Science

circa 4,540,000,000 BCE — The Earth gets cooler

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

In the early millenia of what is sometimes referred to as the Hadean era of the Earth, there were no rocks as we would commonly understand the term – it was too hot for them to form. Still, the Earth was slowly cooling and solidifying. It’s worth noting that the Sun itself was not as hot at this time – like the larger planets of our solar system, it was still accreting matter to itself. Rockballs like the Earth (and Mars and Venus) were largely done with this process (although the occasional meteor or cometary impacts still occurred).

By the end of this era, approximately 3,800,000,000 years ago, the Earth had cooled sufficiently to allow for the stable formation of rocks, and its surface had begun to split into tectonic plates. Most importantly for humanity’s future, life had begun: the earliest evidence of photosynthesis dates from around this time.

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circa 4,200,000,000 BCE — The Earth’s oceans form

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The majestic oceans of planet Earth were formed neither quickly nor simply. It took literally millions of years between the first surface water’s appearance and the creation of the primordial sea.

Several factors contributed to this: the gradual cooling of the Earth was the first and most important, but also important was the slow release of water from existing minerals, the condensation of steam, and even the addition of water in the form of ice from occasional cometary collisions with the planet.

The first waters soon became the habitat of early prokaryotes – whose biochemical processes led to the formation of still more water. Indeed, it is possible that the majority of water on the planet today exists as a result of these organisms.

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circa 3,800,000,000 BCE — Autotrophic organisms evolve

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The autotrophs are the first true organisms on the planet Earth. The very first of them, the first prokaryotic life on earth, were chemotrophs. Chemotrophic organisms utilise reactions with inorganic chemicals to generate the energy they need to survive. They were followed by other autoptrophs – lithotrophs, a more specialised form that rely on minerals, and phototrophs, the earliest photosynthetic organisms.

These organisms were the common origin of all life on Earth, from single-celled bacteria that have not really changed that much in millions of years, to every multi-celled organism on the planet. Even you.

By Cactus0 – ;Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

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The River of Dreams — Billy Joel

circa 580,000,000 years ago –The first animals evolve

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The Proterozoic Eon, which began some 2.5 billion years ago and ended about 542 million years ago, was traditionally regarded as the last era before the evolution of what we would recognise as animals. But more recent fossil discoveries have repainted this picture, and it now appears that animals roughly midway through the Ediacaran Period.

The earliest animals were very simple creatures- small invertebrate multi-cellular forms like the earliest worms and such. Arthropods evolved shortly thereafter, and would go on to become the most dominant type of animal on the planet – just think how many insects and spiders and such you see each day if you don’t believe that.

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The River of Dreams — Billy Joel

circa 530,000,000 BCE — The first animals leave the ocean

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The earliest known fossil footprints on land actually predate the earliest definitively land-based animals fossils by a considerable margin: 170 million years. It appears that our early ancestors may have explored the land before they moved there permanently. In fact, fossil records suggest that this exploration began before there were even terrestrial (as opposed to aquatic) plants – which may account for this peculiarity: no plants would have meant no food.

The first known animals to leave the ocean for good were members of the superclass Tetrapoda, a large group that includes all amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, living and extinct. Including us.

By Kennethcgass at English Wikipedia – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, Link

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Eurovusion (Open Up) — Two Hearts

circa 335,000,000 BCE — The supercontinent Pangea forms

By admin 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The supercontinent of Pangea was an agglomeration of all the existing continents, brought together by tectonic forces around 335 million years ago, and eventually pulled apart by those same forces 160 million years later.

Its existence was first theorised by Alfred Wegener, the originator of the scientific theory of continental drift, in his 1912 publication The Origin of Continents (Die Entstehung der Kontinente). It was later proven by both geologists and paleontologists, with evidence to support the hypothesis being found in the magnetic resonance of rocks in various continents, and also by the distribution of fossils demonstrating that a land connection must have existed.

By Von Alfred Wegener erstellte Karte – File:De Wegener Kontinente 018.jpg, CC0, Link

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circa 284,000,000 BCE — Bolosaurid Eudibamus is the first known biped

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The earliest known bipedal vertebrate, eudibamus cursoris was a small parareptile. The sole specimen that has been found (in Thuringia, Germany) measured about 25 cm long – about the size of a house cat. Reconstructions of it give it an appearance resembling a cross between a tiny velociraptor and a modern iguana.

The sole specimen of it known to science was discovered in 2000 by a paleontological team including David S. Berman, Robert R. Reisz, Diane Scott, Amy C. Henrici, Stuart S. Sumida and Thomas Martens. The species is believed to have existed for a span of about five million years or so.

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circa 250,000,000 BCE — The super-continent Pangaea forms

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Pangaea was a super-continent – an agglomeration of multiple continents – that came into being about 250 million years ago. It was composed of all the continents we know today fused into a single landmass, surrounded by a single ocean (called Panthalassa) – and was the last time such a thing occurred. In fact, it was slightly larger than the combined areas of the modern continents, as supercontinent formation tends to lead to lower sea levels.

Pangaea (the name comes from the Greek Pan meaning All and Gaea meaning Earth) existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras, and its best known inhabitants were the dinosaurs. It began to break up approximately 75 million years after it formed, although the continents would not reach anything approximating their modern positions until only about 35 million years ago, when the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia.

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History of the World (Part 1) — The Damned

circa 243,000,000 BCE — The earliest dinosaurs evolve

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

There remains some question which dinosaur was actually the earliest of its kind. The oldest claimant is of the order Saurischia (literally ‘lizard-hipped’ dinosaurs), the Nyasasaurus, dated at 243 million years ago. The next oldest saurischians are dated between 232 and 230 millions years ago.

The earliest true dinosaurs of the Ornithischia order (the other major order of the Dinosauria clade) are likewise dated at 230 to 220 million years ago, the oldest of which is the Pisanosaurus.

As mentioned in:

The Power of Lard — Lard
The Big Bang Theory — Barenaked Ladies
Point of No Return — Immortal Technique

circa 65,500,000 BCE — The Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event wipes out the dinosaurs

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Everyone loves the dinosaurs. A lot of people – if the Jurassic Park films are to be believed – would like to see them come back. But without their extinction, we wouldn’t be here today.

Even now, it’s still not clear what exactly caused the extinction event – but the best known hypothesis is that of Luis and Walter Alvarez, which states that a meteoric or cometary impact caused a nuclear winter-like effect that altered the climate drastically, wiping out something like 75% of all species alive at the time. The effects were particularly felt by larger species – which included most dinosaurs.

In the wake of the event, now open evolutionary niches were occupied by mammals and birds, including our own ancestors.

As mentioned in:

Mammal — They Might Be Giants

circa 28,400,000 BCE — the sub-Class Allotheria becomes extinct

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Not actually true mammals, but instead mammaliformes, the members of the sub-class Allotheria are distinguished from other mammals chiefly by their dentition, which featured lower molariform teeth equipped with two longitudinal rows of cusps. Extant from the Late Triassic through to the Early Oligocene, the Allotheria were rodent-like animals in appearance.

They were widespread, found on all continents including Antarctica (which was considerably warmer in this era), and included in their ranks herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. Unfortunately for biodiversity, the last of them died out between 33.9 and 28.4 million years ago, give or take 100,000 years.

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circa 3,900,000 BCE — Australopithecus evolves

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Australopithecus was an early proto-hominid that evolved in Eastern Africa around 4 million years ago. It consisted of a number of sub-species: A. anamensis, A. afarensis, A. sediba, and A. africanus; and two more sub-species whose genus is disputed: A. robustus and A. boisei. Over the course of two million years or so, the various Australopithecenes ranged across Eastern and Southern Africa.

The Australopithecines evolved about 2 million years after the split between the ancestral roots of humanity and chimpanzees (our closest relative), and one or more of the various sub-species of Australopithecus is likely to have been the progenitor of the Homo Genus, to which modern humanity (homo sapiens sapiens) belongs.

By Neanderthal-Museum, Mettmann – Pressebilder Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, , CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Predator and Prayer — The Agonist

circa 2,400,000 BCE — Genus homo evolves

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The earliest species to evolve in the genus homo was Homo habilis, which is believed to have evolved in Africa from Australopithecene ancestors (although which of several species of australopithecus was the direct ancestor is not known). The genus homo would go on to become the most successful species in the entire history of the earth, until it created a global ecological catasprophe in the early to mid twenty first century, which destroyed all the members of that genus, and almost every other genus above the size of bacteria.

(By the way, if you’re reading this, you’re either a homo, or an extraterrestrial intelligence that’s very tolerant of our immaturity.)

(Man, I love that pun.)

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Cowtown — They Might Be Giants

circa 2,300,000 BCE — The ancestors of humanity leave the trees

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The earliest known member of the genus Homo, habilis evolved on the savannah of Africa between 2.5 and 2 million years ago. They are believed to have been the earliest part of our evolutionary chain to have been fully bipedal, to have lost (almost all of) the body hair that other primates have, and to have lived entirely on the ground – although possibly still gathering fruit from and seeking shelter in trees, much as we still do.

The reasons for this evolutionary move are many, but some of the more important ones include greater access to water, increased dietary variety and increased use of tools in hunting, which also made defence against predators easier than it had been for their australopithicene ancestors.

