1901
• Linus Carl Pauling born in Portland, on February 28 to Herman and Belle Pauling.
1905
• The Paulings move to the farming town of Condon, Oregon, where Herman opens a pharmacy. William P. Murphy, who will win the
Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1934, also lives in Condon at this time.
1910
• On May 12, Herman Pauling writes a letter to the Portland Oregonian about his nine year old son who is "a great reader" and
deeply interested in ancient history and the natural sciences. He asks readers of the newspaper to advise him about the proper
works to procure for his child who has "prematurely developed inclinations."
• On June 11, Herman Pauling suddenly dies of a perforated stomach ulcer with attendant peritonitis. Shortly thereafter the
Paulings move back to Portland.
1916
• First semester of chemistry at Washington High School. Due to a scheduling conflict, Pauling is unable to complete the school's
American History requirement. He never graduates from high school.
1917
• Begins school at Oregon Agricultural College, October. 6, in Corvallis, OR.
1919
• OAC chemistry department offers Pauling, a sophomore, a full-time position as assistant instructor in quantitative analysis.
1920
• Writes to Arthur Amos Noyes about his interest in coming to the California Institute of Technology.
1921
• Does first research, on the effect of magnetism on the orientation of iron crystals when they are electrodeposited from an
iron salt solution.
1922
• Meets Ava Helen Miller for the first time, she is a student in a class Linus is teaching, "Chemistry for Home Economics Majors".
• June 22, graduates from Oregon Agricultural College.
• Departs for California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
1923
• First published work on the structure of molybdenite with Roscoe Dickinson, appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
• At the end of his first year of graduate studies, despite family opposition, Linus and Ava Helen marry on June 17, in Salem,
OR.
1925
• Linus Carl Pauling, Jr. born, March 10.
• Receives Ph.D. in chemistry, minoring in physics and mathematics, Dissertation entitled "The Determination with X-rays of
the Structure of Crystals."
1926
• Chosen for Guggenheim Fellowship. Goes to Europe with Ava Helen, leaving Linus Jr. with Ava Helen's mother.
1927
• Publishes one of his greatest papers, "The Theoretical Prediction of the Physical Properties of Many-Electron Atoms and Ions,
Mole Refraction, Diamagnetic Susceptibility, and Extension in Space."
• Returns to Caltech and is named Assistant Professor of Theoretical Chemistry.
1930
• Works on quantum mechanics in Germany at Arnold Sommerfeld's Institute for Theoretical Physics; resolves problems concerning
quantum mechanics of the chemical bond.
1931
• Peter Jeffress Pauling born, February 10.
• Made full professor at Caltech.
• Receives the first A.C. Langmuir Prize of the American Chemical Society.
1932
• Linda Helen Pauling born, May 31.
• Meets Albert Einstein, who attends a seminar conducted by Pauling on the quantum mechanics of the chemical bond.
1933
• Elected youngest member of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Receives his first honorary degree from Oregon State College.
1934
• Receives three-year grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to support research on the structure of hemoglobin.
1935
• Publishes, with E. Bright Wilson, Jr., Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, with Applications to Chemistry.
1937
• Is appointed Director of the Gates Laboratory and Chairman of the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
• Edward Crellin Pauling born, June 4.
1939
• Publishes The Nature of the Chemical Bond, and the Structure of Molecules and Crystals. This book, Pauling's greatest, becomes, by the end of the century, "the most cited book in the scientific literature."
1940
• Becomes involved in various types of war work in explosives, rocket propellants, and medical research. Also develops the Pauling
Oxygen Meter.
1941
• Receives the William H. Nichols Medal.
• Diagnosed with glomerulonephritis, a commonly fatal renal disease. A radical new treatment program developed by Dr. Thomas
Addis, which stresses consuming a modicum of protein and drinking large amounts of water, is undertaken and followed by Pauling
for the next fifteen years. It likely saves Pauling's life.
