SortStack #2977 — 2034-08-03

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. The Parthenon is completed atop the Acropolis in Athens 432 BCE

   It contains almost no perfectly straight lines: the columns bulge and the base curves slightly upward, optical tricks that make it look flawless.

2. Christopher Columbus makes landfall in the Americas 1492

   Columbus never set foot on the North American mainland and insisted until his death that he had reached the edge of Asia.

3. Howard Carter discovers the tomb of Tutankhamun 1922

   Peering through a small hole by candlelight, Carter was asked if he could see anything. His reply: 'Yes, wonderful things.'

4. The Second World War ends with the surrender of Japan 1945

   The same year saw the first atomic bombs, the founding of the United Nations, and the deaths of Roosevelt, Hitler, and Mussolini within three weeks of each other.

5. Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space 1961

   His single orbit lasted 108 minutes, and he parachuted to the ground separately from his capsule — landing in a field where a farmer and her granddaughter stared in disbelief.

6. NASA's Curiosity rover lands on Mars 2012

   It was lowered to the surface on cables by a hovering rocket-powered 'sky crane' — a landing sequence engineers nicknamed the 'seven minutes of terror.'

← All puzzles · Play today’s SortStack