20th Century Timeline: Events, People and History

Events in the 20th Century 234

1644 – 1912 Qing Dynasty — China's last imperial dynasty Manchu rule, the Opium Wars and the collapse of empire The Qing dynasty was founded by the Manchu people of northeastern Asia who conquered a weakened Ming China. At its height under Kangxi and Qianlong emperors (1661–1799), the Qing ruled the largest empire in Chinese history. But the 19th century brought catastrophe — the Opium Wars forced humiliating concessions to Britain, the Taiping Rebellion killed 20–30 million people, and the empire failed to modernise in the face of Western imperialism. The last emperor Puyi abdicated in 1912.
1789 – 1925 Qajar dynasty Decline, territorial losses and foreign pressure The Qajar dynasty ruled Iran for over a century but presided over territorial losses to Russia and Britain and growing foreign interference. The 1906 Constitutional Revolution forced the creation of a parliament (Majlis), a landmark in Iran's political modernisation, before the dynasty fell to Reza Khan's coup.
1813 – 1901 Giuseppe Verdi Italian opera master The dominant figure of Italian opera, whose works — Rigoletto, La Traviata, Otello, Falstaff — combine dramatic power with unforgettable melody.
1828 – 1910 Leo Tolstoy Russian novelist Tolstoy wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina, blending historical realism with deep moral philosophy.
1835 – 1910 Mark Twain American writer and humorist Twain wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, using satire to critique society and capture American life.
1840 – 1902 Emile Zola French novelist Zola led the Naturalist movement, depicting social conditions with scientific realism and political critique.
1840 – 1926 Claude Monet Impressionism · France Claude Monet (November 14, 1840 – December 5, 1926) was the founder of French Impressionism, whose series paintings of haystacks, Rouen Cathedral and water lilies are among the most beloved works in art history.
1841 – 1904 Antonín Dvořák Czech Romantic composer Czech composer best known for his New World Symphony, Cello Concerto and Slavonic Dances. He drew on folk music to create a distinctly Czech voice.
1843 – 1907 Edvard Grieg Norwegian national composer Norwegian composer whose Piano Concerto and Peer Gynt Suite made him the most celebrated Scandinavian composer of the 19th century.
1844 – 1900 Friedrich Nietzsche German philosopher Nietzsche challenged morality and religion, influencing existentialism and modern philosophy.
1847 – 1912 Bram Stoker Irish novelist Stoker wrote Dracula, defining modern vampire fiction and Gothic horror literature.
1854 – 1900 Oscar Wilde Irish playwright and writer Wilde wrote witty plays and The Picture of Dorian Gray, critiquing Victorian morality and aesthetics.
1856 – 1939 Freud Father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis and introduced concepts like the unconscious mind, repression, and the Oedipus complex.
1858 – 1947 British Raj Direct British Crown rule over India For nearly a century the British Crown ruled India directly, building railways and a unified administration while extracting wealth and provoking famines and unrest. The Raj also forged the conditions for a mass independence movement that would ultimately end colonial rule.
1858 – 1924 Giacomo Puccini Verismo opera master Italian opera composer whose La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and the unfinished Turandot are among the most performed operas in the world.
1860 – 1911 Gustav Mahler Late Romantic symphonist Austrian composer and conductor whose vast symphonies — especially the 5th, 9th and Das Lied von der Erde — pushed the Romantic symphony to its limits.
1862 – 1918 Claude Debussy Impressionist composer French composer whose Clair de Lune, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and La Mer created a new musical language based on colour and atmosphere.
1864 – 1949 Richard Strauss Late Romantic & modern composer German composer known for his tone poems — Also sprach Zarathustra, Till Eulenspiegel — and operas Salome, Der Rosenkavalier and Elektra.
1865 – 1957 Jean Sibelius Finnish national composer Finnish composer whose Finlandia, Violin Concerto and 7 symphonies made him a national hero and one of the defining voices of late Romanticism.
1865 – 1936 Rudyard Kipling English writer and poet Kipling wrote The Jungle Book and explored themes of empire, duty, and adventure.
1866 – 1946 H. G. Wells English science fiction writer Wells pioneered science fiction with works like The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds.
1867 – 1912 Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito) Reign 1867–1912 — Japan becomes a modern power Emperor Meiji reigned as Japan transformed from a feudal state under the shogunate into a major imperial power. The Meiji era saw the 1889 constitution, rapid industrialisation, and military victories over China (1895) and Russia (1905) that announced Japan's arrival on the world stage.
1869 – 1948 Gandhi Non-violent resistance Mahatma Gandhi led India's independence movement through non-violent civil disobedience. His philosophy inspired civil rights movements worldwide.
1869 – 1948 Mahatma Gandhi Leader of non-violent independence struggle Mohandas K. Gandhi led India's independence movement through the philosophy of satyagraha — non-violent civil disobedience — mobilising millions in campaigns such as the 1930 Salt March. Revered as the father of the nation, he was assassinated in 1948, months after independence.
1869 – 1954 Henri Matisse Fauvism · France Henri Matisse (December 31, 1869 – November 3, 1954) was a French painter and sculptor who led the Fauvist movement. Renowned for his bold colour and fluid draughtsmanship, he is considered alongside Picasso as the most important artist of the 20th century.
1870 – 1924 Lenin Russian Revolution leader Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, establishing the Soviet state and the foundation for communist rule in Russia.
1873 – 1943 Sergei Rachmaninoff Late Romantic pianist & composer Russian composer and pianist known for his Piano Concerto No. 2, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Vocalise. One of the last great Romantic composers.
1874 – 1965 Churchill British PM, WW II leader Winston Churchill served as British Prime Minister during World War II, rallying the nation with his oratory and strategic leadership.
1875 – 1937 Maurice Ravel French Impressionist composer French composer whose Boléro, La Valse and orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition are among the most recognised works in classical music.
1875 – 1955 Thomas Mann German novelist Mann wrote The Magic Mountain, exploring intellectual life, illness, and European culture.
1875 – 1961 Robert Frost American poet Frost wrote poetry about rural life and human decision-making, becoming one of Americas most celebrated poets.
1878 – 1953 Joseph Stalin Soviet dictator — industrialisation and terror Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (December 18, 1878 – March 5, 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. He transformed the USSR into an industrial superpower through collectivisation and Five Year Plans, but at the cost of millions of lives in the Great Purge and gulag system.
1878 – 1953 Stalin Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death, overseeing rapid industrialisation and the brutal Great Purge.
1879 – 1955 Albert Einstein Relativity Pioneer The physicist who developed the theory of relativity, fundamentally changing our understanding of space and time.
1881 – 1973 Pablo Picasso Cubism · Spain Pablo Picasso (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor and printmaker who co-founded Cubism with Braque. One of the most prolific and influential artists in history, he created over 20,000 works in a career spanning 80 years.
1882 – 1941 Virginia Woolf English modernist writer Woolf pioneered stream-of-consciousness writing and explored identity and time in modernist literature.
1882 – 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd President — New Deal, WWII, four terms Franklin D. Roosevelt (Jan 30, 1882 – Apr 12, 1945) was the 32nd President 1933-1945, the only president elected four times. He led the US through the Great Depression (New Deal) and World War II, dying in office months before VE Day.
1882 – 1971 Igor Stravinsky Modernist ballet composer Russian-born composer whose ballets The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring — which caused a riot at its premiere — transformed 20th-century music.
1883 – 1924 Franz Kafka Czech writer Kafka wrote surreal stories about alienation, bureaucracy, and existential anxiety in modern society.