1942
• Ava Helen Pauling speaks out against the internment of Japanese - Americans.
• Pauling, Dan Campbell, and David Pressman announce successful formation of artificial antibodies.
• In the Fall, J. Robert Oppenheimer offers Pauling a job as Director of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Division for the Manhattan
Project. Because of his nephritis and involvement with other war projects, Pauling declines.
1945
• Pauling and Campbell announce successful development of a substitute for blood plasma called oxypolygelatin.
• Aids in the preparation of the Bush Report (about science in U.S. after WWII); argues that it is the board's responsibility
to encourage research on how to avoid war.
• In August, Pauling becomes concerned upon learning of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He begins giving talks
about atomic bombs for local groups.
• At the urging of Ava Helen, decides to devote a large portion of his time learning about subjects relating to the question
of how to abolish war from the world.
1946
• Receives the 35th Willard Gibbs Medal of the Chicago section of the American Chemical Society.
• At the request of Albert Einstein, joins in the formation of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists.
1947
• Receives the Theodore William Richards Medal of the Northeast Section of the American Chemical Society.
• Publishes a textbook, General Chemistry, which revolutionizes the teaching of college chemistry.
• Awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal Society of London.
• In late December, Pauling writes a pledge on the back of a cardboard placard: "In every lecture that I give from now on, every
public lecture, I pledge to make some mention of the need for world peace."
1948
• Awarded the Presidential Medal for Merit.
• Attacks again the problem of the structure of proteins and this time finds that he can formulate a structurally satisfactory
helical configuration.
1949
• Becomes president of the American Chemical Society for 1949. In his presidential address he urges American industrial corporations
to support a scientific research foundation that will insure them a steady supply of new products.
• In April, Pauling and Harvey Itano, with Singer and Wells, present their results on sickle-cell anemia as a molecular disease
at a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences.
1950
• Publishes College Chemistry, a more popular treatment of basic chemistry than his General Chemistry.
• On November 13, testifying before the California Senate Investigating Committee on Education, Pauling explains for over two
hours why he objects to loyalty oaths involving inquiry into a person's political beliefs.
1951
• On February 28, his fiftieth birthday, Pauling communicates "The Structure of Proteins: Two Hydrogen-Bonded Helical Configurations
of the Polypeptide Chain," to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Written with Corey and H.R. Branson, this paper appears in April.
• The USSR Academy of Sciences attacks Pauling's resonance theory of chemical bonding as antithetical to Marxism.
1952
• Request for a passport is denied: "the [State] Department is of the opinion that your proposed travel would not be in the
best interests of the United States". Pauling planned to visit England to take part in a meeting on the structure of proteins.
He eventually receives a limited passport, but misses the England conference, where Rosalind Franklin's crystallographic photos
of DNA are displayed for the first time.
1953
• Pauling and Corey publish "Stable Configurations of Polypeptide Chains" in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. It becomes one of his most heavily-cited publications.
1954
• In October Pauling learns that he has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his research into the nature of the chemical
bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances."
• Pauling and his family travel to Stockholm where, on December 10, Pauling receives the Nobel Prize from King Gustav Adolph
VI.
1955
• On July 15, Pauling and over fifty other Nobel laureates issue the Mainau Declaration, which calls for an end to all war,
especially nuclear war.
• In November, Pauling appears before the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights. He testifies that he is not and has
never been a communist, open or concealed.
1956
• Receives the Amadeo Avogadro Medal in Rome. He gives a speech on Avogadro in Italian.
• Heads a team of scientists exploring the molecular chemistry of mental disease.
1957
• On May 15, Pauling speaks to students at Washington University, where he states that no human should be sacrificed to any
nation's program of perfecting nuclear weapons. In response to the enthusiastic reception accorded his speech, he composes
an appeal to end atomic-bomb tests, which is promptly signed by over 100 members of the Washington University science department.
The famous United Nations bomb test appeal is conceived.
