</a> → 85% by 2010</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1880</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1880));</script></td> <td>share of the world population living as international immigrants remains at a constant 3% over the next <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/migrant-stock-share?tab=chart&country=USA~DEU~JOR~NGA~CHN~KWT~ARE~EGY~Low-income+countries~Lower-middle-income+countries~Upper-middle-income+countries~OWID_WRL~Middle-income+countries~High-income+countries">140 years</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1882</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1882));</script></td> <td>first commercially viable power stations, coal-fired (London and New York, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/pearl-street-station-jumbo-dynamo-edison-electric-light-company/2wFauEbLa90a-Q?avm=3">1882</a>) → electrical grid; fossil fuels generate 61% of global electricity by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/electricity-mix">2023</a>; UK ends coal use by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y35qz73n8o">2024</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1882</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1882));</script></td> <td>first hydroelectric power station (Jacob Schoellkopf, USA <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@43.09257035,-79.06318529,118.05455a,302.15d,35y,63.73h,60t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:52342">1882</a>) → <span class="n-w">megadams<a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@30.81928361,111.00067736,107.68792977a,4480.18545525d,35y,26.90693308h,59.97058425t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>replumbing the world’s major rivers from the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0262-x">1950s</a>; 14% of global (and 89% of Norway’s) electricity generation by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/electricity-mix">2023</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1884</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1884));</script></td> <td>first rooftop photovoltaic solar array (Charles Fritts, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/002943352/publication/US874908A?q=pn%3DUS874908A">1884</a>) → solar technology <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@27.47900892,71.97670511,211.68063623a,380.2757998d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> rising to 5% of global electricity generation by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/electricity-mix">2023</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1884</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1884));</script></td> <td>beginning of the Scramble for Africa by European powers (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20131311">1884</a>), occupying nine tenths by 1914 → ethnic partitioning through official colonial rule through to <em>c</em>. 1960</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1886</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1886));</script></td> <td>first car with gasoline-powered internal combustion engine (Karl Benz, Germany, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/043501018/publication/DE37435C?q=pn%3DDE37435C">1886</a>) → 97 million motor vehicles produced globally per year by <a href="https://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2017-statistics/">2017</a>: peak production?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1887</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1887));</script></td> <td>speed of light is invariant to source and observer motion (Albert Michelson and Edward Morley, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2475/ajs.s3-34.203.333">1887</a>) → upper limit to speed of matter and information, except for celestial objects separated by expanding <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/AS03040">space</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1887</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1887));</script></td> <td>first wind-powered turbine for production of electricity (James Blyth, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1260%2F030952405774354921">1887</a>) → rising to 8% of global electricity generation by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/electricity-mix">2023</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1890</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1890));</script></td> <td>centralised sewerage treatment plants (UK, USA, Australia, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/elevation-plan-cross-section-of-buildings-mmbw-spotswood-sewerage-pumping-station/WwG4QN4L-Jz4Lg?ms=%7B%22x%22%3A0.5%2C%22y%22%3A0.5%2C%22z%22%3A9.63755737280327%2C%22size%22%3A%7B%22width%22%3A0.9164951604756326%2C%22height%22%3A1.2375000000000005%7D%7D">1890s</a>), preventing spread of diseases → urine diversion and recycling as fertiliser by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00338-6">2022</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1893</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1893));</script></td> <td>first self-governing democracy to grant women the vote (New Zealand, <a href="https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/suffrage-petition-1893">1893</a>) → rising women’s <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/female-labor-supply">employment</a>, diminishing yet <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1918891117">ever-present</a> gender <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/economic-inequality-by-gender">inequality</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1211286109">bias</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1895</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1895));</script></td> <td>first wireless transmission of telegraph signals by radio waves (Guglielmo Marconi, Italy, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1909/marconi/biographical/">1895</a>), global radio communication by <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/032419931/publication/GB190007777A?q=pn%3DGB190007777A">1901</a> → radio broadcasts by 1920s; radar by 1930s</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1895</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1895));</script></td> <td>first commercial screening of motion-picture films (Auguste and Louis Lumière, France, <a href="http://www.institut-lumiere.org/musee/les-freres-lumiere-et-leurs-inventions/premiere-seance.html">1895</a>) → birth of cinema, entrancing audiences with captured events and experience</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1895</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1895));</script></td> <td>discovery of X-rays and creation of X-ray images (Wilhelm Röntgen, Germany, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1901/rontgen/photo-gallery/">1895</a>) → radiography; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02694-3">X-ray astronomy</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd8378">synchrotron</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02874-1">X-ray laser</a> for probing atomic-scale structures</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1896</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1896));</script></td> <td>discovery of natural radioactivity (Henri Becquerel, France, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/becquerel/biographical/">1896</a>) → radioisotopic labelling and dating, medical treatment of tumours</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1897</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1897));</script></td> <td>first detection of a fundamental, subatomic and indivisible particle: the electron (Joseph Thomson, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14786449708621070">1897</a>) → one of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Standard_Model_of_Elementary_Particles.svg">17</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00030-5">more</a> kinds of elementary particle constituting matter and radiation</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1899</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1899));</script></td> <td>Planck units: natural units for length, time, mass and temperature (Max Planck, Germany, <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/93034#page/498/mode/2up">1899</a>) → fundamental limit to the degree of heat = 1.42 × 10³² K</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1900));</script></td> <td>theory of the unconscious mind and emotions motivating and guiding human behaviour (Sigmund Freud, Austria, <em>The Interpretation of Dreams</em> <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbctos.2017freud50592/?sp=5">1900</a>) → limits to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1321664111">rationality</a> of behaviour; foundation of psychoanalysis</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1900));</script></td> <td>Planck’s law: every physical body emits electromagnetic radiation (Max Planck, Germany, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/verhandlungende01goog#page/n212/mode/2up">1900</a>) → quantum mechanics by mid-1920s, explaining the subatomic dynamics of the Universe</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1900));</script></td> <td>theory of energy quanta (Max Planck, Germany, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1918/planck/biographical/">1900</a>, Albert Einstein, Switzerland, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/2058-7058/13/12/34">1905</a>), including the photon, a massless elementary particle and quantum of electromagnetic radiation</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1900));</script></td> <td>two-thirds of the global population living in extreme poverty by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/00028280260344443">1900</a>, declining amid rising geopolitical inequality until <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/roiw.12014">1950</a> → one-third by 1995, down to one-tenth by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/the-share-and-number-of-people-living-in-extreme-poverty?time=earliest..2019&country=~OWID_WRL">2017</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1900</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1900));</script></td> <td>global average life expectancy equals 32 years by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy">1900</a> → doubling over the next 75 years, exposing diseases of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0909606106">ageing</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1903</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1903));</script></td> <td>first powered, controlled flight by a heavier-than-air aircraft (Orville and Wilbur Wright, USA, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVADGFZYMTMNVZD6DIN5J1AYOS4I-THE-WRIGHT-BROTHERS-FIRST-AEROPLANE-FLIGHT/">17/12/1903</a>) → 4.46 billion airline passengers per year by <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.AIR.PSGR">2019</a>: peak volume?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1904</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1904));</script></td> <td>first quantification of dark matter (Lord Kelvin, UK, <a href="https://archive.org/stream/baltimorelecture00kelviala#page/274/mode/2up">1904</a>), with gravitational influence yet no electromagnetic or strong interactions: 85% of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05096-y">matter</a> in the Universe, concentrated amongst <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00489-8">clustered galaxies</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1905</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1905));</script></td> <td>theory of special relativity (Albert Einstein, Switzerland, <a href="https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol2-trans/154">1905</a>): length-contraction of moving objects and time-dilation of moving clocks relative to an observer; universal speed of light; energy-mass <a href="https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol2-trans/186">equivalence</a> → nuclear physics</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1905</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1905));</script></td> <td>earliest chainsaw for cutting wood (Samuel Bens, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/002848960/publication/US780476A?q=pn%3DUS780476A">1905</a>), portable by <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/045305912/publication/CA186260A?q=pn%3DCA186260A">1918</a> → peak of 2 billion m³ of wood processed globally by <a href="http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/?#data/FO/visualize">2018</a>, for construction, packaging, paper, pulp, fuel</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1907</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1907));</script></td> <td>earliest organoids (Henry Wilson, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.25.649.912">1907</a>): <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1247125"><em>in vitro</em></a> organ-like structures → human brain organoids integrated into mouse brains by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4127">2018</a>; human neurons master <a href="https://ponggame.io/">Pong</a> by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03229-y">2022</a> and AI speech recognition by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03975-7">2023</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1907</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1907));</script></td> <td>first organic polymer made from synthetic components: Bakelite plastic (Leo Baekeland, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/003011121/publication/US942699A?q=pn%3DUS942699">1907</a>) → large-scale production of plastics from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1700782">1950</a>, dominated by polythene</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1908</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1908));</script></td> <td>industrial-scale synthesis of ammonia from ambient nitrogen (BASF, Germany, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/003058528/publication/US990191A?q=pn%3DUS990191A">1908</a>) using the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1918/haber/biographical/">Haber</a>-<a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1931/bosch/biographical/">Bosch</a> process → chemical fertilisers release crops from nitrogen limitation, fuelling the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/22672">human population explosion</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1908</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1908));</script></td> <td>unification of 3D space and 1D unidirectional time into absolute spacetime (Hermann Minkowski, Germany, <a href="https://archive.org/details/monistquart28hegeuoft/page/288/mode/2up?view=theater">1908</a>): deceleration through time accompanies acceleration through space, and vice versa</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1909</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1909));</script></td> <td>first people to set foot on Earth’s poles (North Pole <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@90,0,-2076.3083a,17768686.35d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>:</span> Robert Peary and Matthew Henson, USA, <a href="https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.17541/7?r=0&s=1">1909</a>; South Pole <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-90,0,-2076.3083a,17768686.35d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>:</span> Roald Amundsen, Norway, <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-142166976/view">1911</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1911</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1911));</script></td> <td>discovery of the nuclear centre of atoms (Ernest Rutherford, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14786440508637080">1911</a>); fission of the nitrogen nucleus to isolate subatomic <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/inside-the-proton-the-most-complicated-thing-imaginable-20221019">protons</a> by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1920.0040">1919</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1912</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1912));</script></td> <td>idea of inwardness of feeling, in other ages directed at divinities, belonging to suffering, pain, love, joy (Rainer Maria Rilke, Germany, <em>Duino Elegies</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/duinoelegies00rilk/page/20/mode/2up">1912</a>): inner commitment as life’s purpose</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1913</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1913));</script></td> <td>introduction of factory assembly lines for mass production of cars (Ford Model T, USA, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/putting-the-world-on-wheels-the-ford-model-t/pAIiixLJtc1HLw">1913</a>), dedicating one worker to each step → <span class="n-w">dehumanising<a href="https://archive.org/details/Metropolis1927EnglishVersion"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>labour; affordable cars for labourers</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1914</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1914));</script></td> <td>World War I (<a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/the-men-on-the-memorial/fgIiWlT_fBCDJA">1914</a>-<a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/peace-day-paris/1918">18</a>): 32 nations participate in “<a href="https://archive.org/details/infourthyear00well/page/n7/mode/2up">the war to end war</a>”, killing 20 million; advent of mechanised slaughter</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1914</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1914));</script></td> <td>opening of the Panama Canal <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@9.14380345,-79.7285161,63.3607a,73445.13d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> (<a href="https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:4m90fk088">15/8/1914</a>), shortening routes for shipping cargo between Atlantic and Pacific ports by weeks</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1915</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1915));</script></td> <td>mass deployment of X-ray units (Marie Curie, France, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA40W20HEWZCX9A22JUWVP0ON18-FRENCH-ARMY-X-RAY-AMBULANCE/">1915</a>) for treatment of over 1 million wounded soldiers</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1915</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1915));</script></td> <td>theory of general relativity (Albert Einstein, Germany, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/andp.19163540702">1915</a>): equivalent effects of gravity and acceleration; gravity as a distortion of spacetime by massive objects → unresolved <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-gravity-is-not-like-the-other-forces-20200615/">incompatibility</a> with quantum mechanics</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1917</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1917));</script></td> <td>Russian Revolution (Russia, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/tsar-of-russia/">1917</a>) → first communist state: USSR, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/inside-the-gates-of-soviet-russia-2/">1922</a>-<a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdclccn.2018688072/">1991</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1917</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1917));</script></td> <td>a urinal made by a plumber becomes a sculpture made by the force of an imagination (Marcel Duchamp, France, <em>Fountain</em> <a href="https://cdm16028.