Historical timeline in Δ
The 20th century rendered in Δ. Δ 0 marks the start of the day Apollo 11 landed (1969-07-20T00:00:00Z). The touchdown itself (Eagle landed at 20:17:40Z) is a remarkable instant inside Δ 0, marked with a ★ badge. Bloc 5 corresponds to 12:00 UTC exactly.
Selection criteria
An event qualifies when it satisfies all of the following:
- Sourced: a primary or reputable secondary source (Wikipedia, peer-reviewed article, official record) is linked under each entry.
- Verifiable instant: the UTC time is documented to at least minute resolution, or the day is documented and the time is normalised to 00:00 UTC.
- Civilisationally legible: recognisable to a broad audience, illustrating an inflection point in science, technology, politics, or space exploration.
- Anchored relative to Δ 0: the entry reads naturally in both T- and T+ — the value of the timeline is in seeing the 20th century compressed around a single point.
ATS internal conventions (Δ 0, Δ 100, Δ 1000) are computed directly from the epoch; their entries say computed from epoch instead of citing an external source.
Space
Science
Tech
Politics
ATS convention
Origin / ★ landmark
1905-06-30 — 00:00 UTC
T- Δ 23.3.9.6.00000
Science
Special relativity (Einstein)
Source: Annus mirabilis papers — Wikipedia (publication 1905-09-26 in Annalen der Physik; UTC date normalised to receipt 1905-06-30).
1945-08-06 — 08:15 UTC
T- Δ 8.7.4.8.65625
Politics
Hiroshima
1953-04-25 — 00:00 UTC
T- Δ 5.9.3.0.00000
Science
Discovery of the DNA structure (Watson/Crick)
1957-10-04 — 19:28:34 UTC
T- Δ 4.3.0.6.18849
Space
Sputnik 1 — first satellite
Source: Sputnik 1 — Wikipedia (launch 1957-10-04 19:28:34 UTC).
1961-04-12 — 06:07 UTC
T- Δ 3.0.2.0.74513
Space
Gagarin, first human in orbit
Source: Vostok 1 — Wikipedia (launch 1961-04-12 06:07 UTC).
1969-07-20 — 00:00:00 UTC
T+ Δ 0.0.0.0.00000
Origin
ATS origin (Δ 0) — start of the lunar landing day
Source: manifesto §2 (epoch). Computed from the epoch definition (00:00 UTC of the lunar-landing day).
1969-07-20 — 20:17:40 UTC
T+ Δ 0.0.0.0.84560 · Bloc 8 / Centi 4 / Deka 5 / Kin 6
Space
Lunar landing — Eagle touched down (within Δ 0)
Source: Apollo 11 — Wikipedia (Eagle touchdown 1969-07-20 20:17:40 UTC, NASA flight log).
1969-10-28 — 00:00 UTC
T+ Δ 0.1.0.0.00000
Convention
Hecto-celebration (Δ 100) — hundredth day after the origin
Computed from the epoch + 100 days (cf. conventions §1.2).
1969-10-29 — 22:30 UTC
T+ Δ 0.1.0.1.93750
Tech
First ARPANET message (“lo” between UCLA and SRI)
Source: ARPANET — Wikipedia (first host-to-host transmission 1969-10-29 22:30 PT ≈ UTC, Kleinrock lab log).
1972-04-15 — 00:00 UTC
T+ Δ 1.0.0.0.00000
Convention
First Kilo-versary (Δ 1000) — first chiliad
Computed from the epoch + 1000 days (cf. conventions §1.1).
1989-11-09 — 18:53 UTC
T+ Δ 7.4.1.7.78680
Politics
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Source: Fall of the Berlin Wall — Wikipedia (Schabowski press conference 18:53 UTC).
1991-08-06 — 14:00 UTC
T+ Δ 8.0.5.2.58333
Tech
World Wide Web made public
Source: History of the World Wide Web — Wikipedia (Berners-Lee's WWW project announcement, alt.hypertext 1991-08-06).
2001-09-11 — 12:46 UTC
T+ Δ 11.7.4.1.53194
Politics
September 11
Source: September 11 attacks — Wikipedia (first impact 08:46 EDT = 12:46 UTC).
2007-06-29 — 00:00 UTC
T+ Δ 13.8.5.8.00000
Tech
iPhone released
Source: iPhone (1st generation) — Wikipedia (US retail launch 2007-06-29).
2012-07-04 — 00:00 UTC
T+ Δ 15.6.9.0.00000
Science
Higgs boson discovery (CERN)
Source: Higgs boson — Wikipedia (ATLAS & CMS announcement 2012-07-04, CERN).
2020-03-11 — 00:00 UTC
T+ Δ 18.4.9.7.00000
Politics
COVID-19 declared a pandemic (WHO)
Source: COVID-19 pandemic — Wikipedia (WHO Director-General media briefing 2020-03-11).
2022-11-30 — 00:00 UTC
T+ Δ 19.4.9.1.00000
Tech
ChatGPT made public
Source: ChatGPT — Wikipedia (OpenAI public preview 2022-11-30).
What this timeline does not cover well
The selection above is consciously skewed toward 20th-century events broadly recognised in Western news media. The editors acknowledge the following gaps, in line with the non-normative stance documented in philosophy §1 and comparison.en.md:
- Asian history is under-represented: no entry for the 1949 founding of the PRC, the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union (Russian/Central-Asian impact), the 1971 Bangladesh independence, the 1997 Hong Kong handover, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, or the rise of South Korean industrial conglomerates.
- African history is under-represented: no entry for the 1960 "Year of Africa" (17 independences), the 1994 end of apartheid, the 1994 Rwandan genocide, or the 2011 South Sudan independence.
- Post-1990 events are sparse compared to the 1945–1989 stretch — there is more recent civilisational signal than this timeline reflects.
- Anti-civilisational events (Bhopal 1984, Chernobyl 1986, Fukushima 2011, climate-attribution disasters) are mostly absent.
Pull requests adding sourced entries are welcome (cf. CONTRIBUTING.md). The selection criteria above apply.
You can click a Δ on the clock page or use the permalink
?t=20.7.8.2.50000 to freeze the clock on any landmark.