By John Hawks, Marina Elliott, Peter Schmid, Steven E. Churchill, Darryl J. de Ruiter, Eric M. Roberts, Hannah Hilbert-Wolf, Heather M. Garvin, Scott A. Williams, Lucas K. Delezene, Elen M. Feuerriegel, Patrick Randolph-Quinney, Tracy L. Kivell, Myra F. Laird, Gaokgatlhe Tawane, Jeremy M. DeSilva, Shara E. Bailey, Juliet K. Brophy, Marc R. Meyer, Matthew M. Skinner, Matthew W. Tocheri, Caroline VanSickle, Christopher S. Walker, Timothy L. Campbell, Brian Kuhn, Ashley Kruger, Steven Tucker, Alia Gurtov, Nompumelelo Hlophe, Rick Hunter, Hannah Morris, Becca Peixotto, Maropeng Ramalepa, Dirk van Rooyen, Mathabela Tsikoane, Pedro Boshoff, Paul H.G.M. Dirks, Lee R. Berger – Hawks et al. (9 May 2017). “New fossil remains of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa”. eLife 6. DOI:10.7554/eLife.24232>/a>., CC BY 4.0, Link

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It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World — James Brown

circa 900,000 BCE — the earliest boats are invented

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Okay, this one’s a bit of a reach, but work with me here.

At some point, boats were invented. We do not when, or where, or by whom. Nor, Mr Brown’s opinions aside, do we know what gender the inventor had.

What we do know is that, at the very latest, humans arrived in Australia having traveled by boat approximately 65,000 years ago. However, some evidence suggests that boats were actually invented in the Indonesian archipelago somewhere around 900,000 years ago.

Boomstamkano van Pesse, Drents Museum, 1955-VIII-2

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Neanderthal Man — Hotlegs
Caveman Days — Kate Miller-Heidke
In The Days Of The Caveman — Crash Test Dummies

circa 600,000 BCE — The first Neanderthals evolve

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The classic ‘caveman’, Neanderthals – homo neanderthalensis – were native to Europe, Western Asia and Central Asia. The earliest Neanderthal characteristics evolved at around this time – fossil evidence (admittedly incomplete) suggests that the full differentiation of the species had taken place by 130,000 BCE.

They were not, as is often thought, the ancestors of modern humanity, but rather a rival species that our ancestors wiped out in a competition for space and resources.

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circa 300,000 BCE — Mousterian tool kit evolves among Neanderthals

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The earliest known example of tool making by a hominid species, the Mousterian tools were created by members of the species homo neanderthalensis. They were primarily a flint-based technology, consisting mostly of cutting and scraping tools. Their name derives from Le Moustier in France, where such tools were discovered. However, it is unlikely that Le Moustier is the actual site of the tools’ origin, as similar tools have been found throughout Europe, the Near East and North Africa. Wherever they were invented, they clearly disseminated widely and – one assumes – swiftly.

The advent of tool making is the beginning of humanity’s technology-enabled conquest of the world. Up until this point, our ancestors were one species among many – a little smarter than most, but not especially better adapted than any other. Tool making changed that, making hominid species deadlier and more efficient hunters, and leading in time to the technological civilization that anyone reading this lives in today.

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circa 120,000 BCE — The people later to be known as Indigenous Australians first arrive in Australia

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

In the traditions of the Indigenous Australian peoples, their ancestors were created with the land, at the dawn of what is called the Dreamtime, the Dreaming or Alterjinga.

Science tells it a little differently. The original ancestors of the people now known as the Australian Aboriginals emigrated to Australia at some point between 40,000 and 120,000 years ago, with an increasing amount of evidence supporting the earliest date. Due to the wide variation of dates, it is unclear whether they arrived here after a sea crossing, or via a landbridge now submerged. It is not known where they first set foot in Australia, nor how many separate waves of migration occurred.

What is for certain is that these people dwelt in Australia with little or no contact with the rest of the world (the Macassar fishing fleets being one of the few exceptions), for thousands of years before European settlement in 1788. Whether or not one accepts the Dreamtime legend, there remains an undeniable case for considering them to be the traditional owners of the land, displaced and disenfranchised by European imperialism.

As mentioned in:

Solid Rock — Goanna

Caveman Days — Kate Miller-Heidke
In The Days Of The Caveman — Crash Test Dummies

circa 25,000 BCE — the last Neanderthals become extinct

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

It’s unclear exactly how our nearest hominid relatives went extinct, but the leading candidates are our direct ancestors: whether fucking or fighting.

I mean that quite literally: some of them interbred with homo sapiens until they no longer existed as a separate species, or they just plain got killed by other homo sapiens. At their widest range, Neandertals occupied lands from Ireland and Spain in the west through to the southern Urals in the East. They did not go extinct everywhere at the same time, of course, but the precise details are somewhat obscured by the incompleteness of the fossil record.

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In The Days Of The Caveman — Crash Test Dummies

circa 9600 BCE — The most recent Ice Age ends

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The most recent Ice Age – or more precisely, the most recent glacial maximum of the current Ice Age – ended a little under 10,000 years ago, having lasted some 70,000 years itself. The abrupt climactic changes (abrupt in a geological sense) contributed to mass extinctions of various animal species, notably the woolly mammoth, although it is also believed that hunting by early humans also contributed to at least some of these extinctions.

In geological terms, the end of the last Ice Age is recorded as the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene epochs.

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circa 3400 BCE — The Sahara Desert assumes its modern form

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

It wasn’t always a desert. The Saharan plain was once open grassland with occasional forests. As late as the time of Julius Caesar, and even afterwards, Romans reported elephants, leopards and lions on the North African shores – along with abundant timber. But like that timber, which was cut down by the Carthaginians and Romans to build their navies, little remains of the Saharan plant life today.

The changes began around three and a half thousand years earlier, with a combination of changes in prevailing winds, a shift in the planet’s orbit and increased cultivation of the land – at this time, for example, south western Egypt and the Sudan were great agricultural realms, for example. But within a few hundred years, the region had become almost impassible, with few other than the Berbers prepared to cross the region until the invention of modern cooling systems in the Twentieth Century.

By – Cropped from Image:Africa satellite plane.jpg., Public Domain, Link

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The Miracle — Queen

circa 2630 BCE — Imhotep designs and begins construction of the first Pyramid in Egypt

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Religion, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Imhotep was an Egyptian polymath who was what we would later call a Renaissance man. Of course, Imhotep had a 4000 year head-start on Leonardo. He served the Third Dynasty pharaoh Djoser as vizier, although the complete list of his titles ran:
Chancellor of the King of Egypt, Doctor, First in line after the King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary nobleman, High Priest of Heliopolis, Builder, Chief Carpenter, Chief Sculptor and Maker of Vases in Chief.

His most notable work to modern eyes is the Step Pyramid of Saqqara, in which the pharaoh Djoser was buried. It was the first pyramid, and comparatively small and primitive, but for its time it was an engineering marvel.

After his death, Imhotep was deified, one of very few Egyptians to whom this occurred (other than the pharaohs).

By Olaf Tausch – Own work, CC BY 3.0, Link

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In The Days Of The Caveman — Crash Test Dummies

circa 1650 BCE — the last mammoths become extinct

By admin 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

It’s unclear exactly what killed the mammoths off, although there are two leading contenders: the end of the last Ice Age made climates generally warmer (although the last ice age ended several thousand years before the extinction was complete) and predation – the predator in question being, of course, us.

At one point, mammoths were found across most of the northern reaches of Europe, Asia and America, in several different species, but bit by bit, these were hunted to extinction. The shrinking of their optimal habitat as the ice retreated probably made the hunting easier, but their extinction was a certainty as soon as our ancestors developed a taste for mammoth-meat.

The last known population of mammoths, that on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Sea to the north of Chukotka (the easternmost part of Asia), became extinct in about 1650 BCE, having survived their relatives on St Paul Island, Alaska, by about 1100 years.

By Cave painter – Own work, Public Domain, Link

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Cocoon — The Decemberists
Pompeii — Gatsbys American Dream
Cities in Dust — Siouxsie and the Banshees

August 24, 79 — Mount Vesuvius erupts, destroying Pompeii and Herculaneum

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

You probably know this one: Mt Vesuvius erupted, not entirely without warning, but far more violently than anticipated, in the year 79 CE (in the reign of Emperor Titus). It is unknown how many people died – the remains of more than a thousand have thus far been discovered, but the population of Pompeii is variously estimated between 10 and 25 thousand people, with another 5000 at Herculaneum.

The eruption buried both towns in ash and mud, altered the course of the river Samo (which had flowed past Pompeii) and pushed the coastline out to sea (so that Pompeii was now inland instead of coastal). It remains the largest and deadliest of over 40 recorded eruptions of Vesuvius, although it appears that there may have been even earlier eruptions on an even greater scale.

Mt Vesuvius remains the only active volcano on the European mainland, most recently erupting on 18 March, 1944. Although the volcano has been quiet since then, it remains active, and future eruptions are regarded as inevitable.

By Karl Bryullov – tAFrCGFUhXM8Jg at Google Cultural Institute zoom level scaled down from second highest, Public Domain, Link

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Pompeii — Bastille

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) — Tex Williams

circa 900 CE — The earliest cigarettes are invented by the Maya

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Religion, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The scourge of the world, the cause of oh so many cases of lung cancer and emphysema, cigarettes were first invented by the Maya people of pre-Columbian Meso-America. They apparently used them in religious ceremonies, a use that was later taken up by the Aztecs and other peoples of the Americas. Famously, it was then introduced to the Court of England by Sir Walter Raleigh, and quickly spread to Europe as well.

The Maya and Aztec civilisations featured short enough lifespans to probably not notice the effects of long term smoking, and the ritual nature of their tobacco use kept it reasonably infrequent too. It would take the mass production and consumer culture of Western Civilisation to truly bring cigarettes to their full disease-causing potential.

By Unknown (Dresden Codex), William E. Gates (drawing), FAMSI (digitisation), El Comandante (image editing). – FAMSI, Public Domain, Link

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Awake — Asia
The Road to Morocco — Bing Crosby
Rave On, John Donne — Van Morrison
Roccococooler — Edgar Broughton Band

May 18, 1048 — Omar Khayyám is born

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

One of the most well-known Middle Eastern poets in the West, largely due to an apparently neverending series of translations of his Rubaiyat, Omar Khayyám was also a mathematician, an astronomer, and as his poetry tends to indicate, a philosopher. He’s one of the few people in history that could have dealt with Leonardo da Vinci as an equal, a true polymath whose work remains influential even today. Notably, he was one of the reformers who modified the Persian Calendar in 1079 – the new calendar, known as the Jalali calendar, is still in use (with some minor corrections) in Iran and Afghanistan.

