c. 3500 BCE

The First Written Word

Cuneiform script pressed into wet clay in ancient Sumer. Symbols for grain, cattle, and commerce -- humanity's first attempt to make thought permanent.

1439

The First Printed Book

Gutenberg's movable type press produces the Bible. Information breaks free from the monastery.

1903

The First Flight

Wright Flyer, 12 seconds, 120 feet. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1953

The First Summit

Hillary and Tenzing stand on Everest. 29,032 feet above sea level.

1957

The First Satellite

Sputnik 1 orbits Earth, beeping a signal that changes everything. The Space Age begins with a polished aluminum sphere the size of a beach ball.

1969

The First Moon Step

Neil Armstrong's boot presses into lunar regolith. One small step. The bootprint may last 10 million years.

1991

The First Website

info.cern.ch. Tim Berners-Lee. A page about the World Wide Web project itself.

1997

The First Cloned Mammal

Dolly the sheep. Somatic cell nuclear transfer. Biology will never be the same.

2012

The First Higgs Boson Detection

CERN confirms the particle that gives mass to matter. The Standard Model is complete -- or is it?

2022

The First Fusion Ignition

NIF achieves net energy gain. The power of stars, briefly, in a laboratory in California.