3870 entries. Last updated May 17, 2013.

Science Timeline Outline

  • Eras
  • Themes

2,500,000 BCE – 8,000 BCE

<p>Olduvai Gorge</p>
The First Industrial Complex
(Circa 2,500,000 BCE – 500,000 BCE)

<p>Skull of Malapa Hominin 1. MH1 also known as <em>australopethicus sediba</em>.</p>
A New Hominid Species is Discovered with the Help of Satellite Imagery
(Circa 1,950,000 BCE – 1,780,000 BCE)

A flint biface, discovered in Saint-Acheul, France. (View Larger)
Acheulean or Mode 2 Industries
(Circa 1,650,000 BCE – 100,000 BCE)

Ancient footprints at Koobi Fora. Photograph by Brian Richmond. (View Larger)
The Earliest Preserved Footprints of Our Ancestors
(Circa 1,530,000 BCE – 1,510,000 BCE)

Five bone tools excavated in Swartkrans, South Africa, once used by Parantrhopus robustus for foraging purposes. Photography by Jim Di Loreto and Don Hurlbert, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
Early Humans Make Bone Tools
(Circa 1,500,000 BCE)

Ancient stone tools discovered at the Hapisburgh excavation site, East Anglia, England. Photocredit: Parfitt et al. Nature (View Larger)
Humans May Have Lived in Britain as Early as 950,000 Years Ago
(Circa 950,000 BCE – 780,000 BCE)

<p>Example of nearly 500,000 year-old hafted spear tips from Kathu Pan 1. Photo by Jayne Wilkins.</p>
Man Began Hunting with Stone-Tipped Spears 500,000 Years Ago
(Circa 500,000 BCE)

A silcrete nodule exhibiting the signs of experimental heat-treatment. Photocredit: Science/AAAS. (View Larger)
Early Humans Use Heat-Treated Stone for Tools
(Circa 164,000 BCE – 70,000 BCE)

<p>Map showing origin and spread of language from southern Africa.  Graphic from the journal Science and the New York Times.</p>
Evidence for the Origin of Language in Southwestern Africa
(Circa 150,000 BCE – 50,000 BCE)

<p>Stone tools (segments) with adhesive from Sibudu Cave.  Segment with red ochre visible to the naked eye as well as microscopic views of red ochre and plant gum on the tool.</p>
From Sibudu Cave: the Earliest Known Creation and Use of Compound Adhesives, Suggesting Complex Cognition
(Circa 68,000 BCE)

The introduction of sturdy shoes led weaker toes.
The First Sturdy Shoes are Invented
(38,000 BCE)

Photocredit: Chip Clark, Smithsonian Institution. (View Larger)
The Earliest Surviving Pottery From Japan
(Circa 16,000 BCE)

The Holocene Interglacial Period Begins
(Circa 10,000 BCE)

8,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE

The Earliest Known Fermented Beverage
(Circa 7,000 BCE)

<p>Model of Ötzi the Iceman in exhibit at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.</p>
The First Prehistoric Human Ever Found with his Everyday Clothing and Equipment
(Circa 3,300 BCE)

<p>Bristlecone pinetree nickednamed Methuselah.</p>
The Oldest Non-Clonal, Acknowledged Living Organism
(Circa 2,832 BCE)

The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. (View Larger)
“Accurate Reckoning for Inquiring into Things, and the Knowledge of All…
(Circa 1,650 BCE)

The Nebra Sky Disk. (View Larger)
The Nebra Sky Disk
(1,600 BCE)

1,000 BCE – 300 BCE

A Wooden Dove Automaton
(Circa 400 BCE)

"The Founding Document of Mathematics"
(323 BCE – 283 BCE)

300 BCE – 30 CE

The Earliest Surviving Analog Computer: the Antikythera Mechanism
(Circa 150 BCE – 100 BCE)

Hipparchos.
Probably the First Trigonometric Table
(Circa 150 BCE)

A portrait of Hipparchus from the title page of William Cunningham's Cosmographicall Glasse (1559). (View Larger)
Invention of the Astrolabe
(Circa 150 BCE – 100 BCE)

Caesar
Julius Caesar Introduces a Calendar and Plans a Great Library
(46 BCE)

30 CE – 500 CE

The Last Known Datable Cuneiform Tablet
(75 CE)

Ptolemy
At Alexandria Ptolemy Writes the Almagest, the Cosmographia, and the Tetrabiblos
(Circa 100 CE – 178 CE)

The Johnson Papyrus, a fragment of an early fifth century herbal. (View Larger)
The Oldest Extant Book Illustrations of Plants
(Circa 400 CE)

500 CE – 600

A page from Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum, depicting a perspective of a house and the boundaries of the property on which it was built. (View Larger)
One of Few Surviving "Scientific" Manuscripts from Late Antiquity
(Circa 500 CE – 1554)

An illustration of illustration of the species 'Akoniton napellus,' folio 67v. (View Larger)
Probably the Most Beautiful of the Earliest Surviving Scientific Codices
(Circa 512)

The Plague of Justinian
(541 – 542)

Gundishapur, province of Khuzestan, Iran. (View Larger)
Most Important Medical Center During 6th and 7th Centuries
(550 – 650)

Folios 33v-34r from MS. Ashmole 1431, an eleventh century copy of the Herbal of Pseudo-Apuleius. (View Larger)
The Herbal of Pseudo-Apuleius
(Circa 550 – 625)

