top of page

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.

Past

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

Divider.png

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
k5ygd.png

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  

  2100

  2200

Divider_edited.png

  2300

  2400

  2500

  2600

  2700

  2800

  2900

  3000

  4000

  5000

  6000

  7000

  8000

  9000

  10000

  20000

  30000

  40000

  50000

  60000

  70000

  80000

  90000

  100000

  200000

  300000

  400000

  500000

  600000

  700000

  800000

  900000

  1 million

  10 million

  20 million

  30 million

  40 million

  50 million

  60 million

  70 million

  80 million

  90 million

  100 million

  1 billion

  10 billion

Future
Deep Time
bottom of page