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A Chronicle of Nature, Science, & Technology

This is a chronicle of humanity, and everything that led up to us. I've shown each known branch along the path of human evolution. The branch leading to humans is on the left.

I'm interested in alphabets, writing, number systems, printing, reproducible ideas in publications, patents, inventions, and innovations. My goal is a universal history of science and nature.

Accessible explanations let us stand on the shoulders of giants.

Environmental data provide context. Atmospheric oxygen (O₂) tells the eucharyotes' story. Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) tells temperature's story. Sea level varies with temperature.

In the Holocene epoch, the average global temperature has varied < ±2 °C from the 20th century average of 15.0°C (59.0°F). Atmospheric CO₂ has steadily increased from about 260 ppm, and dust levels have stayed below 0.1 ppm. Dust levels exceed 0.4 ppm when the global average temperature drops more than 6 °C below the Holocene average, during major glaciations: the air becomes cold and dry.

Global average temperature estimates for the last 540 million years

Post-Glacial Sea Level


Units

Contents


The Big Bang

< 10 Billion Years Ago

Mitochondria

Chloroplasts

< 1 Billion Years Ago

  • 950? mya: Choanozoa ("collar animal", a.k.a. Apoikozoa, "colony animal") split from Filasterea (amoeboid protists)
  • 952 mya: Animalia (a.k.a. Metazoa) split from Choanoflagellate ("funnel whips", single-celled eukaryotes with flagella)
  • 948 mya: Eumetazoa ("well after animal") split from Porifera (sponges)
  • 850 mya: The Boring Billion ended; O₂ was still 0.03 atm, but escaped the oceans and absorbed into land, then atmospheric levels rose quickly
  • ? mya: The Protohox gene diverged into Hox & ParaHox
  • ? mya: ParaHoxozoa split from Ctenophora (comb jellies)
  • ? mya: Planulozoa split from Placozoa ("flat animals")
  • 824 mya: Bilateria (embryos have bilateral symmetry) split from Cnidaria (jellyfish & polyps)
  • 800 mya: Massive uptick in zinc composition of marine sediments, attributed to eukaryotes