600 – 700

Folio 90v of the Naples Dioscurides, a description of the Mandrake. (View Larger)
The Naples Dioscorides
(Circa 625)

A depiction of a constellation from the Dunhuang Chinese Sky. (View Larger)
The Earliest Known Star Atlas
(649 – 684)

The Abbey at Corbie. (View Larger)
Foundation of Corbie Abbey
(659 – 661)

700 – 800

A portrait of the Venerable Bede, by John Doyle Penrose, c. 1902.
Finger Reckoning and Computus in the Eighth Century
(725)

Historia ecclasiastica gentis Anglorum, folio 3v of Beda Petersburgiensis, dated 746. (View Larger)
The Foundation of English History
(Circa 731)

A modern photograph of a courtyard in the House of Wisdom, also known as the Bait al-Hikma. (View Larger)
Foundation of the House of Wisdom
(762)

800 – 900

Folio f32v of Harley 2767, the document from which most manuscripts of De architectura were copied. (View Larger)
The Archetype of De Architectura
(Circa 800)

The Plan of Saint Gall. (View Larger)
The Only Surviving Major Architectural Drawing from the Fall of the Roman…
(820 – 830)

A folio from the Bern Physiologus. (View Larger)
Medieval Natural History Bestseller
(825 – 850)

A Studio for Royal Mayan Scribes in the Ninth Century
(Circa 825)

The Earliest Surviving Text of Lucretius's De rerum natura
(Circa 825)

The Earliest Surviving Copy of Aristotle's Biological Works
(Circa 850)

The frontispiece of a 1709 edition of De re coquinaria. (View Larger)
The Earliest Surviving Cookbook
(Circa 850)

Codex Heidelbergensis 398: the single document, edited by Sigismund Gelenius, that recounts the periplus of Hanno. (View Larger)
The Periplus of Hanno the Navigator
(Circa 850 – 950)

900 – 1000

Folio 1r of Harley MS 55, the only surviving copy of the Leechbook of Bald. The manuscript resides in the British Library. (View Larger)
One of the Oldest Medical or Scientific Treatises Written in English
(Circa 900)

The earliest astrolabe. (View Larger)
The Earliest Surviving Dated Astrolabe
(927 – 928)

Folio 114v of MS M 652, in the Pierpont Morgan Library. (View Larger)
The Morgan Dioscorides
(Circa 930 – 970)

Vat. gr. 218 fols. 39v-40r, two pages of the earliest surviving copy of Pappus's 'Collection.' (View Larger)
The Earliest Surviving Copy of Pappus's Mathematical Collection
(Circa 950)

The Earliest Evidence of European Acquisition of Islamic Science
(Circa 950)

A diagram of an anaclastic lens, reproduced from Ibn Sahl's manuscript, 'On Burning Mirrors and Lenses.' (View Larger)
First Discovery of the Law of Refraction
(984)

Gerbert Requests a Latin Transation of an Arabic Text
(May 984)

1000 – 1100

Gerbert d'Aurillac, scholar, teacher, tutor, and counsellor to Otto II and Pope Sylvester II. (View Larger)
The Mathematician Pope Reintroduces the Abacus and Armillary Sphere
(Circa 1000)

Folios 325r and 326v of MS. Marsh 144, depicting the constellation Orion. (View Larger)
The Oldest Surviving Illustrated Manuscript in Arabic
(1009 – 1010)

A portrait of Ibn al_Haytham, once printed on the obverse side of an Iraqi 10-dinar bill.
Foundation of Experimental Physics, Optics, and the Science of Vision
(1011 – 1021)

A Qatarian postage stamp portraying Ibn al-Haitham. (View Larger) <p>Persian scientist Abu Ali Al-Hasan <a href=
Construction of the First Camera Obscura
(1012 – 1021)

Production of Medieval Arabic Manuscripts
(Circa 1025)

Page 74 of the Dresden Codex, depicting a great flood, flowing from the mouth of a celestial dragon. This represents the Central American notion of apocolypse. (View Larger)
The Earliest Surviving Book Written in the Americas
(Circa 1050 – 1150)

A bust of Shen Kua. (View Larger)
Earliest Description of the Compass
(1086)

1100 – 1200

Folio 1 of Codex 2527, preserved at the Austrian National Library. (View Larger)
Medieval Handbook of Applied Arts Including Book Production
(1100 – 1120)

Earliest Record of the Use of the Compass in Navigation
(1119)

Book X Chapters 6-7 of Gerard de Cremona's thirteenth century translation of Ptolemy's Almagest. (View Larger)
The Leading Translator from the Arabic
(Circa 1150 – 1175)

Originator of the Concept of Mathematical Function
(Circa 1150)

1200 – 1300

Folio 124r of the Codex magliabechiano, a manuscript of Liber Abaci preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze. (View Larger)
Fibonacci Introduces Arabic Numerals to the European Public and Describes…
(1202)

A depiction of the Castle Water Clock from al-Jazari's 'Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.' This manuscript is preserved at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. (View Larger)
Perhaps the Earliest Programmable Analog Computer
(1206)

The Greater Kyz Kala at Merv, presumed to be the residence of a noble or royal personage. (View Larger)
No Fewer than Twelve Libraries Available to the Public in Merv
(1228)