1958
• On January 15, Linus and Ava Helen Pauling present the petition to halt bomb tests, plus a list of over nine thousand signers,
to Dag Hammarskjöld at the United Nations.
• In February Pauling debates, on television, issues of fallout and disarmament with Edward Teller.
• In April, Pauling and seventeen others file a lawsuit against the United States Defense Department and the Atomic Energy Commission
to stop nuclear tests.
• Publishes No More War!
• Elected to the Soviet Academy of Sciences.
• Publishes a paper on the genetic and somatic effects of carbon-14. In this influential paper, he estimates the effect of one
year of bomb tests on the next generation.
1959
• Formulates hydrate microcrystal theory of anesthesia.
• The Paulings attend the Fifth World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs in Hiroshima, Japan. Pauling is the guiding
member of a drafting committee that writes the "Hiroshima Appeal", the principal document issued by the conference.
1960
• From Sunday, January 31, until Monday morning, February 1, Pauling is trapped on the ledge of a steep cliff near his ranch.
His disappearance creates great concern, and his rescue makes news around the world.
• On June 21, Pauling testifies before the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act
in Washington, D.C.
• On October 11, Pauling again appears before the Subcommittee and, under threat of being held in contempt, refuses to reveal
the names of those who helped circulate his petition. He is eventually excused without punishment.
1961
• On January 2, Time magazine chooses the scientists of the United States as its "Men of the Year." Pauling is one of the scientists on the cover.
• On January 16, Linus and Ava Helen Pauling issue "An Appeal to Stop the Spread of Nuclear Weapons."
1962
• On April 24, 1962, President Kennedy orders the resumption of atmospheric nuclear tests. On April 28 and 29, Linus and Ava
Helen Pauling, with several hundred other demonstrators, march before the White House in protest. On the evening of April
29, Linus and Ava Helen Pauling enter the White House as guests of President and Mrs. Kennedy, who have invited many American
Nobel Prize winners to a dinner party.
• Receives an honorary high school diploma from Washington High School.
• In the November elections, Pauling receives 2,694 write-in votes for United States Senator from California.
1963
• Files a libel lawsuit against William F. Buckley's National Review.
• On October 10, the day that a partial nuclear test ban treaty goes into effect, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee of the Norwegian
Parliament announces the awarding of the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize to Linus Pauling. Reaction by the U.S. media is largely negative
? Life magazine declares the announcement "A Weird Insult from Norway".
• At the end of October, Pauling announces that he has accepted an appointment, effective November 1, as a research professor
at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California. He leaves C.I.T. after a forty-two year
association.
• On December 10 in Norway, Pauling receives the Nobel Peace Prize for 1962.
• Resigns from the American Chemical Society because of his dissatisfaction with the attitude of the Society toward him, the
bomb-test suits, and his Nobel Peace Prize.
1965
• On August 12, eight Nobel Peace Prize winners issue an urgent appeal to world leaders for an immediate cease-fire and political
settlement of the Vietnam War. Pauling, Albert Schweitzer, and Martin Luther King, Jr. are among the signers.
• Announces a new theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus. The basic idea of his theory is that protons and neutrons are
combined into spherons. He publishes "The Close-Packed-Spheron Theory and Nuclear Fission" in Science.
1967
• Takes a one-year leave of absence from the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions to accept a position as professor
of chemistry at the University of California in San Diego.
• In December, Ava Helen is hospitalized after suffering a small stroke. She recovers completely.
1969
• Accepts an appointment at Stanford University as Professor of Chemistry.
1970
• Publishes "Evolution and the Need for Ascorbic Acid" in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
• Awarded the International Lenin Peace Prize for 1968-1969.
• Publishes Vitamin C and the Common Cold. The book becomes a best seller and will win the Phi Beta Kappa Book Award in 1971 as one of the most distinguished and important
works published in 1970.
