Sign in

Everything we have is built on something older.

A linked history of how we got here, from the Big Bang to this year. Every event shows what it was built on, what it made possible, and where to read, watch and argue about it.

1,060 events1,356 cause-and-effect links286 curated documents and books44 contested histories
Trace the roots of
Years ago on a log scale: each gridline is ten times closer to today. Click an era to jump there.
13.8 GaThe Big BangThe universe begins expanding from an extremely hot, dense state. Space, time, matter and energy as we know them start here.4.6 GaThe Sun formsA cloud of gas and stardust collapses into our Sun, surrounded by a disk that will become the planets.4.54 GaEarth formsEarth accretes from the solar disk. Everything in human history happens on this rock.3.7 GaFirst lifeSingle-celled microbes appear. Every living thing on Earth shares this common ancestor.2.4 GaGreat Oxidation EventOxygen from cyanobacteria floods the atmosphere. It poisons much early life but makes energy-hungry complex life possible.2 GaComplex cells (eukaryotes)Cells with a nucleus and mitochondria appear, likely after one microbe engulfed another. All plants, fungi and animals descend from them.538 MaCambrian ExplosionMost major animal body plans appear in a geologic eyeblink, including eyes, shells and the ancestors of vertebrates.375 MaFish walk onto landLobe-finned fish like Tiktaalik evolve limb-like fins. The four-limbed body plan of every amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal starts here.225 MaFirst mammalsSmall, warm-blooded, furry animals appear alongside the early dinosaurs. They nurse their young with milk.66 MaAsteroid ends the dinosaursThe Chicxulub asteroid wipes out non-avian dinosaurs and about three-quarters of species, opening the world to mammals.7 MaHuman line splits from chimpanzeesOur ancestors diverge from the lineage leading to chimpanzees and bonobos, our closest living relatives.4.4 MaWalking uprightArdipithecus and later australopithecines walk on two legs, freeing the hands for carrying and tool use.3.3 MaFirst stone toolsLomekwi tools in Kenya are the oldest known deliberately made tools. Technology begins.2.8 MaGenus Homo appearsThe first members of our genus appear in East Africa with larger brains and a growing reliance on tools.1.9 MaHomo erectusA tall, long-legged, larger-brained species built for walking and running, the first to leave Africa.1 MaControl of fireBurned bone and plant ash at Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa suggest early fire use. Fire means warmth, protection, light and cooking.300 kaHomo sapiens appearsThe oldest known fossils of our species come from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco. Every human alive descends from these early Africans.200 kaComplex languageFully modern language likely emerges by this point (the timing is debated), enabling shared plans, teaching, stories and culture.70 kaModern humans leave AfricaHomo sapiens spreads across Asia and Europe, eventually becoming the only human species left.21,000 BCEHumans reach the AmericasFootprints at White Sands, New Mexico, suggest people were in North America at the height of the last Ice Age.9,500 BCEGöbekli TepeMassive carved stone pillars in Turkey, raised by hunter-gatherers about 6,500 years before Stonehenge.9,500 BCEAgriculture beginsWheat, barley, peas and lentils are domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. Farming creates food surpluses, towns and eventually civilization.7,000 BCERice domesticatedRice farming along China's Yangtze River begins; rice later feeds more people than any other crop.7,000 BCEMaize domesticatedFarmers in Mexico begin transforming wild teosinte into maize, later a staple across the Americas and the world.6,000 BCEIrrigationFarmers in Mesopotamia channel river water into canals, enabling reliable harvests and demanding large-scale cooperation.5,000 BCECopper smeltingExtracting metal from ore begins in the Balkans and Iran. The Age of Metals starts.4,000 BCEUruk and the first citiesUruk in Mesopotamia grows into perhaps the world's first true city, eventually housing tens of thousands of people.3,500 BCEThe wheelWheeled carts appear in Mesopotamia and Central Europe at nearly the same time. Transport is transformed.3,300 BCEBronze Age beginsAlloying copper with tin makes bronze, harder and more durable. Trade networks form across continents to obtain tin.3,200 BCEWriting (cuneiform)Sumerian scribes develop cuneiform from accounting marks. Law, history, literature and science become possible.3,100 BCEEgypt unifiedUpper and Lower Egypt unite under the first pharaohs, beginning about 3,000 years of dynastic rule.2,560 BCEGreat Pyramid of