1886 – present The Coca-Cola Company From Atlanta pharmacy to world's most recognised brand The Coca-Cola Company was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, when pharmacist John Pemberton first served his syrup on May 8, 1886. Today it operates in more than 200 countries, producing over 500 beverage brands, and its trademark script logo is one of the most recognised symbols in history.
1889 – 1945 Hitler Nazi Germany dictator Adolf Hitler led Nazi Germany, instigating World War II and the Holocaust, resulting in the deaths of six million Jews and millions of others.
1892 – 1973 J. R. R. Tolkien English fantasy writer Tolkien created The Lord of the Rings, defining modern epic fantasy literature and world-building.
1893 – present PepsiCo From a North Carolina pharmacy to a global food and drink empire PepsiCo traces its roots to 1893 when pharmacist Caleb Bradham invented "Brad's Drink" in New Bern, North Carolina. Renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898, the brand became one of the most recognised in the world. After merging with Frito-Lay in 1965, PepsiCo grew into a global food and beverage giant operating in over 200 countries.
1896 – 1940 F. Scott Fitzgerald American novelist Fitzgerald captured the Jazz Age in The Great Gatsby, exploring wealth, illusion, and disillusionment.
1899 – 1961 Ernest Hemingway American novelist Hemingway developed a spare writing style focusing on courage, loss, and human endurance.
1899 – 1902 The Second Boer War Where the concentration camp got its name The British Empire takes nearly three years and close to half a million troops to defeat two small Afrikaner republics. After losing the conventional war the Boers turn to commando raids, and Kitchener answers with blockhouses, farm burning and the internment of civilians in camps where around 28,000 Boers, most of them children, and at least 20,000 black Africans die of disease and hunger. Emily Hobhouse's reporting on the camps causes a scandal in Britain. The war ends at Vereeniging with annexation, and lays the groundwork for the Union of South Africa.
1900 – 1927 Quantum mechanics Planck, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger — the physics of the very small Max Planck's discovery that energy is emitted in discrete quanta (1900) launched quantum theory. Bohr's atomic model (1913), Heisenberg's uncertainty principle (1927), and Schrödinger's wave equation (1926) completed a revolution that showed nature at the atomic scale is fundamentally probabilistic. Quantum mechanics underlies lasers, transistors, MRI scanners, and the entire electronics industry.
1901 First Nobel Prizes awarded First Nobel Prizes awarded Alfred Nobel's will established prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Peace, first awarded in Stockholm.
1902 First Rose Bowl game First Rose Bowl game The first Rose Bowl was played in Pasadena on 1 January 1902 as an attraction alongside the Tournament of Roses parade. Michigan beat Stanford 49-0 in a game so lopsided that organisers replaced football with chariot races for the next fourteen years. It returned in 1916 and is now the oldest bowl game in college football.
1903 – 1950 George Orwell English novelist and essayist Orwell wrote Animal Farm and 1984, warning against totalitarianism, propaganda, and surveillance societies.
1903 Wright Brothers First powered flight On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright achieved the first sustained, controlled powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1904 New York subway opens New York subway opens The first line of the New York City subway opened on 27 October 1904, running from City Hall to 145th Street under the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. More than 150,000 passengers rode it on the first day. The network grew into one of the largest rapid transit systems in the world and the only major one running around the clock.
1904 – 1989 Salvador Dalí Surrealism · Spain Salvador Dalí (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989) was a Spanish Surrealist painter whose bizarre, meticulously rendered dreamscapes made him the most famous artist of the 20th century after Picasso. The Persistence of Memory is his most iconic work.
1905 – 1915 Einstein — special and general relativity E=mc², space-time, and gravity as curved geometry Einstein's special relativity (1905) introduced E=mc² — showing mass and energy are equivalent — and demonstrated that time and length change at high velocities. His general relativity (1915) recast gravity as the curvature of space-time caused by mass. The theories predicted black holes, gravitational waves, the expansion of the universe, and GPS satellite timing corrections. They are the most tested theories in physics.
1905 – 1980 Jean-Paul Sartre French philosopher and writer Sartre was a leading existentialist thinker who explored freedom, responsibility, and human existence.
1906 San Francisco earthquake San Francisco earthquake An earthquake estimated at magnitude 7.9 struck San Francisco on 18 April 1906, rupturing nearly 500 kilometres of the San Andreas Fault. Fires burned for three days and destroyed most of the city; around 3,000 people died and more than half the population was left homeless. The disaster drove the scientific study of fault behaviour and earthquake-resistant building.
1906 – 1975 Dmitri Shostakovich Soviet symphonist Russian composer who wrote 15 symphonies and 15 string quartets under the shadow of Stalin's regime. His 5th Symphony and 7th (Leningrad) are defining works of the 20th century.
1907 Scouting movement founded Scouting movement founded Robert Baden-Powell ran an experimental camp for twenty boys on Brownsea Island in August 1907, testing ideas he published the following year as Scouting for Boys. Troops formed spontaneously across Britain before any organisation existed to run them. The Girl Guides followed in 1910, and Scouting became the largest youth movement in the world.
1907 – 1954 Frida Kahlo Surrealism / Folk Art · Mexico Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter whose intensely autobiographical work explored identity, pain and the human body. She has become a global feminist icon. She was married to Diego Rivera.
1908 Ford Model T introduced Ford Model T introduced Ford introduced the Model T on 1 October 1908 at $850, designed to be simple enough for an owner to repair and cheap enough for ordinary families to buy. Moving assembly line production from 1913 pushed the price below $300. Around fifteen million were built before production ended in 1927.
1908 – 1963 Simone de Beauvoir French philosopher and writer De Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex, a foundational feminist philosophical work examining gender and society.
1908 Oil at Masjed Soleyman The first Middle Eastern oilfield After seven years of drilling, a bankrupt concession and a telegram from London ordering him to stop, George Reynolds strikes oil in south-west Persia at fifty-one degrees before dawn. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company is formed the following year, becomes Anglo-Iranian, and eventually BP. The Royal Navy converts from coal to oil on the strength of it. Every subsequent argument about the Middle East runs through this well.
1909 NAACP founded NAACP founded The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded in New York on 12 February 1909, the centenary of Lincoln's birth, by Black and white activists including W. E. B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells. It fought segregation and lynching primarily through the courts. Its legal campaign produced Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
1910 Halley’s Comet visible Halley’s Comet visible Halley's Comet reached perihelion in April 1910 and passed close enough that Earth crossed part of its tail. Spectroscopy had detected cyanogen in the tail, prompting newspaper panic and a brisk trade in comet pills and gas masks. It was the first return of the comet to be photographed and studied spectroscopically.
1911 First South Pole expedition First South Pole expedition Roald Amundsen's Norwegian party reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911, travelling on skis behind sled dogs. Robert Falcon Scott's British team arrived 34 days later to find the Norwegian flag already planted, and all five men died on the return march. The contrast between the two expeditions became the defining story of polar exploration.
1912 – 1926 Emperor Taisho (Yoshihito) Reign 1912–1926 — the era of "Taisho democracy" Emperor Taisho's short reign saw a shift toward liberal, party-based politics known as "Taisho democracy", Japan's participation in World War I on the Allied side, and the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. His poor health led Crown Prince Hirohito to serve as regent from 1921.
1912 – 1915 Wegener — plate tectonics The continents move — the Earth's surface is alive In 1912, Alfred Wegener proposed that the continents were once joined in a supercontinent (Pangaea) and have since drifted apart — continental drift. Initially dismissed, the theory was vindicated in the 1950s-60s by ocean floor spreading and the full theory of plate tectonics. It explained earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain ranges, and the distribution of fossils and species across continents.