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll4/id/34688">19</a><a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-fountain-t07573">17</a>): reorientation of art away from craft, onto interpretation</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1918</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1918));</script></td> <td>Spanish flu pandemic (<a href="https://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2018/05/1918-flu/">1918-20</a>): H1N1 influenza virus infects a third of the global population and kills <a href="https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1201.050979">50-100 million</a>, mostly in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj5064">2ⁿᵈ wave</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0610941104">early interventions</a> reduce mortality; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00414-x">long-range effects</a> for survivors</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1918</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1918));</script></td> <td>first modern refugee crisis (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1560775500119285">1918-1922</a>): collapsing Russian and Ottoman Empires displacing 1-2 million Russians and hundreds of thousands of Armenians → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/22.1.36">Nansen Passports</a> for stateless citizens</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1919</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1919));</script></td> <td>demonstration of nervous mechanisms in plants (Jagadish Chandra Bose, Bengal, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1919.0001">1919</a>): plants feel, hear, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41589-9">smell</a>, taste, learn and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-010421-020045">remember</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0232">recognise</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2351">care for</a> kin, and swap <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.abr.2016.09.001">information</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba1223">resources</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1919</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1919));</script></td> <td>observations of starlight deflection during a Solar eclipse, confirming the gravitational lensing prediction of general relativity (Arthur Eddington, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1920.0009">1919</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1919</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1919));</script></td> <td>first commercial radio broadcasts (PCGG, Netherlands, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/rAUBRpRPErXSIA">1919</a>); global uptake during <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/music-from-the-ether-the-pioneers-of-radio-broadcasting/IwKCJzgbs1oeIQ">1920s</a> → dissemination of time signals, news, propaganda, education, entertainment; storytelling for the complicit listener</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1921</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1921));</script></td> <td>discovery of insulin (Frederick Banting and Charles Best, Canada, <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d42859-021-00002-5">1921</a>) → treatment of diabetes, now afflicting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2019.107843">1 in 10</a> of the global population, particularly in high-income and urban areas</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1922</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1922));</script></td> <td>invention of leaded petrol (Thomas Midgley Jr., USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/026768973/publication/US1787419A?q=pn%3DUS1787419A">1922</a>), improving engine performance, causing epidemics of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and developmental delays in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM197903293001301">children</a> → global elimination by <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/inside-20-year-campaign-rid-world-leaded-fuel-0">2021</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1922</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1922));</script></td> <td>prediction of an expanding Universe (Alexander Friedmann, Russia, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026751225741">1922</a>) → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adj3311">dark</a> <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness">energy</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.286.5445.1689">accelerating</a> the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zjtrxb0">expansion</a> of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/35010035">flat</a> or possibly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0906-9">closed</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.65.126003">cyclic</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2013.14328">hologram</a> Universe, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790903047725">perhaps</a> one in a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6633/aa50e4">multiverse</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1923</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1923));</script></td> <td>concept of every quantum entity having dual nature, as both wave and particle (Louis de Broglie, France, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/112540a0">1923</a>, Niels Bohr, Denmark, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/121580a0">1928</a>) → no independent physical reality of atomic phenomena</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1924</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1924));</script></td> <td>first aerial circumnavigation of the world (US Army Air Service, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVABBKV2WUQRMBIC0FC4LEMW9GQP-US-WORLD-FLYERS-WELCOMED/">1924</a>) → globalisation of human mobility</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1925</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1925));</script></td> <td>principle that electrons occupy undeterminable energy states, transitioning between them with predictable probabilities (Werner Heisenberg, Germany, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01328377">1925</a>, Erwin Schrödinger, Austria, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.28.1049">1926</a>): <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-04217-0">birth</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00296-9">quantum</a> mechanics</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1926</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1926));</script></td> <td>first working television system (John Logie Baird, UK, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA30DEPQYC5B2K8HLTJ35Y1G3C2-NEWS">1926</a>) → nationwide television broadcasting by <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/seeing-by-wireless/">1929</a>, bringing rulers to their subjects, entertainers to viewers, inspiring awe</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1926</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1926));</script></td> <td>Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery (League of Nations, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/legislation-and-case-law-international-legislation-united-nations/1926-slavery-convention_en">1926</a>) → commitment by 99 of 195 countries since <a href="https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XVIII-2&chapter=18&clang=_en">2008</a>; in Sub-Saharan Africa, one-quarter of children put to work <a href="https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-labour/">2015-2023</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1927</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1927));</script></td> <td>a car outpaces a racehorse (La Chapelle, France, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/a-novel-grand-national/">1927</a>) → dominion of the automobile for land transport and haulage</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1927</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1927));</script></td> <td>uncertainty principle: every particle has a constant product of its variances in position and momentum (Werner Heisenberg, Germany, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01397280">1927</a>) → no precisely determinable Universe; reality as <a href="https://archive.org/details/seven-brief-lessons-on-physics-by-rovelli-carlo/page/n17/mode/2up">interaction</a> not state</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1928</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1928));</script></td> <td>prediction of positron particles, the antimatter counterpart of electrons (Paul Dirac, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1928.0023">1928</a>) → <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1936/anderson/facts/">discovery</a> by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.43.491">1932</a> in tracks of <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1936/hess/facts/">cosmic rays</a>, the first evidence of antimatter</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1928</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1928));</script></td> <td>first description of ionised matter as plasma, the fourth fundamental state of matter after solids, liquids and gases (Irving Langmuir, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.14.8.627">1928</a>), predicted by Michael Faraday <a href="https://archive.org/details/onradiantmatterl00croorich/page/n5/mode/2up">1816</a>, generated by William Crookes <a href="https://archive.org/details/onradiantmatterl00croorich/page/4/mode/2up">1879</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1928</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1928));</script></td> <td>first experimental isolation of an antibiotic: penicillin (Alexander Fleming, UK, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2048009/">1928</a>) → healthcare <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/superbugs-the-fight-for-our-lives/uQKCJL6llDB1Lg">revolution</a>; overuse of antibiotics driving <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j3418">resistance</a> in <span class="n-w">bacteria,<a href="pies/Antibiotic-resistance.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span> causing 1.2 million deaths in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00228-x">2019</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1929</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1929));</script></td> <td>Great Depression, symbolised by the Wall Street Crash of <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/throng-wall-street-as-stock-market-crashes/">29/10/1929</a> and the North American Dust Bowl of the <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/resettlement-administration/">1930s</a> → <a href="http://doi.org/10.1353/eca.0.0000">22%</a> drop in worldwide GDP</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1930</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1930));</script></td> <td>first synthesis of ‘Freon’ (Thomas Midgley Jr., USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/023754401/publication/US1930129A?q=pn%3DUS1930129A">1930</a>) as a <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/023692951/publication/US1833847A?q=pn%3DUS1833847A">refrigerant</a> → rapid adoption worldwide; by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18052-0">1970s</a>, such chlorofluorocarbons predicted to threaten Earth’s ozone layer</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1930</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1930));</script></td> <td>postulation of neutrinos (Wolfgang Pauli, Austria, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2995181">1930</a>), the smallest, most abundant and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02427-6">pervasive</a> elementary particle in the Universe, rarely interacting with other matter</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1930</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1930));</script></td> <td>idea that all channels to the mind start from the soul, yet none leads back again (Robert Musil, Austria, <em>The Man Without Qualities</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/manwithoutqualit0002musi_z1j0/page/108/mode/2up">1930</a>): the human soul as mediator of <a href="https://archive.org/details/bookofdisquiet0000pess/page/130/mode/2up?q=%22Nature+is+the+difference+between+the+soul+and+God%22">nature</a>, spirit firing the imagination</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1931</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1931));</script></td> <td>proof that no set of consistent axioms can suffice to derive all mathematical truths, to leave none undecidable (Kurt Gödel, Germany, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01700692">1931</a>) → incomplete <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2015.18983">reality</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1932</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1932));</script></td> <td>discovery of neutrons (James Chadwick, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/129312a0">1932</a>), with protons constituting the nuclei of atoms → nuclear fission of uranium by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/143276a0">1939</a>; nuclear chain reactions; atomic bombs and nuclear energy</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1933</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1933));</script></td> <td>theory that government spending can stabilise the market economy (John Maynard Keynes, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-59072-8_26">1933</a>, <a href="https://archive.org/details/generaltheoryofe00keyn_0/page/n3/mode/2up">1936</a>) → borrowing to boost consumption, at the expense of investment to sustain and enhance <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/grw020">capital assets</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1934</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1934));</script></td> <td>first radio detection and ranging: radar (Navel Research Laboratory, USA, <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210003185616&view=2up&seq=193">1934</a>), concurrently developed in UK, Germany and other countries, targeting aircraft, ships, submarines and weather</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1935</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1935));</script></td> <td>concept of the ecosystem (Arthur Tansley, UK, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1930070">1935</a>), a complex association of organisms with their environment → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.04.002">value of nature</a> to humans from provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting <a href="https://www.greenfacts.org/glossary/def/ecosystem-services.htm">ecosystem services</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1938</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1938));</script></td> <td>invention of nylon (Wallace Carothers, DuPont, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/021690289/publication/US2130523A?q=pn%3DUS2130523A">1938</a>), the first synthetic textile fibre → filaments, films, bristles, cords, washers, sacking, fishing nets and longlines, fabrics, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn92070146/1942-06-07/ed-1/?sp=6&q=Nylon&r=0.472,0.959,0.176,0.283,0">parachutes</a>, spacesuits, hosiery and <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/nylon-fashions/query/nylon">clothing</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02210-1">fast fashion</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1939</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1939));</script></td> <td>first turbojet powered aircraft (Heinkel He 178, Germany, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2514/6.1998-5598">1939</a>) → rapid development of jet planes after World War II</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1939</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1939));</script></td> <td>World War II (<a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-first-ten-weeks-of-the-war-by-mr-winston-churc">1939</a>-<a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/victory-in-europe">45</a>): 184 nations participate in cataclysmic events killing 60 million, including genocide of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/an-end-to-murder">1941-45</a><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/search/Auschwitz-Birkenau,+Ofiar+Faszyzmu,+Brzezinka,+Poland/@50.03664715,19.17407457,232.85350003a,1808.25474235d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CqQBGnYScAolMHg0NzE2OTU4NWI1ODcyZTA1OjB4ZjM4MGMyMTU5YWExZDZhNxmXesz21wRJQCE1tAHYgCwzQCo1QXVzY2h3aXR6LUJpcmtlbmF1LCBPZmlhciBGYXN6eXptdSwgQnJ6ZXppbmthLCBQb2xhbmQYAiABIiYKJAkPJloCdrQiQBGHgQ42r94hQBlfgLjbvdxTwCGjjUMoggBUwEICCAE6AwoBMEICCABKDQj___________8BEAA"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a> – the greatest <a href="https://archive.org/details/ifthisismantruce00prim/page/18/mode/2up">crime</a> of the 20ᵗʰ century</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1940</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1940));</script></td> <td>invention of radio-controlled drones, operable beyond line of sight (Edward Sorensen, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/023312117/publication/US2408819A?q=pn%3DUS2408819A">19</a><a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/026989742/publication/US2482804A?q=pn%3DUS2482804A">40</a>); mass deployment of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2018.07.019">cruise missiles</a> by 1944 → 21ˢᵗ century <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12862">drone warfare</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-18953-1.00001-5">surveillance</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d44148-025-00022-7">delivery</a> drones</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1941</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1941));</script></td> <td>development of frequency-hopping radio communication (Hedy Markey [<a href="https://www.invent.org/inductees/hedy-lamarr">Hedy Lamarr</a>] and George Antheil, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/023571097/publication/US2292387A?q=pn%3DUS2292387A">1941</a>) → <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/023955865/publication/WO9700589A1?q=pn%3DWO9700589A1">Bluetooth</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/14636690910989333">Wi-Fi</a> by 1990s</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1941</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1941));</script></td> <td>first binary-logic digital programmable computer: Z3 (Konrad Zuse, Germany, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.1996.489747">1941</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1942</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1941));</script></td> <td>discovery of insecticidal action of DDT (Paul Müller, Switzerland, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1948/muller/facts/">1942</a>), the most successful chemical ever synthesised to control malaria → toxicity in food chains exposed in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/485578a">Rachel Carson’s</a> <em>Silent Spring</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/fp_Silent_Spring-Rachel_Carson-1962/page/n9/mode/2up">1962</a>; worldwide ban <a href="http://www.pops.int/TheConvention/Overview/tabid/3351/Default.aspx">2004</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1944</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1944));</script></td> <td>first electronic digital programmable computer: Colossus (Tommy Flowers, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2018.012171270">1944</a>) → <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/3wVBxstJZA4A8A">code-breaking</a> that hastened the end of World War II</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1944</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1944));</script></td> <td>internationalisation of financial order (Bretton Woods Conference, USA, <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/archive/history">1944</a>): International Monetary Fund, stabilising national economies in crisis, and World Bank, providing loans to developing nations</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1945</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1945));</script></td> <td>atomic bombs dropped by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/atom-bomb-aftermath">6, 9/8/1945</a>), the blasts and subsequent cancers killing over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4956-0_15">250,000 people</a>, mostly civilians; to date the only nuclear weapons used in combat</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1945</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1945));</script></td> <td>establishment of the United Nations (UN, <a href="https://www.un.org/en/">1945</a>), with a mission to maintain international peace, security and cooperation, amongst societies with customs and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1197754">tolerances</a> adapted to distal ecological and historical contexts</td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section8"> <table> <tr> <td class="section" colspan=3>8. Technological Revolution<a class="anchor" id="III-8"> </a><span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary III-8" href="history-summary.html#III-8" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a>  </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE"><font size="-1">CE </font>1945</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1945));</script></td> <td>first proposed electronic calculator (Alan Turing, UK, <a href="http://www.alanturing.net/turing_archive/archive/p/p01/p01.php">1945</a>) → modern stored-program computers</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1947</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1947));</script></td> <td>first supersonic flight, in a rocket-powered aircraft (Chuck Yeager in Bell X-1, USA, <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/sites/default/files/images/stories/Bell%20X-1%20NASM-9A02391.jpeg">14/10/1947</a>) → space exploration</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1948</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1948));</script></td> <td>invention of the transistor (Bell Labs, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/026682082/publication/US2524035A?q=pn%3DUS2524035A">1948</a>) → transistor radios by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/5.658767">1950s</a>; integrated circuits by <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/027408060/publication/US3138743A?q=US3138743A">1959</a>; microprocessors by <a href="https://firstmicroprocessor.com/">1970</a>; consumer electronics</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1948</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1948));</script></td> <td>Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights">10/12/1948</a>): all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights; everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1949</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1949));</script></td> <td>invention of the barcode (Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/022402610/publication/US2612994A?q=pn%3DUS2612994">1949</a>) → automation of product tracking</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1950</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1950));</script></td> <td>global average child mortality exceeds 20% in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03244-1">1950</a> → less than 