1971
• Dr. Ewan Cameron notifies Pauling of his work in Scotland with cancer patients. Pauling replies, stating that he feels strongly
that ascorbic acid may be of great value in the prevention and treatment of cancer. This correspondence marks the start of
a fruitful collaboration.
1972
• Cameron and Pauling submit a paper, "Ascorbic Acid and the Glycosaminoglycans: An Orthomolecular Approach to the Treatment
of Cancer and Other Diseases," to PNAS. In a controversial decision, PNAS decides not to publish the work.
1973
• Named Director of the Laboratory of Orthomolecular Medicine, a forerunner of the Linus Pauling Institute.
• Pauling and David Hawkins edit Orthomolecular Psychiatry: Treatment of Schizophrenia.
• Linus and Ava Helen travel to the People's Republic of China. They are among the first Americans to do so in the era of detente.
1974
• The Institute of Orthomolecular Medicine changes its name to the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine. Pauling
retires from Stanford University one month later.
1975
• Linus Pauling and Peter Pauling publish Chemistry.
• Awarded the National Medal of Science.
1976
• Delivers the Centennial Address of the American Chemical Society in New York. His speech is entitled "What Can We Expect for
Chemistry in the Next 100 years?"
• During the summer, Ava Helen experiences troubles with her digestion, and a physician discovers that she has a large tumor
in her stomach. She has a three-quarter gastrectomy and recovers well from the surgery.
• Pauling publishes Vitamin C, the Common Cold, and the Flu, an updated version of his earlier book.
1977
• Governor Bob Straub of Oregon declares June 1 "Linus Pauling Day" in Oregon.
1978
• Receives the Lomonosov Gold Medal, the highest award of the Soviet Academy of Science.
1979
• First recipient of the United States National Academy of Sciences Medal in the Chemical Sciences.
• Cameron and Pauling publish Cancer and Vitamin C.
1981
• Delivers the inaugural Ava Helen Pauling Lecture for World Peace at Oregon State University.
• On November 1, Ava Helen is awarded the 5th Ralph Atkinson Award, in celebration of her efforts on behalf of civil liberties
and peace. It is her last public appearance.
• Ava Helen Pauling dies of stomach cancer on December 7, following an illness that lasted 5 years and 3 months.
1982
• In June, Pauling takes a sentimental trip to Oregon and Washington. He revisits several places where he and Ava Helen spent
time together. He sees, for the first time, the grave of his grandfather, Linus Wilson Darling, in the Condon Cemetery.
1983
• Publishes the 25th Anniversary Edition of No More War!
• The American Chemical Society announces that Pauling will receive its most prestigious award, the Priestley Medal, in 1984.
• Announces the discovery of a new type of chemical bond that can mimic, for small molecules, the kind of bonding believed to
exist in bulk metals.
1986
• Publishes How to Live Longer and Feel Better. The book makes the New York Times best-seller list.
• In April announces plans to give all of his papers, as well as those of his wife, to his alma mater, Oregon State University.
• In December, the first 125,000 (of an eventual 500,000+) items arrive on the OSU campus.
1987
• Pauling and Cameron begin to advocate the use of vitamin C in the treatment of AIDS.
• Delivers a special series of the George Fisher Baker Non-resident Lectures in Chemistry commemorating the 1937 Lecture Series;
entitled "The Nature of the Chemical Bond."
1989
• Receives the Vannevar Bush Award of the National Science Foundation.
• Participates in the discussions about "cold fusion" and offers a chemical explanation for what some have interpreted as a
nuclear phenomenon.
1991
• Publishes an appeal to stop the rush to war in the Persian Gulf.
• Theorizes, with Matthias Rath, that ascorbate deficiencies are a primary cause of heart disease.
• Diagnosed, in December, as having rectal and prostate cancer. Pauling undergoes two surgeries to treat the cancer, but otherwise
chooses Vitamin C megadoses as his primary form of therapy.
