Human Events

By AGGL
  • 138,000 BCE

    Big Bang

    Big Bang singularity, creation of all particles of matter and counterpart antimatter, and the laws of physics governing their interactions; expansion and cooling of space → formation of the observable Universe, its galaxies, solar systems, stars, planets, moons, asteroids and comets
  • 130,000 BCE

    Milky Way

    Aggregation of stars into the Milky Way galaxy: now a warped disc of 100 billion stars, one of 2 trillion galaxies in the observable Universe
  • 40,000 BCE

    Earliest life of Earth

    earliest life on Earth: single-celled prokaryotic Archaea (Hadean Eon, 3.7-4.2 billion years ago), with inherited genes composed of stable DNA instructing the translation of RNA in ribosomes into proteins that perform cell functions → planet Earth harbouring the only life in the Universe?
  • 28,000 BCE

    Earliest Human

    earliest human, Homo sp., amongst the hominins (Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia): rounded chin as Australopithecus afarensis, but smaller and slimmer molars as the later Homo habilis.

  • Discovery of the Unitary character of heritable traits

    Discovery of the unitary character of heritable traits, and the independent assortment of their alternative forms (Gregor Mendel, Austria, 1866) → the gene as unit of heredity, contained in chromosomes – but not for Borgs

  • Discovery of unequal infinities

    discovery of unequal infinities: the infinite continuum of all real numbers exceeds in size any infinite set of natural numbers (Georg Cantor, Germany, 1874) → three sizes of infinity?

  • Telephone

    Invention of the telephone (Alexander Bell, USA, 1876) → telecommunications

  • Light bulb

    Invention of the electric light bulb (Thomas Edison, USA, 1879), providing cheap and safe illumination → organic light-emitting diodes by the 21ˢᵗ century

  • Supersonic Flight

    First supersonic flight, in a rocket-powered aircraft (Chuck Yeager in Bell X-1, USA, 14/10/1947) → space exploration

  • Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope

    Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (NASA, ESA, CSA, 2021) → exploring the early Universe, star births and deaths and galactic evolution, analysing exoplanet atmospheres for signs of life