1912 Republic of China proclaimed Sun Yat-sen ends 2,000 years of imperial rule On 1 January 1912, Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as the first president of the Republic of China, ending 2,133 years of imperial rule. The last Qing emperor, six-year-old Puyi, abdicated on 12 February 1912. The republic was almost immediately undermined by warlordism and the struggle between the Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), eventually leading to civil war.
1913 Assembly line perfected Assembly line perfected Ford opened a moving assembly line at Highland Park in 1913, breaking car building into small repetitive steps carried past stationary workers. Chassis assembly fell from over twelve hours to about ninety minutes. Turnover was so severe that Ford doubled pay to $5 a day in 1914 to keep workers on the line.
1913 – 1960 Albert Camus French-Algerian writer Camus wrote The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus, exploring absurdism and the meaning of life.
1914 Panama Canal opens Panama Canal opens The Panama Canal opened to traffic on 15 August 1914, linking the Atlantic and Pacific and cutting some 13,000 kilometres off the voyage around South America. The United States completed it after a French attempt collapsed; around 25,000 workers died across both efforts, mostly from malaria and yellow fever. Control passed to Panama in 1999.
1914 – 1918 World War I Global conflict The Great War drew in empires across Europe, killing over 17 million. It reshaped borders, toppled empires, and sowed the seeds of WW II.
1915 Theory of General Relativity Theory of General Relativity Einstein presented the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy in November 1915, describing gravity as the curvature of spacetime by mass and energy rather than a force. The theory immediately explained a long-standing anomaly in Mercury's orbit. Eddington's 1919 eclipse measurement of starlight bending confirmed it and made Einstein world-famous.
1916 National Park Service created National Park Service created Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act on 25 August 1916, creating the National Park Service to manage the parks and monuments that until then had been run piecemeal by the army and the Interior Department. Its mandate was to conserve the land while leaving it unimpaired for future generations. The model was copied by park services worldwide.
1917 Jazz recordings emerge Jazz recordings emerge The Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded Livery Stable Blues in New York in February 1917, the first jazz record put on commercial sale. It sold in the hundreds of thousands and carried the sound of New Orleans across the country. The Black musicians who created the music were not recorded by the major labels until years later.
1917 Russian Revolution Bolsheviks seize power The October Revolution of 1917 brought Lenin's Bolsheviks to power, ending Tsarist rule and establishing the world's first communist state.
1917 – 1963 JFK US president, assassinated John F. Kennedy was the 35th US President, navigating the Cuban Missile Crisis before his assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
1917 – 2008 J. D. Salinger American novelist Salinger wrote The Catcher in the Rye, capturing teenage alienation and postwar disillusionment.
1918 – 1920 Spanish flu 50 million+ deaths The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic infected 500 million people and killed an estimated 50–100 million — more than World War I.
1918 Spanish flu pandemic Spanish flu pandemic The 1918 influenza pandemic infected 500 million people worldwide and killed an estimated 50–100 million.
1919 League of Nations founded League of Nations founded The League of Nations was created by the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919, the first general international organisation built around collective security. The United States Senate refused to ratify the treaty, leaving the League without its main sponsor. It failed to halt aggression in the 1930s and was formally replaced by the United Nations in 1946.
1920 Women vote in US Women vote in US The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified on 18 August 1920 when Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to approve it, barring the denial of the vote on grounds of sex. It capped seven decades of campaigning that began at Seneca Falls in 1848. In practice many Black women remained disenfranchised until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
1921 Insulin discovered Insulin discovered Frederick Banting and Charles Best isolated a pancreatic extract that lowered blood sugar at the University of Toronto in the summer of 1921, working in J. J. R. Macleod's laboratory with James Collip purifying it for human use. Fourteen-year-old Leonard Thompson was treated in January 1922. The discoverers sold the patent for one dollar so the drug would stay cheap.
1921 – 1995 W.F. Hermans Novelist, essayist, geographer, 1921-1995 Willem Frederik Hermans (1921-1995) — one of the three great Dutch postwar writers, alongside Harry Mulisch and Gerard Reve. Novelist, essayist, geographer and polemicist. Author of The Darkroom of Damocles (1958), Beyond Sleep (1966) and An Untouched House (1952). His work is defined by epistemological nihilism: the conviction that certainty is impossible and that human existence is fundamentally without meaning or redemption.
1922 Tutankhamun tomb discovered Tutankhamun tomb discovered Howard Carter uncovered the steps to Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings on 4 November 1922, after six seasons funded by Lord Carnarvon. It was the only near-intact royal tomb found in Egypt, holding more than 5,000 objects. Carnarvon's death a few months later gave the world the story of the pharaoh's curse.
1922 Tutankhamun's tomb Howard Carter discovers it Howard Carter discovered the nearly intact tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in November 1922.
1922 – present Jose Saramago Portuguese novelist Saramago wrote philosophical novels like Blindness, blending allegory and political commentary.
1923 Hollywood sign erected Hollywood sign erected The Hollywood sign was erected in 1923 reading HOLLYWOODLAND, an advertisement for a hillside housing development that was meant to stand for about eighteen months. It was left to decay instead, and the last four letters were removed in 1949. The sign was rebuilt in 1978 with money raised by donors including Hugh Hefner and Alice Cooper.
1924 First Winter Olympics First Winter Olympics Chamonix hosted an International Winter Sports Week in January 1924, which the IOC later recognised retroactively as the first Winter Olympic Games. Some 258 athletes from sixteen nations competed in skating, skiing, bobsleigh, curling and ice hockey. Norway and Finland took the great majority of the medals.
1925 – 1979 Pahlavi dynasty The last shahs; rapid modernisation The Pahlavi dynasty, founded by Reza Shah after a 1921 coup, was Iran's last monarchy. Reza Shah and his son Mohammad Reza drove rapid, top-down modernisation and Westernisation, and in 1935 the country's international name was formally changed from Persia to Iran. Autocratic rule and inequality fuelled the discontent that led to revolution.
1925 Scopes Monkey Trial Scopes Monkey Trial John Scopes was tried in Dayton, Tennessee in July 1925 for teaching evolution in violation of the state's Butler Act, in a case deliberately staged to test the law. Clarence Darrow defended him against William Jennings Bryan, and Darrow's questioning of Bryan on the literal truth of Genesis became the trial's famous moment. Scopes was convicted and fined $100; the verdict was later overturned on a technicality.
1925 – 1964 Yukio Mishima Japanese novelist Mishima explored beauty, death, and tradition in modern Japan through highly stylized literary works.
1925 – 2015 B.B. King American blues guitarist & singer B.B. King (1925-2015) — born Riley B. King in the Mississippi Delta — became "the King of the Blues", famous for his guitar Lucille, his hit "The Thrill Is Gone", and a touring and recording career spanning more than sixty years and fifteen Grammy Awards.
1926 – 1989 Emperor Showa (Hirohito) Reign 1926–1989 — war, defeat and postwar recovery Hirohito, posthumously Emperor Showa, was Japan's longest-reigning emperor. His era spanned the rise of militarism, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, the catastrophe of 1945, and then Japan's extraordinary postwar reconstruction into an economic superpower. After 1945 he became a symbolic constitutional monarch.
1926 – 1927 Hubble — the expanding universe Galaxies are receding — the universe had a beginning In 1924-1929, Edwin Hubble demonstrated that the "nebulae" are distant galaxies far beyond the Milky Way, and that they are receding from us at speeds proportional to their distance (Hubble's Law, 1929). The expanding universe implied it had once been smaller and hotter — the foundation of the Big Bang theory. It is the most consequential astronomical discovery of the 20th century.
1927 First solo Atlantic flight First solo Atlantic flight Charles Lindbergh flew the Spirit of St. Louis alone from New York to Paris on 20-21 May 1927, covering about 5,800 kilometres in 33.5 hours without radio or sextant. He won the $25,000 Orteig Prize and instant worldwide fame. The flight turned public opinion toward aviation as a practical way to travel rather than a stunt.
1927 – 2015 Günter Grass Writer, sculptor, Nobel laureate, 1927-2015 Günter Grass (1927-2015) — novelist, poet, playwright, sculptor and printmaker. Author of The Tin Drum (1959), the defining work of post-war German literature; winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1999); political activist and speechwriter for Willy Brandt; and, in his final decades, the man who shattered his own image as Germany's moral conscience by revealing his Waffen-SS service sixty years after the fact.
1928 Penicillin discovered Penicillin discovered Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the world's first antibiotic, revolutionising the treatment of bacterial infections.
1928 – 2014 Maya Angelou American poet and memoirist Angelou wrote I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, reflecting on identity, racism, and resilience.
1928 – 1987 Andy Warhol Pop Art · USA Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American Pop Art artist who blurred the line between fine art and commercial culture. His Campbell's Soup Cans and Marilyn Monroe prints made him the defining artist of the 1960s.
1929 – 1939 Great Depression Global economic collapse The 1929 stock market crash triggered the Great Depression — a decade of mass unemployment, poverty, and political instability worldwide.
1929 Wall Street Crash Wall Street Crash The stock market crash of October 1929 triggered the Great Depression, the worst economic downturn of the 20th century.
1929 – 1968 Martin Luther King Civil rights leader Dr. King led the American civil rights movement, delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech and winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
1930 Pluto discovered Pluto discovered Clyde Tombaugh identified Pluto in February 1930 at Lowell Observatory, comparing photographic plates taken days apart to spot the one point of light that moved. It was named by Venetia Burney, an eleven-year-old in Oxford. Pluto was counted as the ninth planet until the IAU reclassified it as a dwarf planet in 2006.
1931 Empire State Building opens Empire State Building opens The Empire State Building opened on 1 May 1931, rising 381 metres in Midtown Manhattan after just 410 days of construction. It was the tallest building in the world for nearly forty years. Opening into the Depression, it stood so empty that New Yorkers called it the Empty State Building.
1931 – 2007 Ursula K. Le Guin American novelist Le Guin wrote science fiction and fantasy exploring society, gender, and anthropology.
1932 Sydney Harbour Bridge opens Sydney Harbour Bridge opens The Sydney Harbour Bridge opened on 19 March 1932 after eight years of building, carrying road, rail and foot traffic across the harbour on a single steel arch. The opening ceremony was hijacked by Francis de Groot, who rode forward on horseback and slashed the ribbon with a sword before the premier could cut it. The bridge became the defining image of the city.
1932 – 2003 Johnny Cash American singer-songwriter, "The Man in Black" Johnny Cash (1932-2003) was an American singer-songwriter whose stark baritone, songs of faith, hardship and redemption, and lifelong identification with prisoners and the poor made him one of the most influential artists in American music. The only artist inducted into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, Songwriters, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame, he sold over 90 million records across a career spanning five decades.
1932 – 2016 Umberto Eco Italian novelist and philosopher Eco wrote The Name of the Rose, combining mystery, semiotics, and historical fiction.
1932 – 2019 Jacques Chirac President of France 1995–2007 Jacques René Chirac was a French Gaullist politician who dominated the French right for three decades. He served twice as Prime Minister, eighteen years as Mayor of Paris, and twelve years as President of the Republic, remembered for his charm, his opposition to the 2003 Iraq War, and his recognition of France's role in the Holocaust.
1933 Prohibition ends in US Prohibition ends in US The Twenty-first Amendment was ratified on 5 December 1933, ending thirteen years of national prohibition on alcohol. It remains the only amendment to repeal another. Prohibition had cut drinking but handed the trade to organised crime, and the Depression made the lost tax revenue impossible to ignore.
1933 – 1945 Adolf Hitler Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler established a totalitarian dictatorship, initiated World War II, and orchestrated the Holocaust.
1933 – present Bernadette Chirac Politician and first lady Bernadette Thérèse Marie Chirac, née Chodron de Courcel, was a French politician and former first lady of France. Refusing to be reduced to a president's wife, she built her own decades-long elected career in the Corrèze, championed children's charities, and was the shrewd driving force behind Jacques Chirac's political ascent.
1934 12-ounce bottle for 5 cents Double the size for the same price — 1934 In 1934 Pepsi began selling its drink in 12-ounce bottles for 5 cents — the same price Coca-Cola charged for 6.5 ounces. This "twice as much for a nickel" value proposition was irresistible to Depression-era Americans and sent sales skyrocketing nationally.
1934 Alcatraz becomes federal prison Alcatraz becomes federal prison Alcatraz reopened as a federal penitentiary in August 1934, taking the prisoners other prisons could not hold on an island in San Francisco Bay. Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly and Robert Stroud were among the inmates. No escape was ever confirmed, and the running cost closed it in 1963.
1934 – 1935 The Long March Mao Zedong leads the Communist Party on a 9,000 km retreat Surrounded by Nationalist forces, the Chinese Communist Party's Red Army undertook the Long March — a 9,000 km tactical retreat from Jiangxi to Yan'an in Shaanxi province (1934–35). Of the 86,000 who set out, fewer than 8,000 completed the journey. The march became a founding myth of Communist China and established Mao Zedong as the undisputed party leader.
1935 Monopoly board game released Monopoly board game released Parker Brothers published Monopoly in 1935 after buying the rights from Charles Darrow, whose version was adapted from The Landlord's Game, patented by Lizzie Magie in 1904 to demonstrate how rent enriches landlords. The streets are those of Atlantic City. It became one of the best-selling board games ever made.
1935 – present Roger Sweet Toy designer, creator of He-Man, 1935–2026 Roger Sweet (1935–2026) — the American toy designer who created He-Man and the Masters of the Universe franchise at Mattel, generating over $1.2 billion in worldwide sales from a prototype built from a Big Jim action figure and a handful of clay. He died on 28 April 2026, just weeks before the release of a new live-action He-Man film.
1936 Berlin Olympics Berlin Olympics Berlin hosted the Olympic Games in August 1936, staged by the Nazi government as a showcase and broadcast on television for the first time. Jesse Owens won four gold medals in front of Hitler. The torch relay from Olympia, now a fixture of every Games, was invented for this one.
1936 – 2015 Margaret Atwood Canadian novelist Atwood wrote The Handmaids Tale, exploring dystopian society, gender, and political control.
1937 Hindenburg disaster Hindenburg disaster The airship Hindenburg caught fire while mooring at Lakehurst, New Jersey on 6 May 1937, and was destroyed in about half a minute. Thirty-six of the ninety-seven people aboard died. Newsreel film and Herbert Morrison's radio commentary ended public confidence in passenger airships.
1937 – 1945 Second Sino-Japanese War Japan invades China — the Nanjing Massacre and 15 million dead Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China in July 1937. The Nanjing Massacre (December 1937) saw Japanese forces kill an estimated 200,000–300,000 civilians and prisoners of war. The war merged with World War II in 1941 and ended with Japan's surrender in 1945. An estimated 15 million Chinese died. The war accelerated the Chinese Communist Party's rise to power.