4% by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/child-mortality?country=USA~SWE~BRA~IND~FRA~OWID_WRL~NGA~AFG">2024</a> with advances in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/infant-mortality-vaccines">vaccines</a>, education and public health; life expectancy in rich countries set by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-024-00702-3">ageing</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1950</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1950));</script></td> <td>proof that smoking causes lung cancer (Richard Doll and A. Bradford Hill, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.2.4682.739">1950</a>): tipping point to ultimate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg2115">elimination</a> of smoking sometime over 75 years later, delayed by corporate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0009.2009.00555.x">lobbying</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1950</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1950));</script></td> <td>start of the Anthropocene Epoch, humans using 22×10²¹ joules of energy over the next <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00029-y">70 years</a>, 1.5× more than all energy use during the previous 11,700 years: accelerating combustion of fossil fuels, their greenhouse gases trapping a further 10× more solar energy in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808838115">oceans</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1950</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1950));</script></td> <td>global GDP per capita having tripled over 130 years to <a href="https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2020?lang=en">1950</a>, tripling again over the next 50 years; North Americans and western Europeans earning over 3× the global average wage: the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2053019614564785">Great Acceleration</a> in technology, interdependence, and dominance over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00029-y">planetary cycles</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1950</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1950));</script></td> <td>beginning of a rapid acceleration in global crop yields through innovations in seed varieties, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/fertilizers">agrochemicals</a>, irrigation, mechanisation → Green Revolution of the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1970/borlaug/facts/">1950s and 1960s</a>, global cereal yield tripling over 60 years from <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cereal-yield?tab=chart">1960</a>, provisioning <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn.81.2.341">feedlots</a> of up to 100,000 cattle</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1951</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1951));</script></td> <td>genocide becomes a crime under international law (UN, <a href="https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf">1951</a>); genocide events over the next <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/%3C0%3Eno-lessons-learned-from-the-holocaust-assessing-risks-of-genocide-and-political-mass-murder-since-1955/FBA37FA563AC35E1CB6F7B57F8140F2C">50 years</a> kill more than 12 million civilians; language of hate rooted in the elevation of feelings to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad210">moral values</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1951</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1951));</script></td> <td>over 500 above-ground tests of nuclear weapons through to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0096340215581357">1980</a> release 6 tonnes of plutonium and other radionuclides, detectable globally in sediments, soils and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1569-4860(01)80003-6">organismal tissues</a> for 100,000 years into the future → nuclear deterrence by mutual assured destruction</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1952</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1952));</script></td> <td>half the world adult population has at least basic education by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-the-world-population-with-at-least-basic-education">1952</a> → three-quarters by 1990, enhanced particularly for schoolgirls by access to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2024.103950">bicycles</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1953</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1953));</script></td> <td>discovery of the molecular structure of <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/crick-and-watson-s-dna-molecular-model-francis-crick-james-dewey-watson/mQG-3gae3p7DFg">DNA</a> (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01313-5">Rosalind Franklin</a>, James Watson and Francis Crick, UK,<em> </em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0">1953</a>) → access to the genetic code of relatedness, form and function for all living organisms, in the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl5425">environment</a> and back through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03626-3">2 million years</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1953</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1953));</script></td> <td>ascent to the highest point on Earth: Mount Everest at 8,848 m <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@27.9837,86.9189,7710.8429a,6862.662d,35y,90.745h,80.25t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> (Tenzing Norgay, Nepal, and Edmund Hillary, New Zealand, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVACN8232R8X8DDIHWFG1N33DSK8-FIRST-PICTURES-OF-EVEREST-HEROES-BACK-AT-BASE-EDMUND-HILLARY-AND/">29/5/1953</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1954</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1954));</script></td> <td>first nuclear power plant (Obninsk, USSR, <a href="https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/26404794246.pdf">1954</a>) → advent of clean energy: 9% of global electricity generation in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/electricity-mix">2023</a>, total generation <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2024/executive-summary">rising</a>; waste products radioactive for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ada1574">100,000 years</a>; nuclear catastrophes, including Chernobyl <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.3893648,30.09884378,114.51a,13724.242d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-156976225/view">26/4/1986</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1955</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1955));</script></td> <td> first accurate atomic clock (Louis Essen and Jack Parry, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/176280a0">1955</a>), the first <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02935-4">quantum technology</a>: time as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MIM.2011.6086901">atomic oscillations</a> → atomic standard of time interval; Coordinated Universal Time: UTC, starting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/0026-1394/38/6/6">1/1/1960</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1956</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1956));</script></td> <td>first shipment of freight in standardised intermodal containers (Malcom McLean, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1051/metal/2012025">1956</a>) → globalisation of commerce</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1956</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1956));</script></td> <td>emergence of pop art (Richard Hamilton, UK, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23202669">19</a><a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hamilton-just-what-was-it-that-made-yesterdays-homes-so-different-so-appealing-upgrade-p20271">56</a>; Andy Warhol, USA, <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79809">1962</a>), its impersonal style anticipating a commodified and media-saturated world of <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hirst-pharmacy-t07187">illusory promise</a>, <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lichtenstein-whaam-t00897">desire</a> and <a href="https://lesoeuvres.pinaultcollection.com/en/artwork/dolphin">consumerism</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1957</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1957));</script></td> <td>first orbiting space satellite (Sputnik 1, USSR, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/model-of-the-sputnik-on-display-in-moscow/">4/10/1957</a>) → intelligence gathering by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0306312701031002004">1960</a>; Global Positioning System: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/5.736339">GPS</a>, and Earth <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.acx9080">observation</a>, by 1973; global telecommunications and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/37.969131">infrastructure interdependency</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1957</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1957));</script></td> <td>first living being to depart Earth for outer space: stray mongrel dog Laika in Sputnik II (USSR, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/u-s-s-r-satellite-dog/">3/11/1957</a>), deceased in passage</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1959</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1959));</script></td> <td>the Great Chinese Famine <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdv016">1959-1961</a>, the worst famine in history: Chairman Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ policy colliding with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2007.09.008">drought</a> to cause 15-45 million deaths</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1959</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1959));</script></td> <td>Antarctic Treaty (<a href="https://www.bas.ac.uk/about/antarctica/the-antarctic-treaty/">1959</a>), designating use of the continent of Antarctica solely for peaceful purposes and scientific investigation, and prohibiting nuclear activity → need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01466-4">Māori</a> insight</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1960</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1960));</script></td> <td>descent to the deepest point in the oceans: Mariana Trench at 10,911 m <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@11.36110304,142.41950034,-99.60940716a,1341100.93989238d,35y,-0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> (Jacques Piccard, Switzerland, and Don Walsh, USA, in the bathyscaphe Trieste, <a href="https://britishpathe.com/video/they-dived-7-miles/">23/1/1960</a>), the last frontier of Earth exploration</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1960</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1960));</script></td> <td>first female head of a democratic government: Sirimavo Bandaranaike, serving three terms as prime minister of Ceylon then Sri Lanka between <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/wQG2wf5_iGvL1g">1960</a> and 2000</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1960</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1960));</script></td> <td>first laser beam (Theodore Maiman, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/187493a0">1960</a>) → <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/022291217/publication/GB957235A?q=pn%3DGB957235A">LiDAR</a> mapping; cutting, welding, printing, precision surgery; reading/writing and transmitting data; trapping atoms; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0916-7">21ˢᵗ century</a> interferometry</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1960</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1960));</script></td> <td>first government-approval of oral contraceptives for use by the public (US FDA, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/110456/download">1960</a>) → women taking control over their fertility, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/340778">liberating</a> them to develop professional careers</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1960</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1960));</script></td> <td>formation of <em>The Beatles</em> rock band (UK, <a href="https://archive.org/details/the-compleat-beatles-1982">1960</a><span class="n-w">)<a href="https://archive.org/details/beatlesunsurpassedmasters1/b3at13sUnsurpMastVol1of7-YUP/11-From+Me+To+You.mp3"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span> → globalisation of musical influence in the <a href="https://aso.gov.au/titles/newsreels/cinesound-review-mersey-sound/clip2/">1960s</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1961</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1961));</script></td> <td>first astronaut in outer space (Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1, USSR, <a href="https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVAD6NC82X6KZDIQHVRJRVAAHTF-RUSSIA-THE-FIRST-SPACEMAN-YURI-GAGARIN/">12/4/1961</a>), completing one Earth orbit during a 108-minute flight → the Space Age</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1961</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1961));</script></td> <td>framework for the conduct of diplomatic relations (UN Vienna Convention, <a href="https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=III-3&chapter=3&clang=_en">1961</a>) → ratified by 193 nations, safeguarding the instrumental role of diplomacy in converting confrontations to consensus</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1961</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1961));</script></td> <td>earliest industrial use of a flexibly programmable robot (‘Unimate’, George Devol, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/023884130/publication/US2988237A?q=pn%3DUS2988237">1961</a>) → automation substituting for labour on codifiable tasks, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/jep.29.3.3">complementing</a> problem-solving skills; microbots by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zjv6co5">2024</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1964</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1964));</script></td> <td>origin of mass explained by interactions with Higgs quantum field (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01103-7">Peter Higgs</a>, UK, and others, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.13.508">1964</a>) → Standard Model of <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/a-world-of-particles/xQISM3uhEer-Jw">particle physics</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1965</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1965));</script></td> <td>cosmic microwave evidence of the birth of the Universe in a spacetime singularity (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00555-1">Arno Penzias</a> and Robert Wilson, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00894-z">1965</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1965</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1965));</script></td> <td>International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (UN, <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cerd.aspx">1965</a>) → commitments from 182 countries since <a href="https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-2&chapter=4&clang=_en">2019</a>, yet the visceral experience of racism endures: race <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01846-z">still</a> defining exposure to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1821204116">violence</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1967</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1967));</script></td> <td>postulation of imperfect symmetry between matter and antimatter (Andrei Sakharov, USSR, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1142/9789812815941_0013">1967</a>) → surplus of matter over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03043-0">antimatter</a> since the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01022-3">early Universe</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1967</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1967));</script></td> <td>Outer Space Treaty (UN, <a href="https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html">1967</a>), the basis of international space law → freedom for all to explore space, and prohibition of weapons of mass destruction in Earth orbit</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1968</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1968));</script></td> <td>peak growth rate of 2.07% in the world human population (<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/population-growth-rates?tab=chart&time=1950..2099&country=~OWID_WRL">1968</a>), averaging 3.7 offspring per female → fertility below replacement expected by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ze0x33r">2030</a>, as populations <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/population-growth-rate-vs-median-age?time=1950..2020">age</a> globally and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00926-6">crash</a> in the richest countries</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1968</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1968));</script></td> <td>concept of the tragedy of the commons (Garrett Hardin, USA, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1724745">1968</a>): free-for-all exploitation of shared resources brings <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.280.5364.682">ruin</a> to all; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw0911">collective</a> land rights facilitate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12950">cooperative behaviour</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1969</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1969));</script></td> <td>first astronaut on the Moon (Neil Armstrong, USA, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/history/july-20-1969-one-giant-leap-for-mankind/">20/7/1969</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://trek.nasa.gov/moon/#v=0.1&x=23.47314&y=0.67416&z=16&p=urn%3Aogc%3Adef%3Acrs%3AEPSG%3A%3A104903&d=&locale=&b=moon&e=23.463500140980294%2C0.6670896971686295%2C23.482779859019708%2C0.6812303028313704&sfz=&w="><i class='icon'></i></a>)</span>, delivered by a 160-million horsepower <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/saturn-apollo-program/JgH3jL3YmJGC6g">Saturn V</a> rocket; the Apollo 11 <a href="https://www.si.edu/object/command-module-apollo-11:nasm_A19700102000">Command Module</a> returning to Earth 4 days later</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1969</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1969));</script></td> <td>first host-to-host computer connection (ARPANET, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057%2Fjit.2013.4">1969</a>): “lo” sent across 500 km → flourishing Internet by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/1629607.1629613">1980s</a>; first quantum network by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj8014">2017</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1970</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1970));</script></td> <td>first optical disc encoding binary data (James Russell, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/024305023/publication/US3501586A?q=pn%3DUS3501586A">1970</a>) → digitisation of data storage, sound recording and playback</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1970</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1970));</script></td> <td>Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (UN, <a href="https://www.un.org/disarmament/wmd/nuclear/npt/">1970</a>) → commitment by 191 states, not the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-countries-have-nuclear-weapons-and-where-are-they-180382">nuclear states</a> of India, Pakistan, Israel, North Korea; a nuclear detonation affects <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00573-0">everyone</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1970</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1970));</script></td> <td>first probe to land on another planet and transmit data: surface temperature of Venus (Venera 7, USSR, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1971)028%3C0263:SLOVOT%3E2.0.CO;2">15/12/1970</a>); images by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1977)88%3C1537:TSOVAR%3E2.0.CO;2">1975</a> → images from the surface of Mars by <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/viking-1-2/">1976</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1972</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1972));</script></td> <td>recognition by governments worldwide that fossil-fuel combustion threatens Earth’s atmosphere (UN Conference on the Human Environment <a href="https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/stockholm1972">1972</a>), <span class="n-w">understood<a href="pies/Mitchell.