Of course, he was also damned cool – legend has it that he was a boyhood friend of Hassan i Sabbah (and if you don’t know who he was, you’re in for a surprise), while modern historical research has uncovered evidence suggesting that he devised a heliocentric model of our Solar System centuries before Copernicus. Frankly, he’s a candidate for interesting historical fictions just waiting to happen.

By The original uploader was Atilin at French Wikipedia. – Transferred from fr.wikipedia to Commons by Bloody-libu using CommonsHelper., CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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Dr. Livingstone, I Presume — Moody Blues

October 12, 1492 — Christopher Columbus’ expedition sights land in the Americas

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Columbus’ expedition to the Far East was going well. He left Spain on August 3, and by October 7, the expedition sighted a large flock of birds. Finally, a sailor named Rodrigo de Triana (aboard the La Pinta) sighted land at about 2AM on October 12.

Columbus, being the shy, retiring flower that he was, later claimed that he had seen land first, which almost certainly had nothing to do with the reward of 10,000 maravedís. Columbus named the island San Salvador, although the resident indigenes had already named it Guanahani. Exactly which island in the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos this corresponds to is an unresolved topic; prime candidates are Samana Cay, Plana Cays, Grand Turk, or San Salvador Island (which was named San Salvador in 1925 in the belief that it was Columbus’ San Salvador).

By John Vanderlyn – Architect of the Capitol, Public Domain, Link

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The World’s Address – They Might Be Giants

May 24, 1543 — Copernicus publishes ‘De revolutionibus orbium coelestium’

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Technically, this is actually the date of Copernicus’ death, however, since no authoritative dating other than ‘shortly before his death’ exists for the publication of ‘De revolutionibus orbium coelestium’, I have chosen to use this date.

‘De revolutionibus orbium coelestium’, or in English, ‘On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres” is the single most famous work regarding the heliocentric theory of the solar system, i.e. the theory that the planets revolve around the Sun. It inspired considerable controversy in its day, which is one reason why Copernicus published it when he did – the historical evidence suggests that it was written between 1510 and 1530 – and effectively disproved the Platonic theory that the sun and planets revolved around the Earth.

By Unknown – http://www.frombork.art.pl/Ang10.htm
https://www.welt.de/img/kultur/mobile152954235/1212503297-ci102l-w1024/Kopernikus-Gemaelde-in-Krakau.jpg, Public Domain, Link

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Cities in Dust — Siouxsie and the Banshees

1689 — Pompeii is rediscovered

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, it did so with considerable force. The very shape of the mountain was changed, and the course of the nearby Sarno river was altered. For these reasons, Pompeii – and the neighbouring town of Herculaneum – were lost for centuries.

But in 1599, a attempt to dig an underground channel to modify the river’s course stumbled upon the buried ruins of Pompeii. Over the next few centuries, it would become one of the most well-known archaeological sites in the world, and provide an incredible window back into a time when the Roman Empire was in its heyday.

By William Henry Goodyear – Brooklyn Museum, Public Domain, Link

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November 7, 1728 — James Cook born

By Loki 222 Content, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

James Cook, better known to history as Captain Cook, was born in Yorkshire, the second of eight children. After a period of service and learning in the merchant navy, Cook joined the Royal Navy in 1755, and rose through the ranks to become Captain of his own ship. In this role, he would distinguish himself as one of the greatest navigators and surveyors the world has ever seen.

He is best remembered for his three voyages to the Pacific, where he lead missions that were the first Europeans to set foot on New Zealand and the eastern coast of Australia, and the first people ever to cross the Antarctic circle, among other accomplishments. Even during his lifetime, Cook was so respected the world over that during the American Revolution, the rebel navy had orders not to fire on his ship, but to render him assistance as ‘a friend to all mankind’.

By Nathaniel Dance-Holland – from the National Maritime Museum, United Kingdom, Public Domain, Link

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The Miracle — Queen

Sailing To Philadelphia — Mark Knopfler

October 18, 1767 — Mason and Dixon complete the surveying of the Line between Maryland and Pennsylvania

By Loki 222 Content, Economics, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Charles Mason, a fellow of the Royal Society and noted astronomer, and his sometime assistant, land surveyor and amateur astronomer, Jeremiah Dixon, were hired by certain wealthy interests in what was then the British colony of America to conclude a number of difficult boundary disputes in the young colonies.

Landing in Philedelphia in 1763, Mason and Dixon spent the next four years painstakingly measuring and fixing the proper boundaries between the various colonies, ceasing their work on October 18, 1867. (A team of their subordinates completed the survey in 1787.)

The lines they laid down, although resurveyed since that time, formed the basic lines of the borders between the colonies (and later the states) of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Later, as these states took different sides in the Civil War, the line came to symbolise the political and cultural border between the southern and northern states.

Public Domain, Link

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Solid Rock — Goanna
Native Born — Paul Kelly

April 29, 1770 — Captain James Cook is the first European to make contact with Australian Natives

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

It was on his first voyage of discovery that Captain James Cook’s ship the Endeavour, sighted the eastern coast of Australia. A man aloft in the crows nest, one Lieutenant Zachary Hickes, made the first sighting, which Cook repaid by naming Point Hicks (spelling was not, apparently, one of Cook’s many talents). But although they saw evidence of the natives of this new land – the smoke of numerous campfires, mostly – it was not until four days later that first contact was made between the Englishmen and Australian Natives. (Specifically, members of the Gweagal people, who dwelt on the shores of Botany Bay around modern Kurnell.)

Perhaps setting a template for future interactions between blacks and whites in Australia, the contact was hostile, although no one was killed. The scientists on the crew, Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, gathered specimens, primarily botanical (hence the name given to the bay where they landed), to take back to England. Cook and his crew continued on their way after spending a week or so in Botany Bay, taking home news that would eventually spell the doom of the Gweagal and a great many of their relatives.

By E. [Emanuel] Phillips Fox – National Gallery of Victoria, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World — James Brown

December 24, 1801 — The “Puffing Devil” is first demonstrated

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Constructed by Richard Trevithick in Camborne, Cornwall, the Puffing Devil holds the distinction of being the world’s first steam rail locomotive. On its inaugural run, on Christmas Eve 1801, it carried six passengers and a steersman, Trevithick’s cousin, Andrew Vivian. The run was considered quite successful by Trevithick, notwithstanding the accidental destruction of the engine a few days later.

In 1802, Trevithick would take out a patent on a high pressure steam engine (also the first of its kind), and in 1803, he built another steam locomotive, which was more successful than the Puffing Devil. The emblematic invention of the Industrial Revolution would transform the world over the next few decades.

By Chris Allen, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

As mentioned in:

It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World — James Brown

February 21, 1804 — The First Steam Train runs

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The first ever steam train was built by Richard Trevithick in Wales in the early 19th century. On its maiden journey, on February 21, 1804, the unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along tracks from the Pen-y-darren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil to Abercynon in south Wales. It was the world’s first ever railway journey. (The phrase ‘steam train’ would not be coined until 1822, but it applies to this vehicle.)

From there, the idea took off like wildfire. Railways opened up the vast plains of Australia and North America to settlement, while in Europe, they drove the Industrial Revolution to heights of productivity without precedent in human history. And although steam would in time give way to diesel and electricity as the fuel of choice for running railways, the importance of trains for hauling freight and passengers would only grow as the years went by.

By chris55.
Original uploader was Chris55 at en.wikipedia – Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Igitur using CommonsHelper (all following user names refer to en.wikipedia):
2009-09-20 09:57 Chris55 1179×786× (164456 bytes), CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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November 4, 1804 — Sacajawea joins the Lewis and Clark expedition

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Probably the most famous member of Shoshone tribe of North American Indians, Sacajawea (or Sacagawea, depending on your translation) is best-remembered as the native guide who helped Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their journey up the Missouri river, and on to the Pacific Ocean.

Sacajawea was vital to the success of the mission, as without her knowledge of the Shoshone tongue, Lewis and Clark would not have been able to barter with that tribe for badly needed supplies. Lewis and Clark tended to refer to her as ‘the Indian woman’ in their journals – but those same journals make it very clear that the entire expedition would likely have died, either from starvation or encounters with hostile Indians, without her knowledge of the lands, tribes and tongues of the areas they explored, and her apparently considerable skills in diplomacy.

By Edgar Samuel Paxson – Personal photograph taken at Montana State Capitol, Public Domain, Link

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October 19, 1806 — Benjamin Banneker dies

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Benjamin Banneker was born a free black man in Virginia in 1731 – his mother was also a free black, his father a former slave now free. Largely self-educated, in 1791 he was a member of the team that surveyed the boundaries of the newly declared District of Columbia. His primary duty was to take astronomical observations to ascertain the exact locations of the various points the survey visited.

The following year, Banneker turned his skill at astronomy to creating an ephemeris, which he then published in an almanac. The almanac sold well enough that he continued to make them annually until 1797. He became a man of some note, and was a regular correspondent of President Thomas Jefferson, with whom he argued about slavery and other political issues. He died after retiring from public life, aged 74.

By Unknown – PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2h68b.html, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Brunel — The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing

March 31, 1838 — Construction of the SS Great Western is completed

By admin 222 Content, Culture, Economics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s design for the SS Great Western, which he designed (with some assistance from Thomas Guppy and other members of the Great Western Steamship Company) for the company whose name it bore, was a revolutionary design, and a breakthrough in ship construction. Brunel’s key insight was that the carrying capacity of a ship increases as the cube of its dimensions, whilst the water resistance only increases as the square of its dimensions – which meant that a larger ship was disproportionately more effective in speed and fuel economy.