GizaBuilt for Khufu, it was the tallest human-made structure on Earth for about 3,800 years.2,200 BCEDomestic horses spreadGenetic studies show modern domestic horses spreading from the western steppe; horses revolutionize travel, farming and war.2,100 BCEEpic of GilgameshThe oldest great work of literature explores friendship, death and a great flood.2,000 BCESpoke-wheeled chariotFast horse-drawn chariots, first seen at Sintashta in the steppe, transform warfare across Eurasia.1,850 BCEThe alphabetSemitic-speaking workers in Egypt adapt hieroglyphs into a few dozen sound signs. Nearly every alphabet today descends from it.1,754 BCECode of HammurabiBabylon's king publishes 282 laws on a stone monument, including the famous "eye for an eye."1,250 BCEChinese writing on oracle bonesShang diviners carve questions on bones and shells. The script evolves into modern Chinese characters.1,200 BCEIron Age beginsIronworking spreads widely. Iron ore is common, so metal tools and weapons become far cheaper.1,177 BCELate Bronze Age collapseAcross the eastern Mediterranean, palaces burn and trade collapses. Drought, earthquakes and the "Sea Peoples" all play a role.750 BCEHomer's Iliad and OdysseyThe founding epics of Western literature, composed orally and later written down.630 BCEFirst coinsLydia, in modern Turkey, stamps lumps of electrum into standardized coins, making trade and taxation easier.585 BCEThales and natural philosophyThales seeks natural explanations for the world instead of myths. Greek philosophy and science begin.550 BCEHebrew Bible and monotheismDuring and after the Babylonian exile, Jewish scribes compile the Torah, grounding a faith in one God that shapes Christianity and Islam.550 BCEPersian Empire foundedCyrus the Great builds the largest empire the world had yet seen, governing many peoples with relative tolerance.509 BCERoman Republic foundedRomans expel their king and create elected consuls and a Senate, with power divided and limited.508 BCEAthenian democracyCleisthenes' reforms let male citizens vote directly on laws. The word democracy means "rule by the people."500 BCEThe BuddhaSiddhartha Gautama teaches a path to end suffering. Buddhism spreads across Asia.500 BCEConfuciusHis teachings on ethics, family and good government shape East Asian societies for 2,500 years.400 BCEHippocrates and rational medicineGreek physicians attribute disease to natural causes. The Hippocratic Oath still echoes in medicine.399 BCETrial and death of SocratesSocrates questions everything and is executed for it. His method of inquiry shapes Western thought.387 BCEPlato's AcademyPlato founds a school in Athens and writes the Republic; his dialogues shape philosophy for 2,400 years.335 BCEAristotle's LyceumAristotle systematizes logic, biology, ethics and politics. His works dominate learning for nearly 2,000 years.334 BCEAlexander's conquestsAlexander conquers from Greece to India, spreading Greek language and culture across the Hellenistic world.300 BCEEuclid's ElementsA textbook deriving geometry from axioms. It was used to teach mathematics for more than 2,000 years.285 BCELibrary of AlexandriaThe ancient world's greatest library tries to collect every book known.250 BCEArchimedesLevers, buoyancy, pi and early calculus-like methods: the greatest mathematician and engineer of antiquity.221 BCEQin unifies ChinaQin Shi Huang unifies China and standardizes script, coins, weights and axle widths. A unified China becomes the ideal.206 BCEHan dynastyA 400-year dynasty so defining that China's majority ethnic group still calls itself Han.130 BCESilk Road opensZhang Qian's missions link China to Central Asia and beyond. Goods, ideas, religions and diseases flow for centuries.27 BCERoman Empire beginsAugustus becomes the first emperor. The Pax Romana brings two centuries of relative peace.30 CEJesus of Nazareth crucifiedA Jewish teacher from Galilee is executed in Jerusalem. His followers found Christianity, today the world's largest religion.105 CEPaperOfficial Cai Lun improves papermaking from bark, hemp and rags. Cheap writing material later transforms the world.380 CEChristianity becomes Rome's state religionThe Edict of Thessalonica makes Christianity the empire's official faith, shaping Europe for the next millennium.458 CEDecimal place-value numeralsIndian mathematicians write numbers with nine digits in place-value positions, the system the world uses today.476 CEFall of the Western Roman EmpireThe last western emperor is deposed. Europe fragments into kingdoms; the eastern empire endures.610 CEMuhammad's first revelationsIn Mecca, Muhammad begins preaching a message of one God. Islam will become the world's second largest religion.628 CEZero as a numberBrahmagupta gives rules for calculating with zero and negative numbers.632 CEArab conquestsWithin a century, Muslim armies conquer lands from Spain to Central Asia.700 CEWoodblock printingChinese printers carve whole pages into wood, making mass-produced texts possible.800 CEHouse of WisdomBaghdad scholars translate Greek, Persian and Indian works into Arabic and extend them.820 CEAl-Khwarizmi and algebraHis books give us the word algebra and, through his name, the word algorithm.850 CEGunpowderChinese alchemists seeking an elixir of life discover an explosive mix of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal.1021Ibn al-Haytham's Book of OpticsHe explains vision correctly and insists on testing ideas by experiment, an early form of scientific method.1024Paper moneySong China issues the first government paper currency.1025Avicenna's Canon of MedicineA medical encyclopedia used as a textbook in Europe and the Islamic world for 600 years.1088University of BolognaThe first university in the European tradition, founded around the study of law.1088Magnetic compass for navigationShen Kuo describes the magnetic needle; within decades Chinese ships navigate with compasses.1096First CrusadeWestern Christians launch wars to seize the Holy Land. Two centuries of conflict follow.1202Fibonacci's Liber AbaciFibonacci introduces Hindu-Arabic numerals to Europe, transforming commerce and mathematics.1206Mongol EmpireGenghis Khan unites the Mongols; they build the largest contiguous land empire in history.1215Magna CartaEnglish barons force King John to accept that even the king is subject to law.1288FirearmsThe oldest dated metal gun, from China, begins the age of firearms.1300Mechanical clockWeight-driven clocks in European towers divide the day into equal hours.1347Black DeathPlague kills roughly a third to a half of Europe's population. Labor shortages reshape society and the economy.1400Italian RenaissanceArt, science and scholarship flourish in Italian cities, reviving classical ideals.1440Gutenberg's printing pressGutenberg combines metal type, oil-based ink and a press. Printed books spread knowledge faster than ever before.1453Fall of ConstantinopleOttoman cannons breach the city's walls. Greek scholars flee to Italy with ancient texts.1492Columbus reaches the AmericasColumbus lands in the Caribbean. Sustained contact between the hemispheres begins, with enormous consequences.1493Columbian ExchangeCrops, animals, people and diseases cross the Atlantic. Potatoes feed Europe; horses transform the Great Plains.1494Double-entry bookkeepingLuca Pacioli publishes the accounting method still used by every business.1498Vasco da Gama reaches India by seaA sea route around Africa opens direct European trade with Asia.1517Protestant ReformationLuther's Ninety-Five Theses spread by print. Western Christianity splits, reshaping politics, literacy and war.1520Smallpox devastates the AmericasEuropean diseases kill a large majority of Indigenous Americans within a century.1522First circumnavigationMagellan's expedition sails around the world; only 18 of about 270 men return.1526Transatlantic slave tradeThe first direct voyages from Africa to the Americas. About 12.5 million Africans will be forcibly shipped across the Atlantic.1543Copernicus' heliocentric modelCopernicus places the Sun, not Earth, at the center. The Scientific Revolution begins.1543Vesalius' On the Fabric of the Human BodyDetailed anatomy from human dissection overturns centuries of errors.1600ShakespeareShakespeare's plays shape the English language and literature worldwide.1602Dutch East India Company and first stock exchangeThe first company with publicly traded shares; Amsterdam's exchange is the model for modern stock markets.1608TelescopeA Dutch spectacle maker files a patent for a device that makes distant things appear near.1609Kepler's laws of planetary motionPlanets move in ellipses, not perfect circles. The heavens obey mathematical laws.1610Galileo's telescope discoveriesJupiter's moons and Venus' phases provide strong evidence against an Earth-centered universe.1620Bacon's Novum OrganumFrancis Bacon argues knowledge must be built by observation and experiment, not authority.1628Circulation of the bloodWilliam Harvey shows the heart pumps blood around the body in a circuit.1637Descartes and analytic geometryDescartes unites algebra and geometry and declares "I think, therefore I am."1648Peace of WestphaliaTreaties establish the principle of sovereign states that do not interfere in each other's religion, the basis of the modern international order.1660Royal SocietyScientists in London organize to share experiments; the society's journal pioneers peer review.1675CalculusNewton and Leibniz independently develop the mathematics of