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></span>by the growing environmental movement as a crisis rooted in Western worldviews of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.155.3767.1203">nature as commodity</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1972</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1972));</script></td> <td>atomic clocks flown east around the world lose time to clocks flown west, confirming the time-dilation predicted by special relativity (Joseph Hafele and Richard Keating, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.177.4044.168">1972</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1972</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1972));</script></td> <td>creation of first recombinant DNA, from a polyomavirus and a bacteriophage (Paul Berg, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.69.10.2904">1972</a>) → first transgenic mammal by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.71.4.1250">1974</a>: a mouse; cloned synthetic genes for human insulin by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.76.1.106">1979</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00457-w">bioweapons</a> potential</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1973</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1973));</script></td> <td>concept of natural capital: the stock of natural resources (Ernst Schumacher, UK, <em>Small is Beautiful</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/smallisbeautifu000schu/page/12/mode/2up">1973</a>) → an asset that underpins human, social, manufactured and financial capitals, its qualities of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review">mobility, silence and invisibility</a> defying economic measurement, exposing it to unregulated human activities</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1973</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1973));</script></td> <td>global average life expectancy exceeds 60 years by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy-at-birth-total-years?tab=chart">1973</a> → 70 years by 2008 and rising for all countries; strengthening link to <a href="https://www.gapminder.org/tools/#$state$time$value=2020;&marker$axis_x$domainMin:null&domainMax:null&zoomedMin:null&zoomedMax:null&scaleType=genericLog&spaceRef:null;&axis_y$domainMin:null&domainMax:null&zoomedMin:null&zoomedMax:null&spaceRef:null;;&chart-type=bubbles;&chart-type=bubbles">affluence</a>, which drives down <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16941-y">natural capital</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1975</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1975));</script></td> <td>fraction of world adult population overweight or obese (BMI > 25 kg/m²) rises above 20% by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/obesity">1975</a> → 39% by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32129-3">2016</a>; 1 billion obese by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02750-2">2022</a>, rising fastest in the young</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1975</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1975));</script></td> <td>first personal computer: Altair 8800 (John Blankenbaker, USA, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/programmed-for-success-the-history-of-the-computer-deutsches-museum/fQICvBSY16WtIQ?hl=en">1975</a>), word processing software by 1976, spreadsheets by <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/apple-ii/GQGa0nSWGBAOow">1979</a> → digital media beginning to replace paper and celluloid by the end of the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24980135">20ᵗʰ century</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1975</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1975));</script></td> <td>first global commitment to cross-border environmental protection: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES, <a href="https://www.cites.org/eng/disc/what.php">1975</a>) → illegal trade still threatening <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12182">wildlife</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2169-0">human</a> health</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1977</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1977));</script></td> <td>indigenous Green Belt Movement (Wangari Maathai, Kenya, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2004/maathai/facts/">1977</a>), combatting poverty with environmental conservation → Great Green Wall movement by <a href="https://www.greatgreenwall.org/about-great-green-wall">2007</a>; set to become the largest living structure on the planet<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01293-6">?</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1978</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1978));</script></td> <td>first human born on the Antarctic mainland (Esperanza Base, Argentina <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-63.3980081,-56.99704905,3.3178a,3488.56d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://antarctica.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/40755">7/1/1978</a>) → continuous human settlement of every continent on Earth</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1978</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1978));</script></td> <td>first human born from <em>in vitro</em> fertilisation (IVF, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0528.1980.tb04610.x">1978</a>) → ethical issues of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00787-z">selecting</a> amongst genome-sequenced embryos</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1979</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1979));</script></td> <td>completion of the Standard Model (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.256.5061.1287">1979</a>), combining quantum mechanics with special relativity to explain how elementary <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-a-particle-20201112/">particles</a> determine the composition of all perceived matter and all its governing forces except <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/crisis-in-particle-physics-forces-a-rethink-of-what-is-natural-20220301">gravitation</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1980</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1980));</script></td> <td>global eradication of smallpox (WHO, <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/smallpox">1980</a>), after it kills 300 million people and one-third of those infected during the 20ᵗʰ century, the only infectious disease of humans to be eradicated by vaccination; ongoing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zq6g05q">return risk</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1981</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1981));</script></td> <td>first diagnosis of AIDS (USA, <a href="https://www.nature.com/collections/mghkkdjlgx">1981</a>) → identification of causal HIV by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, France, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.6189183">1983</a>; global epidemic killing 36 million by <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids">2021</a>; scaleable options for prevention by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zzj18xt">2024</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1982</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1982));</script></td> <td>international moratorium on commercial whaling (IWC, agreed <a href="https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/whaling/commercial">1982</a>, enforced <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/oceans/save-the-whales/international-whaling-commission/">1986</a>): power of people, unified by non-governmental organisations, to drive worldwide change</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1982</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1982));</script></td> <td>adoption of the World Charter for Nature (UN, <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/39295">1982</a>, only USA voting <a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/609285">against</a>) recognising nature’s intrinsic value, establishing the imperative of keeping human activities within Earth’s limits</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1983</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1983));</script></td> <td>activation of standardised Internet Protocol (USA, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/switched-on-how-computers-transformed-communication%C2%A0/NQIC57FmrTnoKw">1983</a>) → transformative change in communication, with proliferation of email, file transfer, Internet forums, information sharing</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1983</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1983));</script></td> <td>genetic engineering enters mainstream agriculture, then medicine, with patents for genetically modified crop plants (International Plant Research Institute, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/023190411/publication/WO8301176A1?q=pn%3DWO8301176A1">1983</a>), and transgenic animals (Harvard College, USA, <em>OncoMouse</em> <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/024499353/publication/US4736866A?q=pn%3DUS4736866A">1988</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1984</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1984));</script></td> <td>first untethered spacewalk (Bruce McCandless, <em>Challenger</em> Space Shuttle 41-B, USA, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/mission-space-shuttle-41-b-challenger-bruce-mccandless-making-the-first-untethered-space-walk-with-the-manned-maneuvering-unit-m-m-u-american/jgFNaqpGrOMFUg?avm=3">7/2/1984</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1985</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1985));</script></td> <td>discovery of a human-induced hole in the stratospheric ozone layer (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/315207a0">1985</a>) → increase in UV-B radiation at Earth’s surface, changing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0314-2">climate</a>, causing DNA damage to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1546292">phytoplankton</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.96.26.15310">plants</a>; potential <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1700618">forest sterility</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2188/jea.9.6sup_7">skin cancers</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1985</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1985));</script></td> <td>first aircraft to fly on another planet: VeGa balloons in the cloud system of Venus (USSR + 8 European countries, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.231.4744.1407">1985</a>) → Earth’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01730-5">evil twin</a>, yet potential for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02785-5">life</a> in the clouds<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01391-3">?</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1985</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1985));</script></td> <td>discovery of the enzyme telomerase controlling cellular ageing (Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-8674(85)90170-9">1985</a>) → eternal lifespan of cancer cells</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1986</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1986));</script></td> <td>beginnings of continuous colonisation of space, in low Earth orbit (Mir Space Station, USSR, 20/2/1986) → International Space Station from <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/6-out-of-this-world-scientific-discoveries-from-the-iss/jALiNXno-k5rIA">2/11/2000</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1986</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1986));</script></td> <td>first useful algorithm for deep learning, in which many copies of the same model of the world all learn separately and share instantly (David Rumelhart, Geoffrey Hinton, Ronald Williams USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/323533a0">1986</a>) → birth of artificial intelligence: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2307432120">AI</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1986</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1986));</script></td> <td><span style="color: red"><strong><em>global population of humans passes <a href="https://themasites.pbl.nl/tridion/en/themasites/hyde/basicdrivingfactors/population/index-2.html" style="color: red;">5 billion</a></em></strong></span><span style='color:black;'>; annual energy use per person averages <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-00029-y">18,300 kWh</a>, 26× the resting metabolism</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1987</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1987));</script></td> <td>global agreement to ban hydrochlorofluorocarbons and other ozone depleting substances (Montreal Protocol, <a href="https://ozone.unep.org/treaties/montreal-protocol">1987</a>), the only UN protocol to be ratified by every country on Earth → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00360-0">punctuated</a> recovery of stratospheric ozone, slowing Earth’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03737-3">warming</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1987</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1987));</script></td> <td>sustainable development enters economics, as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (<em>Brundtland Report</em> <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/5987our-common-future.pdf">1987</a>) → ecosystems as <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/legacy/sustainable-accounting-and-the-balance-sheet/064AF03BA95956CB61117F1FE326956B#A-sec-5_2">capital assets</a>, economies as systems <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review">embedded within nature</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1988</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1988));</script></td> <td>first assessment that global climate warming has begun (James Hansen, Senate testimony to US Congress, <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b5127807&seq=45">23/6/1988</a>) → creation of the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/about/">IPCC</a>; by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/455737a">1995</a>, “the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate”</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1989</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1989));</script></td> <td>invention of the World Wide Web information system (Tim Berners-Lee, UK, <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/theme/the-world-wide-web-the-invention-that-connected-the-world/eAJS4WcKh7UBIQ">1989</a>) → birth of the <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/rwUB57FmrTnoKw">Information Age</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1990</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1990));</script></td> <td>spacecraft Voyager 1 photographs the sunlit Earth from a distance of 6 billion km (NASA, <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/resource/voyager-1s-pale-blue-dot/">14/2/1990</a>): this <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss85590.042/?sp=18">Pale Blue Dot</a>, our place in the cosmos</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1990</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1990));</script></td> <td>launch of the Hubble Space Telescope (NASA with ESA, <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble/overview/hubbles-first-light">1990</a>) → observing the birth of stars, growth of galaxies, prevalence of black holes, atmospheres of exoplanets</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1992</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1992));</script></td> <td>first detection of exoplanets, orbiting a neutron star 2,300 light-years from Earth (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03421-y">Arecibo Observatory</a> and NRAO, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/355145a0">1992</a>) → possibility of <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/looking-for-life-beyond-earth-exoplanets/0QLimPAcG1NUIw">extra-terrestrial</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04452-3">life</a> on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21360">temperate</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0878-9">moist</a> planets, perhaps feeding off radiolytic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21218-z">H₂</a>; beings for whom we are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01692-7">aliens</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1992</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1992));</script></td> <td>the Rio Earth Summit, Brazil, hosts the largest gathering of world leaders as of <a href="https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/rio1992">1992</a>, for intergovernmental collaboration on the environment, climate change, desertification</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1992</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1992));</script></td> <td>global commitment by nation states to conservation of biodiversity, and sustainable use and equitable sharing of its benefits (UN Convention on Biological Diversity: CBD, <a href="https://www.cbd.int/convention/text/">1992</a>) → ratified by every country except the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/information/parties.shtml">USA</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1992</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1992));</script></td> <td>first Internet server for streaming media (StarWorks, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/CMPCON.1993.289623">1992</a>) → rise of live and on-demand <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/76.911156">video</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2008.916370">audio</a> streaming during the 2000s; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0163443717745147">personalisation</a> of entertainment for repeatable pleasure and nostalgia</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1993</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1993));</script></td> <td>tuning of enzyme functions by directed evolution (Frances Arnold, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.90.12.5618">1993</a>) → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adn3434">accelerated</a> evolution; environmentally friendly production of pharmaceuticals and renewable fuels</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1994</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1994));</script></td> <td>launch of online marketplace Amazon.com (Jeff Bezos, USA, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2018/10/business/amazon-history-timeline/index.html">1994</a>) → world’s largest cloud-computing platform</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1994</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1994));</script></td> <td>earliest legislation for medical aid in dying, giving a terminally ill patient the right to determine the time of their own death (Oregon, USA, <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/PROVIDERPARTNERRESOURCES/EVALUATIONRESEARCH/DEATHWITHDIGNITYACT/Documents/statute.pdf">1994</a>) → gradual spread of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/apm-20-637">assisted-dying</a> practices globally</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1995</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1995));</script></td> <td>launch of the World Trade Organization (WTO, <a href="https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/inbrief_e/inbr_e.htm">1995</a>), lifting trade barriers → export of a quarter of all food production by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zprhodf">2024</a>, internationalising diets, concentrating power in <a href="https://accelerator.chathamhouse.org/article/disrupting-dinner-food-for-the-future">agribusiness giants</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1995</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1995));</script></td> <td>observation of Bose-Einstein condensate (NIST, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.269.5221.198">1995</a>), a quantum state of lowest-energy particles at near-zero K, and fifth fundamental state of matter → quantum mechanical description of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab104a">gravity</a>?