The SS Great Western would become the model for all successful paddle steamships in the Atlantic, and its owners were able to turn a profit from it even though it was the only ship they ran for several years. It was later sold off after the dissolution of the company, passing through various hands and seeing service as a troopship during the Crimean War. It was broken up for salvage in 1856.

By A. Robertson; Napoleon Sarony; Robinson, H. R. – http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/148806, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Brunel — The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing

March 25, 1843 — The Thames Tunnel is opened to the public

By admin 222 Content, Culture, Economics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The Thames Tunnel, connecting Rotherthithe and Wapping, was the first of its kind – the only tunnel up to that point to have been excavated beneath a navigable river. Construction on it began in 1925, by Marc Isambard Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The two used a new invention created by the older Brunel and his associate Thomas Cochrane, called a tunneling shield. The shield’s purpose is to prevent mud, water or other liquids from flooding the tunnel.

Even with this shield, the tunnelling took years – by the time it finally opened to the public in 1843, after floods and other delays, many had given up on it. But the tunnel proved to be a wonder of its era. It was intended for horsedrawn carriages, but attracted so much pedestrian traffic that it was used solely by pedestrians until 1869. In that year, it was purchased by a railway company and tracks were laid. Services still run through the tunnel today.

Public Domain, Link

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Raid on Entebbe — The Mountain Goats

July 30, 1858 — John Speke names Lake Victoria

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

A British explorer who, along with his fellow explorer Richard Burton, was among those to search for the source of the Nile, John Hanning Speke was the lucky one who actually found it. In 1856, he and Burton had journeyed to East Africa and worked their way inland looking for evidence of the Nile. They were the first Europeans to sight Lake Tanganyika, but that Burton fell ill.

Pressing on without him, Speke was the first European to find Lake Victoria, and named it in honour of his Queen. He returned to England before Burton, and became famous on the strength of this discovery, but history remembers Burton better (as he was a better writer, a more daring explorer, and a more shameless self-publicist). Speke is remembered in Uganda, one of the countries that the lake’s shores touch, with a mountain named after him.

By S. Hollyer; Southwell Brothers – http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/386468, Public Domain, Link

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Soldiers of Christ — Jill Sobule

November 24, 1859 — “On the Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin is first published

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

One of the most controversial books in the world, On the Origin of Species (often called Origin of the Species is one of the foundational texts of modern science. Not only is almost the entirety of modern biology built on its foundation, but it remains an excellent (if imperfect) example of the scientific method.

Charles Darwin had spent many years developing this theory, beginning with initial observations in 1835 during his voyage on the Beagle, and working on it in earnest for more than 15 years prior to publication. Darwin was entirely unprepared for the controversy he kicked off, although one suspects that he’d merely be saddened and confused by the low esteem in which a majority of Americans currently hold his theory.

By John Murray, Publisher –
This file has an extracted image: File:Origin of Species.jpg.
, Public Domain, Link

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Brunel — The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing

December 8, 1864 — The Clifton Suspension Bridge is opened to the public

By admin 222 Content, Culture, Economics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The Clifton Suspension Bridge was built more than a century after it had first been proposed, from a design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel that was completed by William Henry Barlow and John Hawkshaw after Brunel’s death in 1859. The bridge is particularly notable in that, unusually for a suspension bridge, the towers at each end are not symmetrical with each other.

The bridge operated as a toll bridge upon its opening and it remains one today, still in operation more than 150 years after its construction. It was also the site of the first modern bungee jump, in 1979

By Unknown author – Lippincott’s Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. July, 1878., available freely at Project Gutenberg, Public Domain, Link

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If I Had A Million Dollars — Bare Naked Ladies

April 11, 1890 — Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, dies

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Joseph Merrick (often incorrectly called John) was one of the most notoriously deformed human beings ever to live. Among other unusual features, he had thick, lumpy skin with enlarged lips, and a bony lump growing from his forehead. One of his arms and both of his feet became enlarged, and at some point during his childhood he fell and damaged his hip, resulting in Merrick becoming perpetually lame.

He made a living (of sorts) as a circus freak for many years (about the only work he could get – Merrick had no illusions about how others regarded his appearance, although those able to look beyond that generally reported him to be friendly and well-mannered, if understandably shy), until a Dr Frederick Treves arranged for him to reside in a hospital in London. It was here that Merrick spent the last six years of his life, being examined by the finest medical minds that the Victorian Era had to offer, and remaining (even to this day) enigmatically undiagnosable. Merrick was only 27 when he died, apparently from injuries caused in his sleep by his enlarged head bones. Most of what is known about him today comes from the writings of Treves, which were unfortunately rather subjective.

By Unknown
I (User:Belovedfreak) have emailed the Royal London Hospital Archives to request information regarding the author. The Trust Archivist for Barts and The London NHS Trust has confirmed that they do not know the name of the photographer, and no such name is included on the carte de visite. – Photograph downloaded from Sideshow Wiki (direct image link)
The image hosted at the Sideshow Wiki is a copy of an original carte de visite of Joseph Merrick that is owned by Royal London Hospital Archives.
Royal London Hospital ref: RLHLH/P/3/24/2.
The carte de visite in the Royal London Hospital Archives had been in the possession of the Rev. H. Tristram Valentine, who was Chaplain at the London Hospital from 1885–1889., Public Domain, Link

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August 6, 1890 — The Electric Chair is first used to execute a condemned prisoner

By Loki 222 Content, Crime, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The first person to be executed via the electric chair was William Kemmler in New York’s Auburn Prison on August 6, 1890; the ‘state electrician’ was Edwin Davis. The first 17-second passage of current through Kemmler caused unconsciousness, but failed to stop his heart and breathing. The attending physicians, Dr. Edward Charles Spitzka and Dr. Charles F. Macdonald, came forward to examine Kemmler. After confirming Kemmler was still alive, Spitzka reportedly called out, “Have the current turned on again, quick — no delay.”

The generator needed time to re-charge, however. In the second attempt, Kemmler was shocked with 2,000 volts. Blood vessels under the skin ruptured and bled and his body caught fire.

In all, the entire execution took approximately eight minutes. Westinghouse later commented: “They would have done better using an axe.” A reporter who witnessed it also said it was “an awful spectacle, far worse than hanging.”

By Ernest Clair-Guyot – Le Petit Parisien – Supplément littéraire illustré, 17 août 1890., Public Domain, Link

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Fuel — Ani Di Franco

July 10, 1893 — Daniel Hale Williams performs the second successful pericardium surgery

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Daniel Hale Williams was one of the first Afro-American men to achieve prominence as a surgeon. He served as the surgeon-in-chief of Freedman’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. from 1896 to 1898, and also established a teaching college for nurses at the hospital. Other notable achievements include being a charter member of the American College of Surgeons (and the first ever black member) and founding the first non-segregated hospital in America.

But he is best known for performing one of the earliest successful heart surgeries, a pericardium repair on a stabbing victim named James Cornish. Cornish convalesced for 55 days after the operation, but made a full recovery. Cardiac surgery would develop little for another 50 years, until World War Two prompted surgeons to investigate it more closely, and the pioneering work of Williams and others was belatedly recognized.

By Unknown – Source now defunct; images fetched from the Wayback Machine. Description page at [1]. Image at [2]., Public Domain, Link

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We Built This City — Starship

June 2, 1896 — Gugliemo Marconi applies to patent the radio

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Although there has been considerable controversy over the years regarding who actually invented radio – controversy not helped by Marconi himself being at times over-willing to claim credit for the work of others – it is now generally agreed that it was Marconi himself who first invented radio. (The disputes mostly revolve around who invented various later refinements of Marconi’s original patent.)

That patent – British Patent 12039 “Improvements in Transmitting Electrical impulses and Signals, and in Apparatus therefor” – was applied for on June 2 of 1896, with the complete specification being provided on March 2 of the following year, and the patent as a whole being accepted on July 2, 1897.

Unfortunately for Marconi, Tesla had been granted similar patents in America, and the two men would spend decades locked acrimonious dispute over the matter. In fact, in America it would only be resolved by a court decision after both men had died – the court found in favour of Tesla. But perhaps Marconi won anyway – it’s his name, not Tesla’s, which is used as a synonym for ‘radio’ even today.

By Pach Brothers – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress‘s Prints and Photographs division
under the digital ID cph.3a40043.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, Link

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Tunguska — Darkest Hour
Return to Tunguska — Alan Parsons Project
I Saw The Sky In The North Open To The Ground And Fire Poured Out — Red Sparowes

June 30, 1908 – The Tunguska Event

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

There has never been anything quite like it.

On June 30, 1908, something – we still don’t know what – streaked across the skies of Siberia, and exploded in the vicinity of Tunguska. At that time, Siberia was even more wild and uninhabited than it now is. The nearest witnesses were miles away, and most of the world remained blissfully unaware that anything had happened there.

But in 1920, Russian scientists began an investigation of the site that is still going on. They have discovered that the event was mostly likely a meteor that detonated in the air above Tunguska, devastating the taiga for miles in every direction in a manner very similar to that of a large thermonuclear explosion. If the course of the object had varied by only a few degrees, it might easily have hit somewhere else, where the damage and loss of life would have been considerably greater. As it is, there were no known deaths – although records, particularly of the nomadic Evenki people who lived in the region at that time, were not well-maintained.

Theories abound as to what might have caused the enormous explosion, and it says something that the crash-landing of alien spaceship is one of the tamer ones.

By CYD – From English Wikipedia, en:Image:Tunguska01.png, Public Domain, Link

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April 6, 1909 — Matthew Henson becomes the first explorer to reach the North Pole

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The most trusted of Robert Peary’s fellow polar explorers, Henson was a member of Peary’s party when they became the first people to reach the geographic North Pole. Henson was the very first – they actually overshot the target on their first attempt, but upon doubling back later that day, they could see from Henson’s footprints that he had been the first to arrive at their destination.

