SortStack #3138 — 2035-01-11

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. Emperor Hadrian orders a great wall built across northern Britain 122

   The wall ran about 117 km from coast to coast and took roughly six years to build — soldiers' letters from its forts survive, including a birthday party invitation.

2. The Eiffel Tower opens to the public in Paris 1889

   It was meant to stand for only twenty years. Its usefulness as a giant radio antenna saved it from demolition.

3. Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin in a moldy petri dish 1928

   Fleming found the mold after returning from holiday to his messy lab. He later said he hadn't planned to revolutionize medicine — 'but I suppose that was exactly what I did.'

4. 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.

5. The Human Genome Project is declared complete 2003

   The 'complete' genome actually covered about 92% — the trickiest gaps weren't fully sequenced until nearly two decades later.

6. Fire engulfs Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris 2019

   The spire fell, but the rooftop beehives survived — and the cathedral reopened five years later after a meticulous reconstruction.

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