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1995</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1995));</script></td> <td>first successful corporate litigation on climate change (Pakistan, <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/non-us-case/raja-zahoor-ahmed-v-capital-development-authority/">1995</a>) → first climate ruling from an international court of human rights by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01177-3">2024</a>; potential to affect <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01081-w">climate governance</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1995</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1995));</script></td> <td>peak of global marine fishery catch, at 130 million tonnes during <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10244">1995 </a>→ thereafter diminishing returns for a still expanding global fishery; need for an equitable <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117033118">ocean commons</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1995</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1995));</script></td> <td>collapse of Indian vulture populations, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.z6hvfk3">mid-1990s</a>, poisoned by diclofenac painkiller in livestock carcasses → carrion left uncleaned by vultures, causing 500,000 human deaths from <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4318579">2000-2005</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1996</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1996));</script></td> <td>first cloned mammal (Dolly the sheep, Roslin Institute, UK, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/380064a0">1996</a>) → cloning of human stem cells from embryos by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2013.05.006">2013</a> in pursuit of novel therapies; moral, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7150/ijms.21666">ethical</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1501798112">social</a> dilemmas</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1996</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1996));</script></td> <td>first practical solar-powered aircraft (Icaré 2, Germany, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-12-2017-0279">1996</a>) → race for <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/energy-transitions/zgJyQl7_F9ufKg">clean-energy</a> applications; gradually emerging <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam6284">political</a> vision for weaning off fossil fuels</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1997</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1997));</script></td> <td>first robotic rover lands on Mars and measures surface composition (NASA’s Sojourner, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/july-4-1997-sojourner-arrives-red-planet/">4/7/1997</a>) → Mars Express spacecraft finds liquid water in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar7268">2018</a>, conducive to life and to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1089/space.2017.29009.emu">human colonisation</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1997</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1997));</script></td> <td>first experimental demonstration of quantum teleportation (Institut für Experimentalphysik, Austria, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/37539">1997</a>), over any distance → holographic wormhole by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03832-z">2022</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1997</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1997));</script></td> <td>adoption of the Kyoto Protocol by 192 countries (UNFCCC, <a href="https://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol">1997</a>), binding 37 industrialised and industrialising countries plus the EU to targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions → still rising by <a href="https://globalcarbonatlas.org/">2023</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1998</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1998));</script></td> <td>creation of Google search technology, as a student project (Larry Page and Sergey Brin, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/038473337/publication/US7269587B1?q=pn%3DUS7269587B1">1998</a>) → free to use, efficient knowledge-search engine; profit from mining personal data; pay-per-click business model</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">1998</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 1998));</script></td> <td>establishment of the International Criminal Court (Netherlands, <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/">1998</a>) of <a href="https://asp.icc-cpi.int/states-parties">125 States Parties</a>, fighting impunity by holding offenders responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, state aggression</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2000));</script></td> <td>ongoing and accelerating rise in global mean sea level exceeds 3 mm/year by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2591-3">2000</a>, regulated by thermal expansion, ice-mass loss and large-scale dams → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz6214">no scenario</a> that stops sea-level rise this century</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2000</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2000));</script></td> <td>first legal recognition of same-sex marriage (Netherlands, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/same-sex-marriage-country-count">2000</a>) → legal in 34 countries by 2023</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2001</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2001));</script></td> <td>launch of Wikipedia (Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, USA, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia">2001</a>), collating knowledge as a common good → world’s largest work of general reference, open to editing by registered users</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2001</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2001));</script></td> <td>first draft sequence of the human genome: <em>c</em>. 25,000 genes in 3 billion base pairs (Whitehead Institute, USA, + 23 institutes, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/35057062">2001</a>), completed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01626">2003</a>; 500,000 human genomes by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03763-3">2023</a> → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/550451a">Human Cell Atlas</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan4672">gene therapy</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2001</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2001));</script></td> <td>first space tourist (Dennis Tito, USA, with the Russian space programme to the International Space Station, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.15180/150407">2001</a>) → race to commercialise space travel by <a href="https://inspiration4.com/">2021</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2001</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2001));</script></td> <td>terrorist attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon (USA, <a href="https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Exec.htm">11/9/2001</a>) → accelerating globalisation of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2017.1342634">jihadi networks</a> instigated in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_a_00023">1980s</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/isec.2008.32.4.78">counter-terrorism</a> strategies</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2002</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2002));</script></td> <td>calory deficit afflicts 13% of the global population in the year <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/hunger-and-undernourishment#undernourishment-by-world-region">2002</a> → 7.5% by 2017, subsequently rising; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32822-8">climate change</a> exacerbating undernourishment and obesity</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2003</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2003));</script></td> <td>a heatwave across Europe causes 70,000 additional deaths in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crvi.2007.12.001">summer 2003</a>, then with a return time of thousands of years → 100 years by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2468">2015</a>; rising frequency of record-shattering <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01092-9">climate extremes</a>, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01142-4">marine heatwaves</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2003</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2003));</script></td> <td>globally agreed enforcement of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CBD, <a href="http://bch.cbd.int/protocol/background/">2003</a>), governing translocation of living genetically modified organisms that threaten biodiversity</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2004</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2004));</script></td> <td>launch of online social networking service Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg, USA, <a href="https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/search/family/033417729/publication/US2004230672A1?q=pn%3DUS2004230672A1">2004</a>) → 2 billion users by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/internet">2017</a>; rise in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00257-y">conspiracy theories</a> with reorientation of online exchanges from information to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00879-w">values</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2005</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2005));</script></td> <td>global adoption of the principle that nation states have responsibility to protect their citizens from mass atrocities, and that failure to do so must trigger collective international action (<a href="https://www.globalr2p.org/">R2P</a>, UN World Summit, <a href="https://www.globalr2p.org/what-is-r2p/">2005</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2006</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2006));</script></td> <td>launch of microblogging service Twitter (Jack Dorsey, USA, <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/20">2006</a>) → 500 million tweets per day by <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/engineering/en_us/a/2013/new-tweets-per-second-record-and-how.html">2013</a>; one-to-many <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl4435">echo chambers</a>; rise of free-to-use platforms monetising <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44392955">personal data</a> through advertising</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2007</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2007));</script></td> <td>human urban population exceeds half the global population for the first time in <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/publications/state-world-population-2007">history</a> → <a href="https://www.gapminder.org/tools/#$state$time$value=2019;&marker$axis_x$which=urban_population_percent_of_total&domainMin:null&domainMax:null&zoomedMin:null&zoomedMax:null&scaleType=linear&spaceRef:null;&axis_y$which=income_per_person_gdppercapita_ppp_inflation_adjusted&domainMin:null&domainMax:null&zoomedMin:null&zoomedMax:null&scaleType=genericLog&spaceRef:null;;&chart-type=bubbles">urban wealth</a> sustained by international trade that drives <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11145">rural impoverishment</a>; strengthening relation of <a href="https://www.gapminder.org/tools/#$state$marker$axis_y$which=children_per_woman_total_fertility&domainMin:null&domainMax:null&zoomedMin:null&zoomedMax:null&spaceRef:null;;&chart-type=bubbles">fertility</a> to poverty</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2007</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2007));</script></td> <td>worldwide adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN, <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html">2007</a>) to be free and equal to all other peoples, supported by 182 nation states</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2007</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2007));</script></td> <td>Great Recession (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/imfer.2010.9">2007-9</a>), free-fall of developed economies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09659">synchronised</a> by global integration of markets; need for regulatory <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01291-8">oversight</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2008</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2008));</script></td> <td>first smartphone apps (iPhone App Store, <a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/10/apples_app_store_launches_with_more_than_500_apps">2008</a>) → smartphones achieve global ubiquity faster than any other medium of communication in human history; social media and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15405700903502346">fandom</a>, with no stewardship of global <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2025764118">collective behaviour</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2008</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2008));</script></td> <td>first national constitution to recognise rights of nature (Ecuador, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102517000061">2008</a>); first statutory law granting rights to nature, Bolivia <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102518000201">2010</a> → departure from nature as property</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2008</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2008));</script></td> <td>first country to legislate for a circular economy (China, <a href="https://leap.unep.org/countries/cn/national-legislation/circular-economy-promotion-law-peoples-republic-china">2008</a>): reduce, reuse, recycle → national roadmaps by <a href="https://www.sitra.fi/en/projects/leading-the-cycle-finnish-road-map-to-a-circular-economy-2016-2025/">2016</a>; need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00017-z">global</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00293-y">initiatives</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2009</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2009));</script></td> <td>launch of first cryptocurrency: Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer medium of exchange by blockchain (Satoshi Nakamoto, <a href="https://tools.bitbo.io/assets/bitcoin.pdf">2009</a>), requiring neither government support nor <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjae033">rule of law</a> → vast <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22256-3">carbon footprint</a> from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0152-7">mining</a> digital coins</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2009</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2009));</script></td> <td>growth of the middle-class: by <a href="https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/special-reports-pdfs/13092764.pdf">2009</a> more than half the world’s population has at least a third of their income available for discretionary spending after food and shelter</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2009</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2009));</script></td> <td>humanity is overstepping three <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/planet-in-metamorphosis/AgICWNrRk-XCIw">planetary boundaries</a> to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/461472a">safe operating</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1259855">space</a>: climate change, biodiversity loss, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0164">nitrogen cycle</a> → risk of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2189-9">abrupt</a> ecological disruption and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1810141115">hothouse Earth</a>; need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-011-0185-x">planetary stewardship</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2009</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2009));</script></td> <td>nations that grew rich on fossil fuels commit climate finance to poorer nations (UNFCCC, <a href="https://www.oecd.org/climate-change/finance-usd-100-billion-goal/">2009</a>), worth one-tenth of annual oil and gas industry royalties by <a href="https://avielverbruggen.be/en/publications/climate-energy-nexus/290-20220721-clime-the-geopolitics-of-trillion-us-oil-gas-rents-at/file">2020</a> → inadequate and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02846-3">unmet</a>, until repurposed for loss and damage in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03790-6">2022</a>, tripled in <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/11/1157416">2024</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2009</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2009));</script></td> <td>resolution by 192 countries that humanity can and should live in harmony with nature (UN, <a href="http://undocs.org/A/RES/64/196">2009</a>) → UN visions for sustainable development (<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda">2015</a>) and biodiversity (<a href="https://www.cbd.int/gbf/vision/">2022</a>), with harmony as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103658">dynamic attribute</a> not ideal state</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2010</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2010));</script></td> <td>creation of first self-replicating synthetic bacterial cell (J. Craig Venter Institute, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1190719">2010</a>): dawn of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl5286">gene synthesis</a> → xenobots for intravenous drug delivery by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910837117">2020</a>, self-replicating by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2112672118">2021</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2010</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2010));</script></td> <td>global agreement to implement 20 biodiversity targets by 2020 (CBD, <a href="https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/">2010</a>), to address causes of biodiversity loss, reduce pressures on biodiversity, safeguard ecosystems and their services → <a href="https://www.cbd.int/gbo/gbo5/publication/gbo-5-spm-en.pdf">failure</a> completely on 14, partially on 6</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2011</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2011));</script></td> <td>international resolution against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity (UN, <a href="https://www.right-docs.org/doc/a-hrc-res-17-19/">2011</a>) → homosexuality legal in 131 of 194 countries by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/same-sex-sexual-acts-equaldex?time=latest">2024</a>, rising trend; recognition of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/518288a">sex spectrum</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2011</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2011));</script></td> <td>two-thirds of the global population in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/water-access">2011</a> have access to safe drinking water, a necessary condition for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00800-z">wellbeing</a> → three-quarters by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00842-3">2020</a>, possibly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02621-0">much less</a>; imperilled by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02337-7">pollution</a>, safeguarded by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00886-z">community</a>-<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03875-w">technology</a> partnerships</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2012</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2012));</script></td> <td>observation of Higgs boson: a fundamental force-carrier particle (CERN Large Hadron Collider, <a href="https://home.cern/science/physics/higgs-boson">4/7/</a><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/9wVBTCkDK5xhIg">2012</a>) → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01834-5">validation</a> of the Standard Model of particle physics</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2012</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2012));</script></td> <td>more than half the world’s population tunes in to television coverage of the London Summer Olympics (<a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/Documents/IOC_Marketing/Broadcasting/London_2012_Global_%20Broadcast_Report.pdf">2012</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2012</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2012));</script></td> <td>invention of CRISPR-Cas9 technology (Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1225829">2012</a>) → accurate, fast and cheap editing of genes and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.373.6550.16">gene mutations</a> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/522020a">any</a> organism, including – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab1028">unethically</a> – viable <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00756-0">human</a> embryos</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2012</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2012));</script></td> <td>first human-made object escapes our Solar System and enters interstellar space, 18 billion km from the Sun (Voyager 1, <a href="https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/interstellar-mission/">25/8/2012</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2013</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2013));</script></td> <td>atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ exceed 400 ppm for the first time in at least 3 million years (NOAA, Hawaii, <a href="https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/">5/2013</a>), an accelerating rise dominated by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions">fossil-fuel emissions</a> → race for technologies to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05357-w">capture</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1681-6">use</a> CO₂ and to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2217695120">bury</a> biomass</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2014</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2014));</script></td> <td>first legal framework for informed consent on access to genetic resources, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilisation (Nagoya Protocol, CBD, <a href="https://www.cbd.int/abs/about/">2014</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2015</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2015));</script></td> <td>invention of the optical lattice clock (Hidetoshi Katori, Japan, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.5">2015</a>) → accuracy of 1 second in 15 billion <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7896">years</a>; ticking detectably faster with each centimetre of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-020-0619-8">altitude</a>, as predicted by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03297-0">general relativity</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2015</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2015));</script></td> <td>a fishing boat sinks off the Mediterranean coast of Libya with the loss of 1,050 lives (<a href="https://www.icrc.org/en/document/the-missing-sons-of-guidimakha-mauritania">18/4/2015</a>), amongst 65 million people forcibly displaced worldwide in <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends-report-2023">2015</a>, rising trend</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2015</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2015));</script></td> <td>tipping point in industry-wide momentum towards electric vehicles during <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2430">mid-2010s</a>, when still comprising 2% of market share, spread by investor confidence under strengthening <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl6547">regulation</a> of fossil fuels</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2015</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2015));</script></td> <td>three trillion trees on Earth (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14967">2015</a>, <em>cf</em>. 