A schematic for Pierre de Maricourt's perpetual motion machine, from an early edition of the Epistola. (View Larger)
Discovery of the Compass--The Earliest Known European Work of Experimental…
(1269)

Survival of the Works of Archimedes was Dependent upon Three Manuscripts, Only One of Which Survived to the Present
(1269 – 1544)

1300 – 1400

A reproduction of Tabula Rogeriana. (View Larger)
The Most Accurate World Map for Three Centuries
(Circa 1300)

Folio 11 of MS M.232, the Morgan Library's 1470 Belgian manuscript of Ruralia Commoda. (View Larger)
Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Horticulture
(Circa 1304 – 1309)

A portrait of Ramon Llull. (View Larger)
Logical Machines for the Production of Knowledge
(1305)

The Earliest Dated Astrolabe Made in Europe
(1326)

The spread of the Bubonic plague in Europe. (View Larger)
The Black Death
(1347 – 1353)

A pair of leather spectacles, found, among other artifacts, in 1953 beneath the floorboards of Kloster Wienhausen, near Celle, in Germany. (View Larger)
The Earliest Surviving Spectacles
(Circa 1350)

The first depiction of spectacles in art: a portrait of Cardinal Hugo of Provence at his writing desk, painted by Tommaso de Mondena in fresco in the Basilica San Nicolo in Treviso, Italy. (View Larger)
The Earliest Depiction of Eyeglasses in a Painted Work of Art
(1352)

1400 – 1450

The Rediscovery of Lucretius's De rerum natura
(1417 – 1473)

The Aztec Calendar Stone. (View Larger)
The Aztec Calendar Stone
(1427 – 1479)

1450 – 1500

The First Known Medical or Scientific Work to be Printed, Surviving in Only One Copy
(1456)

Adolf Rusch's printing of the encyclopedia 'De Sermonum Propietate,
The First Printed Encyclopedia
(1467)

The Only Formal Roman Treatise on Geography
(September 25, 1471)

This edition of Roberto Valturio's 'De re militari' contains the first woodcuts on a scientific subject, used not for artistic embellishment but for diagraming and explanation. (View Larger)
The First Printed Book on Technology with the First Woodcuts on a Scientific…
(1472)

The First Medical or Scientific Treatise to be First Published as a Printed Book Rather than a Manuscript
(April 21, 1472)

The First Technical Dictionary
(1473 – 1474)

Possibly the Earliest Physician's Library Preserved Intact
(1474)

The First Printed Edition of the First Geography Contains No Maps
(September 13, 1475)

The first edition of Konrad von Megenberg's 'Buch der Natur' was both the first German natural history and the first woodcut-illustrated natural history, including this woodcut from the chapter on zoology. (View Larger)
The First Illustrated Printed Book on Natural History
(October 30, 1475)

The First "Modern" Title Page
(1476)

The First Printed Compilation of Works on Biology
(1476)

The First Book with Engraved Maps
(1477)

The First Printed Herbal
(May 9, 1477)

The First Printed Edition of Dioscorides
(July 1478)

The First Printed Herbal with Illustrations and Probably the First Series of Illustrations on a Scientific Subject
(Circa 1481 – 1482)

The Most Famous Textbook Ever Published
(May 25, 1482)

Among the Earliest Printed Mathematical Tables
(July 4, 1483)

Leonardo's Anatomical Drawings
(Circa 1485 – 1516)

The First Book Illustration Printed in Three Colors
(1485)

The First Great General Work on Mathematics
(November 10 – November 20, 1494)

The Editio Princeps of Aristotle in Greek
(November 1495 – June 1498)

1500 – 1550

The Aesthetic Anatomy of Human Proportion
(1528)

First Accurate, Detailed Woodcuts of Plants Taken Directly from Nature
(1530 – 1536)

The First Printed Edition of the Greek Text of Euclid
(September 1533)

The "Fire-Using Arts, Including the First Description of Typecasting
(1540)

Leonhard Fuch's 'herbal,' the second produced, described over 500 plants, including over 100 foreign ones, but was also unique for its inclusion of self-portraits of the three artists responsible for the woodcut illustrations. (View Larger)
With Self-Portraits of the Artists
(1542)

Copernicus' own manuscript of 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium,' published shortly before his death in 1543, showing his theory of a heliocentric system, as opposed to Ptolemy's geocentric system, which accepted as nearly self-evident since Classical times. (View Larger)
The Copernican Revolution Begins
(1543)

The title page of Andreas Versalius' 'De humani corporis fabrica libri septem,' published in 1543, was a revolutionary work of unmatched scientific and artistic precision. (View Larger)
Unprecedented Blending of Scientific Exposition, Art and Typography
(June 1543)

The First Ornithological Treatise to Contain Descriptions of Individual Species Based upon the Author's own Observations
(1544)

In 1545, Swiss zoologist and naturalist Conrad Gessner publishes the first 'universal bibliography,' cataloging about 12,000 titles in an attempt to control the 'labyrinth' of books and information which had arrisen since the invention of printing. (View Larger)
The First Universal Bibliography Since the Invention of Printing
(1545 – 1555)

Pioneering Work on Environmental Science and Meteorology
(1546)

First Attempt to Formulate Methods of Identification of an Exotic Drug and Methods of Detecting its Adulteration
(October 1546)

