3874 entries. Last updated May 21, 2013.

Art and Science, Medicine, Technology Timeline Outline

  • Eras
  • Themes

2,500,000 BCE – 8,000 BCE

<p>Flutings at Rouffignac.  Both children and adults created cave art known as finger flutings in the French caverns of Rouffignac roughly 13,000 years ago.  Credit: Jessica Cooney / Leslie van Gelder).</p>
Pre-Historic Art Created by Children at the Cave of a Hundred Mammoths, Rouffignac
(Circa 11,000 BCE)

8,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE

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

300 BCE – 30 CE

The Portland Vase. Shown is the first of two scenes. (View Larger)
The Portland Vase: Classical Connoisseurship, Influence, Destruction &…
(30 BCE – 25 CE)

30 CE – 500 CE

The Earliest Egyptian Printed Cloth
(Circa 350 CE)

500 CE – 600

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)

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)

800 – 900

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

1000 – 1100

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)

1100 – 1200

The Coronation of Henry IV of Liber ad honorem Augusi sive de rebus Siculis, folio 105r of MS. 120 II, Berne Municipal Library. (View Larger)
A Graphic Portrayal of 12th Century Life in Italy and Sicily
(1196)

1200 – 1300

A scence from the long scroll 'Along the River During Qing Ming Festival,' in which a fifteen column saunpan is visible next to the account book and doctor's prescriptions. (View Larger)
The Suanpan
(Circa 1200)

Villard's schematic illustration of a perpetual-motion machine. Folio 1 of Fr.19093 preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationale. (View Larger)
The Portfolio of Villard de Honnecourt
(Circa 1230)

1300 – 1400

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)

One of the Most Beautiful Medieval Atlases
(1375)

1400 – 1450

This drawing, from Kyeser's 'Bellifortis,' depicts Alexander the Great holding a rocket. The legend of Alexander was a personal facination for Kyeser. (View Larger)
The First 15th Century Illustrated Treatise on Technology
(1402 – 1405)

Technological Manuscripts by the Sienese Archimedes
(1419 – 1449)

Folio 2r of Bellicorum instrumentorum liber, showing an 'Oriental siege machine.' (View Larger)
One of the Earliest Surviving Italian Manuscripts on Technology and War…
(Circa 1420)

Description of Textile Printing and Manuscript Illumination as Well as Painting
(July 31, 1437)

Henry VI. (View Larger)
The First English Patent for an Invention
(1449)

1450 – 1500

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)

Leonardo Builds a Programmable Mechanical Automaton
(1478)

Leonardo's Anatomical Drawings
(Circa 1485 – 1516)

The First Medical Book with Anatomical Illustrations
(July 26, 1491)

Probably the Earliest European Depiction of Native Americans
(1494)

1500 – 1550

The first printed edition of 'De Architectura,' originally written by Roman architect Marcus Virtuvius Pollio, was printed in Venice in 1511 and contained 136 woodcut illustrations and diagrams. (View Larger)
The First Illustrated Edition of Vitruvius
(May 22, 1511)

The First Work Since the Time of Galen to Show Original Anatomical Information Based upon Personal Investigation and Observation
(1521)

Interpreting Roman Architecture in the Language of the Renaissance
(July 15, 1521)

A Condensation of his Commentaria
(1522)

The Aesthetic Anatomy of Human Proportion
(1528)

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

Johann Dryander, one of the first German doctors to perform public disections, published his 'Anatomia Capitis Humani' in 1536, which contained the most extensive study on the human head to date, and the first 'Galenic dissection' of the brain. (View Larger)
The First Significant Book on the Anatomy of the Head
(1536 – 1537)

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)

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)

A Condensation or Road-Map to the Fabrica
(June 1543)

Erotic Images Made Acceptable by their Adaptation for Medical Purposes
(1545 – 1546)

Renaissance Surgery and Graphic Arts
(1545)

The First Edition of Vesalius Published in England
(October 1545 – 1553)

1550 – 1600

Who Discovered the Pulmonary Circulation?
(1559)

Classic of Mannerist Book Illustration and Printing
(June 28, 1560)

The Eustachian Tube and Many Other Discoveries
(1563)