1938 Superman first appears Superman first appears Superman appeared in Action Comics #1 in June 1938, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who sold the rights for $130. The issue established the costumed superhero as a genre and made DC Comics the industry leader. Siegel and Shuster spent decades fighting for credit and compensation.
1939 First televised baseball game First televised baseball game NBC televised a college game between Columbia and Princeton on 17 May 1939, then the first major league game, Reds against Dodgers at Ebbets Field, on 26 August. A single camera covered the whole field and only a few hundred sets could receive it. Regular baseball broadcasts resumed after the war and reshaped the sport's finances.
1939 – 1945 World War II Deadliest conflict ever The deadliest conflict in human history, killing an estimated 70–85 million people and reshaping the entire global political order.
1940 McDonald’s founded McDonald’s founded Richard and Maurice McDonald opened a drive-in barbecue restaurant in San Bernardino in 1940, then in 1948 stripped it back to a nine-item menu built around speed. Ray Kroc began franchising it in 1955 and bought the brothers out in 1961. The Speedee Service System became the template for fast food worldwide.
1940 – 1973 Bruce Lee Martial artist, actor and philosopher — born San Francisco 1940 Bruce Lee (Lee Jun-fan) was born on November 27, 1940 in San Francisco. He became the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, transforming how Asian people were portrayed in film and inspiring generations worldwide. He died on July 20, 1973, aged 32.
1941 Mount Rushmore completed Mount Rushmore completed Carving at Mount Rushmore stopped on 31 October 1941, fourteen years after Gutzon Borglum began work on the granite face in the Black Hills. The original plan to carve the presidents to the waist was abandoned when funding ran out and Borglum died. The Lakota regard the mountain as stolen sacred land under the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.
1941 – present Jan Jansen Dutch shoe designer Jan Jansen (1941-2026) was one of the best-known Dutch shoe designers, famous for over 4,000 designs across more than six decades — from the iconic Woody clog and the bamboo-heeled Bamboo shoe to his pioneering "floating heel" constructions.
1943 Pentagon completed Pentagon completed The Pentagon was completed on 15 January 1943 after sixteen months of building, consolidating the War Department's scattered offices into one five-sided structure across the Potomac from Washington. It remains among the largest office buildings in the world, with roughly 26,000 staff. It was struck by a hijacked airliner on 11 September 2001.
1943 – 1971 Jim Morrison American singer, songwriter & poet James Douglas "Jim" Morrison (1943-1971) was the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors, celebrated for his baritone voice, poetic lyrics and theatrical, unpredictable stage presence. Known as "The Lizard King", he became one of the defining and most controversial icons of 1960s counterculture before his death in Paris at the age of 27.
1944 Bretton Woods Agreement Bretton Woods Agreement Delegates from forty-four nations met at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in July 1944 and agreed a postwar monetary order of currencies pegged to a gold-convertible dollar. The conference created the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The system held until Nixon ended dollar convertibility in 1971.
1944 D-Day Normandy landings On June 6, 1944, over 156,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy — the largest seaborne invasion in history.
1945 United Nations founded United Nations founded The United Nations was established to maintain international peace and security, replacing the failed League of Nations.
1945 – present Eric Clapton English rock & blues guitarist Eric Clapton (born 1945) is one of the most influential guitarists in rock history — nicknamed "Slowhand" — known for his work with The Yardbirds, Cream and Derek and the Dominos, and for solo classics including "Layla", "Wonderful Tonight" and "Tears in Heaven". Three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and eighteen-time Grammy winner.
1945 Hiroshima Atomic bomb dropped On August 6, 1945, the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing 80,000 instantly. By year's end, 140,000 had died.
1946 ENIAC unveiled ENIAC unveiled ENIAC was unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania on 15 February 1946, a 27-tonne machine of some 18,000 vacuum tubes built to compute artillery firing tables. It was programmed by physically rewiring it, work done largely by six women mathematicians whose contribution went unacknowledged for decades. It was the first general-purpose electronic computer.
1946 – present New York Knicks NBA franchise, 1946–present The New York Knickerbockers — one of the NBA's original franchises, founded in 1946. Three NBA championships (1970, 1973, 2026), decades of heartbreak in between, and a 53-year wait finally ended by Jalen Brunson and a new championship core.
1947 Transistor invented Transistor invented Bell Labs scientists invented the transistor, the fundamental building block of all modern electronics.
1947 – present Elton John English singer, pianist & composer Sir Elton John (born 1947) is an English singer, pianist and composer — one of the best-selling music artists of all time with over 300 million records sold, nine US and UK #1 singles, and decades of collaboration with lyricist Bernie Taupin. An EGOT winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and one of the first major male pop stars to come out as gay.
1947 – present Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Basketball player, activist, author, b. 1947 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (b. Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr., 1947) — the NBA all-time leading scorer for 39 years (38,387 points), six NBA championships, a record six MVP awards, three consecutive NCAA titles at UCLA, and a second life as a bestselling author, activist and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.
1947 – present Stephen King American novelist King is a prolific horror writer known for novels exploring fear, trauma, and supernatural forces.
1948 Gandhi assassinated Gandhi assassinated Mohandas Gandhi was shot dead in New Delhi on 30 January 1948 by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist who blamed him for conceding too much to Pakistan during partition. He was on his way to evening prayers. His campaigns of non-violent resistance shaped movements from the American civil rights struggle to anti-apartheid activism.
1948 – present George R. R. Martin American novelist Martin wrote A Song of Ice and Fire, a major modern fantasy series known for political complexity.
1949 NATO founded NATO founded The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was established as a collective defence alliance among Western nations.
1949 – 2011 Gil Scott-Heron American poet, musician & author Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011) was an American poet, musician and author whose spoken-word recordings — above all "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" — made him one of the most influential forefathers of hip-hop and a defining voice of Black political consciousness in American music.
1949 – present J. K. Rowling British author Rowling created the Harry Potter series, one of the most influential fantasy franchises in modern literature.
1949 People's Republic of China founded Mao Zedong proclaims the PRC — 1 October 1949 On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong stood at Tiananmen Gate in Beijing and proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan. The Communist victory ended decades of civil war and foreign invasion, beginning a new era of Chinese history under single-party rule that continues to the present day.
1950 – 1953 Korean War Peninsula divided The Korean War (1950–53) ended in an armistice that left the peninsula divided along the 38th parallel, a line that holds to this day.
1950 Schuman Declaration Schuman Declaration French foreign minister Robert Schuman proposed on 9 May 1950 that French and German coal and steel production be placed under a shared authority, making another war between them materially impossible. The plan produced the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. It is the founding moment of European integration, marked each year as Europe Day.
1951 Color TV broadcast Color TV broadcast CBS broadcast the first commercial colour television programme on 25 June 1951, using a mechanical spinning-disc system incompatible with existing black-and-white sets. Almost nobody could watch it. RCA's compatible NTSC system was adopted instead in 1953 and became the American standard.
1951 – present Phil Collins English drummer, singer & songwriter Phil Collins (born 1951) is an English drummer, singer, songwriter and actor — drummer and later lead singer of Genesis, and one of the best-selling solo artists of the 1980s with hits including "In the Air Tonight", "Against All Odds" and "Sussudio". A double Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, with Genesis (2010) and as a solo artist (2026).
