|
|
1915
|
|
Germans use poison gas in
warfare
|
|
|
1915
|
|
Germany: Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental
drift
|
|
|
1917
|
|
Germany uses submarine
warfare
|
|
|
c.1920
|
|
Early radio broadcasting
|
|
|
1922
|
|
U.S.: First Technicolor movie film
made
|
|
|
1927
|
|
Charles Lindbergh makes first solo
nonstop flight from New York to Paris
|
|
|
1927
|
|
First “talking” movies
|
|
|
1928
|
|
United States: Color television patented
|
|
|
1928
|
|
Scotland: Sir Alexander Fleming
uses penicillin as antibiotic
|
|
|
1933
|
|
United States: Armstrong invents FM
radio
|
|
|
1935
|
|
Britian: Robert Watson-Watt
invents radar
|
|
|
1939
|
|
Germany: Otto Hahn discovers
atomic fission
|
|
|
1939
|
|
United States:
First helicopter
|
|
|
1941
|
|
Manhattan Project to build atomic bomb
begins
|
|
|
1942
|
|
United States: Enrico Fermi builds
first nuclear reactor
|
|
|
1943
|
|
Germany: First jet aircraft used in
combat
|
|
|
c.1943
|
|
Early computer prototypes developed for
wartime use
|
|
|
1947
|
|
United States: Chuck Yeager breaks sound
barrier
|
|
|
1947
|
|
United States:
First transistor
|
|
|
1952
|
|
United States detonates first hydrogen
bomb
|
|
|
1952
|
|
Britain: First passenger jet
|
|
|
1953
|
|
USSR explodes hydrogen bomb
|
|
|
c.1953
|
|
Germany:
High-density plastics
|
|
|
1953
|
|
United States and Britain: James Watson and Francis Crick find
structure of DNA
|
|
|
1954
|
|
United States: First birth control
pill
|
|
|
c.1956
|
|
United States: Development of early computer
languages
|
|
|
1957
|
|
USSR launches Sputnik satellite into
orbit
|
|
|
c.1958
|
|
United States: First nuclear-powered submarine
|
|
|
1958
|
|
United States: NASA formed
|
|
|
1960
|
|
United States: Laser invented
|
|
|
1961
|
|
Soviet cosmonaut orbits Earth
|
|
|
1963
|
|
Limited Test Ban Treaty bans nuclear
weapons tests in space, atmosphere, and oceans
|
|
|
1967
|
|
South Africa: First successful heart
transplant
|
|
|
1969
|
|
Apollo 11 astronauts walk on the
moon
|
|
|
1978
|
|
First “test-tube baby” born
|
|
|
1981
|
|
HIV
virus and AIDS first
identified
|
|
|
c.1981
|
|
First personal computers
|
|
|
1984
|
|
India: Gas leak at industrial plant
in Bhopal kills more than 15,000
|
|
|
1985
|
|
Microsoft Windows software
debuts
|
|
|
1986
|
|
Challenger space shuttle
disaster
|
|
|
1986
|
|
USSR: Accident at Chernobyl nuclear
reactor
|
|
|
1987
|
|
World population reaches 5 billion
|
|
|
1989
|
|
World Wide Web created
|
|
|
c.1990
|
|
AIDS epidemic begins in Africa
|
|
|
1994
|
|
First genetic engineering of
food
|
|
|
c.1996
|
|
Consensus begins to form around theory of climate change
via global warming
|
|
|
1997
|
|
International Space
Station created
|
|
|
1997
|
|
Britain: “Dolly” the
sheep cloned
|
|
|
1998
|
|
India and Pakistan test nuclear bombs
|
|
|
1999
|
|
Human genome project completely sequences
human chromosomal DNA
|
|
|
2003
|
|
Columbia space shuttle
disaster
|
|
|
2004
|
|
Bird flu begins to spread through
Asia
|
1914–Present: Science & Technology