Henson was also the man who planted the flag of the USA at the Pole – and the polar expedition was but one of six similar expeditions that he and Peary embarked upon over the course of about 18 years. Henson was later honoured by being inducted into the Explorer’s Club in 1937, the first negro ever to join the club. Henson’s remains are interred in a place of honour in Arlington National Cemetery.

By Unknown author – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress‘s Prints and Photographs division
under the digital ID cph.3g07503.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, Link

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Dance Band on the Titanic — Harry Chapin
Rest In Pieces (15 April 1912) — Metal Church

April 15, 1912 -– The RMS Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Economics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

It is probably the best known maritime tragedy in history. The RMS Titanic, the largest passnger ship afloat and pride of the White Star Line, was three days out of Southampton on its maiden voyage to New York City when it collided with an iceberg and sank. Of the 2223 passengers and crew, fully 1517 of them were drowned, largely due to an insufficiency of lifeboats.

It’s a matter of historical record that the eight members of the ship’s band continued to play as the ship sank, in a feat of gallantry intended to keep spirits high. All eight of these men died in the sinking. Debate has raged over what their final song was. Some claimed that is was ‘Autumn’, others that it was ‘Nearer My God To Thee’. The debate is further complicated by the fact that ‘Autumn’ could have referred to either hymn tune known as “Autumn” or the tune of the then-popular waltz “Songe d’Automne” (although neither of these tunes were included in the White Star Line songbook). Similarly, there are two arrangements of ‘Nearer My God To Thee’, one popular in Britain and the other in America (and the British one sounds not unlike ‘Autumn’) – and a third arrangement was found in the personal effects of band leader’s fiance.

By Willy Stöwer, died on 31st May 1931 – Magazine Die Gartenlaube, en:Die Gartenlaube and de:Die Gartenlaube, Public Domain, Link

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The World’s Address — They Might Be Giants

November 25, 1915 — Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity is published

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

One of the most revolutionary theories of physics of all time, Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity turned the celestial mechanics of Isaac Newton on its head, and set the stage for the quantum mechanical revolution in physics that characterised the Twentieth Century. Along with Heisenberg, Bohr, Schrodinger, Feynmann and others, Einstein’s work changed the way we understand our world, but even in that august company, Einstein is a titan among giants, a man whose name has become a byword for genius.

The General Theory of Relativity resists easy summation. It was created to reconcile various anomalies in Newton’s theory of Universal Gravitation, as well as between Newton and Einstein’s earlier Special Theory of Relativity, and forms an important part of our current understanding of physics, gravitation and cosmology – the Big Bang Theory draws upon it, for example.

By <a href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Ferdinand_Schmutzer” class=”extiw” title=”w:en:Ferdinand Schmutzer”>Ferdinand Schmutzer</a> – <a rel=”nofollow” class=”external free” href=”http://www.bhm.ch/de/news_04a.cfm?bid=4&jahr=2006″>http://www.bhm.ch/de/news_04a.cfm?bid=4&jahr=2006</a> [<span title=”” class=”plainlinks”><a class=”external text” href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot”>dead link</a></span>], <a rel=”nofollow” class=”external text” href=”https://web.archive.org/web/20070211064905/http://www.bhm.ch/de/news_04a.cfm?bid=4&jahr=2006″>archived copy</a> (<a rel=”nofollow” class=”external text” href=”https://web.archive.org/web/20071025130813/http://www.bhm.ch/downloads/11_Einstein_1921.jpg”>image</a>), Public Domain, Link

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By Otis Historical Archives, National Museum of Health and Medicine – Emergency hospital during influenza epidemic (NCP 1603), National Museum of Health and Medicine.
https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/news/20190923/mxfctter-museum-to-mark-historic-influenza-pandemic/1, Public Domain, Link

March 4, 1918 — The earliest confirmed case of the Influenza Pandemic is recorded

By admin 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Albert Gitchell, an army cook assigned to Camp Funston in Kansas, United States, is generally held to be the earliest known case of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, although it is likely there were cases before his.] The local doctor Loring Miner of Haskell County (also in Kansas) alerted the US Public Health Service as early as January of 1918, but apparently little attention was paid. After Gitchell’s case, the virus spread rapidly throughout Camp Funston, with 522 cases reported in the nest two days, By 11 March 1918, the virus had reached as far as Queens in New York City.

Because America was fighting in World War I at this time, with the frequent movement of men and material between various camps and the battle front, the disease quickly spread from Camp Funston (which was a major training base). By April of 1918, influenza was an epidemic in the Midwest abd East Coast of the United States, as well as some French ports. It then quickly spread to the Western Front, and then to the rest of France, as well as Great Britain, Italy, and Spain. In May, it reached Wrocław and Odessa, far to the East. When the war ended, newly released prisoners of war and demobilizing military forces spread it to other nations – North Africa, India, and Japan reported cases in May, China in June and Australia in July.

As mentioned in:

2020 — Ben Folds

Done Too Soon — Neil Diamond

August 2, 1922 — Alexander Graham Bell dies

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Alexander Graham Bell, best known as the inventor of the telephone, was 75 when he died, and still refused to have a telephone in his laboratory. He regarded his most famous – and most transformative – invention as a nuisance and a distraction from his serious work. The telephone itself had arisen out of Bell’s true interests in acoustics, which grew out of his work as a teacher for the deaf: he had wanted to invent a device that would make it possible for the deaf to hear, the fact that he may well have stolen the idea from Elisha Gray notwithstanding.

The telephone is merely his best known invention – Bell held the patent for that, but also for 17 other inventions (some of them held in common with other, but most in his own right). Bell’s death was the result of complications arising from his diabetes. He left behind a legacy that has, over the course of less than 150 years and with many followers building on his work, transformed the world beyond recognition. One wonders what he’d think of the iPhone.

By Moffett Studio – Library and Archives Canada / C-017335, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

King Tut — Steve Martin and the Toot Uncommons

February 16, 1923 — The inner chamber of King Tut’s tomb is unsealed

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Tutankhamun, or King Tut, was one of the most mysterious of the Egyptian pharaohs, largely because his successors had tried very hard to eradicate all records of his existence. Fortuitously, this meant that his tomb was lost for centuries, and not found until the 1920s, allowing archaeologists a good idea of what a pharaonic tomb that hadn’t been plundered and vandalised looked like.

The innermost chamber of it, where the boy king himself lay, was the last part to be unsealed. Archaeologist Howard Carter, the leader of the dig, was the first to see into the tomb. When asked what he saw, he replied “Wonderful things”. He was right. The collection of artifacts from this tomb is the most complete existing for any Egyptian ruler, and has traveled the world many times in the century since its discovery.

By Harry Burton – The New York Times photo archive, via their online store, Public Domain, Link

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November 20, 1923 — Garrett Morgan patents a traffic signal

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Garrett Morgan was not the first to invent or patent a traffic signal, but he was the first to invent one that could be changed at a distance, via a mechanical linkage. (He also patented a gas mask.) Morgan was a black man living in Cleveland, Ohio, who was a successfully businessman and well-liked citizen of his town in a time long before the Civil Rights movement.

No doubt he still suffered from quite a deal of racism, and there’s a certain irony in that his inventions probably saved far more white lives than they did black lives. Morgan is remembered in Cleveland as the first black man there to own a car, and also for his heroic rescue of trapped minors (using his own gas mask invention) in 1916, for which he received awards and acclaim.

By This image comes from an official publication of the US Department of Transportation, located at http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/janpr/gam.htm., Public Domain, Link

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Part Man, Part Monkey — Bruce Springsteen

July 10, 1925 — The Scopes Trial begins in Dayton

By Loki 222 Content, Crime, Religion, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution in Dayton, Ohio, because the god-fearing people of Dayton felt that evolution contradicted the sacret teachings of the Bible. The trial was a media circus (by 1925 standards, when they didn’t have a 24 hour news cycle) and ignited a national debate about evolution across America.

It would ultimately result in the conviction of John Scopes for one of the most ridiculous ‘crimes’ ever invented by superstitious idiots.

By Smithsonian Institution from United States; Beyond My Ken (talk) 01:35, 4 August 2017 (UTC) – Tennessee v. John T. Scopes Trial: Outdoor proceedings on July 20, 1925, showing William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow. [2 of 4 photos], No restrictions, Link

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All That Jazz — ‘Chicago’ cast

May 21, 1927 — Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

In the 1920’s, aviators were heroes. They were bold explorers and experimenters, pushing back the boundaries of the known. And none of them loomed larger in the public eye than Charles “Lucky” Lindbergh.

At the age of 25, this formerly obscure US Air Mail pilot was catapulted to fame and fortune when he completed the remarkable feat of being the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic. Flying a custom-built single engine monoplane named The Spirit of St Louis, he took off from from Roosevelt Field on Long Island shortly before 8AM on May 20, and landed 35 hours later at Le Bourget Field in Paris.

This exploit won him the Orteig Prize, a sum of $25,000. He was also feted and decorated, receiving the Medal of Honor from the USA and the Legion of Honour from France, among other awards.

By Unknown author – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress‘s Prints and Photographs division
under the digital ID cph.3a23920.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, Link

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Lydia the Tattooed Lady – Groucho Marx

April 30, 1939 — The New York World’s Fair opens

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Dedicated to the promise of tomorrow, the New York City World’s Fair opened on Sunday, April 30, 1939. A crowd of more than two hundred thousand people braved the queues and the heat to investigate the attractions of the Fair. Many of the attractions were still not completed, but no one much cared. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made the opening address, which many of the crowd watched on the two hundred television sets – television being a new invention at the time.

Best known for the iconic Trylon and Perisphere built especially for it, the World’s Fair ran from April to October in 1939 and 1940, closing its doors for good on October 27, 1940. It was the largest World’s Fair ever – even the 1964 World’s Fair, which was held on the same site, was not as large.