1952 Elizabeth II becomes queen Elizabeth II becomes queen Elizabeth II became queen on 6 February 1952 on the death of her father George VI, while she was in Kenya at the start of a Commonwealth tour. Her coronation the following June was the first to be televised. She reigned for seventy years, longer than any other British monarch.
1952 – present Salman Rushdie British-Indian novelist Rushdie writes magical realist fiction exploring identity, religion, and politics in global contexts.
1952 – present Vladimir Putin Russia's dominant leader since 2000 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born October 7, 1952) has been the dominant leader of Russia since 2000. A former KGB officer, he served as President 2000-2008, Prime Minister 2008-2012, and again as President from 2012 onwards. He launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
1953 DNA structure Watson & Crick James Watson and Francis Crick described the double helix structure of DNA in 1953, unlocking the secret of heredity and transforming biology.
1953 Everest first climbed Everest first climbed Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest on 29 May 1953, the first confirmed ascent, as part of a British expedition led by John Hunt. News reached London on the morning of Elizabeth II's coronation. The two never said which of them stepped onto the summit first.
1954 First nuclear submarine First nuclear submarine USS Nautilus was launched on 21 January 1954, the first vessel powered by a nuclear reactor. It could stay submerged for weeks rather than hours and in 1958 sailed under the North Pole ice cap. Nuclear propulsion turned the submarine into a genuinely undersea weapon and underpinned the sea-based deterrent.
1954 – present Anthony Head Actor and singer Anthony Stewart Head was an English actor and singer with a distinctive baritone voice. Primarily a musical-theatre performer, he became a household name through the Gold Blend coffee adverts and went on to international fame as Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
1954 – present Thomas Pynchon American novelist Pynchon is known for complex postmodern novels exploring paranoia, systems, and history.
1955 Disneyland opens Disneyland opens Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California on 17 July 1955, built in a year on former orange groves. The opening day was a shambles of counterfeit tickets, melting asphalt and broken drinking fountains, remembered inside the company as Black Sunday. The park drew a million visitors within seven weeks and created the modern theme park.
1955 – 1975 Vietnam War US involvement The Vietnam War saw US forces fighting communist North Vietnam. After 58,000 American deaths, the US withdrew in 1973 and Saigon fell in 1975.
1956 Container shipping begins Container shipping begins Malcom McLean sent the converted tanker Ideal X from Newark to Houston on 26 April 1956 carrying 58 truck trailer bodies craned aboard as sealed units. Loading costs fell by well over ninety per cent. Containerisation remade ports, shipping and global manufacturing over the following two decades.
1957 – present Ian McEwan British novelist McEwan writes psychological fiction exploring morality, memory, and human relationships.
1958 – 1962 Great Leap Forward — the worst man-made famine in history Mao's industrialisation campaign kills 15–55 million Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward (1958–62) aimed to rapidly transform China from an agrarian into a socialist industrial society through forced collectivisation and backyard steel production. The catastrophic mismanagement of agriculture, combined with officials falsifying harvest figures, caused a famine that killed between 15 and 55 million people — the deadliest famine in human history.
1958 NASA founded NASA founded NASA began operations on 1 October 1958, created by Congress in response to Sputnik and built around the existing NACA aeronautics laboratories. It was deliberately civilian, to separate spaceflight from the missile programme. Within eleven years it had landed men on the Moon.
1958 – present The Shadows British instrumental rock group, London 1958 The Shadows are a British instrumental rock group formed in London in 1958, originally as Cliff Richard's backing band. With hits including "Apache", "FBI" and "Wonderful Land", they became the third most successful act in UK chart history behind only Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard himself, and were pioneers of the four-piece guitar-bass-drums rock format.
1959 Barbie doll launched Barbie doll launched Mattel launched Barbie at the New York Toy Fair on 9 March 1959, an adult-figured fashion doll in a market of baby dolls, devised by Ruth Handler after watching her daughter play with paper dolls. Buyers were sceptical and she sold 350,000 in the first year. The doll's proportions have been argued over ever since.
1960 First weather satellite First weather satellite TIROS-1 was launched on 1 April 1960 and returned the first television pictures of cloud cover from orbit, proving that weather could be observed from space. It operated for only 78 days. Satellite imagery became the backbone of forecasting and of hurricane and storm warning.
1960 – 2020 Diego Maradona Footballer, manager, 1960-2020 Diego Armando Maradona (1960-2020) — widely regarded as the greatest footballer who ever lived. The Hand of God and the Goal of the Century in a single match; two World Cup finals; two Serie A titles with Napoli; a life of extraordinary brilliance, devastating addiction, improbable comebacks and unconditional love from the people of Argentina and Naples. He died aged 60 on 25 November 2020.
1961 – present Manu Chao Franco-Spanish singer-songwriter Manu Chao (born 1961, Paris) — full name José Manuel Arturo Tomás Chao Ortega — is a Franco-Spanish singer-songwriter who blends punk, reggae, ska, salsa, flamenco and Arab music with fiercely political lyrics in up to seven languages. He rose to fame with Mano Negra (1987-1994) before a hugely successful solo career with albums including Clandestino (1998) and Próxima Estación: Esperanza (2001).
1961 – present David Mitchell British novelist Mitchell writes interconnected novels blending genres, time periods, and narrative structures.
1962 – present The Rolling Stones The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band — London 1962 The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. The longest-running major rock band in history, they have released 25 studio albums and are one of the best-selling music artists ever with over 250 million records sold. The core of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts remained constant for over 50 years.
1962 – present James Bond — The Films Eon Productions film franchise, 1962-present The James Bond film franchise — produced by Eon Productions from 1962 to the present — is the longest-running and highest-grossing spy film series in cinema history. 25 official films, six actors as 007, total box office exceeding $7 billion, and a 26th film in development under director Denis Villeneuve. From Dr. No to No Time to Die, the franchise has defined what a blockbuster can be.
1963 JFK assassinated JFK assassinated John F. Kennedy was shot while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas on 22 November 1963 and died within the hour. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and then killed on live television two days later by Jack Ruby. The Warren Commission found Oswald acted alone, a conclusion disputed ever since.
1963 – present Michael Jordan Basketball player, businessman, b. 1963 Michael Jeffrey Jordan (b. 1963) — widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time. Six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls, five MVP awards, two Olympic gold medals, and a cultural impact — through Air Jordan, 'The Last Dance' and beyond — that reshaped global sport and business.
1964 Civil Rights Act Civil Rights Act Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act on 2 July 1964, outlawing discrimination by race, colour, religion, sex or national origin and ending segregation in public accommodations. It passed after the longest filibuster in Senate history. The Voting Rights Act followed a year later.
1964 – present Star Trek — The Complete Franchise TV series and films, 1966-present Star Trek — Gene Roddenberry's vision of a hopeful human future among the stars. Thirteen theatrical films, fifteen TV series, and sixty years of boldly going. From the NBC rejection of The Cage in 1964 to Strange New Worlds season 4 in 2026 — the most expansive science fiction franchise in television history.
1964 Ed Sullivan Show appearance 73 million viewers — February 9, 1964 The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, watched by an estimated 73 million Americans — 34% of the US population. It launched the British Invasion and transformed American pop culture overnight.
1965 First spacewalk First spacewalk Alexei Leonov left the Voskhod 2 capsule on 18 March 1965 for twelve minutes outside, the first spacewalk. His suit ballooned in the vacuum and he had to bleed off pressure to squeeze back through the airlock. Ed White made the first American spacewalk ten weeks later.