1994
• On August 19, Linus Pauling dies at Deer Flat Ranch, Big Sur, California.
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1901
• President McKinley is assassinated.
• Guglielmo Marconi sends the first trans-Atlantic radio signal.
• K. Landsteiner discovers blood groups.
• Commonwealth of Australia is created.
1902
• Barnum's Animal Crackers are introduced.
1903
• The Wright Brothers take the first flight in an airplane.
• Henry Ford organizes the Ford Motor Co.
• The Panama Canal is built.
1904
• The ice cream cone is invented at the St. Louis World's Fair.
1905
• Albert Einstein announces the theory of relativity.
1906
• Finland becomes first European country to give women the right to vote.
1907
• First helicoptor is flown.
1908
• Robert Perry, Matthew Henson, and four Eskimos reach the North Pole.
1910
• Neon lights are developed.
1912
• The Titanic sinks.
1913
• Gideon Sundback invents the zipper.
• The first home electric refrigerator is introduced.
1914
• World War I breaks out in Europe.
• The Panama Canal opens.
1915
• The first phone call from New York to California is made.
• Pyrex glass is introduced.
1916
• US Rubber Co. launches Keds, the first rubber soled sneakers.
1917
• US enters World War I.
1918
• World War I ends.
1920
• Women gain the right to vote in the United States.
1921
• First Miss America contest.
• Albert Einstein wins the Nobel Prize for Physics.
1922
• Alexander Graham Bell dies.
• Niels Bohr wins the Nobel Prize for Physics.
• First use of insulin to treat diabetes in humans.
1923
• First wireless telephone call from New York to London.
• Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party attemtpt to overthrow the Weimar Republic.
1924
• Congress declares American Indians to be US citizens Nellie Ross is elected the first woman governor of a state, in Wyoming.
1925
• Sled dog teams race 650 miles with medicine to save the citizens of Nome, Alaska, from diptheria. The story captivates the
public.
• A Tennessee high school biology teacher, John Scopes, is put on trial for teaching evolution, in violation of Tennessee law.
The case drew national attention to state laws forbidding the teaching of evolution (only Biblical creationism was allowed)
in public schools.
1927
• First trans-Atlantic telephone service between NY and London established.
• Charles Lindbergh makes his solo flight from NY to Paris.
1928
• Television sets go on sale, and the first regular broadcasts are established.
• First sound cartoon is shown (Disney's "Steamboat Willie").
1929
• The stock market crashes and hastens the Depression.
• Alexander Fleming observes the effect penicillin has on bacteria.
1930
• Ernest O. Lawrence invents the cyclotron.
• First commercially available flash bulbs are introduced.
1931
• The Empire State Building opens.
1933
• Hitler becomes the Chancellor of Germany.
• President Roosevelt unveils the New Deal.
1935
• The Hoover Dam is completed.
• The Social Security Act is passed.
• Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly across the Pacific Ocean.
1936
• Standard Oil of California finds oil in Saudi Arabia.
1937
• Amelia Earhart's plane is lost over the Pacific Ocean.
• Germany, Italy, and Japan form an anti-communism pact, thus beginning the formation of the Axis alliance.
1938
• Germany invades Austria.
• German and Austrian Jews are attacked, synagogues are burned, and businesses destroyed during Kristallnacht, an incident which many historians consider the start of the Holocaust.
1939
• Germany invades Czechoslovakia and Poland.
• Air passenger service begins regularly across the Atlantic Ocean.
• DDT is discovered as a pesticide.
• Einstein writes to President Roosevelt alerting the President to the importance of research on nuclear chain reactions and
the possibility that research might lead to developing powerful bombs.
• Nylon is used for women's stockings for the first time, eventually replacing silk.
• Britain and France declare war on Germany. World War II has begun.
1940
• Germany invades Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
• The Miracle at Dunkirk: From May 26th to June 4, thousands of British, French, and Belgian troops are evacuated from the beaches
of France by Dunkirk.
