Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have discovered a chemical reaction to turn CO2 into ethanol, potentially creating a new technology to help avert climate change.
Actor: Scientists & mathematicians
The World Wide Web is released to the general public
The World Wide Web has been central to the development of the Information Age and is the primary tool billions of people use to interact on the Internet.
Stephen Hawking publishes A Brief History of Time
In A Brief History of Time, Hawking writes in non-technical terms about the structure, origin, development and eventual fate of the universe, which is the object of study of astronomy and modern physics.
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin, launching the age of antiobiotics
The discovery of penicillin, one of the world’s first antibiotics, marks a true turning point in human history when doctors finally had a tool that could completely cure their patients of deadly infectious diseases.
Einstein publishes his special theory of relativity, proposing new concepts of space and time
In 1905, Albert Einstein determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and that the speed of light in a vacuum was independent of the motion of all observers.
Marie Curie, for her pioneering work on radioactivity, becomes first woman to win Nobel Prize
Marie Curie discovered radioactivity, and, together with her husband Pierre, the radioactive elements polonium and radium while working with the mineral pitchblende.
Louis Pasteur invents pasteurization, killing bacteria in milks and revolutionizing health practices
Pasteurization, invented by Louis Pasteur in 1864, kills harmful bacteria that tend to grow in dairy products, especially in the absence of refrigeration. At the time, the discovery was rather revolutionary; it allowed milk to be consumed less immediately and prevented many illnesses.
Charles Darwin publishes Origin of Species, outlining theory of evolution and natural selection
Darwin’s theory argued that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called natural selection.
William Sturgeon invents the electromagnet
British scientist William Sturgeon invented the electromagnet in 1824. His first electromagnet was a horseshoe-shaped piece of iron that was wrapped with about 18 turns of bare copper wire.