1550 – 1600

<p>A page of the <em>Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis</em>, an Aztec herbal composed in 1552 by Martin de la Cruz and translated into Latin by Juan Badianus, illustrating the <em>tlahcolteocacatl</em>, <em>tlayapaloni, axocotl</em>, and <em>chicomacatl</em> plants, which were used to make a " />
Aztec Medical Botany and Psychoactive Plants
(1552)

<p>Engraved portrait of Hernan Cortes by W. Holl and published by Charles Knight.</p>
The First Treatise on Mathematics Published in the Western Hemisphere and the First Textbook on Any Subject Besides Religion Printed Outside of Europe
(1556)

Foundation of the First Scientific Society in the Renaissance
(1560 – 1578)

The Earliest Effort to Systematize Botanical Description; Discovery of Sulfuric Ether
(1561)

The Fallopian Tubes and Numerous Other Anatomical Discoveries
(1561)

The Earliest Surviving Books Printed in India from Movable Type
(July 2, 1561 – April 10, 1563)

The Eustachian Tube and Many Other Discoveries
(1563)

The First Medical Book Printed in the Western Hemisphere with the Earliest Illustrations of Plants Printed in the Western Hemisphere
(1570)

One of the Earliest Pop-Up Books
(1570)

One of the First Physicians to Draw the Illustrations for his Own Publications
(1572 – 1573)

Classic of Mathematics and Typography
(1579)

The Gregorian Calendar
(February 24, 1582)

The Medici Press
(1584)

Moving the Obelisk
(1590)

The First Book Devoted Exclusively to the Structure of an Animal Other than Man
(1598)

1600 – 1650

The First World Map Showing Isogonic Lines
(1602 – 1604)

Foundation of the Accademia dei Lincei, the First Scientific Society
(August 17, 1603)

The First "Computer Manual"
(1606)

Among the First Records of Litigation over an Invention
(1607)

Invention of the Telescope
(1608)

Images of Revolutionary Discoveries Concerning the Universe
(March 1610)

Optics and Color Theory, Illustrated by Peter Paul Rubens
(1613)

The Invention of Logarithms
(1614)

Napier's Bones & the Lightning Calculator
(1617)

Plant Classification Based upon General Morphology
(1623)

Discovery and Experimental Proof of the Circulation of the Blood
(1628)

The First Book to Contain Images of Organisms Viewed through the Microscope
(1630)

Precursor of the Royal Society
(August 23, 1633 – June 10, 1641)

"Je pense, donc je suis."
(1637)

The Earliest Known Graph of Statistical Data
(1644)

The First Extensive Moon Atlas
(1647)

1650 – 1700

<p>A painting of Samuel Pepys by John Hayls, 1666.</p>
One of the Most Significant Private Libraries Preserved Intact from Seventeenth Century England, in its Original Bookcases
(Circa 1650 – 1703)

Probably the Most Influential of Historical Chronologies: The World Was Created in 4004 BCE
(1650 – 2012)

Encrypted Notice of the Discovery of Saturn's Ring
(1656)

Invention of the Pendulum Clock, Increasing Accuracy Sixty Fold
(1656)

Saturn's Ring
(1659)

The Longest Series of Monthly Temperature Observations
(1659)

Attack on Air Pollution
(1661)

Mechanistic View of the Human Body
(1662)

Argument for Forest Management
(1664)

Graphic Portrayal of the Hitherto Unknown Microcosm
(1665)

The First Scientific Journal
(January 5, 1665)

The Oldest Continuous Journal of an Academy of Science
(March 6, 1665)

The First Medical or Scientific Publication in North America, Known from a Single Surviving Copy
(1667)

A Universal Language Based on a Classification Scheme or Ontology, and a Universal System of Measurement
(1668)

The Mathematical Analysis of Pendulum Motion
(1673)

The First Book on the Classification of Birds Without Respect to Geographical Boundaries
(1676)

The First Scientific Book Written by a Native Latin American to be Published in the Western Hemisphere
(1681)

First Publication on the Differential Calculus
(1684)

Newton's Principia Mathematica
(1687)

The Wave or Pulse Theory of Light
(1690)

The First Book Catalogue Published in America
(1693)

The Structural Relationships between the Body of Man and the Anthropoid Ape
(1699)

1700 – 1750

The Foundation of Occupational Medicine and Ergonomics
(1700)

Reflecting Surrealism Centuries Before Surrealism Became Fashionable
(1701 – 1725)

Newton's Opticks
(1704)

The First English Encyclopedia Arranged in Alphabetical Order
(1704 – 1710)

First Publication of Newton's Early Writings on the Calculus
(1711)

Newton - Leibniz Dispute over Invention of the Calculus
(1712)

Early Government Incentive for Scientific Research
(November 12, 1713 – 1714)

First Book Entirely Devoted to Marine Science and First Oceanographic Study of a Single Region
(1725)

The First Natural History of North American Flora and Fauna
(1729 – 1747)

Systema Naturae
(1735)

Mechanical and Industrial Arts of 18th Century France
(1749 – 1814)

1750 – 1800

The Central Enterprise of the French Enlightenment
(1751 – 1780)

Binomial Nomenclature for Plants
(1753)

The British Museum is Founded
(January 11, 1753)

Binomial Nomenclature for Animals
(1758)

The British Museum Opens
(1759)

The First Scientific Explanation of Tsunamis
(1760)

Probably the First Color-Printed Illustrations in a Major Scientific Periodical
(1761 – 1762)

Bayes's Theorem
(1763)

