In the year 2022, Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Platinum Jubilee (Feb 6), Russian forces attack Ukraine (Feb 24), the global death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 6 million (Mar 7), the number of confirmed cases exceeds 500 million worldwide (Apr 13), Canada and Denmark end their competing claims for Hans Island by dividing the island roughly in half, ending what was referred to as the Whisky War (Jun 14), Shinzo Abe is assassinated in Nara (Jul 8), Queen Elizabeth II dies in Scotland, and is succeeded by Charles III (Sep 8), the world population reaches 8 billion (Nov 15) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2021, supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump attack the United States Capitol (Jan 6), the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeds 100 million worldwide (Jan 26), NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, part of the Mars 2020 mission, performs the first known powered flight on another planet (Apr 19), the 2020 Summer Olympics begin in Tokyo (Jul 23), the United States withdraws its last remaining troops from Afghanistan, ending 20 years of operations there (Aug 30), El Salvador becomes the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as an official currency (Sep 7), the number of recorded deaths from COVID-19 surpasses 5 million (Nov 1), Russia’s anti-satellite weapon test creates a cloud of space debris (Nov 16) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

One of the many representations of the corona virus. See also COVID-19 Map (John Hopkins) In the year 2020, Chinese authorities publicly confirm human-to-human transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (Jan 20), the United Kingdom and Gibraltar formally withdraw from the European Union (Jan 31), the World Health Organization names the disease COVID-19 (Feb 11), WHO declares the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic (Mar 11), the death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 100,000 globally (Apr 10), fossils found in a Bulgarian cave belonging to Homo sapiens indicate that modern humans may have arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previously thought (May 11), China passes the controversial Hong Kong national security law (Jun 30), Africa is declared free of wild polio (Aug 25), skeletons of 200 mammoths are unearthed in Mexico City (Sep 3), the worldwide death toll from COVID-19 exceeds one million (Sep 29), a NASA spacecraft briefly touches down on the asteroid Bennu, and retrieves historical samples (Oct 20), the United Kingdom becomes the first nation to begin a mass inoculation campaign using the fully tested Pfizer vaccine (Dec 8), followed by the United States and Canada (Dec 14) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2019, Pope Francis arrives in Abu Dhabi, becoming the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula (Feb 2), all Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are grounded worldwide after two disastrous crashes (Mar 10), Julian Assange is arrested after spending seven years in Ecuador’s embassy in London (Apr 11), astronomers announce the first discovery of water in habitable zone of an exoplanet (Sep 11), Greenland and Antarctica keep melting away, protests in Hong Kong go on, and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Cartoon for Saudi Arabia’s #women2drive Movement In the year 2018, in over 900 cities internationally, people participate in demonstrations against gun violence and mass shootings (Mar 24), cinemas open in Saudi Arabia for the first time since 1983 (Apr 18), Saudi Arabia allows women to drive (Jun 24), the Yellow Vest Movement begins its protests in France (Dec 1), at the Katowice Climate Change Conference, nearly 200 nations agree rules on implementing the 2015 Paris agreement (Dec 15), drone incident in the Gatwick Airport in London probably one of many to come (Dec 19) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2017, Donald Trump becomes the 45th U.S. president (Jan 20), 74 people are killed at Grenfell Tower in London (Jun 14), Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi sets a new record price for any work of art with US$450 million at Christie’s in New York (Nov 15), the United States say they will withdraw from UNESCO, terrorist attacks keep shaking the world, and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Barack Obama and Raúl Castro at the press conference in Havana. White House photo by Chuck Kennedy Barack Obama visits Cuba, marking the first time a sitting US president has visited the island nation since Calvin Coolidge visit in 1928 (Mar 21), The Gotthard Base Tunnel, the world’s longest and deepest railway tunnel, is opened in Switzerland (Jun 1), the United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union (Jun 23), Donald Trump is elected US president (Nov 8) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2015, WHO declares that rubella has been eradicated from the Americas (Apr 29), Cuba and the United States reestablish full diplomatic relations, thus ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the nations (Jul 20), Queen Elizabeth becomes the longest-serving head of state of any nation in modern history (Sep 11), NASA announces that liquid water has been found on Mars (Sep 24), UN’s Climate Change Conference commits for the first time all countries to reduce their carbon emissions (Dec 12) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa begins (Feb), Belgium becomes the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia (Feb 13), Russia formally annexes Crimea (Mar 21), a Malaysia Airlines plane is shot down over Ukraine (Jul 17), majority of Scotland votes to remain part of the United Kingdom, (Sep 18), IPCC warns that the world faces severe and irreversible damage from global emissions of CO2 (Nov 2), One World Trade Center in New York opens (Nov 3) – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2013, a powerful meteor explodes over the city Chelyabinsk in Russia (Feb 15), Benedict XVI resigns as pope, the first to do so since 1415 (Feb 28), Boston Marathon bombing takes place (Apr 15), Citizen Hearing on Disclosure begins in Washington D.C. (Apr 29), Edward Snowden discloses U.S. government’s mass surveillance program to media (Jun 6), Chinese unmanned Chang’e 3 becomes the first spacecraft to “soft” land on the Moon since 1976 (Dec 14) – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2012, after 246 years since its first publication, the Encyclopedia Britannica discontinues its print edition (Mar 13), Edvard Munch’s The Scream sets a new world record for an auctioned work of art (May 22), the Summer Olympics begin in London, England (Jul 27), the Mars rover Curiosity successfully lands on Mars (Aug 6), Felix Baumgartner skydives from 24 miles (39 km) over Roswell, New Mexico (Oct 14) – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2011, a tsunami kills thousands in eastern Japan (Mar 11), U.S. President Barack Obama announces the death of Osama bin Laden (May 2), the planet Neptune completes its first orbit since its discovery in 1846 (Jul 12), domestic terror attacks take place in Norway (Jul 22), NASA announces that liquid water may be found on Mars (Aug 5), Occupy Wall Street protests begin in New York City (Sep 17), ETA declares an end to its 43-year long violent political campaign, and Muammar Gaddafi is killed in Libya (Oct 20), the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity is launched towards Mars (Nov 26) – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2010, the tallest man-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, is officially opened (Jan 4), volcanic ash from Mount Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland spreads to northern and western Europe, disrupting air traffic (Apr 14), Greece gets a hefty bailout package from the EU (May 2), Wikileaks leaks to the public thousands of internal U.S. reports (Jul 25), ISS surpasses record for longest human stay in space (Oct 22), Wikileaks releases new classified reports (Nov 28) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2009, the first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin is mined (Jan 3), Miracle on the Hudson takes place (Jan 15), the Icelandic banking system collapses (Jan 26), NASA’s Kepler is launched, in search for extrasolar planets in the Milky Way (Mar 7), Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves (Aug 3) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_6241” align=“alignleft” width=“329”]Australian Aboriginals Flag[/caption] Australia apologizes to the Stolen Generations, i.e. the Aboriginal Australians (Feb 13), bionic eyes are successfully implanted into two blind patients in London (Apr 22), Canada apologizes to the country’s First Nations for the Canadian Indian residential school system (Jun 11), SpaceX Falcon 1 becomes the world’s first privately developed space launch vehicle to successfully make orbit (Sep 28), Spotify music streaming service is launched in Sweden (Oct 7), Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System is published (Nov 1) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

The IPCC - the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change **-**publishes its 4th assessment report, concluding that global climate change is “very likely” to have a predominantly human cause (Feb 2), Gliese 581c, a potentially Earth-like extrasolar planet habitable for life, is discovered in the constellation Libra (Apr 24), the iPhone - the first modern smartphone - is released in the United States (Jun 29), The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted in the U. Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_4842” align=“alignleft” width=“374”]Saturn’s moon Enceladus compared to Earth and to Jupiter’s moons Ganymede and Europa[/caption] In the year 2006, NASA’s Cassini-Huygens discovers a possible presence of water on Saturn’s moon Enceladus (Mar 9), Serbia and Montenegro are divided into two separate states (Jun 5), Italy wins the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Berlin (Jul 9), Pluto is demoted to a dwarf planet (Aug 24), Ban Ki-moon is elected the new UN Secretary-General (Oct 13) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2005, the Huygens spacecraft lands on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, discovered in 1655 (Jan 14), the video-sharing website YouTube is created (Feb 14), and Me at the zoo becomes the first such video uploaded (Apr 23), the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched towards Mars (Aug 12), Hurricane Katrina hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing hundreds (Aug 29), the trial of Saddam Hussein begins (Oct 19), the first proven case of someone cured of HIV is presented (Nov 13) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2004, the largest ocean liner ever built, RMS Queen Mary 2, is christened (Jan 8), Facebook is created (Feb 8), NATO expands by seven European countries (Mar 29), the European Union expands by ten member states (May 1), SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spacecraft to achieve spaceflight (Jun 21), the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn (Jul 1), the Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine (Nov 22), tsunami 2004 kills an estimated 227,898 people in Thailand and Indonesia (Dec 26) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 2003, Belgium becomes the second country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage (Jan 30), all seven astronauts are killed aboard the space shuttle Columbia at reentry to over Texas (Feb 1), the Iraq War begins (Mar 20), The Human Genome Project is completed, with 99% of the human genome sequenced to 99.99% accuracy (Apr 14), Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 60,000 years (Aug 27), China launches its first manned spaceflight (Oct 15), Saddam Hussein is captured in Iraq (Dec 13), several European countries approve joining the EU - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading