SortStack #898 — 2028-11-23

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. Copernicus publishes his book putting the Sun at the center of the cosmos 1543

   Legend says a finished copy was placed in his hands on his deathbed. The Catholic Church didn't formally suspend the book until 73 years later.

2. Humans fly for the first time aboard a Montgolfier hot-air balloon 1783

   The first balloon passengers, weeks earlier, were a sheep, a duck, and a rooster — sent up before King Louis XVI to test whether the air aloft was breathable.

3. The world's first public steam railway opens between Stockton and Darlington 1825

   George Stephenson's engine Locomotion No. 1 pulled the opening train. A man on horseback rode ahead waving a flag — the train soon outpaced him.

4. The Titanic strikes an iceberg and sinks on her maiden voyage 1912

   The lookouts had no binoculars — the key to the locker holding them left the ship with a reassigned officer in Southampton.

5. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas 1963

   Abraham Zapruder's 26-second home movie of the motorcade became one of the most studied pieces of film ever shot.

6. The Live Aid concerts are broadcast from London and Philadelphia 1985

   Phil Collins played both venues in one day, crossing the Atlantic by Concorde. Queen's twenty-minute set is widely ranked the greatest live performance ever.

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