Computing the "Seaman's Bible"
(1766)

Discovery that Growing Plants Restore Air Vitiated by Combustion or Respiration
(1772)

The First Book on Western Medicine and Science Published in Japanese
(1774)

The First Textbook on Zoogeography
(1777)

Lichtenberg Figures
(1777)

The First Chemistry Journal
(1778)

Discovery of Photosynthesis
(1779)

The First National Geological Atlas
(1780)

The First Aerial Voyages
(1783 – 1784)

The First to Study the Effect of Gravity on Light
(1784)

Early Archaeological Exploration of Fertility Rites
(1786)

Watt Invents the Centrifugal Governor
(1788)

The First Road Atlas of the United States
(1789 – 1792)

Martyr to Chemistry
(1789)

The First Successful Speech Synthesizer
(1791)

The Metric System
(1793 – 1794)

Discovery of Echolocation or Biosonar
(1794)

Discovery of the Method of Least Squares
(1795)

The Beginning of the Scientific and Art Historical Studies on Leonardo da Vinci
(1797)

Malthus on Population
(1798)

The Introduction of Bleach in Paper Production
(1798 – 1799)

Celestial Mechanics
(1799 – 1827)

1800 – 1850

Phasing Out Latin as the International Language
(1800)

The Prince of Mathematicians
(1801)

Written From a Viewpoint in Harmony with the Modern Ecology Movement
(1802 – 1818)

Bowditch's "New American Practical Navigator"
(1802)

The Carbon Content of Soil is Produced by Vegetation
(1804)

Geographical-Ecological Plant Associations
(1805)

The Meter (Metre) is Calculated Scientifically
(1806 – 1821)

The First Periodic Table of the Elements
(1808 – 1827)

Foundation of Aerodynamics and Invention of the Airplane
(1809 – 1810)

The First Book on Modern Food Preservation Methods
(1810)

The First Illustrated Book Published in Australia
(1813)

First Recognizable Statement of the Theory of Natural Selection
(1818)

The Natural History of Man
(1819)

A Time-Capsule of Technology
(1819)

The Fourier Series
(1822)

The First American Book with Lithographed Illustrations
(1822)

The First Genuine Human Fossil Discovered by a Scientist
(1823)

The Double Publication of the Double Elephant Folio of Anatomy
(1823 – 1826)

Animal Ecology
(1824)

First Description of the Greenhouse Effect
(1824)

The First Ecological Experiment; Source of Darwin's Principle of Divergence
(1826)

Discovery of the Mammalian Ovum
(1827)

Brownian Motion
(1828)

Non-Euclidean Geometry
(1829 – 1830)

The Basis for Electricity Generation
(1831)

Non-Euclidean Geometry Independently Discovered
(1832 – 1833)

William Whewell Coins the Term "Scientist"
(1833)

The First Great American Contribution to Physiology
(1833)

Theory of the Ice Age; Global Cooling and Warming
(1834 – 1841)

The "Average Man"
(1835)

Genesis of the "Three-Age" System in Archaeology
(1836)

Foundation of the Cell Theory
(1838)

Daguerreotypes: The First Commonly Used Photographic Process
(January 7 – August 19, 1839)

The First Separate Publication on Photography
(January 31, 1839)

The Doppler Principle
(1842)

Michael Faraday on Decay in Leather Bookbindings
(April 7, 1843)

The First Book Illustrated with Photographs
(October 1843 – 1853)

Computing within the Context of Biology
(1844)

Foundation of Microphotography; Landmark in Hematology, Oncology, and Pathology
(1844 – 1845)

The First Photographically Illustrated Book Commercially Published.
(June 1844 – April 1846)

Beginning of the American Conservation Movement
(1846)

Pioneering Treatise on the Antiquity of Man
(1846 – 1849)

Sending Weather Information by Telegraph
(1847)

The First Scientific Instrument to Record Scientific Information in Real Time
(1847)

The First Separately Published Bibliography on the History of Science
(1847)

1850 – 1875

The First Modern Institution of Learning in Iran
(1851)

First Widely Read Textbook of Oceanography and Atmospherics
(1855)

Physiological Optics, Published Over 11 Years
(1856 – 1867)

The First Book to Include a Photograph of its Author
(1857)

Lissajous Figures
(1857)

First Printed Exposition of the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
(August 20, 1858)

The Beginning of the American Petroleum Industry
(August 27, 1859)

On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection
(November 24, 1859)

The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man
(January 1863)

Man's Place in Nature
(February 1863)

"Darwin among the Machines"
(June 13, 1863)

Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
(1864)

Fountainhead of the Conservation Movement
(1864)

Field Equations
(1865)

Pre-Historic Times
(1865)

Discovery of the Mendelian Ratios
(1865)

"On Governors"
(1868)

The Wallace Line
(1869)

The Periodic Law and the Periodic Table
(1869)

Discovery of DNA
(1869 – 1871)

Mathematical Study of Anthropological Data
(1871)

Human Origins Will be Found in Africa
(1871)

"Erewhon"
(1872)

Darwin Founds Ethology, Studies the Conveyance of Information, and Contributes to Psychology
(1872)

"Poisonous Papers," and a Poisonous Book Published in an Edition of 100 Copies
(1873 – 1874)

The Principia of Thermodynamics
(1874 – 1878)

Maxwell's Three-Dimensional Thermodynamic Surface in Clay
(1874)