6.6 trillion at the start of human civilisation), 15 billion culled annually → <a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-11.08176005,-71.5301817,429.85664073a,918.39364713d,35y,360h,0t,0r/">forest</a> covering <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/forest-area">a quarter</a> of global land area, declining in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1244693">extent</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02765-x?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=e8ae393668-briefing-dy-20220831&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-e8ae393668-46361898">diversity</a>, driven down by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau3445">commodity production</a>, <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/report/spreading-wildfire-rising-threat-extraordinary-landscape-fires">wildfires</a>, urbanisation</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2015</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2015));</script></td> <td>detection of gravitational waves (LIGO and Virgo interferometers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.061102">2015</a>): ripples in spacetime generated by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02167-7">merging black holes</a>, predicted by the theory of general relativity</td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section9"> <table> <tr> <td class="section" colspan="3">IV. PLANETARY STEWARDSHIP<p style="font-size:6px;"> </p>9. Sustainability Revolution<a class="anchor" id="IV-9"> </a><span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary IV-9" href="history-summary.html#IV-9" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a>  </span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE"><font size="-1">CE </font>2015</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2015));</script></td> <td>UN General Assembly of 194 countries adopts 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, to end poverty and other deprivations by improving health and education, reducing inequalities, addressing climate change and halting biodiversity loss (<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">25/9/2015</a>) → none on track by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02844-7">2023</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2015</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2015));</script></td> <td>UN Paris Agreement on Climate Change resolves to keep global average temperature to well below 2°C in excess of pre-industrial levels, and strives to limit the increase to 1.5°C (<a href="https://unfccc.int/files/paris_agreement/application/pdf/qa_paris_agreement_entry_into_force.pdf">12/12/2015</a>) → <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">benefits</a> outweigh <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw6974">costs</a>; by <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2022">2022</a>, no credible pathway to <a href="https://apps.climate.copernicus.eu/global-temperature-trend-monitor/">1.5°C</a>, risking climate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abn7950">tipping points</a>; <a href="https://unfccc.int/news/implementation-must-accelerate-to-increase-ambition-across-all-fronts-taking-an-all-of-society">2023</a> global stocktake calls for radical decarbonisation</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2015</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2015));</script></td> <td>human land use, rising exponentially up to 1960, still rising in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/land-use">2015</a> for livestock grazing (27% of global land area), crops (7%), buildings, towns and cities (1%); industrial fishing in 55% of ocean area by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao5646">2015</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2016</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2016));</script></td> <td>coldest ground surface temperature on Earth: −110.9°C (central-eastern Antarctica <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-75.74,22.95,4651.07a,5512486d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0325.1">2016</a>); once temperate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2148-5">rainforests</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/88mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>,</span> now dry and salty antarctic soils uninhabitable even to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG006052">microbes</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2016</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2016));</script></td> <td>destruction of more than 6 million ha (60,000 km²) of tropical <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10425">primary forest</a> during <a href="https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-pulse">2016</a>, an unprecedented peak in a rising trend → private profits from drawing down natural capital, a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review">down payment</a> on future economic ruin for all</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2016</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2016));</script></td> <td>number of liberal and elected democracies in the world peaks at 95 in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/democracy">2016</a>, encompassing <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/democratic-rights">53%</a> of the global population; <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/21/alexei-navalny-patriot-memoir#:~:text=to%20defend,experience.">other systems</a> proscribe <a href="https://archive.org/details/TheGulagArchipelago-Threevolumes/The-Gulag-Archipelago__vol2__III-IV__Solzhenitsyn/page/n325/mode/2up">holding</a> and <a href="https://archive.org/details/TheGulagArchipelago-Threevolumes/The-Gulag-Archipelago__vol1__I-II__Solzhenitsyn/page/n47/mode/2up">voicing</a> inner convictions</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2016</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2016));</script></td> <td>global land and ocean surface temperature reaches 0.99°C above the 1951-1980 mean, Earth’s warmest year on record as of <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2537/nasa-noaa-data-show-2016-warmest-year-on-record-globally/">2016</a> → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah3443">roadmap</a> for decarbonisation, implicating <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7541">lifestyle choices</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2017</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2017));</script></td> <td>first national legislation for a mid-century target of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aas9793">net-zero emissions</a> (Sweden, <a href="https://eciu.net/analysis/infographics/net-zero-history">2017</a>) → net-zero <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01976-0">pledges</a> by governments and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02606-3">companies</a> cover 90% of the global economy by <a href="https://zerotracker.net/">2021</a>, with big emitters yet to <a href="https://productiongap.org/2023report/">peak</a>; <a href="https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/submissions/INDC/Published%20Documents/Bhutan/1/Bhutan-INDC-20150930.pdf">Bhutan</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@27.47,90.448,2913.5a,528001.3d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> and <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1056422">Suriname</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@3.98,-56.01,175.201a,1187435d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> CO₂-negative since before 2015</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2017</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2017));</script></td> <td>accumulation since <a href="https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Space_Debris/Space_debris_by_the_numbers">1957</a> of 23,000 space objects bigger than an apple, travelling at up to 28,000 km/hr in Earth orbit → 100,000 by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01308-8">2034</a>; debris risk to satellites and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf2682">space stations</a>, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf9608">problem</a> for government space agencies of their own making</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2017</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2017));</script></td> <td>accumulation of plastic waste since 1950 exceeds 5 billion tonnes in landfills and the natural environment by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1700782">2017</a>, more than 12× global human biomass → globally <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01143-3">pervasive</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00650-3">dangerous</a> microplastics; paucity of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba9475">options</a> for mitigating harm</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2018</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2018));</script></td> <td>sixfold increase in annual ice loss from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0179-y">Antarctica</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1855-2">Greenland</a> over 25 years to 2018 → sea levels to rise 40-80 cm by <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/summary-for-policymakers/">2100</a> under scenarios of low-high greenhouse-gas emissions, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12808-z">displacing</a> 190-630 million people, possibly many times <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01818-x">more</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2018</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2018));</script></td> <td>slowing Atlantic circulation over the last <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0006-5">60 years</a>, consistent with rising <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00263-2">CO₂</a> → enhanced global surface <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0320-y">warming</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2018</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2018));</script></td> <td>hottest ground surface temperature on Earth: 80.8°C (<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1788828">Lut</a> Desert, Iran <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@30.48788682,58.64051609,506.8a,100980d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0325.1">2018</a>; Sonoran Desert, Mexico <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@31.911,-113.796,404.39a,397132.9d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj5470">2019</a>), too <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aal0513">hostile</a> for plant life</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2018</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2018));</script></td> <td>human activities have modified three-quarters of ice-free land and almost nine-tenths of the ocean by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07183-6">2018</a>; Earth’s remaining wildernesses become increasingly vital buffers against climate change</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2018</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2018));</script></td> <td>first commercial taxi service of fully self-driving cars (Google-Waymo, USA, <a href="https://blog.waymo.com/2019/12/waymo-one-year-of-firsts.html">2018</a>) → reducing traffic accidents, raising <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf2654">social dilemmas</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2018</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2018));</script></td> <td>half the global population using the Internet by <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS">2018</a> → escape from state-controlled media; access to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01285-z">denial</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao2998">fake news</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.103364">deepfakes</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9559">falsehoods</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abe7391">lies</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912444117">misinformed</a> narratives, for fringe groups seeking <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07417-w">inflammatory content</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>recognition that phasedown of carbon emissions needs incentivising by a rising tax on fossil-fuel production and import, disbursing all of the revenue uniformly as public dividends (3,500 US economic scientists, <a href="https://www.historyismade.org/">2019</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>first image of a black hole (Event Horizon Telescope, <a href="https://eventhorizontelescope.org/press-release-april-10-2019-astronomers-capture-first-image-black-hole">10/4/2019</a>), 55 million light-years from Earth, 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun, with spiralling <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi6730">magnetic fields</a>, expelling <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl5226">jets</a> of matter</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>first global assessment of biodiversity finds 1 million of Earth’s 8 million species threatened by accelerating extinction rates (IPBES, <a href="https://www.ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment">2019</a>): Earth’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1922686117">sixth mass extinction</a> imperils humanity’s life support systems, calling for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax3100">transformative</a> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review">change</a> in human activities</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>Britain generates more electricity from zero-carbon sources than from fossil fuels for the first time since the Industrial Revolution (UK National Grid, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48711649">6/2019</a>); <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fossil-fuels-share-energy?tab=chart&country=POL~USA~OWID_WRL~GBR~AUS~Africa~DEU~NOR~SWE~ISL~IND">fossil fuels</a> still provide 84% of global primary energy</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>energy use per person during <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-energy-use?tab=chart&country=NGA~IND~TWN~SWE~CHN~USA~GBR~DEU~OWID_WRL">2019</a> exceeds the resting metabolism by 30× globally, and by 114× for citizens of the USA (<em>cf</em>. 15× for an elite athlete running a marathon)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>acidification of almost all open-ocean surface by absorption of anthropogenic CO₂, losing 0.02 pH units per decade since <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/summary-for-policymakers/">1990</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58501-w">harming</a> shell-forming species; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adg3427">ocean liming</a> a potential <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-04254-9">geoengineering</a> solution</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>first synthetic human embryos (University of Michigan, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1535-2">2019</a>): <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02563-y">models</a> of earliest-stage embryos each created from a stem cell, growing to develop a body axis → need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.07.028">ethical</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02641-2">legal</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02915-3">boundaries</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>first global climate strike (<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-49777279">20/9/2019</a>), led by school children and joined by millions of people with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax3807">justified</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3">concerns</a> → world scientists warn of a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz088">climate emergency</a>; growing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00998-6">eco-anxiety</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>first demonstration of quantum supremacy over conventional computers (Google AI Quantum, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1666-5">2019</a>) → double-exponential growth in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03173-4">computing power</a>; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01445-2">quantum internet</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>first case of COVID-19 (Wuhan <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abp8715">wildlife</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.010">market</a>, China <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@30.61675018,114.26276987,20.369259a,955.26040022d,35y,-0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30183-5">1/12/2019</a>), caused by coronavirus <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-0695-z">SARS-CoV-2</a> → pandemic triggering unprecedented <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/covid-containment-and-health-index">lockdown</a> of nations and societies worldwide, shrinking the global <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-health-economy">economy</a>, deepening <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-022-01647-6">inequalities</a>; largest <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cumulative-covid-vaccinations?country=BRA~CHN~FRA~DEU~IND~TUR~USA~GBR~OWID_WRL">vaccination programme</a> in history begins <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01505-x">8/12/2020</a> after 5.7 million <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-deaths-cumulative-economist?uniformYAxis=0&country=OWID_WRL~CHN~IND~USA~IDN~PAK~BRA~NGA~BGD">excess deaths</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>inauguration of US Space Force (<a href="https://www.spaceforce.mil/">20/12/2019</a>), formalising competition for military dominance in space; UK follows in <a href="https://www.raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/uk-space-command/">2021</a> → surveillance extending to stewardship and warfare capabilities</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2019</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2019));</script></td> <td>rising frequency of weather-related disasters multiplies global economic losses 7.8× from the 1970s to the <a href="https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=21930">2010s</a>, disproportionately impoverishing the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03573-z">poor</a>; early-warning systems reduce deaths by two-thirds</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>first global enforcement of an upper limit to aerosol emissions by ships (International Maritime Organisation, <a href="https://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/PressBriefings/pages/34-IMO-2020-sulphur-limit-.aspx">2020</a>): the main source of air pollution in the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>One Trillion Trees Initiative (World Economic Forum, <a href="https://www.1t.org/">2020</a>), planting trees in support of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration <a href="https://www.decadeonrestoration.org/">2020-2030</a> → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0120">nature-based climate solutions</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>first combat deployment of lethal drones with fully autonomous decision-making (Libyan Government, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00511-5">2020</a>) → need for a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01029-0">ban</a> on all slaughterbots: robots that select and kill without human supervision</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>launch of first commercial space taxi (SpaceX, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronauts-launch-from-america-in-historic-test-flight-of-spacex-crew-dragon/">30/5/2020</a>), taking NASA astronauts to the International Space Station</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>highest recorded air temperature on Earth: 54.4°C in Death Valley (California, USA <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@36.4568355,-116.85738709,-52.4242a,154695.4d,35y,360h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53788018">16/8/2020</a>); emergence of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw1838">intolerable</a> heat, particularly for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024792118">urban</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01577-5">populations</a>, exacerbated by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-019-0096-2">air conditioning</a>, mitigated by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-020-00129-5">greenery</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>leaders of 96 countries and the EU pledge to reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 (Leaders Pledge for Nature, <a href="https://www.cbd.int/article/leaders-pledge-for-nature">2020</a>): commitment to <a href="https://www.naturepositive.org/">nature positive</a> government, business and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01845-5">civil society</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>protein structures accurately predicted by an artificial intelligence network: AlphaFold (DeepMind, USA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03348-4">2020</a>) → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02083-2">accelerated</a> understanding of protein functions; rapid <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00997-5">advances</a> in drug design</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>first commercial sales of cultivated meat (Singapore, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03077-y">2020</a>) → potential to keep food systems within planetary limits by slashing emissions of methane and demand for land and water</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td> ingredients of life sampled from near-Earth asteroid Bennu (NASA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02910-4">2020</a>), including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00264-3">amino acids</a> and evidence of previous <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00084-5">water</a>: asteroids seeding life on other planets?