World History Timeline

Timeline

25 events

19th century

  2. May 10, 1869★★★★★

    First transcontinental railroad completed

    The golden spike is driven at Promontory Summit, Utah, completing the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

    TechnologyEconomy· United States
  3. March 10, 1876★★★★★

    Bell's first telephone call

    Three days after receiving his patent, Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful telephone call to his assistant Thomas Watson.

    Technology· United States

20th century

  1. December 17, 1903★★★★★

    Wright brothers' first flight

    At Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers make the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight.

    Technology· United States
  2. August 15, 1914★★★★★

    Panama Canal opens

    The US-built Panama Canal officially opens, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

    TechnologyEconomy· Panama, United States
  3. May 20, 1927 – May 21, 1927★★★★★

    Lindbergh's solo transatlantic flight

    Charles Lindbergh flies solo and nonstop from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis.

    TechnologyExploration· United States, France
  4. October 6, 1927★★★★★

    The Jazz Singer premieres

    The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length film with synchronised dialogue, premieres in New York, launching the era of talking pictures.

    CultureArtTechnology· United States
  5. July 16, 1945★★★★★

    Trinity nuclear test

    The United States detonates the world's first nuclear weapon in the New Mexico desert as part of the Manhattan Project.

    ScienceTechnology· United States
  6. February 1946★★★★★

    ENIAC unveiled

    ENIAC, the first programmable general-purpose electronic digital computer, is unveiled to the public at the University of Pennsylvania.

    Technology· United States
  7. December 1947★★★★★

    Invention of the transistor

    John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley at Bell Labs build the first working transistor, the foundation of modern electronics.

    TechnologyScience· United States
  8. July 20, 1969★★★★★

    Apollo 11 Moon landing

    Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon.

    ExplorationTechnology· United States
  9. October 29, 1969★★★★★

    First message sent over ARPANET

    The first message is sent between UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute over ARPANET, the precursor of the Internet.

    Technology· United States
  10. 1971★★★★★

    First networked email

    Ray Tomlinson sends the first email between computers on ARPANET, choosing the @ sign to separate user and host names.

    Technology· United States
  12. August 12, 1981★★★★★

    IBM launches the IBM Personal Computer

    IBM introduces the IBM PC, whose architecture becomes the de facto standard for personal computers for decades.

    TechnologyEconomy· United States
  13. January 1, 1983★★★★★

    ARPANET switches to TCP/IP

    ARPANET officially switches to the TCP/IP protocol suite, often regarded as the birth of the modern Internet.

    Technology· United States
  14. April 24, 1990★★★★★

    Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope

    Space Shuttle Discovery carries the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, where it transforms our understanding of the universe.

    ScienceTechnology· United States
  15. September 4, 1998★★★★★

    Google is founded

    Larry Page and Sergey Brin incorporate Google, which becomes the world's most widely used search engine.

    TechnologyEconomy· United States

21st century

  1. January 15, 2001★★★★★

    Wikipedia is launched

    Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launch Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia written collaboratively by volunteers.

    TechnologyCulture· United States
  2. February 4, 2004★★★★★

    Facebook is launched

    Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students launch the social network Facebook at Harvard; it later reaches billions of users.

    TechnologyCulture· United States
  3. January 9, 2007★★★★★

    Apple unveils the iPhone

    Steve Jobs unveils the first iPhone, accelerating the era of touchscreen smartphones.

    Technology· United States
  4. December 25, 2021★★★★★

    Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope

    The James Webb Space Telescope, a NASA–ESA–CSA collaboration, is launched from French Guiana to observe the early universe in infrared.

    ScienceTechnology· United States, France
  5. November 30, 2022★★★★★

    OpenAI releases ChatGPT

    OpenAI releases the chatbot ChatGPT, which quickly reaches hundreds of millions of users and drives a wave of generative artificial intelligence.

    Technology· United States
Timeline · World History Timeline