Gut

Spine

Eye

Jaw

Lungs

Limbs

Amniotic Sac

< 100 Million Years Ago

Thumb

Color Vision

No Tail

< 10 Million Years Ago

Stone Tools

Fire

< 1 Million Years Ago

  • 990-950 kya: The Jaramillo reversal of Earth's magnetic field occurred
  • 970 kya: Sea level was 79 m below the 20th century average
  • 800 kya: CO₂ dipped below 190 ppm, global temp -9 °C from present
  • 790 kya: CO₂ peaked around 260 ppm, global temp -1 °C from present
  • 788 kya: An asteroid impacted southeast Asia creating the Australasian strewnfield
  • 781 kya: The Brunhes-Matuyama reversal of Earth's magnetic field occurred
  • 750 kya: CO₂ dipped below 180 ppm, global temp -9 °C from present
  • 740 kya: CO₂ peaked around 210 ppm, global temp -4 °C from present
  • 720 kya: CO₂ dipped below 190 ppm, global temp -9 °C from present
  • 700 kya: CO₂ peaked around 240 ppm, global temp -2 °C from present
  • 670 kya: CO₂ dipped below 170 ppm, global temp -11 °C from present
  • 660 kya: CO₂ peaked around 200 ppm, global temp -7 °C from present
  • 640 kya: CO₂ dipped below 190 ppm, global temp -9 °C from present
  • 610 kya: CO₂ peaked around 260 ppm, global temp -1 °C from present
  • 600 kya: CO₂ dipped below 220 ppm, global temp -7 °C from present
  • 590 kya: CO₂ peaked around 250 ppm, global temp -2 °C from present
  • 580 kya: CO₂ dipped below 200 ppm, global temp -7 °C from present
  • 540 kya: CO₂ peaked around 250 ppm, global temp -1 °C from present
  • 530 kya: CO₂ dipped below 200 ppm, global temp -8 °C from present
  • 490 kya: CO₂ peaked around 250 ppm, global temp -1 °C from present
  • 450 kya: A catastrophic glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) occurred, creating the English Channel
  • 440 kya: CO₂ dipped below 200 ppm, global temp -9 °C from present
  • 415 kya: Early humans controlled fire in Suffolk, England
  • 400 kya: CO₂ peaked around 280 ppm, global temp +2 °C from present, first time it exceeded 20th century average since 2 million years ago
  • 350 kya: CO₂ dipped below 200 ppm, global temp -9 °C from present
  • 335 kya: The Whakamaru eruption occurred in present day New Zealand, with a volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 8
  • 320 kya: CO₂ peaked around 300 ppm, global temp +2 °C from present
  • 315 kya: Homo sapiens ("wise man") evolved
  • 300 kya: Most homo species lived in hunter-gatherer societies, with tools, culture, and speech
  • 270 kya: Y-chromosomal Adam lived (Y-DNA haplogroup A00)
  • 260 kya: CO₂ dipped below 200 ppm, global temp -9 °C from present, sea level was 80 m below
  • 250 kya: Homo neanderthalensis evolved
  • 240 kya: CO₂ peaked around 280 ppm, global temp +2 °C from present
  • 200 kya: 7 subspecies of early humans, including Homo sapiens existed
  • 194 kya: The Penultimate Glacial Period began
  • 173 kya: African wildcats split from European wildcats
  • 160 kya: CO₂ dipped below 200 ppm, global temp -9 °C from present
  • 160 kya: A catastrophic glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) occurred, widening the English Channel
  • 150 kya: Mitochondrial Eve lived before this (mt-DNA haplogroup L)
  • 150 kya: Sea level was 1 m above the 20th century average
  • 140 kya: The Penultimate Glacial Period reached its maximum, sea level was 150 m below present

Anatomically Modern Humans

< 100 Thousand Years Ago

Clothing

Dogs

Agriculture

< 10 Thousand Years Ago

Cats

Pottery

Copper Tools

Bronze Tools, Writing

Soap

Iron Tools

History

Medicine

Mathematics

Common Era

Paper

Zero

Algebra

1000s

Compass, Movable Type

Printing Press

1500s

1600s

Science

Cell Biology

Calculus

Principia

1700s

Metal Lathe

Flush Toilet

1800s

1810s

1820s

1830s

1840s

Anesthesia

  • 1847 CE: John Snow published On the Inhalation of the Vapor of Ether, one of the first studies of anesthesia
  • 1848 CE: Louis Pasteur published Mémoire sur la relation qui peut exister entre la forme cristalline et la composition chimique, et sur la cause de la polarisation rotatoire (Memoir on the relationship that can exist between crystalline form and chemical composition, and on the cause of rotary polarization), demonstrating molecular chirality and explaining isomers
  • 1848 CE: John Stuart Mill published Principles of Political Economy
  • 1848 CE: Jean Laurent Palmer developed the handheld micrometer calipers, still in use today
  • 1849 CE: John Snow published On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, a key event in epidemiology
  • 1849 CE: Crawford Long published An account of the first use of Sulphuric Ether by Inhalation as an Anaesthetic in Surgical Operations, describing anesthesia
  • 1849 CE: Alexander von Humboldt published Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates with scientific elucidations
  • 1849 CE: Léon Foucault published Lumière électrique (Electric light), describing experiments with absorption and emission lines
  • 1849 CE: George Stokes published On the critical values of the sums of periodic series
  • 1849 CE: George Stokes published Discussion of a differential equation relating to the breaking of railway bridges
  • 1849 CE: George Stokes published On the variation of gravity at the surface of the Earth, describing Stokes' gravity formula

1850s

Telegraph

1860s

Antiseptics

1870s

Statistics

1880s

Telephone

1890s

Radio

1900s

Assembly Line

1910s

1920s

1930s

Turing Machine

1940s

1950s

1960s

Internet

1970s

1980s

1990s

World Wide Web

2000s

2010s

2020s


Resources

Definitions

Lists

Sources

Videos

Subjects

More History

By Era