• Paris falls to invading German troops on June 14.
• Italy invades Greece, and declares war on Britain and France.
• The first highly successful radar system is used by the British to detect incoming German air raids, greatly improving response
times for air defense.
1941
• World War II Continues.
• Germany invades the Soviet Union.
• Allied and Axis forces battle for control of North Africa.
• On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.
• Penicillin is mass-produced and used to treat infections resulting from battlefield injuries.
1942
• The war between Japan and the US begins.
• Japan invades the Phillipines.
• Japanese Americans are sent to internment camps.
• On December 2, the first nuclear chain reaction occurs at the University of Chicago. This is the first step in developing nuclear weapons.
1943
• Work on ENIAC, the first computer, begins at the University of Pennsylvania.
1944
• Rome is liberated.
• June 6: Allied forces storm the beaches of Normandy in the D-day invasion. This turns the tide of the war in Europe in favor
of the Allied forces.
• The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are established at the International Monetary and Financial Conference, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
• Belgium is liberated.
• The Phillipines are liberated by Allied forces.
1945
• The United Nations is formed.
• Concentration camps are liberated by Allied forces.
• On May 8, 1945, Germany surrenders.
• On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
• On August 9, 1945, an atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.
• On September 2, 1945, Japan surrenders.
• World War II is over.
1946
• The United States starts atomic testing at Bikini Atoll, in the Pacific Ocean.
• The ENIAC, a 30 ton room-sized computer, is introduced, launching the computer age.
1947
• India gains indepence from the UK, and Pakistan is created as a separate Muslim state.
1948
• Israel declares itself an independent state and is recognized by the US.
• Apartheid is established in South Africa.
1949
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is formed.
1950
• North Korea invades South Korea, starting the Korean War.
1951
• US detonates a hydrogen bomb, a bomb many times more powerful than an atomic bomb.
• UNIVAC, the first commercial digital computer is unveiled. The first one is sold to the Census Bureau.
• CBS starts color broadcasts in five cities for 2.5 hours a day.
1952
• Queen Elizabeth is crowned Queen of England after the death of her father.
• George VI Polio vaccine is invented by Jonas Salk.
1953
• The Korean War ends.
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed after being convicted of providing the formula for the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.
1954
• Vietnam is divided into a Communist North Vietnam and non-Communist South Vietnam.
• Harvard Medical School successfully completes the first kidney transplant.
1955
• The first McDonald's restaurant opens in Des Plains, Iowa.
1956
• The first Trans-Atlantic telephone cable is laid, from Newfoundland, Canada, to Scotland, a distance of 2250 miles.
1957
• Sputnik, the first man-made satellite, is launched by the Soviet Union on October 4.
1958
• Explorer 1 became America's first satellite on January 31.
1959
• Alaska and Hawaii are admitted to the Union, becoming the 49th and 50th states.
• Fidel Castro seizes power in Cuba when rebels oust the dictator Fulgencio Batista.
1960
• The predecessor to the Internet, ARPANET, is set up by the US Military.
1961
• John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States.
• The Peace Corps is founded.
• The Berlin Wall is built.
1962
• In Engel v. Vitale, the Supreme Court rules that school-sponsored prayer is unconstitutional.
• Rachel Carson's Silent Spring launches an environmental movement.
• The first American, Alan Shepard, is launched into space.
• The Cuban Missile Crisis grips the nation and the world.
1963
• The Test Ban Treaty of 1963 goes into effect.
• The ban forbids nuclear test in the atmosphere, outer space, or underwater.
• Betty Friedan publishes "The Feminine Mystique," a book that jumpstarts the modern women's movement in the US.
• In August, 250,000 non-violent protestors march on Washington D.C. where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have
A Dream" speech.
• On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
• John Enders develops the measles vaccine, which is licensed for use in 1963.