1965 Penzias and Wilson discover cosmic microwave background The echo of the Big Bang detected In 1965, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson of Bell Labs discovered a uniform microwave radiation pervading the universe in every direction — the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This was the thermal afterglow of the Big Bang, predicted by Gamow and Alpher in 1948. The discovery confirmed the Big Bang theory beyond reasonable doubt and is considered one of the most important discoveries in 20th-century physics.
1965 PepsiCo formed by Frito-Lay merger Beverages meet snacks — June 8, 1965 On June 8, 1965, Pepsi-Cola merged with Frito-Lay of Dallas, Texas, forming PepsiCo Inc. Herman Lay became chairman and Donald Kendall became CEO. The merger created a diversified food and beverage giant, coupling the world's best-known cola with America's leading snack brand.
1965 – present Zadie Smith British novelist Smith writes contemporary fiction exploring identity, multiculturalism, and modern urban life.
1966 – 1976 Cultural Revolution Mao unleashes radical youth to destroy "old China" — 1–2 million dead Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966, mobilising student Red Guards to attack the "Four Olds" — customs, culture, habits and ideas. Intellectuals, teachers and party officials were persecuted, temples destroyed, books burned. An estimated 1–2 million died directly; millions more suffered persecution, imprisonment and forced labour. The revolution paralysed China for a decade until Mao's death in 1976.
1966 England wins World Cup England wins World Cup England beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time at Wembley on 30 July 1966 to win the World Cup, with Geoff Hurst scoring a hat-trick. His second goal, which struck the crossbar and bounced on or behind the line, is still argued about. It remains England's only senior men's world title.
1966 – 1997 Jeff Buckley American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley (1966-1997) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, son of folk musician Tim Buckley, celebrated for his extraordinary four-octave voice and his 1994 debut album Grace. He died by accidental drowning in the Mississippi River at 30, leaving behind one of the most cherished and influential catalogs in rock music.
1967 First heart transplant First heart transplant Christiaan Barnard transplanted a human heart into Louis Washkansky at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town on 3 December 1967. The patient lived eighteen days before dying of pneumonia brought on by the drugs suppressing rejection. Reliable survival only came with ciclosporin in the 1980s.
1967 – present Boris Becker Tennis player, b. 1967 Boris Franz Becker (b. 1967, Leimen, Germany) — six Grand Slam titles, three Wimbledons, world number one, Olympic gold medallist, and one of the most recognisable athletes of the 1980s and 1990s. Later: bankruptcy, prison, deportation, and an improbable return to grace. One of sport and culture's most dramatic life stories.
1968 Martin Luther King Jr assassinated Martin Luther King Jr assassinated Martin Luther King Jr was shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on 4 April 1968, where he had come to support striking sanitation workers. He was 39. Riots followed in more than a hundred cities, and the Fair Housing Act passed within the week.
1969 Moon landing Apollo 11 On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon, fulfilling Kennedy's decade-long challenge.
1969 Woodstock festival 400,000 attend legendary concert The Woodstock Music & Art Fair took place August 15–18, 1969 in Bethel, New York. An estimated 400,000 people attended performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who and many others.
1970 First Earth Day First Earth Day The first Earth Day was held on 22 April 1970, organised by senator Gaylord Nelson as a national teach-in on the environment, and drew some twenty million Americans. Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency that December. The Clean Air and Clean Water Acts followed within three years.
1971 – present Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Nigerian novelist Adichie writes novels and essays about identity, feminism, and postcolonial experience.
1973 First mobile phone call First mobile phone call Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first handheld mobile phone call on a New York street on 3 April 1973, ringing his rival Joel Engel at Bell Labs. The prototype weighed over a kilogram and gave half an hour of talk time. Motorola took another decade to bring a commercial handset to market.
1974 Nixon resigns Nixon resigns Richard Nixon resigned on 9 August 1974, the only American president to do so, three days after the release of a tape proving he had ordered the FBI investigation of the Watergate break-in to be obstructed. Impeachment and conviction were by then certain. Gerald Ford pardoned him a month later.
1975 Microsoft founded Microsoft founded Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Micro-Soft in Albuquerque in April 1975 to sell a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800. The decisive move came in 1980, when the company licensed an operating system to IBM while keeping the right to sell it to others. That deal made MS-DOS, and then Windows, the industry standard.
1975 The Pepsi Challenge launched Blind taste tests ignite the Cola Wars — 1975 In 1975 Pepsi launched the Pepsi Challenge — blind taste tests conducted in shopping centres across America in which most consumers preferred Pepsi over Coca-Cola. The campaign was a marketing masterstroke that terrified Coca-Cola and directly led to the disastrous "New Coke" reformulation a decade later.
1975 – present Elena Ferrante Italian novelist Ferrante is known for the Neapolitan Novels exploring friendship, class, and female identity.
1976 Apple founded Apple founded Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne founded Apple on 1 April 1976 to sell Wozniak's hand-built Apple I board. Wayne sold his ten per cent back for $800 within two weeks. The Apple II the following year turned the personal computer into a product ordinary people bought.
1977 – 1995 Dire Straits Mark Knopfler's band — London 1977 to 1995 Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler, his brother David Knopfler, John Illsley and Pick Withers. Their timeless guitar-driven sound sold over 100 million records worldwide. Brothers in Arms (1985) was one of the best-selling albums of the 20th century.
1977 Star Wars released Blockbuster era begins George Lucas's Star Wars opened in US cinemas on May 25, 1977. It immediately broke box office records, sparked a global cultural phenomenon, and became the highest-grossing film of all time until E.T. in 1982.
1978 Deng Xiaoping's reforms — China opens to the world "To get rich is glorious" — the greatest economic transformation in history After Mao's death, Deng Xiaoping gradually took power and launched sweeping economic reforms from 1978 — introducing market mechanisms, opening special economic zones, and welcoming foreign investment. China's economy grew at an average of nearly 10% per year for the next four decades, lifting 800 million people out of poverty — the largest poverty reduction in human history.
1979 – present Islamic Republic of Iran A Shia theocratic republic Since 1979 Iran has been an Islamic Republic combining elected institutions with a Supreme Leader holding ultimate authority. It has been a major regional power and a focus of international tension over its nuclear programme, sanctions, and domestic movements for reform.
1979 Three Mile Island accident Three Mile Island accident A cooling fault and misread instruments caused a partial meltdown in reactor two at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania on 28 March 1979. Little radiation escaped and no injuries were established, but the confused public communication did lasting damage. New American reactor orders effectively stopped for three decades.
1980 John Lennon assassinated John Lennon assassinated John Lennon was shot outside the Dakota building in New York on 8 December 1980 by Mark David Chapman, who had asked him for an autograph hours earlier. He was 40 and had just released Double Fantasy after five years away from music. Crowds kept vigil in Central Park for days.
1980 – present Sally Rooney Irish novelist Rooney writes contemporary fiction focusing on relationships, class, and modern communication.
1980 John Lennon murdered Shot outside Dakota Building, New York — December 8, 1980 John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment at the Dakota Building in New York City on December 8, 1980, by Mark David Chapman. He was 40 years old. His death shocked the world and prompted an outpouring of grief comparable to the death of a head of state.
1981 First Space Shuttle launch First Space Shuttle launch Columbia lifted off on 12 April 1981, the first flight of a reusable winged spacecraft and the first crewed launch to fly without an uncrewed test. John Young and Robert Crippen orbited for two days. The shuttle flew 135 missions over thirty years, with two lost crews.