change, the language of physics and engineering.1676Microorganisms discoveredAntonie van Leeuwenhoek sees bacteria and protists: an invisible world of life.1687Newton's PrincipiaNewton's laws of motion and universal gravitation explain both falling apples and orbiting planets.1689English Bill of RightsParliament guarantees free elections, free speech in Parliament and bans cruel and unusual punishment.1689Locke's Two Treatises of GovernmentGovernment exists to protect life, liberty and property, and rests on the consent of the governed.1700British Agricultural RevolutionNew crops, rotations and enclosures raise yields and free workers for factories.1709Coke-fired iron smeltingAbraham Darby smelts iron with coke instead of charcoal, making cheap iron possible.1712Newcomen steam engineThe first practical steam engine pumps water from mines.1748Montesquieu's separation of powersLiberty is safest when legislative, executive and judicial powers are separated.1760Industrial Revolution beginsBritain's factories, coal and machines launch sustained economic growth. For the first time, living standards begin rising generation after generation.1769Watt's steam engineJames Watt's separate condenser makes steam engines far more efficient, powering factories and later transport.1775American RevolutionThirteen colonies revolt against Britain.1776Adam Smith's Wealth of NationsMarkets, specialization and self-interest can create wealth for all: the founding text of economics.1776Declaration of Independence"All men are created equal" with rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.1787U.S. ConstitutionThe oldest written national constitution still in use: separated powers, checks and balances, and elected representatives.1789French RevolutionFrance overthrows its monarchy. Ideas of citizenship, nationalism and left versus right spread across the world.1789Lavoisier founds modern chemistryLavoisier establishes conservation of mass and a modern list of elements.1791U.S. Bill of RightsFreedom of speech, religion, press and assembly, and due process are guaranteed.1791Haitian RevolutionEnslaved people overthrow French rule; Haiti becomes the first free Black republic in 1804.1796First vaccineEdward Jenner uses cowpox to protect against smallpox. Vaccines will save hundreds of millions of lives.1800Electric batteryAlessandro Volta produces a steady electric current for the first time.1804Napoleonic CodeA clear civil code of equality before the law, copied around the world.1808Dalton's atomic theoryElements are made of atoms with specific weights, the foundation of chemistry.1824ThermodynamicsSadi Carnot analyzes heat engines, beginning the science of energy.1826First photographNicéphore Niépce captures the view from his window.1830Liverpool and Manchester RailwayThe first intercity passenger railway. Rail networks shrink distances around the world.1831Electromagnetic inductionMichael Faraday shows moving magnets create electricity: the principle of every generator.1837Analytical Engine designedCharles Babbage designs a general-purpose mechanical computer with memory and punched-card programs.1844TelegraphSamuel Morse sends "What hath God wrought" from Washington to Baltimore. Near-instant long-distance communication begins.1846Surgical anesthesiaA public operation under ether in Boston makes painless surgery possible.1847Conservation of energyHelmholtz, Joule and Mayer show energy is never created or destroyed.1848The Communist ManifestoMarx and Engels call for workers to overthrow capitalism. Their ideas reshape the 20th century.1854John Snow and choleraSnow maps cholera cases to a water pump, founding epidemiology.1854Boolean logicGeorge Boole turns logic into algebra, later the basis of digital circuits.1856Bessemer steel processCheap mass-produced steel builds railways, ships, bridges and skyscrapers.1859First commercial oil wellEdwin Drake strikes oil in Pennsylvania. Petroleum will fuel the 20th century.1859Darwin's On the Origin of SpeciesEvolution by natural selection explains the diversity of life, including humans.1861U.S. Civil WarThe deadliest war in U.S. history, fought over slavery and union.1862Germ theory of diseaseLouis Pasteur shows microbes cause fermentation and disease, and invents pasteurization.1865Maxwell's equationsJames Clerk Maxwell unifies electricity, magnetism and light, predicting radio waves.186513th Amendment abolishes slaverySlavery is abolished throughout the United States.1866Mendel's laws of inheritanceGregor Mendel's pea experiments reveal the rules of heredity. They are ignored for 34 years.1867Antiseptic surgeryJoseph Lister sterilizes wounds and instruments; surgical deaths plunge.1868Meiji RestorationJapan rapidly industrializes and becomes the