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>human-made materials surpass Earth’s total living biomass by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-3010-5">2020</a>, predominantly as concrete infrastructure, doubling in mass every 20 years since 1900 → our material contribution to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad2622">Anthropocene</a> Epoch</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>global land and ocean surface temperature for <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3061/2020-tied-for-warmest-year-on-record-nasa-analysis-shows/">2020</a> exceeds 1°C above the 1951-1980 mean for the first time, 1.2°C above the pre-industrial <a href="https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=21880#.YTTN-I5KgUE">1850-1900</a> baseline, with 2011-2020 the 4ᵗ&#688 decade in succession to claim warmest average temperature</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>ambient temperature in the Arctic exceeds the 1981-2010 average by 2.1°C in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/2021BAMSStateoftheClimate.1">2020</a>, warming <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00498-3">4× faster</a> than the rest of the world; permafrost thawing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GB007953">self-amplifies</a> to the point of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75481-z">no return</a>; Arctic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02568-y">zombie wildfires </a>release 4× the CO₂ emissions of global <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-54682-1">volcanic activity</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>melting of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets drives one-quarter of all sea-level rise by <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1597-2023">2020</a>, up from one-twentieth in 1990 → record low southern hemisphere sea ice extent in <a href="https://cpd57.shinyapps.io/globalseaice/">February 2023</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2020</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2020));</script></td> <td>accelerating Earth energy imbalance doubles the heat in the climate system from 2005 to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1675-2023">2020</a>, nine-tenths stored in the ocean → global sea surface in <a href="https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/">April 2023</a> the hottest in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01573-1">100,000 years</a>, air in <a href="https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/t2_daily/">July 2023</a> the hottest in the northern hemisphere for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07512-y">2,000 years</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>first powered, controlled flight on another planet: Ingenuity Helicopter drone on Mars (NASA’s Perseverance rover <span class="n-w"><a href="https://murray-lab.caltech.edu/CTX/V01/SceneView/MurrayLabCTXmosaic.html"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/perseverances-mastcam-z-video-of-ingenuity-hovering-2/">19/4/2021</a>), hovering 3 m above the <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/science/landing-site/">Jezero Crater</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>spacecraft Parker Solar Probe touches the Sun’s corona (NASA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03751-5">28/4/2021</a>), sampling its outer atmosphere; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00009-2">2024</a> approach to 6.1 million km from the Sun’s surface, flying at 692,000 km/hr, the fastest human-made object</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>worldwide acceleration of glacier melt, now at twice the speed of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03436-z">20 years</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08545-z">ago</a> → explaining one-fifth of the rate and acceleration in sea-level rise during the 21ˢᵗ century</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>tropical forests in south-eastern Amazonia switch from CO₂ sink to source by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01871-6">2021</a>, linked to intensifying dry seasons, <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-023-02599-1">deforestation</a> and rising frequency of fires</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>Earth’s hottest month on record (NOAA, <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/news/its-official-july-2021-was-earths-hottest-month-on-record">July 2021</a>), until <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02219-y">June</a>-<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02552-2">July 2023</a>: rising frequency of climate anomalies → need for actions to trigger <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2021.30">positive tipping</a> towards global sustainability through self-reinforcing shifts in behaviour</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>human activities have unequivocally warmed atmosphere, ocean and land, intensifying heatwaves, droughts and floods; global warming will exceed 2°C without immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions (IPCC, <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/">2021</a>): a <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2021/08/IPCC_WGI-AR6-Press-Release_en.pdf">reality check</a> for policy makers</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>pledge to end deforestation by 2030, signed by 141 countries, covering 90% of Earth’s forests (UN COP 26 Climate Conference, <a href="https://ukcop26.org/glasgow-leaders-declaration-on-forests-and-land-use">2/11/2021</a>) → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03372-6">uneven</a> progress; need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200519119">enforcement mechanisms</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>commitment by 103 countries to curb emissions of methane (Global Methane Pledge, <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_21_5766">2021</a>): a potent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02287-y">greenhouse gas</a> approaching <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00312-2">triple</a> pre-industrial levels; emissions <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add9316">catalysed</a> by global warming?</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>global agreement to nearly halve CO₂ emissions by 2030 relative to 2010, and to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century (UN COP 26 <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20230105153055/https:/ukcop26.org/cop26-keeps-1-5c-alive-and-finalises-paris-agreement/">Glasgow Climate Pact</a>, <a href="https://unfccc.int/documents/310475">2021</a>) → need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00874-1">policies</a> to match the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03431-4">science</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>the world ocean reaches its hottest ever recorded as of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-022-1461-3">2021</a>, for the third year and seventh decade in a row, contributing to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09238-2">coral bleaching</a> and sea-level rise; fuelling <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209393119">marine heatwaves</a>, cyclones and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03783-7">hurricanes</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>clean power accounts for more than one-third of global electricity supply in <a href="https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/global-electricity-review-2022/">2021</a>, with wind and solar sources alone contributing one-tenth</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (NASA, ESA, CSA, <a href="https://webb.nasa.gov/index.html">2021</a>) → <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-022-03811-4">exploring</a> the <a href="https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/deploymentExplorer.html#43">early Universe</a>, star <a href="https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/deploymentExplorer.html#47">births</a> and <a href="https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/deploymentExplorer.html#45">deaths</a> and <a href="https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/deploymentExplorer.html#46">galactic evolution</a>, analysing <a href="https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/deploymentExplorer.html#44">exoplanet</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02350-2">atmospheres</a> for signs of life</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2021</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2021));</script></td> <td>unprecedented successive years with declining global value of the Human Development Index (UN-DP, <a href="https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/human-development-index#/indicies/HDI">2020</a>, <a href="https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2021-22">2021</a>): climate change and Covid-19 impacting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02006-3">life expectancy</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02098-3">income</a>, itself linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae582">prosocial</a> tendencies</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>global cost-of-living crisis initiated by demand for resources exceeding supply, intensified by Russia invading Ukraine (<a href="https://doi.org/10.55317/9781784135225">24/2/2022</a>), threatening worldwide <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2022-10/global-food-crisis-fuelled-conflict">food</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00969-9">energy</a> security</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>human and natural populations are reaching limits to climate adaptation, from <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110722">poles</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@69.44585434,-133.028994,-0.01005764a,3593.4457337d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> to <a href="https://www.climate-refugees.org/reports/kenya-loss-and-damage">equator</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-1.31348561,36.78706736,1725.07961745a,369.4438878d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>,</span> <a href="https://www.lossanddamagecollaboration.org/publication/a-dying-indigenous-village-of-lo">mountains</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@29.22686992,84.02757685,3991.3974482a,1659.51129322d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> to <a href="https://www.stimson.org/2022/corvi-risk-profile-tarawa-kiribati/">sea</a> <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@1.49118527,172.99493693,-7.64349404a,74069.03920759d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a></span> (IPCC, <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/">2022</a>), especially for Indigenous Peoples, custodians of <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/technical-summary/#Ecosystems">80%</a> of global biodiversity: diminishing opportunities to secure a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910114117">liveable future</a> for all by <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/resources/press/press-release">strengthening nature</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>time has almost run out for averting global <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2108146119">climate catastrophe</a> (IPCC, <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/">2022</a>): <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00951-5">mitigation</a> still cheaper than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07219-0">adaptation</a>, by switching immediately and comprehensively to carbon-free energy and carbon capture from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zn8kk59">air</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ziiddcx">ocean</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>the number of people forcibly displaced reaches 100 million worldwide (UNHCR, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/05/1118772">2022</a>), of which <em>c</em>. 40 million refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless persons are displaced by <a href="https://displacement.iom.int/">conflict and violence</a>; <a href="https://www.lossanddamagecollaboration.org/publication/state-of-climate-induced-displacement-in-south-asia-rationale-for-policy-intervention">weather disasters</a> in SE Asia 2010-2021 displace 58 million</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>one-fifth of the global population depends directly on one or more of fifty thousand wild species for food or livelihood (IPBES, <a href="https://ipbes.net/media_release/Sustainable_Use_Assessment_Published">2022</a>): sustainable use must confront the globally accelerating loss of biodiversity</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>fifty ways to value nature, in diverse opportunities for living from, with, in, and as nature (IPBES, <a href="https://ipbes.net/media_release/Values_Assessment_Published">2022</a>); policy-makers’ narrow focus on value to economic growth drives down biodiversity</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>record-breaking heatwaves, heralding extreme droughts in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02954-8">China</a> and western <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-summer-2022-europes-hottest-record">Europe</a>, and flooding in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02813-6">Pakistan</a> that displaces 33 million people</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>tumbling costs of green energy reach parity with fossil fuels by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2022.08.009">2022</a> → economic <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2023/executive-summary">motivation</a> for shifting faster to renewable energy, comprising 29% of all electricity production in <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/electricity-mix">2022</a>; net-zero CO₂ emissions feasible <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2407160121">in principle</a> within 10-20 years</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>a spacecraft alters the course of an asteroid (NASA, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03255-w">2022</a>), demonstrating potential to save Earth from an asteroid <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch/next-five-approaches">hit</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>first publicly accessible dialogue bot: AI language model ChatGPT (OpenAI, <a href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt">2022</a>) → immense <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03905-1">potential</a> for automation of cognitive labour; problem of distinguishing its disembodied articulation of trawled content from reasoned argument, with implications for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03144-w">scholarship</a>, <a href="https://labs.openai.com/">creativity</a>, and model <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02420-7">integrity</a><a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/~cpd/pies/AI.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>achievement of nuclear-fusion ignition (National Ignition Facility, USA, <a href="https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-024-03745-z/index.html">2022</a>): proof of concept for limitless carbon-free energy → race for profitable nuclear-fusion <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.znwybnv">technology</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2022</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2022));</script></td> <td>global agreement to protect biodiversity for 30% of Earth’s land and sea by 2030, and to reduce extinction rate and risk tenfold for all species by 2050 (CBD, <a href="https://www.cbd.int/article/cop15-cbd-press-release-final-19dec2022">2022</a>), with safeguards for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zo96oy1">genetic</a> diversity → need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00509-7">adequate</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04503-9">funding</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02595-5">climate action</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2023</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2023));</script></td> <td>humans and our livestock achieve respectively 20× and 30× the biomass of all terrestrial wild mammals by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2204892120">2023</a> → <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0594-0">imperative</a> of shifting towards <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216">plant-based</a> diets, co-benefitting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01238-5">forests</a>, climate change and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1523119113">health</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2023</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2023));</script></td> <td>global agreement on the High Seas Treaty (UN, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00684-z">2023</a>), enforcing protection of 30% of the world’s seas by 2030 with restrictions on fishing, deep-sea mining and shipping lanes</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2023</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2023));</script></td> <td>publication of a survival guide for climate-resilient development (IPCC, <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/resources/spm-headline-statements/">2023</a>) in the face of temperature and flood extremes, jeopardising biodiversity and food-, water- and energy-security</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2023</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2023));</script></td> <td>safe and just Earth system boundaries now surpassed for climate, freshwater, biosphere functioning, natural-ecosystem extent, phosphorous and nitrogen cycles (Earth Commission, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06083-8">2023</a>) → global <a href="https://global-tipping-points.org/">tipping point</a> threats and opportunities; need for intergenerational and interspecies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01749-9">justice</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2023</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2023));</script></td> <td>call by 198 countries for a global transition away from fossil fuels for energy, and tripling of renewable-energy capacity by 2030 (UN UAE Consensus, <a href="https://www.cop28.com/en/the-uae-consensus-foreword">2023</a>) → need for mechanisms to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-04025-y">finance</a> the transitions</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2023</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2023));</script></td> <td>warmest year on record for global surface <a href="https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/">sea</a> and <a href="https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/t2_daily/">air</a> temperatures as of <a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/global-climate-highlights-2023">2023</a>, 1.48°C above pre-industrial levels, amid still-rising greenhouse gases and start of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zxyiwno">El Niño</a>: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-024-03186-1">heatwaves</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00074-z">wildfires</a>; record shrinkage of Antarctic <a href="https://cpd57.shinyapps.io/globalseaice/">sea ice</a> following extraordinary absorbtion of heat by the world’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00081-0">oceans</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2023</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2023));</script></td> <td>frequency