By null & – https://www.flickr.com/photos/157979053@N04/44125406064, CC0, Link

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November 10, 1942 — Dr Charles Drew patents a method of preserving blood plasma

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Born in 1904, Dr Charles Drew was one of the first black surgeons in the United States – although that is far from being his only claim to fame.

His work in the fields of blood transfusions and storage led to breakthroughs in the field, culminating in the development of large scale blood banks that saved thousands of lives of Allied soldiers and civilians during the war. He also protested the segregation of blood supplies along racial lines, on the ground that there was no scientific basis for it (as indeed, there is not). He lost his job over this stance, but it did not deter him from it.

He also became the first black man to be selected to serve as an examiner of the American Board of Surgery.

By Associated Photographic Services, Inc – National Library of Medicine: http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/ResourceMetadata/BGBBCT: Year supplied: ca. 1949
Original Repository: Howard University. Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. Charles R. Drew Papers, PD-US, Link

As mentioned in:

Edison’s Medicine — Tesla
Tesla’s Hotel Room — The Handsome Family

January 7, 1943 – Nikola Tesla dies

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current, and a personal and business rival of Thomas Edison for decades, died penniless and alone in a hotel in New York. Despite his many inventions and great fame, he had few friends and virtually nothing to show for his work by this, his 87th year of life.

Tesla has been more fondly remembered in fiction than in history, where he is often the archetypal Mad Scientist – and hero or villain with about equal frequency.

By Vasenka – Belgrade, Serbia ~ Tesla Museum ~ Tesla’s Ashes.
Uploaded by BokicaK, CC BY 2.0, Link

As mentioned in:

Oh My Beautiful Problem Child — Intercontinental Music Lab

August 19, 1943 — The first intentional acid trip is taken

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

It was supposed to be a headache cure.

What Dr Albert Hofmann and his assistants were searching for, in their lab in Berne, Switzerland, was a better cure for the common headache. It was originally synthesized on November 18, 1938, but it seemed a failure, and was put aside. Hofmann barely gave it another thought, but five years later, he decided to give it another look.

Examining it, he accidentally dosed himself with an unknown quantity on April 16, 1943. The effects he experienced are now very familiar, even to those who’ve never directly felt them, and although it took him some time, he figured out what had happened. Three days later, he took the first ever deliberate acid trip, ingesting 250 micrograms, and experienced similar effects. Famously, he rode his bike home from the lab while feeling the effects, which is why this day is sometimes referred to as Bicycle Day by the kind of people who think acid’s pretty cool.

By Coaster420 – OG source indeed., Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Happy Bicycle Day, everyone!

July 16, 1945 — The Trinity nuclear test is carried out

By Loki 222 Content, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The world entered a new age – the nuclear age – when the scientists and soldiers of the Manhattan Project test detonated the first ever atomic bomb at White Sands in Nevada. Less than a month later, two more bombs just like it would destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing World War Two to an abrupt end.

On the day, however, no one knew quite how destructive the bomb would be (some worried that it would ignite the entire atmosphere of the planet, for example), or how long its effects would last. But after the explosion, Robert Oppenheimer’s apropos quote from the Bhavagad Gita was generally agreed to be the most apt: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

By United States Department of Energy – Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Russians — Sting

The Fez — The Dead Milkmen

March 17, 1950 — The creation of Californium is announced

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

One of the elements of the actinide group, Californium was first synthesized on approximately February 9, 1950 by researchers at the University of California. After checking and replicating the initial experiment, its discovery was announced a month later, and the element named for the university (and state) where it had been created.

Unusually for a synthetic element, it was later discovered in naturally occurring forms, albeit as a result of extremely rare phenomena. Californium also has practical uses, notably in initiating nuclear reactions and in the creation of higher elements – ununoctium (element 118) was synthesized by bombarding californium-249 atoms with calcium-48 ions

By United States Department of Energy (see File:Einsteinium.jpg) – “Californium” in (2006) THE CHEMISTRY OF THE ACTINIDE AND TRANSACTINIDE ELEMENTS, III (3rd ed.), Springer, pp. 1,518 DOI: 10.1007/1-4020-3598-5_11., Public Domain, Link

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U.S. Forces — Midnight Oil

May 9, 1950 — L. Ron Hubbard publishes “Dianetics”

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Religion, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

“Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health” was first published by L. Ron Hubbard in 1950. It is a canonical text of Scientology, often referred to as “Book One” of the Scientological holy books. One of the best-selling self-help books in American history, it is also one of the most widely reviled, as the Church of Scientology, like all churches, does not lack for enemies.

“Dianetics” itself is a mixture of biology and psychology, none of it more recent than 1949, and most of it soundly debunked – in some cases, even before the book was written. In particular, the book is frequently criticised for its lack of either qualifiers to its claims or evidence to support them.

No doubt all these critics are merely dupes of Xenu and his thetans.

By Source, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

Dr Jeep — Sisters of Mercy

April 21, 1951 — Codename Easy, an A-bomb, is tested at the Enewetak Atoll

By Loki 222 Content, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The nuclear tests at Enewetak were part of a series called Operation Greenhouse. The bombs in the Greenhouse series were smaller in size, weight and amount of fissile material used. At the time they were made, the US had already begun creating a stockpile of such weapons in advance of testing.

Operation Greenhouse was not the first test of the Eisenhower administration, but it was the first to take place at the Pacific Proving Grounds (which were, technically, not even US territory, being instead land held under a United Nations mandate). The aggressive testing schedule of 1951 was largely in response to Soviet Union’s first successful nuclear test in August 1949.

By U.S. Federal Government – This image is available from the National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office Photo Library under number XX-28.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required., Public Domain, Link

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We Didn’t Start The Fire — Billy Joel

May 8, 1951 — Du Pont Chemical publicly releases Dacron

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

One of the wonder-fabrics of the Fifties, Dacron was the trade name of a particular polyester sold by Du Pont Chemical – the first from that company and the second overall (after Terylene). Its actual chemical name is Polyethylene terephthalate. It was first sold in New York, where it was used to make a variety of garments, most prominently men’s suits. Although a fashion sensation at the time, it has dropped out of favour since the technophiliac Fifties, and is no longer used as much in clothing.

Modern applications for Dacron include ropes (especially for nautical use) and artificial organs, especially hearts – both applications where Dacron’s lack of biodegradability is desirable.

By Schippmeister – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

As mentioned in:

We Didn’t Start the Fire — Billy Joel

November 1, 1952 — The first full test of a Hydrogen bomb is made

By Loki 222 Content, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The bomb was code-named “Ivy Mike”. It was the first test of the Teller-Ulam bomb design, which produced yield estimated in the range of 10.4–12 Megatons (450 times as powerful as the Nagasaki bomb) when it was detonated on Elugelab Island in the Enwetak Atoll, in the Ralik chain of the Marshall Islands.

It was the first successful Hydrogen Bomb test by either side, the first fusion bomb, and the acquisition of this technology by the United States marked an escalation in the arms race of the Cold War – a little over nine months later, the Soviet Union would detonate a fusion bomb of its own.

By United States Department of Energy – This image is available from the National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Site Office Photo Library under number IVY-52-05.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required., Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

The Fez — The Dead Milkmen

November 1, 1952 — Einsteinium is first created

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Einsteinium is a completely artifical element (atomic number 99) with a very short half-life (a about 1 and a third years). It was first discovered in the fallout from the detonation of the world’s first hydrogen bomb, code Ivy Mike, detonated at Enewetak Atoll on November 1, 1952.

As a trans-uranic element, it is extremely radioactive. It has no known applications other using it to develop other extremely radioactive trans-uranic elements with even higher atomic numbers – so far, it has been employed successfully in the creation of mendelevium (atomic number 101) and unsuccessfully in the attempted creation of ununennium (atomic number 119).

By Haire, R. G., US Department of Energy.
Touched up by Materialscientist at en.wikipedia. – [1], Haire, Richard G. (2006). “Einsteinium”. In Morss; Edelstein, Norman M.; Fuger, Jean. The Chemistry of the Actinide and Transactinide Elements (3rd ed.). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Science+Business Media. ISBN 1-4020-3555-1. p. 1580
Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by User:Urutseg using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

MKUltra — Muse
Mkultra — Unwound
MK Ultra — Periphery
MK Ultra — Violent Sons
Mkultra — Toxic Holocaust
The 4th Branch — Immortal Technique
MK Ultra — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
They. Resurrect. Over. New. — Lupe Fiasco
Look… The Sun is Rising — The Flaming Lips
US Government — Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
MK-DELTA: Glorified — Arsonists Get All the Girls
MK-ULTRA: Psychotropic Puppets — Arsonists Get All the Girls

April 13, 1953 — The CIA launches the MK-ULTRA project

By admin 222 Content, Crime, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

CIA director Allen Dulles ordered the creation of the MKUltra project intending it to create techniques to fight what was believed to be an extensive Communist brain-washing program (at various times identified as being conducted by one of, or some combination of, North Korea, China and the USSR). Its scope became broader than that, attempting to create drugs for mind control, for compelling the truth from interrogation subjects, for duplicating the symptoms of various diseases, for stimulating or retarding aging, and more. Often, subjects were experimented on without their knowledge or consent, leading to several nervous breakdowns and at least one confirmed suicide, as people who did not know they were drugged assumed that they were losing their minds.

The project ran from 1953 through to 1973, although many of the records of it were destroyed in 1974 (a measure ordered by CIA director Richard Helms as the Watergate scandal mounted). This lack of records helped to conceal the extent and outcomes of the program when they were investigated by both the Church Committee and the Rockefeller Commission, but enough was found to confirm much of what was suspected of the program, and the information made public. A further investigation took place in 1977, after the discovery of MKUltra records that had escaped the destruction of the rest due to being misfiled. Afterwards, several of those drugged in the program sued the government for the lack of informed consent, not all of them successfully. Even now, it is not clear whether we know everything about the MKUltra program.