1875 – 1900

The Earliest Exhibition Exclusively of Scientific Instruments
(1876)

The First Comprehensive Global Study of Zoogeography, Including the first Global Biodiversity Map
(1876 – December 2012)

Pioneering Study of Community Ecology
(1877)

The First Supersonic Image; The Mach Angle and Mach Number
(1877)

Recording Scientific Results Graphically
(1878)

The First Extensively Used Scientific Method of Criminal Identification
(1879)

Index Medicus Begins
(1879)

Could Life From Other Planets Have Been Carried to Earth by Meteorites?
(1880)

Fingerprints as a System of Identification
(October 8, 1880)

Richard Owen Calls Darwin the "Copernicus of Biology"
(November 5, 1882)

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
(1884)

The First Scientific Study of the Effects of Cocaine
(1884)

"Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology"
(1885)

The First Photo-Interview
(September 5, 1886)

Hertz Proves the Existence of Electromagnetic Waves
(1887)

Aquatic Ecosystem Science
(1887)

Historical Graphic Interpretation of Man's Quest for Knowledge of the Universe
(1888)

The First Textbook of Mechanical Flight
(1889)

Electromagnetic Waves: the Basis for Radio
(1892)

Finger Prints as a Means of Identification
(1892)

The First Organized and Published Collection of Aviation Research
(1894)

Invention of Radio
(1895)

The Origin of Psychoanalysis
(1895)

Rontgen Discovers X-Rays
(November 8, 1895)

The First to Quantify the Impact of Carbon Dioxide on the Greenhouse Effect
(1896)

The First Cathode Ray Tube
(1897)

The Last Great Original Work in Science to be Published First as a Monograph Rather than in a Scientific Journal
(November 4, 1899)

1900 – 1910

Mathematische Probleme
(1900)

Foundation of Quantum Theory
(1900)

Invention of the Motorized Airplane
(September 18, 1901 – May 2, 1906)

The Beginnings of Modern Spaceflight Theory
(May 1903 – 1914)

The Beginning of Electronics
(November 16, 1904 – September 21, 1905)

Einstein's Annus Mirabilis
(1905)

A New Standard for Descriptive Bibliography in the History of Science
(1906)

Curtis's The North American Indian
(1907 – 1930)

The First Prediction of the Possibility of Man-Made Global Warming
(1908)

The First Library of Rare Science Books Formed by an American
(1908)

The Wheeler Gift Catalogue of the History of Electricity and Telegraphy
(1909)

The First Large-Scale Investigation of Species Differences at the Molecular Level
(1909)

1910 – 1920

Principia Mathematica
(1910 – 1913)

Management of Water Pollution
(1911)

"Ridgway Colors"
(1912)

How the Quipu System of Mathematical Record-Keeping Worked
(1912)

The Theory of Continental Drift
(1912)

The First European Work on Theoretical Astronautics
(1913 – 1934)

Moseley's Law in X-Ray Spectra
(1913 – 1914)

The Structure and Dynamics of the Atom
(July – November 1913)

General Relativity
(1916)

Plant Succession
(1916)

The Basis for Computed Tomography
(1917)

Coordinating National Standards Development
(October 19, 1918)

The Earliest Practical Treatise on the Development of Rocketry for Space Flight
(1919 – March 16, 1926)

The First Experimental Proof of General Relativity
(November 6, 1919)

1920 – 1930

Using 64,000 Human Computers to Predict the Weather
(1922)

The Rocket in Interplanetary Space
(June 1923 – 1929)

The Creation of Bell Labs
(1925)

The Basic Equations for Two-Species Interactions
(1926)

Animal Ecology
(1927)

First Use of Punched Cards in a Purely Scientific Application
(1928 – 1929)

The Relationship between Information and Thermodynamics
(1929)

The Expanding Universe
(1929)

1930 – 1940

The First Machine to Perform Complex Scientific Calculations Automatically
(1933 – 1934)

Origins of the X-Planes and the Space Shuttle
(1933 – 1944)

Invention of the Sociogram: Some of the Earliest Graphic Depictions of Social Networks
(April 3, 1933 – 1934)

The First Independent Scientific Computing Service
(1937)

"The Most Significant Master's Thesis of the 20th Century"
(August 10, 1937)

DDT is Discovered, and Eventually Banned
(1939 – 1972)

One of the First "Maps of Science"
(1939)

1940 – 1950

The Fitzwilliam Museum Exhibition of Printing: Precursor to "Printing and the Mind of Man"
(May 6 – May 16, 1940)

First Application of Electric Punched Card Tabulating Equipment in Crystal Structure Analysis
(1941 – 1946)

The Birth of Ecosystem Ecology
(1942)

The First Mathematical Model of a Neural Network
(1943)

"The Program has to Build the Machinery to Execute Itself"
(March 1943 – 1944)

The Initial Interrogations of the Nazi Rocket Team and the First Publication Outside of Nazi Germany of Rocketry Research at Peenemunde East
(1945)

Communication by Geosynchronous Satellites Predicted
(October 1945)

The Macy Conferences
(1946 – 1953)

Invention of Holography
(1947)

Invention of the Transistor
(December 1947)

Comparing the Functions of Genes to Self-Reproducing Automata
(September 20, 1948)

1950 – 1960

The First Weather Forecast by Electronic Computer
(1950)

"Language and Communication"
(1951)

