Time · a dimension across all seven worlds

Past, present, and questions about the future

Every dated event this universe refers to, in order, each with its source. The future is not forecast here; it lives as questions on Frontier.

Deep time

  1. ≈ 4.54 billion years agoEarth formsLifeEvolutionUS Geological Survey
  2. ≈ 3.70 billion years agoEarliest evidence of life. Microbial structures in Greenland rocksLifeEvolutionNature
  3. ≈ 538.8 million years agoCambrian period begins. Animal life diversifies rapidlyLifeEvolutionInternational Commission on Stratigraphy
  4. ≈ 66.0 million years agoEnd of the dinosaurs. The Cretaceous–Paleogene boundaryLifeEvolutionInternational Commission on Stratigraphy
  5. ≈ 300,000 years agoFirst Homo sapiensLifeEvolutionSmithsonian Human Origins Program

The ancient world

  1. ≈ 1754 BCECode of HammurabiSocietyHistory and institutionsYale Law School, Avalon Project
  2. ≈ 399 BCESocrates’ trial, recorded in Plato’s ApologyIdeasPhilosophyProject Gutenberg
  3. ≈ 300 BCEEuclid’s ElementsIdeasMathematicsClark University (D. E. Joyce)

The modern world

  1. 1580Montaigne’s EssaisIdeasWritingProject Gutenberg
  2. 1776The Wealth of NationsSocietyEconomics and moneyProject Gutenberg
  3. 1859On the Origin of SpeciesLifeEvolutionProject Gutenberg
  4. 1890The Principles of PsychologyIdeasConsciousnessClassics in the History of Psychology (York University)
  5. 1900Planck’s energy quantaCosmosQuantum mechanicsNobel Prize
  6. 1903Wright Flyer. First sustainedExplorationMaking and inventionSmithsonian National Air and Space Museum
  7. 1915General relativityCosmosRelativityStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  8. 1936Turing’s computable numbersTechnologyComputing and informationProceedings of the London Mathematical Society
  9. 1948Shannon’s theory of informationTechnologyComputing and informationBell System Technical Journal

Living memory

  1. 1950Computing Machinery and IntelligenceTechnologyAgents and automationMind
  2. 1953Structure of DNALifeLiving systemsNobel Prize
  3. 1957Sputnik 1. First artificial satelliteExplorationSpace explorationNASA
  4. 1969Apollo 11. First humans on the MoonExplorationSpace explorationNASA
  5. 1977Voyager 1 and 2 launchExplorationSpace explorationNASA Science
  6. 1986BackpropagationTechnologyAI and neural networksNature
  7. 2000First long-term crew on the ISSExplorationSpace explorationNASA
  8. 2003Human genome sequencedLifeLiving systemsNational Human Genome Research Institute
  9. 2012Voyager 1 enters interstellar spaceExplorationSpace explorationNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  10. 2014Laniakea supercluster mappedCosmosAstronomyNature
  11. 2015First gravitational waves detectedCosmosRelativityLIGO Caltech
  12. 2017The transformerTechnologyAI and neural networksarXiv
  13. 2021AlphaFold predicts protein structuresLifeLiving systemsNature
  14. 2021James Webb Space Telescope launchesExplorationAstronomyNASA Science
  15. 2024Nobel Prizes for neural networks and protein AITechnologyAI and neural networksNobel Prize

On this site

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  5. 30 Oct 2026Now updatedPresent