of extreme <a href="https://zoom.earth/maps/satellite/#view=4.3,-86.1,3.66z/overlays=radar,wind,heat,fires">wildfires</a> more than doubles globally from 2003 to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02071-8">2023</a> → vulnerable urban communities building-in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2500926122">resilience</a> to wildfires</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2024</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2024));</script></td> <td>planet-wide mass bleaching of corals, after global average sea-surface temperatures break records every day for over a year (<a href="https://icriforum.org/4gbe/">2/2023</a>-<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01151-z">4/2024</a>)</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2024</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2024));</script></td> <td>over one-quarter of the world population is food insecure (FAO, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1254en">2024</a>), while one-third of global food production is <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/food-waste-index-report-2024">lost or wasted</a>: subsidies reward inefficiency, markets profit from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01041-7">waste</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2024</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2024));</script></td> <td>global sea-level rise unprecedented in 3,000 years and accelerating (UN, <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/reports/sea-level-rise">2024</a>), currently impacting coastal communities and low-lying island nations → threats to major coastal cities</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2024</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2024));</script></td> <td>still globally rising <a href="https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-519">fossil-fuel emissions</a> and rates of deforestation in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biae087">2024</a> trigger amplifying feedback loops that denude nature and imperil the fabric of <a href="https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-GB/">life</a>; reliance on CO₂ removal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03266-9">courts disaster</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2024</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2024));</script></td> <td>nations that grew rich on fossil fuels commit increased climate finance to poorer nations by 2035 (UN, <a href="https://unfccc.int/cop29/auvs">2024</a>), for mitigation, adaptation, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41888-1">loss and damage</a>: cash spent now saves far more in later costs for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03735-1">rich nations</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2024</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2024));</script></td> <td>Arctic tundra turns from a CO₂ sink to a source in <a href="https://arctic.noaa.gov/report-card/report-card-2024/">2024</a>, as well as a methane source, both causative agents of global warming</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2024</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2024));</script></td> <td>hottest year on record: global average air temperature in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00010-9">2024</a> more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average, an accelerating rise that tracks diminishing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2025.2434494">aerosol pollutants</a>, principally from shipping</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2025</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2025));</script></td> <td>statement of intent to develop open, inclusive, ethical and sustainable artificial intelligence for civil applications (AI Action Summit, <a href="https://www.elysee.fr/en/emmanuel-macron/2025/02/11/statement-on-inclusive-and-sustainable-artificial-intelligence-for-people-and-the-planet">2025</a>), signed by 60 countries, EU and African Union; not USA or UK: national benefit swaying evaluations of global risk</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2025</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2025));</script></td> <td>global plastics use surpasses Earth’s human biomass <em>c</em>. <a href="https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/plastics.html">2025</a>, with production outpacing global population growth → plastics accumulating in every <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl2746">recess</a> of the planet; micro- and nanoplastics within organismal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr8243">tissues</a>, including <em>c</em>. 10 g in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00405-8">human brain</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="left-cell-CE">2025</td> <td class="left-cell-ya"><script>document.write(Math.abs(new Date().getFullYear() - 2025));</script></td> <td>global sea ice shrinks to the lowest extent since records began 46 years ago (<a href="https://cpd57.shinyapps.io/globalseaice/">February 2025</a>): year-by-year declines in seasonal ice at both poles, weakening its planetary <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109608">cooling</a> effect</td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section10"> <table class="bottom" border=0 style='border:#FFF;'> <tr> <td style='border:#FFF;'><div><span style='float:right;'><a title="Summary IV-9" href="history-summary.html#IV-9" target="_self"><img class="arrow" alt="to Summary" src="pies/SummaryArrowR.png"></a> <a class="anchor" id="Ages"> </a></span></div> </td> </tr> </table> <table> <tr> <td style='color:#037; background-color:#FFE;'><p><strong>Ages</strong>: Following the creation of the Universe 13.8 billion years ago, time passed two-thirds of the way to the present before the formation of the Sun 4.57 billion years ago. Rescaled to a calendar year, starting with the Big Bang at 00:00:00 on 1 January <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/13800mya-footnote1.png">),</span> the Sun forms on 1 September <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/4570mya-footnote1.png">),</span> the Earth on 2 September <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/4500mya-footnote1.png">),</span> earliest signs of life appear on 16 September <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/4000mya-footnote1.png">),</span> earliest true mammals on 26 December <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/178mya-footnote1.png">),</span> and humans just 2 hours before year’s end <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/2.8mya-footnote1.png">).</span> For a year that starts with the earliest true mammals <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/178mya-footnote2.png">),</span> the dinosaurs go extinct on 17 August <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/66mya-footnote2.png">),</span> earliest primates appear on 9 September <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/55mya-footnote2.png">),</span> and humans at dawn of 25 December <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/2.8mya-footnote2.png">).</span> For a year that starts with the earliest humans <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/2.8mya-footnote3.png">),</span> our own species appears on 19 November <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/0.315mya-footnote3.png">), and</span> the first social construction on 8 December <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/0.176mya-footnote3.png">),</span> we outlast Neanderthals to become the only human species by 25 December <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/0.04mya-footnote3.png">),</span> and agricultural farming begins at midday on 29 December <span class="bracket">(<img class="legend" alt="" src="pies/0.0115mya-footnote3.png">).</span> The Universe has sustained life for all of the last quarter of its existence <span class="bracket">(<em>clickable</em>: <img id="popupId" class="legend" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 13.8 Bya birth of Universe → 4 Bya emergence of sustained life" src="pies/4000mya-pop-footnote1.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/4000mya-popup-footnote1.png')">),</span> solely on Earth as far as we know amongst the billions of solar systems in each of billions of galaxies. We have existed as the only remaining species of our genus <span class="bracket">(<img id="popupId" class="legend" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 2.8 Mya appearance of Homo → 315 Kya Homo sapiens → 40 Kya disappearance of our last sibling species" src="pies/0.04mya-pop-footnote3.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/0.04mya-popup-footnote3.png')">)</span> for as short a fraction of time as the human genus has existed amongst the mammals <span class="bracket">(<img id="popupId" class="legend" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 178 Mya earliest true mammals → 2.8 Mya Homo sp." src="pies/2.8mya-pop-footnote2.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/2.8mya-popup-footnote2.png')">),</span> and the mammals have existed in the Universe <span class="bracket">(<img id="popupId" class="legend" alt="popup timeline" title="popup 13.8 Bya birth of Universe → 178 Mya earliest true mammals" src="pies/178mya-pop-footnote1.png" onClick="showPopup('pies/178mya-popup-footnote1.png')">).</span></p> <br><p><strong>Quantities</strong>: 1 thousand = 1,000 = 10×10×10 = 10³; 1 million = 10⁶; 1 billion = 10⁹; 1 trillion = 10¹².</p> <br> <p><strong>Units</strong>: metre (m); kilometre (km); hectare (ha); kilogramme (kg); newton (N); kilowatt-hour (kWh).</p> <br> <p><strong>Distances</strong>: 10⁹ nanometres in 1 m; 1,000 m in 1 km; 9.46 trillion km in 1 light-year. <em>For example</em>: 0.1-nanometre diameter of a hydrogen atom; 9.81 m/s² acceleration due to gravity at Earth’s surface; 40,000-km circumference of Earth (<em>clickable</em>: <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@26.849,54.559,1017.42449a,212804709d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>);</span> 150 million km from the Sun to Earth; (<em>clickable:</em> <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/Distances.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a>)</span> 300,000 km travelled by light in 1 second, and almost 10 trillion km in 1 year; 27 thousand light-years from Earth to the Galactic Center of the Milky Way; 46.5 billion light-years from Earth to the edge of the observable Universe.</p> <br><p><strong>Areas</strong>: 100×100 m or 10,000 m² in 1 ha; 100 ha in 1 km² <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/Areas.html"><img class="star" alt="illustration" title="" src="pies/Star.png"></a>.</span> <em>For example</em>: 3 million ha (30,000 km²) area of Belgium <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@51.0147014,4.21999983,-444.906a,1737802d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>;</span> 4 billion ha (40 million km²) of livestock grazing on Earth; 14.9 billion ha (149 million km²) of global land area, about 10% more than the supercontinent of Pangaea (<em>clickable</em>: <span class="n-w"><a href="pies/200mya-tectonics.html"><img class="globe" alt="" src="pies/Globe.svg"></a>)</span> at its maximum area.</p> <br> <p><strong>Volumes</strong>: 1 billion mm³ in 1 m³; 1 billion m³ in 1 km³. <em>For example</em>: 1 billion grains in 1 m³ of sand; 7.7 billion m³ (7.7 km³) of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.zxav6v4">volcanic debris</a> deposited by the <font size="-1">CE </font>79 eruption of Vesuvius <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@40.7829871,14.45102822,183.59425561a,23431.20012261d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CsQBGpUBEo4BCiUweDEzM2JiY2JhZjdlZmVlZWY6MHg3ZmU1ZWFjOTM4ZTY4NDI5GeEH51PHX0RAITrgX6nT9ixAKlNQb21wZWlpIChVTkVTQ08pLCBWaWNvbG8gZGVsIFBhbmV0dGllcmUsIFBvbXBlaSwgTWV0cm9wb2xpdGFuIENpdHkgb2YgTmFwbGVzLCBJdGFseRgBIAEiJgokCUxQ3969d0RAEWydlI8iV0RAGTBtnNGPTy1AIdhC4NQSbixAQgIIAToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>;</span> 2,500 km³ of water in Lake Victoria <span class="n-w"><a href="https://earth.google.com/web/@-0.999,32.746,1509.52a,1133655d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CgRCAggBOgMKATBCAggASg0I____________ARAA"><i class='icon'></i></a>.</span></p> <br> <p><strong>Masses</strong>: 1,000 g in 1 kg; 1,000 kg in 1 tonne. <em>For example</em>: 100-tonne mass of a blue whale; 500 million tonnes of global human biomass.</p> <br> <p><strong>Force</strong>: Forces manifest as the effects of interactions among objects, particles, waves, and fields; 1 N of force accelerates a mass of 1 kg at 1 m/s²; weight is the gravitational force acting on a mass; a 1-kg mass has a weight of <em>c</em>. 9.81 N, or equally 9.81 kg·m/s², at Earth’s surface, and about one-sixth of this weight on the moon. <em>For example</em>: the column of air above 1 m² of ground at sea level has a weight of <em>c</em>. 10,329 kg × 9.81 m/s² = 101,325 N; we experience this stationary force in N as atmospheric pressure in N/m², acting in all directions and cancelled by pressure-equilibrium of the human body.</p> <br><p><strong>Power and energy</strong>: Power manifests as a rate of energy transfer or transformation; energy is the capacity to do work or cause change; 1 watt of power uses 1 joule of energy per second; about 740 watts in 1 horsepower; 3,600 kilojoules (kJ) or 860 kilocalories (kcal) in 1 kWh of energy, sustaining 1,000 watts for 1 hour. <em>For example</em>, a 100-watt incandescent light bulb illuminates a room; 80 watts sustain human basal metabolic rate, using 6,900 kJ or 1,650 kcal or 1.92 kWh of energy per day; rice and maize have an energy value per kg of 15,280 kJ or 3,650 kcal or 4.25 kWh, wheat has nine-tenths this energy, and beef has two-thirds; crude oil and natural gas provide a heat value per kg of about 45,000 kJ or 10,750 kcal or 12.5 kWh, coal gives nearly half this heat, and firewood one third.</p> <br><p><strong>Contemporary global climate change</strong>: Indexed against changes in atmospheric <a href="https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/">CO₂</a> concentration, influencing year-on-year changes in average <a href="https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/t2_daily/">2-m air</a> temperature, <a href="https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst_daily/">sea-surface</a> temperature, <a href="https://cpd57.shinyapps.io/globalseaice/">sea-ice</a> extent, and <a href="https://zoom.earth/maps/satellite/#view=4.3,-86.1,3.66z/overlays=radar,wind,heat,fires">wildfires</a>; projected <a href="https://coastal.climatecentral.org/map/7/89.9406/23.5891/?theme=sea_level_rise&map_type=year&basemap=roadmap&contiguous=true&elevation_model=best_available&forecast_year=2050&pathway=ssp3rcp70&percentile=p50&refresh=true&return_level=return_level_1&rl_model=gtsr&slr_model=ipcc_2021_med">sea-level</a> rise.</p> <br><p><strong>Information sources</strong>: <span style='color: blue;'>Inline links</span>; also <a href="https://www.wikipedia.org/"><em>Wikipedia</em></a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/"><em>Encyclopaedia Britannica</em></a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04b1g3c/episodes/player">BBC</a>.</p> <br><p><strong>Inspiration</strong>: “It is the stars, the stars above us govern our conditions” William Shakespeare, <em>King Lear</em> (<a href="https://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~65661~104976">1608</a>). “Das ewig Unbegreifliche an der Welt ist ihre Begreiflichkeit [The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility]” Albert Einstein (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-0032(36)91045-1">1936</a>).</p> <br> <p><strong>Acknowledgements</strong>: With thanks to Evelyn Piña Covarrubias and Rebecca Spake for their suggestions on content and presentation.</p> <p style="font-size:6px;"> </p> </td> </tr> </table> </section><section id="section11"> <table class="bottom" style='border:#FFF;'> <tr> <td style='border:#FFF;'> <p>Compiled by <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/~cpd/"><strong>C. Patrick Doncaster</strong></a>, 1 March 2025, one of the then 8,103,635,110 (rising by <a href="https://www.census.gov/popclock/world">130</a> per minute, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth">68 million</a> per year)</p></td> </tr> </table> </section>  <script> window.onscroll = function() {myFunction()}; var header = document.getElementById("sticky-header"); var sticky = header.offsetTop; function myFunction() { if (window.pageYOffset > sticky) { header.classList.add("sticky"); } else { header.classList.remove("sticky"); } } </script>  <script> document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function () { var header = document.getElementById("sticky-header"); var downArrow = document.getElementById("down-arrow"); var upArrow = document.getElementById("up-arrow"); downArrow.addEventListener("click", function () { scrollSection(true); // Scroll down }); upArrow.addEventListener("click", function () { scrollSection(false); // Scroll up }); function scrollSection(isDown) { var scrollPosition = window.scrollY; var sections = document.querySelectorAll("section"); var headerHeight = header.getBoundingClientRect().height; var targetSection; if (isDown) { for (var i = 0; i < sections.length; i++) { var section = sections[i]; var sectionTop = section.getBoundingClientRect().top + window.scrollY - headerHeight; if (sectionTop > scrollPosition + 1) { // Adding a small offset to avoid floating point issues targetSection = section; break; } } } else { for (var i = sections.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) { var section = sections[i]; var sectionTop = section.getBoundingClientRect().top + window.scrollY - headerHeight; if (sectionTop < scrollPosition - 1) { // Adding a small offset to avoid floating point issues targetSection = section; break; } } } if (targetSection) { var targetTop = targetSection.getBoundingClientRect().top + window.scrollY - headerHeight; window.scrollTo({ top: targetTop, behavior: "smooth" }); } } }); </script>  <script> function gotoRandomRow() { // Get all tables on the page const tables = document.getElementsByTagName("table"); // Select a random table (excluding the first three and last three tables) const table = tables[Math.floor(Math.random() * (tables.length - 5)) + 2]; // Get the tbody element of the table const tbody = table.querySelector("tbody"); // Get all rows in the table (excluding the first row) const rows = tbody.querySelectorAll("tr"); const numRows = rows.length; // Generate a random index for the row, skipping the first row (index 0) const randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * (numRows - 1)) + 1; // Select the random row const randomRow = rows[randomIndex]; // Scroll to three rows above if possible, otherwise to the first row if (randomIndex > 2) { rows[randomIndex - 3].scrollIntoView({ behavior: "smooth" }); } else { rows[0].scrollIntoView({ behavior: "smooth" }); } // Highlight the selected row randomRow.classList.add("selection"); // Remove the highlight after 4 seconds setTimeout(function() { randomRow.classList.remove("selection"); }, 4000); } </script>  <div id="overlay" onClick="hidePopup()"></div> <div id="overlay2" onClick="hidePopup2()"></div> <div id="popup"><img src="" id="fullsizeImage"></div> <div id="popup2"><img src="" id="fullsizeImage2"></div> <script> function showPopup(imageSrc) { // Display the overlay and popup document.getElementById('overlay').style.display = 'block'; document.getElementById('popup').style.display = 'block'; document.getElementById('fullsizeImage').src = imageSrc; } function showPopup2(imageSrc) { // Display the overlay and popup for fullsizeImage2 style document.getElementById('overlay2').style.display = 'block'; document.getElementById('popup2').style.display = 'block'; document.getElementById('fullsizeImage2').src = imageSrc; } function hidePopup() { // Hide the overlay and popup when clicking outside the image document.getElementById('overlay').style.display = 'none'; document.getElementById('popup').style.display = 'none'; } function hidePopup2() { // Hide the overlay and popup2 when clicking outside the image document.getElementById('overlay2').style.display = 'none'; document.getElementById('popup2').style.display = 'none'; } function togglePopup() { // Toggle visibility of overlay and popup when clicking on the image var overlay = document.getElementById('overlay'); var popup = document.getElementById('popup'); if (overlay.style.display === 'none' || popup.style.display === 'none') { overlay.style.display = 'block'; popup.style.display = 'block'; } else { overlay.style.display = 'none'; popup.style.display = 'none'; } } function togglePopup2() { // Toggle visibility of overlay2 and popup2 when clicking on the image var overlay = document.getElementById('overlay2'); var popup = document.getElementById('popup2'); if (overlay.style.display === 'none' || popup.style.display === 'none') { overlay.style.display = 'block'; popup.style.display = 'block'; } else { overlay.style.display = 'none'; popup.style.display = 'none'; } } // Add an event listener to the image element document.getElementById('fullsizeImage').addEventListener('click', togglePopup); document.getElementById('fullsizeImage2').addEventListener('click', togglePopup2); </script>  <script type="text/javascript"> var sc_project=12416706; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_security="f34a44cb"; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter.js" async></script> <noscript><div class="statcounter"><a title="Web Analytics Made Easy - StatCounter" href="https://statcounter.com/" target="_blank"><img class="statcounter" src="https://c.statcounter.com/12416706/0/f34a44cb/1/" alt="Web Analytics Made Easy - StatCounter"></a></div></noscript>  </body> </html>