The First Application of an Electronic Computer to Molecular or Structural Biology
(July 9 – July 12, 1951)

Invention of the MASER
(1953)

The Idea of a Genetic Code
(1953 – 1954)

The Beginning of Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
(1953)

The Double Helix
(April 25, 1953)

Discovery of DNA's Method of Replication
(May 30, 1953)

The Beginning of Medical Ultrasonography
(October 29, 1953)

Coining the Phrase "Social Network"
(1954)

The First Routine Real-Time Numerical Weather Forecasting
(December 1954)

The First Amino Acid Sequence of a Protein
(1955)

"The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two. . . "
(April 15, 1955 – 1956)

Beginning of Doppler Ultrasound
(1957)

Chomsky's Syntactic Structures
(1957)

On Protein Synthesis
(September 1957)

The First Operational Satellite Navigation System
(October 4, 1957 – 1960)

Sputnik is Launched
(October 4, 1957)

The First Obstetrical or Gynecological Sonograms
(1958)

The First Solution of the Three-Dimensional Molecular Structure of a Protein
(1958 – 1960)

The U.S. Launches Explorer-1
(January 31, 1958)

ARPA is Founded
(February 7, 1958)

Kilby Conceives of the Integrated Circuit
(July 1958)

Manufacturing Integrated Circuits
(1959)

The Complicated Discovery of the LASER
(1959)

The Corona Strategic Imaging Satellites
(June 1959 – May 1972)

1960 – 1970

Invention of the First Working Laser
(1960)

Bionics
(September 13 – September 15, 1960)

The Genetic Code
(1961)

The First Human to Travel into Space and the First to Orbit the Earth
(April 12, 1961)

"Silent Spring"
(1962)

The Largest Archive of Digital Social Science Data
(1962)

Licklider at the Information Processing Techniques Office, Begins Funding Research that Leads to the ARPANET
(October 1, 1962)

Changes in Tissue Density Can be Computed
(1963 – 1964)

The Printing and the Mind of Man Exhibition
(July 16 – July 27, 1963)

Touch-Tone Dialing is Introduced
(November 1963)

Smoking and Health
(January 11, 1964)

Optical Fibers Proposed as a Medium for Communication
(1965)

The Invention of Digital Image Processing
(1966)

First System for Interactive Display of Molecular Structures
(1966)

The Theory of "Island" Biogeography
(1967)

The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age
(1968)

Invention of Three-Dimensional Image Processing
(January 1968)

The First Manned Apollo Flights Occur
(December 24, 1968)

A Sensor for Recording Images
(1969)

The First Book on Digital Physics
(1969)

Problem with the Apollo 11 Guidance Computer Nearly Prevents the First Moon Walk
(July 21, 1969)

1970 – 1980

Nitrous Oxide Impacts the Stratospheric Ozone Layer
(1970)

Medline is Operational
(October 1971)

The First Patent for MRI
(March 17, 1972)

The First Practical Method for Cloning a Gene
(1973)

The Beginnings of Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(1973)

The Brain-Computer Interface
(1973)

Code of Fair Information Practice
(July 1973)

The Endangered Species Act of 1973
(December 28, 1973)

Foundation of the Biotechnology Industry
(1974)

CFCs Deplete the Ozone Layer
(1974)

The Fractal Geometry of Nature
(1975 – 1982)

The Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA
(February 1975)

Genetech is Founded
(April 7, 1976)

A Technique for Sequencing DNA
(1977)

The Sanger Method of Rapid DNA Sequencing
(1977)

Making MRI Feasible
(1977)

Launching "Messages in a Bottle" into the Cosmic Ocean
(1977)

The First GPS
(February 1977)

1980 – 1990

CSNET
(1981)

Flexible Image Transport System (FITS)
(1981)

Discovery of Quantum Dots
(1981)

The First Whole Genome Shotgun Sequence
(1982)

Defining a General Framework for Studying Complex Biological Systems
(1982)

The First Study of Ancient DNA (aDNA)
(November 15, 1984)

Origins of the Human Genome Project
(December 1984 – April 1987)

Discovery of the Antarctic Ozone Hole
(May 16, 1985)

The First Semi-Automatic DNA Sequencer
(1986)

The First Map of the Functioning Structure of an Entire Brain
(November 12, 1986)

The First DNA Sequencing Machine
(1987)

Proposals to Sequence the Human Genome
(1987)

"Toward a National Research Telecommunications Network"
(November 1987)

Mathematica 1.0
(1988)

Australia Issues the First Polymer Banknote ($10)
(January 1988)

Probably the Worst Library Fire in History
(February 14, 1988)

The National Center for Biotechnology Information is Founded
(November 4, 1988)

1990 – 2000

"Clearing the Way for Electronic Commerce"
(1991)

Expressed Sequence Tags
(1991)

Venter Founds TIGR
(1992)

Cyberpsychology
(January 1996)

The Last Printed Edition of Beilstein is Published
(1998)

Venter Founds Celera Genomics
(May 1998)

2000 – 2005

On the Value of the History of Science in Scientific Research
(2000)

The Most Extensive Computation Ever Undertaken in Biology
(June 26, 2000)

Publication of the Human Genome Sequence
(February 15 – February 16, 2001)

ECHO (European Cultural Heritage Online) is Founded
(December 1, 2002)

Image Manipulation in Scientific Publications
(July 6, 2004)