1981 – present Tears for Fears English pop rock / synth-pop duo, Bath 1981 Tears for Fears are an English band formed in Bath in 1981 by childhood friends Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. From the stark synth-pop of "The Hurting" to the global smashes "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" on "Songs from the Big Chair", through a 1990s split and a 21st-century reunion culminating in "The Tipping Point" (2022), they have sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
1982 Compact Disc introduced Compact Disc introduced The compact disc reached shops in Japan in October 1982, developed jointly by Philips and Sony, with Billy Joel's 52nd Street among the first albums released. Its 74-minute capacity and 12cm diameter were settled during those negotiations. The CD overtook vinyl and cassette within a decade and carried the industry until downloads arrived.
1984 Apple Macintosh released Apple Macintosh released Apple released the Macintosh on 24 January 1984, the first mass-market computer built around a graphical interface and a mouse, launched with a Ridley Scott commercial shown once during the Super Bowl. It was underpowered and sold poorly at first. Desktop publishing with the LaserWriter and PageMaker saved it.
1984 – present LeBron James Basketball player, businessman, b. 1984 LeBron Raymone James (b. 1984) — one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Four NBA championships with three different franchises, four MVP awards, four Finals MVPs, two Olympic gold medals, the NBA all-time leading scorer with 40,000+ points, and a cultural force off the court through the I Promise School, SpringHill Entertainment, and a lifetime Nike deal.
1985 Live Aid concerts Live Aid concerts Live Aid was staged simultaneously at Wembley and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on 13 July 1985, organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure for famine relief in Ethiopia. It was broadcast to an estimated 1.5 billion viewers and raised over $100 million. Queen's twenty-minute set is routinely called the best live performance in rock.
1986 Chernobyl disaster Chernobyl disaster An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine caused the worst nuclear accident in history.
1987 Black Monday crash Black Monday crash The Dow Jones fell 22.6 per cent on 19 October 1987, the largest one-day percentage drop in its history, with markets falling worldwide. Portfolio insurance and computerised program trading accelerated the slide. Exchanges introduced circuit breakers afterwards to halt trading during steep falls.
1988 Ben Johnson stripped Olympic gold Ben Johnson stripped Olympic gold Ben Johnson was stripped of the Seoul 100 metres gold on 27 September 1988, three days after winning in a world record 9.79 seconds, when his sample tested positive for the steroid stanozolol. The Dubin Inquiry that followed exposed systematic doping in Canadian athletics. Six of the eight finalists were later linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
1988 – present Stephen Curry Basketball player, b. 1988 Wardell Stephen Curry II (b. 1988) — widely regarded as the greatest shooter in basketball history. Four NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors, two MVP awards (including the first unanimous MVP in NBA history), one Finals MVP, the NBA all-time leader in three-pointers made (4,000+), and the architect of a revolution that transformed how basketball is played at every level.
1989 – 2019 Emperor Akihito (Heisei era) Reign 1989–2019 — abdicated, the first in 200 years Emperor Akihito's Heisei era was a time of economic stagnation after the 1980s bubble, and of natural disasters including the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A reconciliation-minded monarch, in 2019 he became the first Japanese emperor in over two centuries to abdicate the throne.
1989 Tiananmen Square massacre 4 June 1989 — pro-democracy protesters crushed by the military Following weeks of pro-democracy protests centred on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government declared martial law and sent in the army on the night of 3–4 June 1989. Tanks and soldiers killed an estimated hundreds to thousands of protesters. The iconic image of a lone man blocking a column of tanks became one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century. The crackdown ended China's brief period of political liberalisation.
1989 Berlin Wall falls Nov 9, 1989 On November 9, 1989, crowds tore down the Berlin Wall, ending 28 years of division — the defining moment of the Cold War's end.
1991 World Wide Web opens World Wide Web opens Tim Berners-Lee opened the World Wide Web to the public, transforming global communication and commerce.
1991 Soviet Union dissolved Gorbachev resigns — December 25, 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991, and the Soviet flag was lowered over the Kremlin for the last time. The USSR was formally dissolved and replaced by 15 independent states. It was the end of a 69-year experiment in communism.
1991 USSR dissolves Cold War ends On December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union formally dissolved into 15 independent states, ending the Cold War and changing the global order.
1992 Maastricht Treaty signed Maastricht Treaty signed The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992, converting the European Community into the European Union and setting out the path to a single currency, along with common foreign and justice policies. Denmark rejected it in a referendum and only ratified after securing opt-outs. Britain opted out of the euro and the social chapter.
1993 European Union established European Union established The European Union formally came into being on 1 November 1993 when the Maastricht Treaty took effect. It added citizenship of the Union, free movement of people and the framework for monetary union to what had been an economic community. Membership grew from twelve states to twenty-eight before Britain left in 2020.
1994 – 1995 First exoplanets discovered Planets around other stars — we are not alone in the galaxy In 1992, Aleksander Wolszczan discovered the first confirmed exoplanets around a pulsar. In 1995, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of Geneva discovered 51 Pegasi b — the first planet found around a Sun-like star. The discovery transformed astronomy; over 5,500 exoplanets are now confirmed. The search for Earth-like planets in habitable zones has become one of science's central quests.
1994 Nelson Mandela elected Nelson Mandela elected Nelson Mandela was elected president on 27 April 1994 in South Africa's first election with universal suffrage, four years after his release from twenty-seven years in prison. Voters queued for hours in lines kilometres long. His government set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission rather than pursue prosecutions.
1995 Amazon founded Amazon founded Amazon opened for orders in July 1995, a year after Jeff Bezos incorporated it in a Seattle garage, selling books because they were numerous, standardised and easy to ship. It ran at a loss for years while building scale. Books were the beachhead for general retail and later for cloud computing.
1995 – present Nikola Jokic Basketball player, horse owner, b. 1995 Nikola Jokic (b. 1995, Sombor, Serbia) — three-time NBA MVP, the greatest passing center in basketball history, and the man who led the Denver Nuggets to their first NBA championship in 2023. A second-round pick turned franchise cornerstone, Jokic plays basketball like a chess grandmaster — and would rather be at the horse track.
1997 Princess Diana dies Princess Diana dies Diana, Princess of Wales died in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris in the early hours of 31 August 1997, along with Dodi Fayed and the driver Henri Paul. The French inquiry blamed speed and the driver's intoxication, with pursuing photographers a contributing factor. Public grief in Britain was extraordinary and forced the monarchy to respond.
1997 Hong Kong returned to China End of 156 years of British rule — "one country, two systems" At midnight on 1 July 1997, sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. The handover was governed by the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984), which guaranteed Hong Kong's capitalist system and civil liberties under "one country, two systems" for 50 years. In 2020, Beijing imposed a national security law that critics said effectively ended this arrangement.
1998 Google founded Google founded Larry Page and Sergey Brin incorporated Google on 4 September 1998, built on a Stanford research project that ranked pages by the links pointing at them rather than by keyword counts. The results were markedly better than those of the established engines. The AdWords auction model from 2000 turned search into one of the most profitable businesses ever built.
1998 The universe's expansion is accelerating Dark energy — a mysterious force opposes gravity In 1998, two independent teams studying distant supernovae (led by Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Riess) discovered that the universe's expansion is accelerating rather than slowing. This implied the existence of a mysterious "dark energy" making up approximately 68% of the universe's total energy content. It was the most surprising cosmological discovery in decades and earned the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
1999 Euro introduced Euro introduced The euro was introduced on 1 January 1999 as an accounting currency in eleven member states, with exchange rates between the national currencies irrevocably fixed. Notes and coins followed on 1 January 2002. It now serves twenty countries and is the second most-held reserve currency after the dollar.