By Dr. Sidney Gottlieb’s approval of an w:en:MKULTRA subproject on LSD. – Transwiki approved by: w:en:User:Dmcdevit, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Two Minutes To Midnight — Iron Maiden

September 1, 1953 — The Doomsday Clock is set at two minutes to midnight

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is one of the world’s most prestigious scientific publications in the world. Its first issue, published on December 10, 1945, was only two pages in length. It has grown since then.

In June of 1947, its cover featured, for the first time, what became known as the Doomsday Clock. This would become the regular cover for Bulletin, throughout the run of its print edition, and even today’s online version, which has no cover per se, maintains the clock. The number of minutes before midnight – measuring the degree of nuclear, environmental, and technological threats to mankind – is periodically corrected; when it was first published, the clock was set at seven minutes to midnight.

In September of 1953, Volume IX, Number 7, the Clock was set to 2 minutes to midnight – the closest they had ever been. The hands remained here until January of 1960, and in the following years, would peak at 17 minutes to midnight. In 2018, the hands were once again set to 2 minutes to midnight, where they remain to this day.

By Ryanicus Girraficus – Own work, CC0, Link

As mentioned in:

The Fez — The Dead Milkmen

May 5, 1958 — The discovery of Nobelium is announced

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Nobelium is a trans-uranic element whose atomic number is 102. A radioactive metal, it was first created in April 1958 by a team at the University of California’s Berkeley campus. The members of the team were Albert Ghiorso, Torbjorn Sikkeland, John R. Walton and Glenn Seaborg.

They named the newly discovered element after Alfred Nobel, which may or may not have been intended as a tiny hint to the Nobel Prize Committee. There is some controversy regarding this date, with several different teams claiming to have discovered Nobelium at different times, but this one seems to be the most commonly cited.

By Unknown author – [1][2], Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Lemmings — Blink 182
Potshot Heard ‘Round The World — Dead Kennedys
Hey Lord, Don’t Ask Me Questions — Graham Parker

August 12, 1958 – “White Wilderness” premieres

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The legendary documentary that began the whole “lemmings commit suicide” myth, White Wilderness was 72 minutes of the Disney Corporation making nature more interesting (for a given value of ‘interesting’) in another ‘True Life Adventure’. The scene of the lemmings jumping into the ocean has been at the centre of a number of controversies over the years – it’s actually a river, not the ocean; the filmakers built an apparatus to push the lemmings along; and, of course, lemmings are no more suicidal than any other species.

To be fair, at no point does the narration state that the lemmings are deliberately committing suicide, but nonetheless, this is the starting point of that urban legend.

By The Walt Disney Company – The Walt Disney Company, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

We Didn’t Start The Fire — Billy Joel

May 28, 1959 – Space Monkeys Able and Miss Baker become the first living beings to safely return to Earth

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

In the early days of space exploration, no government seemed ready to send humans into space. After all, no one knew what sort of effects exposure to conditions in space would have on human biology. But dogs and monkeys were fair game.

The United States launched monkey flights between 1948 and 1961, and France launched two monkey space flights in 1967. Most – but not all – monkeys were anesthetized before lift-off. Each monkey flew only one mission, although there were numerous back-up monkeys also went through the programs but never flew. Monkey species used included rhesus monkeys, cynomolgus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and pig-tailed macaques.

Able, was a rhesus monkey, and Miss Baker, a squirrel monkey, and on May 28, 1959, aboard the JUPITER AM-18, they became the first living beings to successfully return to Earth after traveling in space. They travelled in excess of 16,000 km/h, and withstood 38 g (373 m/s²). Their names had no particular significance, being simply taken from a phonetic alphabet.

Able died on June 1, 1959 during surgery but Baker lived into old age, dying on November 29, 1984, She is buried on the grounds of the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and Able was preserved, and is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum.

By RadioFan at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

As mentioned in:

July 14, 1960 — Jane Goodall arrives at the Gombe Stream Reserve

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

In 1960, no one knew who Jane Goodall was, or how she would revolutionise our ideas about chimpanzee behaviour and intelligence, and by extension, about human behaviour. When she arrived at Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, she was 26 year old best known as a protege of Louis Leakey who had worked with him at Olduvai Gorge in the late Fifties.

Over the course of more than five decades now, Goodall has devoted herself to scientific research and to ecological activism, but in 1960, no one could have imagined the important figure that Jane Goodall would become. Today, it’s almost impossible to imagine the field of chimpanzee studies without her.

By Muhammad Mahdi Karim – Own work, GFDL 1.2, Link

As mentioned in:

Jane — Stevie Nicks

Tomorrow Wendy — Andy Prieboy
Tomorrow Wendy — Concrete Blonde

May 25, 1961 — Kennedy pledges to put a man on the Moon by the decade’s end

By Loki 222 Content, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

It was a bold announcement at the time – at any time, really. When JFK addressed a joint session of Congress, and announced that the USA would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, he can’t have been sure it could be done. Sure, it was still only 1961 – technological utopianism was the order of the day – but the United States was lagging behind the Soviet Union at that point.

As we now all know, it turns out that it could be done – although with only six months to spare – and Armstrong and Aldrin’s walk on the moon in July 1969 is the most inspiring legacy that John F. Kennedy left behind him.

By NASA – Great Images in NASA Description, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Kill The Poor — The Dead Kennedys

July 1964 — Manufacture of the Neutron Bomb begins

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Economics, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

When it was first created, the Neutron Bomb was hailed as a triumph of efficiency and progress. In theory, it would kill the population of its affected area, while leaving the buildings standing. The bomb would have a lesser degree of heat and concussive force than an ordinary nuclear bomb, but a greatly increased amount of radiation.

The bomb was never used in a combat situation, and its production has been largely discontinued. The United States, the Soviet Union, China and France all had developed neutron bombs, but no country is currently known to deploy them.

By US Army employee – http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/sprint.html, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Sleestak Lightning — Clutch

November 15, 1966 — The first documented sighting of the West Virginia Mothman takes place

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

On November 15, 1966, two young couples from Point Pleasant, West Virginia were out for a pleasant drive. Steve and Mary Mallette and Roger and Linda Scarberry later told police that they saw a large white creature whose eyes “glowed red” when the car headlights picked it up. They described it as a large flying man with ten-foot wings following their car.

Unknown to them, five others had sighted the creature three days earlier, but theirs was the first account to make the news, appearing in the Point Pleasant Register the following day. Over the next month, the creature, now called ‘the Mothman’, was sighted several more times, but after the collapse of a nearby bridge and the resulting deaths of 46 people, sightings dried up for a time – a fact that led many to speculate that the Mothman was a harbinger or prophet of the event.

By Jason W. – https://www.flickr.com/photos/fokket/4011253068/, CC BY 2.0, Link

As mentioned in:

Bluff Creek and Beyond — Pressurehed

October 20, 1967 — Bigfoot caught on film at Bluff Creek

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Or was he?

Ever since Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin filmed a hairy humanoid at Bluff Creek, California, on October 20, 1967, people have been arguing about it.

Patterson was widely believed to be a con-man, and the odds of someone who was specifically looking for Bigfoot finding her are, let’s face it, long. And the blurry footage shows what could easily be some dude in a Star Trek alien costume. (Indeed, Janos Prohaska, costume designer for Star Trek, was among the most vocal skeptics.)

On the other hand, cryptozoologists like to point out the unusual gait of the bigfoot, which they claim is nothing like that of a human, or the fact that there had been sightings at Bluff Creek before this time – although the skeptics claim that as an argument for their side, too…

By Patterson-Gimlin film, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

Cuyahoga – R.E.M.
Burn On – Randy Newman
River On Fire – Adam Again

June 22, 1969 — The Cuyahoga River catches fire. Again.

By Loki 222 Content, Crime, Economics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Between 1868 and 1969, there were thirteen separate fires on the Cuyahoga River, the worst occurring in 1952. It was one of the most polluted watercourses in all of the United States. But the 1969 fire, although not the most damaging, was the one with the most lasting effects. Public outcry over the fire led to the creation of the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA).

Water quality on the Cuyahoga has improved, and most of the largest individual sources of pollution have been cleaned up, but the problem remains one that needs guarding against to prevent a recurrence.

Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

I Was Only 19 — Redgum
Shrink — Dead Kennedys
Man On The Moon — REM
Saturn 5 — Inspiral Carpets
We Didn’t Start The Fire — Billy Joel
Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins — The Byrds
For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and me — Jethro Tull
(He’ll Never Be An) Ol’ Man River — This Is Serious Mum

July 21, 1969 — Armstrong and Aldrin walk on the Moon

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Really, what needs to be said?

Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins took off from the Kennedy Space Center, near Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 16. Four days later, the lunar landing module, carrying Armstrong and Aldrin, landed on the Moon. They were supposed to take a sleep break, but Armstrong was impatient to walk on the moon – and who could blame him?

It was July 21 (UTC) by the time they began the EVA. They stayed on the lunar surface for about 150 minutes (15 minutes longer than was originally a plan). During this time, the two spoke to President Nixon in the White House, planted an American flag on the Moon, performed a number of scientific experiments and took numerous photographs, all of them now iconic images.

Despite what you may have heard, it is highly unlikely that the landings were faked. I do not believe that they were, and neither does Buzz Aldrin.

By NASA – http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/AS11-40-5903HR.jpg
http://www.archive.org/details/AS11-40-5903 (TIFF image), Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Can’t Keep Johnny Down — They Might Be Giants

February 6, 1971 – Alan Shepard plays golf on the Moon

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, Sport, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The commander of the Apollo 14 mission, Alan Shepard holds several unique distinctions. He is the only member of the Mercury 7 astronauts to have walked on the Moon and also the oldest person to have walked there (in terms of age at the time he did it). His mission was the first to broadcast colour video from the surface of the Moon and made the most accurate landing of all the Apollo missions. And, of course, he is the first man to have hit golf balls (two of them) on the Moon.