Images of Trades and Technologies
(1568)

Renaissance Information Retrieval Device
(1588)

Moving the Obelisk
(1590)

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

1600 – 1650

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

Images of Revolutionary Discoveries Concerning the Universe
(March 1610)

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

At Attempt to Record All Human Knowledge in Visual Form
(Circa 1625 – 1665)

The First Extensive Moon Atlas
(1647)

1650 – 1700

Graphic Portrayal of the Hitherto Unknown Microcosm
(1665)

Anatomy in the Style of Dutch Still-Life Painting
(1685)

Baroque Anatomy and Plagiarism (?)
(1698)

1700 – 1750

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

Newton's Opticks
(1704)

The Three Primary Colors
(1708)

Invention of Color Printing
(1719)

Possibly the First Color-Printed Mezzotint Published
(1721)

The First Use of Full Color Printing by the Three-Color Process in a Medical or Scientific Book
(1736 – 1741)

The Cool, Elegant Aesthetic of Anatomy
(1747)

1750 – 1800

An Anatomy for Artists including Fantastical Elements
(1779)

Operations of a French Enlightenment Printing Shop Depicted
(Circa 1782)

Martyr to Chemistry
(1789)

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

1800 – 1850

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

The First Commercially Viable Method of Color Printing
(1835)

The Most Famous Image in the Early History of Computing
(1839)

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

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

The First Book on the Restoration of Rare Books and their Bindings
(1846)

1850 – 1875

The First Book of Printed Reproductions of Photographs
(1856 – 1857)

The First National Thematic Atlas
(1874)

1875 – 1900

Invention of Photogravure
(1878)

The First Book on Aerial Photography
(1886)

The First Photo-Interview
(September 5, 1886)

1900 – 1910

Revealing a Hidden Image in a Newspaper Article
(1901 – October 24, 2012)

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

1910 – 1920

"Ridgway Colors"
(1912)

1950 – 1960

The Earliest Pioneer in Electronic Art
(1950 – 1953)

"Can Man Build a Superman?"
(January 23, 1950)

Perhaps the First Computer-Controlled Aesthetic System
(1953)

The First Use of a Computer to Write Literary Texts
(October 1954)

1960 – 1970

<p>William A Fetter: while working for Boeing, made the first computer model of the human body (computer graphics.

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"Computer Graphics" Coined
(1960)

"A Computer Technique for the Production of Animated Movies"
(1963 – 1964)

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The First to Create Three-Dimensional Images of the Human Body Using a Computer
(1964)

The First Book on Computer Graphics
(1965)

The Earliest Public Exhibitions of Computer Art
(February 5 – November 26, 1965)

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

The First Widely-Attended International Exhibition of Computer Art
(August 2 – October 20, 1968)

The First Monograph by a Computer Artist
(December 1968)

1970 – 1980

The First Comprehensive Treatise on Computer Graphics with the First History of Computer Art
(1971)

The Fractal Geometry of Nature
(1975 – 1982)

1980 – 1990

The First Digital Image Database of Cultural Materials
(1987)

1990 – 2000

Encoded Sculpture
(November 3, 1990)

The Book and Beyond
(April 7 – October 1, 1995)

The Digital Michelangelo Project
(1998)

Foundation of Designboom
(1999)

2005 – 2010

Connectomes
(September 30, 2005)

Pixar at MOMA
(December 14, 2005)

Damage to Codex Atlanticus Caused by Efforts at Preservation
(April 2006)

The First Magazine Cover Created as iPhone Art
(June 1, 2009)

Discovery of Unknown Portrait by Leonardo Confirmed by a Fingerprint
(October 13, 2009)

David Hockney's iPhone Art
(October 22, 2009)

2010 – 2011

An Interactive Pop-Up Children's Book App for the iPhone & iPad
(December 16, 2010)

2011 – 2013

"Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information"
(2011)

The Google Art Project
(February 1, 2011)

Using a Densitometer to Measure Usage of Medieval Books of Hours
(April 23, 2012)

2013 – Present

Titian's Portrait of Girolamo Fracastoro is Rediscovered
(January 7, 2013)

The First 3D Printing Pen; Drawing Enters the Third Dimension
(February 2013)