Cortical Rewiring and Information Storage
(October 14, 2004)

2005 – 2010

Attempting to Use an Ink-Jet Printer to Print Living Tissue. . . .
(2005)

Google Earth is Launched
(2005)

"Last Child in the Woods" : Exploration of Nature Versus Exposure to Media in Childhood
(2005)

The First Intelligible Word from an Extinct South American Civilization?
(August 12, 2005)

Connectomes
(September 30, 2005)

The Genetic Code of Avian Flu Virus H5N1 is Deciphered
(October 5, 2005)

Springer Published 50,000 eBooks
(2006 – January 19, 2012)

Using Currency Movements to Predict the Spread of Infectious Disease
(January 26, 2006)

A Research Library Based on Historical Collections of the Internet Archive
(February 2006)

Molecular Animation
(July 30, 2006 – August 3, 2007)

Nature Announces Peer to Peer Review
(September 14, 2006)

The Royal Society Digital Journal Archive
(October 29, 2006)

Previously Unknown Speeches by Hyperides
(November 2006)

The EPA Begins to Close its Scientific Libraries
(November 20, 2006)

Demanding that the U.S. EPA Desist from Destroying its Libraries
(November 30, 2006)

Is the Universe Made of Information?
(February 2007)

Data-Storing Bacteria Could Last Thousands of Years
(February 27, 2007)

Watson's Genome
(May 31, 2007)

The First Healthcare Course Taught in Second Life
(September 2007)

Brainbow: A Colorful Technique to Visualize Brain Circuitry
(November 2007)

The First Computer to Go Petascale
(May 25, 2008)

The Effect of Decay Fungi on Wood Used in the Production of Violins
(June 28, 2008)

First Images of Extra-Solar Planets Taken from the Visible Spectrum: Planets Located 130 Light-Years from Earth
(November 13, 2008)

Scientists Sequence Woolly Mammoth Genome--the First of an Extinct Animal
(November 19, 2008)

First Reported Case of ZZZ-Mailing
(December 15, 2008)

Google Earth Incorporates Historical Imagery
(February 2, 2009)

A Higher Resolution Map of Knowledge Than Can be Produced from Citation Analysis
(March 11, 2009)

Using Automation to Find "Fundamental Laws of Nature"
(April 3, 2009)

Robot Scientist becomes the First Machine to Discover New Scientific Knowledge
(April 3, 2009)

Using YouTube Videos to Study the Origins of Music in Societies
(April 30, 2009)

Using Air Traffic and Currency Tracking Data in Epidemiology
(May 3, 2009)

The Human Connectome Project
(July 2009)

The Cost of DeCoding a Human Genome Drops to $50,000
(August 10, 2009)

Imaging a Molecule One Million Times Smaller Than a Grain of Sand
(August 28, 2009)

Confirmation that Fungally-Treated Wood Enables Great Violin Sound
(September 2009)

'Material Degradomics" or, The Sniff Test
(September 17, 2009)

A "Significant Amount" of Water is Discovered on the Moon
(November 13, 2009)

2010 – 2011

"Atlas of Science: Visualizing What We Know"
(2010)

Biological Journals to Require Data-Archiving
(January 2010)

Probably the First Fully Visually Satisfying Interactive eBook
(April 5, 2010)

"The First Image of the Entire Universe"
(July 5, 2010)

Stanford's New Engineering Library Will House Few Physical Books
(July 8, 2010)

NCBI Introduces Images, a Database of More than 2.5 Million Images in Biomedical Literature
(October 2010)

Google Earth 6: Enhanced 3D, 3D Trees, Enhanced Historical Imagery
(November 30, 2010)

The Google Earth Engine
(December 2, 2010)

Seventy Online Databases that "Define Our Planet"
(December 3, 2010)

Culturomics Introduced by the Cultural Observatory
(December 16, 2010)

2011 – 2013

Probably the Largest Digital Image
(January 13, 2011)

Koomey’s Law of Electrical Efficiency in Computing
(March 2011)

"Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out": The New York Public Library Buys the Timothy Leary Papers
(June 2011)

Construction of the Francis Crick Institute Begins
(July 2011)

How Search Engines Have Become a Primary Form of External or Transactive Memory
(July 14, 2011)

The Cost of Sequencing a Human Genome Drops to $10,500
(November 30, 2011)

Burning of the Library of l'Institut de l'Egypte
(December 17, 2011)

The Cost of Sequencing a Human Genome Drops to $1000
(January 10, 2012)

Slides of Fossils Collected by Darwin on the Beagle Rediscovered
(January 17, 2012)

The First Functioning Brain-Computer Interface for Quadriplegics
(May 16, 2012)

The First Book Stored in DNA and then Read
(August 16, 2012)

The Human Genome is Packed with At Least 4,000,000 Gene Switches
(September 6, 2012)

Historicizing Big Data
(November 2012)

A Natural History of Data
(November 2012)

The First Teleportation from One Macroscopic Object to Another
(November 8, 2012)

The Secret Race to Save Manuscripts in Timbuktu and Djenne
(December 27, 2012)

2013 – Present

"The Human Brain Project" is Launched, with the Goal of Creating a Supercomputer-Based Simulation of the Human Brain
(January 28, 2013)

Drone Pilots Experience Stress Possibly Greater than Actual Combat Pilots
(February 23, 2013)

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The World's Smallest Movie
(April 30, 2013)