first non-Western great power.1869Periodic tableDmitri Mendeleev arranges the elements and predicts ones not yet discovered.1876TelephoneAlexander Graham Bell patents the telephone. Voice can travel over wires.1879Practical light bulbEdison and Joseph Swan make long-lasting incandescent bulbs. Night is conquered.1882First central power stationEdison's Pearl Street Station in New York sells electricity to customers.1884Berlin ConferenceEuropean powers set rules for carving up Africa. By 1914 almost the entire continent is colonized.1886AutomobileKarl Benz patents the first practical gasoline-powered car.1895CinemaThe Lumière brothers screen films for a paying audience in Paris.1895X-raysWilhelm Röntgen photographs his wife's hand bones. Medicine can see inside the body.1895RadioGuglielmo Marconi sends wireless signals, later across the Atlantic.1896RadioactivityHenri Becquerel and then Marie and Pierre Curie discover atoms emitting energy.1897Electron discoveredJ.J. Thomson finds the first subatomic particle.1900Quantum hypothesisMax Planck proposes energy comes in discrete packets. Quantum physics begins.1903First powered flightThe Wright brothers fly for 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk. Sixty-six years later, humans land on the Moon.1905Special relativity and E=mc²Einstein shows space and time are relative and mass is a form of energy.1908Ford Model TAn affordable car for the masses; 15 million are sold.1909Haber-Bosch processFertilizer made from nitrogen in the air. Roughly half the world's people today are fed by it.1911Atomic nucleusErnest Rutherford finds the atom is mostly empty space with a tiny, dense nucleus.1913Moving assembly lineFord's line cuts car assembly time from 12 hours to about 90 minutes. Mass production begins.1914World War IIndustrial warfare kills about 20 million people and topples four empires.1915General relativityEinstein describes gravity as the curvature of spacetime. GPS satellites must correct for it.1917Russian RevolutionThe Bolsheviks seize power, creating the first communist state.19181918 influenza pandemicThe deadliest pandemic of the 20th century kills an estimated 50 million people.1922InsulinBanting and Best isolate insulin; diabetes stops being a death sentence.1925Quantum mechanicsHeisenberg and Schrödinger create quantum mechanics, the physics behind transistors, lasers and chemistry.1927Electronic televisionPhilo Farnsworth transmits the first all-electronic television image.1928Penicillin discoveredAlexander Fleming notices mold killing bacteria. Antibiotics will save hundreds of millions of lives.1929The expanding universeEdwin Hubble finds galaxies moving away from us: the universe is expanding.1929Great DepressionThe stock market crash triggers a global depression; unemployment reaches about 25% in the U.S.1933Nazis take powerHitler becomes chancellor of Germany and builds a dictatorship within months.1936Keynes' General TheoryGovernments can fight recessions by spending. Economic policy is transformed.1936Turing machineAlan Turing defines what it means to compute. Every computer is a Turing machine.1938Nuclear fissionHahn and Strassmann split the uranium atom; Meitner and Frisch explain it.1939World War IIThe deadliest war in history kills about 70 to 85 million people.1941The HolocaustNazi Germany murders six million Jews and millions of others in a systematic genocide.1944Bretton WoodsAllies create the IMF, World Bank and a dollar-based monetary system.1945ENIACA general-purpose electronic computer with 17,468 vacuum tubes.1945Stored-program computer designJohn von Neumann describes storing programs in memory alongside data, the architecture of nearly all computers.1945Atomic bombThe Trinity test, then Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Humanity gains the power to destroy itself.1945United NationsA new world organization to preserve peace and promote cooperation.1947Cold War beginsThe U.S. and Soviet Union compete for global influence for 45 years.1947TransistorBardeen, Brattain and Shockley at Bell Labs invent the transistor. Billions now fit on a single chip.1947Independence and partition of IndiaIndia and Pakistan become independent; partition displaces about 15 million people.1948Universal Declaration of Human RightsThe UN declares rights belonging to every human being, anywhere.1948Information theoryClaude Shannon defines the bit and the limits of communication.1949People's Republic of ChinaMao Zedong's Communists win China's civil war.1953DNA double helixWatson and Crick, using Rosalind Franklin's X-ray data, reveal the structure of DNA.1954Brown v. Board of EducationThe U.S. Supreme Court rules segregated public schools unconstitutional.1955Polio vaccineJonas Salk's vaccine