1964
• The Beatles visit the US for the first time. Beatlemania sweeps the nation's youth.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and makes segregation and employment discrimination
illegal.
• The Surgeon General issues the first warning about the dangers of smoking.
1965
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 lifted restrictions on voting rights, including the suspension of literacy tests.
• The first commercial satellite is launched into space.
1966
• The Supreme Court decides the Miranda Vs. Arizona case, which establishes that police must inform you of your rights before
interrogating you.
• The first direct dial telephones for international calls hit the market. Previously, a caller had to go through an operator
to make an international call.
1967
• The first heart transplant was performed at Stanford University.
• The first heart bypass surgery was performed.
1968
• Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated on April 4th.
• Robert Kennedy is assassinated on June 5th.
1969
• The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is signed.
• Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon.
• The Cuyahoga River in Ohio becomes so polluted, it catches on fire. The incident underscores the need for decreasing water
pollution.
1970
• Four students are killed by National Guardsmen during an anti-war demonstration at Kent State University in Ohio.
1972
• Eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and killed by Palestinian terrorists.
1973
• DNA cloning is invented.
• An oil embargo by OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) causes gasoline prices to skyrocket.
1974
• India explodes a test nuclear device.
• President Richard Nixon resigns.
• The Apollo-Soyuz test project markes the first collaborative space mission between the US and the USSR.
• A patent is granted for the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) device.
• Scientists report that CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) are destroying the ozone layer.
1975
• Lyme disease is identified.
1976
• The Apple II is introduced, the first serious home computer.
1977
• The US agrees to relinquish control of the Panama Canal by the year 2000.
• President Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders.
1978
• The first "test tube" baby is born, after in vitro fertilization is successfully used.
• Cellular phones are introduced in Japan.
1979
• Smallpox is declared eradicted by the World Health Organization.
• The US and China establish full diplomatic relations.
• The USSR invades Afghanistan.
• The Shah of Iran is overthrown and the Ayatollah Khomeini takes power.
• The Three Mile Island nuclear accident shakes confidence in the safety of nuclear power.
1980
• War breaks out between Iran and Iraq.
1981
• Sandra Day O'Connor becomes the first woman on the Supreme Court.
• The earliest AIDS cases are identified by the Center for Disease Control.
1982
• The term AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is coined to describe the disease.
• The Vietnam Memorial is built in Washington D.C.
• The first artificial heart transplant takes place.
1983
• Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space on June 18.
• Compact discs are first released.
1984
• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is identified.
• Apple Computer releases the Macintosh home computer.
1985
• The Hole in the ozone layer, first detected in 1977, is now indisputable.
• Fear of AIDS reaches new heights as misconceptions about transmission spread. In Indiana, 13 year old Ryan White, who contracted
AIDS through a blood transfusion, is barred from going to school by alarmed school officials and other parents.
1986
• The worst nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl power plant in the Ukraine.
• The Challenger space shuttle explodes shortly after taking off.
1988
• The Soviets withdraw from Afghanistan.
• The Human Genome Project begins.
1989
• The Berlin Wall is torn down. East and West Germany begin the reunification process.
• Pro-democracy rallies in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China are crushed by the Chinese military.
• The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground in Alaska, causing the worst oil spill in US history.
1990
• East and West Germany reunite to form one country.
• The Hubble Space Telescope is launched into space.
• Nelson Mandela is freed in South Africa after 27 years in prison.
1991
• The Soviet Union collapses, and each state becomes a new country.
• South Africa repeals the apartheid laws.
1992
• Riots break out in Los Angeles after white police officers are acquitted of using excessive force in subduing a black man,
Rodney King. The beating had been captured on video tape and repeatedly shown on television.
• Civil war breaks out in the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
1993
• A bomb explodes in the World Trade Center in New York.
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg becomes the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court.
• The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed.
1994
• Nelson Mandela is elected president of South Africa.
• The Channel Tunnel ("Chunnel") opens between the U.K. and France.
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