SortStack #3348 — 2035-08-09

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. 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.

2. The Suez Canal opens, linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas 1869

   The canal cut the sea voyage from Europe to India by roughly 7,000 km, ending the age of sailing around the entire African continent.

3. The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first artificial satellite 1957

   The beach-ball-sized satellite weighed 83 kg and beeped for three weeks. Anyone with a shortwave radio could hear it pass overhead.

4. The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show 1964

   An estimated 73 million Americans watched — roughly forty percent of the US population — launching the British Invasion overnight.

5. Star Wars premieres in cinemas 1977

   It opened in just a few dozen theaters because studios doubted it. George Lucas skipped the premiere and was vacationing in Hawaii with Steven Spielberg as it exploded.

6. Dolly the sheep becomes the first cloned mammal 1996

   She was cloned from a mammary gland cell, so the scientists named her after Dolly Parton.

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