begins the near-elimination of polio.1956Shipping containerMalcom McLean's standardized box cuts shipping costs dramatically, powering globalization.1957SputnikThe USSR launches the first artificial satellite. The Space Age begins.1958Integrated circuitJack Kilby and Robert Noyce put multiple components on one chip.1960LaserTheodore Maiman builds the first laser, later used in surgery, fiber optics and barcode scanners.1960Birth control pillThe pill gives women reliable control over pregnancy, transforming work and family life.1961First human in spaceYuri Gagarin orbits Earth.1962Cuban Missile CrisisThe closest the world has come to nuclear war.1964Civil Rights ActOutlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin in the U.S.1965Moore's LawGordon Moore predicts chip transistor counts will double regularly. It holds for decades.1966Green RevolutionHigh-yield crops developed by Norman Borlaug and others avert famine in India and elsewhere.1969Moon landingNeil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the Moon.1969ARPANETThe first message travels between UCLA and Stanford on the network that becomes the internet.1971MicroprocessorThe Intel 4004 puts a whole computer processor on a single chip.1971End of the gold standardThe U.S. ends dollar convertibility to gold. Modern floating currencies begin.1973First handheld mobile phone callMartin Cooper of Motorola places a call from a New York street.1973Recombinant DNACohen and Boyer splice genes between organisms. Genetic engineering and biotech begin.1974TCP/IPVint Cerf and Bob Kahn design the protocols that let different networks join into one internet.1976Public-key cryptographyDiffie and Hellman show how strangers can communicate securely. It protects every online purchase.1977Personal computersThe Apple II, Commodore PET and TRS-80 bring computers into homes.1978China's economic reformsDeng Xiaoping opens China to markets. Hundreds of millions escape poverty.1980Smallpox eradicatedThe first human disease wiped out by deliberate effort.1981AIDS identifiedThe first cases are reported. HIV/AIDS goes on to kill over 40 million people.1983PCRKary Mullis invents a way to copy DNA millions of times, transforming biology and diagnostics.1989Fall of the Berlin WallCrowds open the Wall. Communism in Eastern Europe collapses within months.1991World Wide WebTim Berners-Lee's web of linked pages goes public at CERN.1991Soviet Union dissolvesFifteen independent states emerge. The Cold War ends.1991Lithium-ion batterySony commercializes the rechargeable battery of phones, laptops and electric cars.1994End of apartheidNelson Mandela becomes South Africa's first Black president.1998GoogleA search engine ranking pages by links makes the web navigable.2001September 11 attacksAl-Qaeda hijackers kill nearly 3,000 people, launching the War on Terror.2001WikipediaA free encyclopedia anyone can edit becomes one of the most visited sites on Earth.2003Human genome sequencedThe complete human genome is read.2004FacebookSocial networking reaches billions.2006Cloud computingAmazon Web Services rents computing power on demand.2007iPhoneThe smartphone puts the internet, camera, maps and apps in billions of pockets.2008Global financial crisisA housing and banking collapse causes the deepest recession since the 1930s.2008The Bitcoin whitepaperOn 31 October 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto posts "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" to a cryptography mailing list. In nine pages it solves double-spending without a trusted third party, using a proof-of-work chain of timestamped blocks.2009Satoshi Nakamoto creates BitcoinOn 3 January 2009 Satoshi Nakamoto mines the genesis block, embedding a London Times headline about bank bailouts. The first money with no central issuer goes live, secured by a network anyone can join.2012Deep learning breakthroughAlexNet wins an image-recognition contest by a huge margin. The modern AI boom begins.2012CRISPR gene editingDoudna and Charpentier show precise, cheap gene editing.2017Transformer architectureGoogle researchers publish "Attention Is All You Need," the design behind modern AI language models.2020COVID-19 pandemicA coronavirus spreads worldwide, killing millions and reshaping work, schooling and politics.2020mRNA vaccinesVaccines developed in under a year show a new way to make medicines.2020AlphaFold solves protein foldingAI predicts protein structures, solving a 50-year problem; it wins the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.2022ChatGPT and generative AIA chatbot reaches 100 million users in about two months. AI enters daily life.2026You are hereThe present moment rests on everything before it. Tap "Trace roots" to see how far back it goes.