Chronicling the developmental history of modern indelible legacies now under study in 'After the Horizon', along with projected influences across intervals of deep time – documenting significant historical events, accumulative production phases, material residues, and other milestones from the 20th and 21st Century, for a long-future perspective.
The timeline has been assembled as a general educational tool to illustrate significant milestones in the development of some emergent, socio-technological material legacies arising from our modern history, while also plotting the enduring reaches for these residual impacts across intervals of deep time. The timeline simply illuminates how immediate actions may lead to protracted consequences across future environmental setting(s). Please use the legend to correlate stated chronological markers, with the corresponding field under study in the ‘After the Horizon’ archiving programme. Legacy ‘indicators’ detailed in the projected influences timeline have predominantly been established by third party international research institutes and consortia, in addition to encompassing several unique foundation resources. This timeline is still being actively populated as research continues to progress across each field. This feature is a long page and may not display correctly on some devices.
1850
1860
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1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
GMO Modification
Radiological Waste
Bio-Chemical Waste
POPs Production
Climate Recording
Near-Earth Objects
Space Heritage
Space Messaging
Long Experiments
Background Events
1942 – Anthrax testing conducted on Gruinard Island by UK MOD
1942 – 23 Jun, Leipzig L-IV becomes first nuclear reactor accident
1945 – 6 Aug & 9 Aug, Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings
1945 – 21 Aug, first criticality accident with ‘demon core’ at Los Alamos
1946 – Jun, Operation Davy Jones’ Locker commences
1946 – 24 Oct, First photograph of Earth by V-2 rocket
1947 – 3M begins producing PFOA compound
1947 – 12 Mar, Cold War era general starting point
1948 – Aralsk-7 facility constructed on Vozrozhdeniya Island
1949 – 3M begins producing PFOS compounds
1950 – Background mean atmospheric CO2 is about 311 ppm
c. 1951—1953 – Watson & Crick uncover DNAs double helix
1952 – 1 Nov, Ivy Mike thermonuclear test
1953 – 24 Feb, Castle Bravo thermonuclear test
1955 – 27 Jul, Operation Sandcastle commences
1955 – 1 Nov, Vietnam War begins
1957 – 29 Sep, Kyshtym disaster
1957 – 4 Oct, Launch of Sputnik 1 beginning space age
1957 – 10 Oct, Windscale fire in Cumbria, England
1959 – Camp Century construction begins
1959 – 18 Apr, USS Seawolf nuclear submarine sinks in N-W Atlantic
1959 – 13 Sep, Luna 2 probe impacts Lunar surface
1961 – 3 Jan, SL-1 reactor explodes and melts down
1961 – 30 Oct, Tsar Bomba thermonuclear test
1961 – Nov, Operation Ranch Hand begins dropping Agent Orange in Vietnam
1962 – 27 Sep, Silent Spring documents ecological damage from pesticides
1962 – 16 Oct, Cuban Missile Crisis
1963 – 5 Aug, Partial Test Ban Treaty signed
1963—1967 CE – Camp Century ice core extracted
1966 – 17 Jan, Palomares broken arrow incident
1966 – 1 Mar, Venera 3 allegedly impacts Vernerian surface
1967 – 20 Apr, Surveyor 3 lands on Moon
1967 – Camp Century decommissioned, leaving wastes entombed
1968 – 24 Dec, ‘Earthrise’ taken during Apollo 8
1969, 21 Jan, Lucens reactor partial meltdown in Switzerland
1969—1972 – Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 landing missions
1971 – 27 Nov, Mars 2 lander impacts Martian surface
1972 – DDT use banned in U.S., and (later) other countries
Present Day
2100 – William James Beal’s seed experiment ends
c. 2100 – Approximated arrival time for ‘Message to Qo’nos’
2029 – 13 Apr, 99942 Apophis close approach
c. 2051—2069 – Cosmic Call question arrives to Sagitta & Cygnus targets
c. 2040 – J002E3 may return to Earth orbit vicinity
2061 – 28 July, Halley’s Comet next approach
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