Shepard came home to the hero’s welcome that astronauts traditionally received, and was promoted from Captain to Rear-Admiral after the successful completion of his mission. He retired from the US Navy and NASA, becoming a successful businessman, and eventually died from leukemia in 1998, 21 years to the day from Armstrong’s first moon walk.

His golf balls are presumably still somewhere on the lunar surface.

As mentioned in:

Tojo — Hoodoo Gurus
Song For Darwin — Ayers Rock
Santa Never Made it into Darwin — Bill and Boyd

December 24, 1974 — Cyclone Tracy hits Darwin

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

It’s sometimes referred to as ‘The Night That Santa Never Came‘. What came instead were howlling winds of more than 200km an hour, tearing Darwin to pieces and having a similar effect on nearby towns in the Northern Territory.

In the end, the death toll would reach 71, of whom 22 were caught at sea by the storm. It destroyed 80% of all buildings in Darwin and left tens of thousands of people homeless, most of whom were evacuated to other cities.

Cyclone Tracy remains the greatest natural disaster in Australian history. Darwin today bears little resemblance to pre-Tracy Darwin, and although its population has long since surpassed the 49,000 residents at the time of the cyclone, the majority of them are new immigrants to the city or born since 1974.

By Source, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

We Didn’t Start the Fire — Billy Joel

June 18, 1983 — Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

When the Space Shuttle Challenger launched on June 18, 1983 on mission STS-7, Sally Kristen Ride, age 32, became the first American woman in space as a crew member. (She was third overall, behind the Soviets Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982.)

Ride was selected by NASA in 1978, after answering a newspaper advertisement for the space program – 8900 other people also answered it. On her first mission, she was one of a five member crew who deployed two communications satellites and conducted pharmaceutical experiments. Ride rode again in 1984, again on the Challenger, and after the Challenger exploded on takeoff, she was a member of the Presidential Committee charged with investigating the mishap.

By NASA; retouched by <a href=”//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Coffeeandcrumbs” title=”User talk:Coffeeandcrumbs”>Coffeeandcrumbs</a> – <a rel=”nofollow” class=”external text” href=”https://images.nasa.gov/details-S84-37256.html”>Description page</a> (<a rel=”nofollow” class=”external text” href=”https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/S84-37256/S84-37256~orig.jpg”>direct image link</a>), Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

The Downeaster Alexa — Billy Joel

March 31, 1986 — Fishing of the Atlantic Striped Bass is made illegal

By Loki Crime, Economics, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Under the terms of the Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act of 1984, it became possible for duly appointed local authorities (reporting in turn to state authorities, under the overall coordination of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission) to declare moratoriums on fishing for the Atlantic Striped Bass – known to fisherman as the Striper – for periods of up to 30 days. But these moratoriums could also be renewed more or less indefinitely, until it was determined by the authority that the population of the fish had recovered sufficiently.

While in most locations, populations of the Atlantic Striped Bass did indeed recover – although the process took around a decade – that was little consolation to the fisherman who lost their livelihoods in the meantime.

By Unknown – FishWatch (see Gallery), Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

February 27, 1992 — S.I. Hayakawa dies

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

A noted populariser of the ideas of Alfred Korzybski, especially general semantics, Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa was a Japanese-American academic. He wrote numerous books on semantics and language, some of which remain in use as textbooks even today (notably his “Language in Thought and Action” which is now in its fifth edition).

Hayakawa was the president of San Francisco State College from 1968 to 1973. As president, his most notable action was the creation of an Ethnic Studies department after pressure from Black Panther and student protesters. In 1977, he became a member of the United States Senate (California, R), a role which he held until 1983. He died in 1992 at the age of 85.

By United States Government – http://bioguide.congress.gov/bioguide/photo/H/H000384.jp, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

It’s All About The Pentiums — Weird Al Yankovic

March 22, 1993 — Intel releases the first Pentium chips

By Loki 222 Content, Economics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Intel’s first Pentium microprocessor was the Pentium P5. Released on March 22, 1993, it was an x86 compatible chip that was an instant hit. Intel promoted it – and subsequent releases in the Pentium series – heavily. For a while there, it seemed like you couldn’t turn around without seeing one those damned “~~Cyberdyne~~Intel Inside” logos.

The Pentium remains, to this day, the single most well known brand of CPU on the planet – today’s song is certainly proof of that.

By OrangeMooch17 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

As mentioned in:

1993 — Encarta is first published by Microsoft

By Loki 222 Content, Dateless, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Of all the events I’ve classified as Dateless here – meaning that, for one reason or another, no way existed to date them accurately, this is the most peculiar. But the information does not seem to be anywhere on the web – even Microsoft’s own site does not record the release date of this, the earliest version of their cd-rom encyclopaedia, Microsoft Encarta.

Encarta is in many ways a bridge between traditional encyclopedias such as the Britannica, and internet based encyclopedias such as Wikipedia. While its editing policies and hard-coded nature are in the tradition of the Britannica, its searchability represented a massive advance, as did its use of hyperlinking between articles and the inclusion of animations or archival footage to help illustrate articles.

By Source, Fair use, Link

As mentioned in:

If anyone reading this owns any copy of Encarta, I’d be curious to know whether Encarta’s entry for itself lists its original release date.

Sleestak Lightning — Clutch

December 22, 2000 — The Myakka Skunk Ape Letter is written

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The Skunk Ape is an unusual cryptid. For one thing, there are actual photographs of it, taken by an anonymous photographer who has never come forward (but who did send them to a newspaper as part of the Myakka Skunk Ape Letter). For another, it is one of the most commonly reported cryptids, usually seen in northern Florida (where Myakka lies), or less often, in Arkansas or North Carolina. (For the record, none of these three states border each other, and there are no reports from the states in between, so if the skunk ape is real, there may be three separate populations of it.)

The Myakka Skunk Ape Letter was typed by a person or persons claiming to be a female senior citizen living near Myakka in Sarasota County, Florida. In it, the writer describes the ape as seven foot tall in a crouching position (which would make it the tallest hominid known to science), and expresses fears about the creature attacking people (fears which have yet to materialise). It remains unclear whether the letter and its accompanying photos are fakes or not, but the lack of other confirmed sightings of the Myakka Skunk Ape in the Twenty First Century argues against their veracity.

As mentioned in:

Millenium Theater — Ani Di Franco

February 12, 2002 – Yucca Mountain is approved as a nuclear waste depository

By Loki 222 Content, Economics, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Depository is exactly what it sounds like: a facility located inside Yucca Mountain, Nevada. It was exhaustively researched as a potential facility throughout the eighties and nineties, and finally given the go ahead in 2002. It is intended that it be a safe place to store radioactive materials for up to a million years (the longest anticipated time for the materials in question to remain radioactive).

Although construction has commenced, there have been numerous delays, and the Obama administration has repeatedly cut the funds available for the project, which is now unlikely to be ready for use before 2020.

So that’s something to look forward to.

Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

George Bush Don’t Like Black People – The Legendary K.O.

August 29, 2005 – Hurricane Katrina destroys much of New Orleans

By Loki 222 Content, Crime, Politics, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

At 6:10AM on the morning of August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made a landfall on the Louisiana coast near Buras-Triumph. After moving along the coast, it made another landfall near the border of Louisiana and Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina was the most destructive natural disaster to strike the United States in recorded history. The confirmed death toll was 1836 (in May 2006), however this is a conservative estimate, and does not include more than 700 people missing, nor indirect deaths.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency displayed a level of incompetence that was close to unbelievable. The level of it was such that corruption or deliberate malice seemed more likely explanation, just as this song suggests:

By AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Kyle Niemi – Published here, here, and here, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

7 8 9 — Bare Naked Ladies
When I Was Your Age Pluto Was Still a Planet — Arsonists Get All the Girls

September 13, 2006 – Pluto is demoted from planetary status

By Loki 222 Content, Culture, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

Originally discovered in 1930, Pluto was at that time classed as a planet, and named for the Roman god of the Underworld. However, as the years went by, evidence mounted that it was not truly a major planet. Although it did have moons of its own, it also had an eccentric orbit (which crosses that of Neptune, the next furthest out planet) and a lower mass than any other planet.

The discovery that Pluto was just one of a number of bodies in the Kuiper Belt, many of them with comparable size and mass, also weakened the arguments for considering it a planet. Finally, a new definition of what a planet issued by the International Astronomical Union on August 24, 2006, excluded Pluto. On September 13, Pluto was named a Dwarf Planet, alongside Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris – all of which, other than Ceres, are also Kuiper Belt objects.

By NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Alex Parker – http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Galleries/Featured-Images/image.php?page=1&gallery_id=2&image_id=543, Public Domain, Link

As mentioned in:

Large Hadron Rap — Katherine McAlpine

September 10, 2008 — The Large Hadron Collider begins operations

By Loki 222 Content, Rock n Roll History of the World, Science, The Rock'n'Roll History of the World

The Large Hadron Collider or LHC is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. Built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) with the intention of testing various predictions of high-energy physics, it lies in a tunnel beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland. The LHC is 27 kilometres in circumference, and as low as 175 metres below ground level at its deepest points.

The LHC is intended to collide opposing particle beams for the purpose of testing various predictions of high-energy physics, notably the existence of the hypothesized Higgs boson and of the large family of new particles predicted by supersymmetry. The beams will be composed of either protons at an energy of 7 TeV per particle, or lead nuclei at an energy of 574 TeV per nucleus.

On 10 September 2008, proton beams were successfully circulated in the main ring of the LHC for the first time. However, only 9 days later, operations were halted due to a serious fault between two superconducting bending magnets. Repairs and the installation of additional safety features have pushed back the operating date of the LHC, which is now planned to recommence operations in mid-November 2009.

By Maximilien Brice – https://cds.cern.ch/record/1211045, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

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