In the time it took to form one inch of soil...

New planets that could sustain life are discovered orbiting a neighborhood star-1996

Americans with Disabilities Act becomes law-1990

The Berlin Wall is torn down, signaling an end to the Cold War-1989

Viking I becomes the first spaceship to reach Mars-1976

U.S. Armed Forces withdraw from Vietnam-1975 Congress passes Endangered Species Act-1973

Richard Leakey discovers hominid skull, 2.6 million years old in northern Kenya-1972

First "Earth Day" is observed-1970

American astronaut Neil Armstrong walks on the moon-1969

Thurgood Marshall becomes first African American member of U.S. supreme court-1967

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway-1964

President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas-1963

British pop group The Beatles make their first recordings-1962

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes first human to orbit Earth-1961

African American trackstar Wilma Rudolph wins three gold metals at the Rome Olympic Games-1960

Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel"-1956

English runner Robert Bannister runs mile in under 4 minutes-1954

Korean War ends-1953

Dr. Jonas Salk successfully tests polio vaccine-1952

Ten million homes have television receivers-1951

Mao Tse-Tung rises to power in China-1949

The transistor is invented in Bell Laboratories in the U.S.-1948

ENIAC, the first successful electronic digital computer, becomes operational-1946

World War II ends-1945

Oswald Avery determines that DNA is the hereditary material of the cell-1944

Prehistoric cave paintings are discovered at Lascaux, France-1940

Child film actress Judy Garland stars in "The Wizard of Oz"-1939

A Coelacanth, a fish thought extinct for 65 million years, is caught of the coast of Africa-1938

First local conservation district is created-1937

Drought leads to severe dust storms in "Dust Bowl" region of Great Plains-1934

Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor, becomes first woman in U.S. cabinet-1933

Charles Curtis of the Kaw Tribe in Kansas, a U.S. senator for 25 years, becomes Vice President of the United States-1929

Dr. H.O. Sargent and Dr. George Washington Owens establish the New Farmers of America-1927

Hirohito becomes 124th Emperor of Japan-1926

19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives women the right tovote-1920

World War I ends- 1918

Russian Revolution begins -1917

Jeanette Rankin (R-Montana) elected first U.S. Congresswoman-1916

Albert Einstein formulates his general theory of relativity-1915

Jim Thorpe of the Sauk and Fox Tribes wins Decathlon and Pentathlon in Olympic Games, Sweden-1912

First Model "T" Ford rolls off assembly line-1908

Upton Sinclair's novel, "The Jungle," leads to U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act-1906

Orville Wright makes first successful flight in self-propelled airplane-1903

Gugliemo Marconi tests radio transmissions between England and Newfoundland-1901

Britain obtains 99-year lease for Hong Kong from China-1898

Dr. George Washington Carver begins to develop over 300 products from the peanut and 118 from the sweet potato-1896

German Physicist Wilhelm C. Roentgen discovers X-rays-1895

San Francisco Examiner begins printing first newspaper comic strip-1892

Thomas Edison invents phonograph -1877

Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone-1875

U.S. experiences worst grasshopper plague in its history-1874

Congress founds first national park, Yellowstone-1872

British-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley finds Dr. David Livingstone in Central Africa-1871

Suez Canal opens- 1869

U.S. Civil War ends and 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishes slavery-1865

President Abraham Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address-1863

Congress passes the Homestead Act-1862

Gregor Mendel begins formal experiments in genetics-1856

American writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden"-1854

Frederick Douglass establishes the abolitionist newspaper, "The North Star"-1847

Samuel F.B. Morse develops code for electric telegraph system-1838

Texas proclaims independence from Mexico-1836

Louis Braille publishes system of writing for the blind-1829

President James Monroe formulates doctrine of U.S. policy opposing outside interference in the Americas-1923

Emma Hart Willard founds first U.S. women's college, Troy Female Seminary, in Troy, New York-1821

Construction of Erie Canal begins-1817

Grimm's Fairy Tales are published in Germany-1812

Kamehameha I becomes ruler of Hawaii and establishes Kamehameha dynasty-1810

Ludwig van Beethoven premieres Fifth and Sixth Symphonies-1808

Lewis and Clark begin expedition to the American Northwest-1804

A 33,000-year-old frozen mammoth is discovered at Russia's Lena River-1799

English physician Edward Jenner develops vaccination against smallpox-1796

Eli Whitney invents cotton gin-1793

Mary Wollstonecraft publishes "A Vindication of the Rights of Women"-1792

Bill of Rights is ratified-1791

French Revolution begins with an attack on the Bastille-1789

The U.S. Constitution is ratified-1788

Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" premieres-1786

American Revolutionary War ends-1781

Continental Congress adopts Declaration of Independence -1776

American Colonists throw British tea into Boston Harbor-1773

Crispic Attucks becomes the first person and African American to die in the Revolutionary War in the "Boston Massacre"-1770

French and Indian War ends -1763

Thomas Jefferson is born-1743

George Frederick Handel composes "Messiah"-1741

British agriculturist Jethro Tull invents seed drill-1733

George Washington is born-1732

First permanent Native American school is created in Williamsburg, Virginia-1720

Population of New York City reaches 7,000-1720

Italian musician Bartolommeo Cristofori invents the piano-1709

Benjamin Franklin is born-1706

Russian tzar, Peter the Great, imposes tax on beards-1698

First public school is established in America-1689

Rice cultivation begins in North America-1685

Edmund Halley observes Great Comet, which is later named for him-1682

The Dodo, a large flightless bird, becomes extinct-1681

First mail service in North America is John Elliot's translation into Algonquian-1661

First Quakers land in America-1657

First book is printed in Native American language-1653

Cardinal Richelieu founds L'Academie Francaise in Paris-1635

First newspaper, Gazette de France, is published in Paris-1631

Peter Minuit founds Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam (now New York)-1625

Pilgrim leaders at Plymouth Colony establish a governing authority through Mayflower Compact-1620

Native American princess Pocahontas marries John Rolf-1614

Spanish found Santa Fe (New Mexico)-1609

Native Americans teach colonists how to raise corn-1608

John Smith founds first permanent English colony in North America at Jamestown, Virginia-1607

Spain founds colony in St. Augustine, Florida-1565

Shakespeare and Galileo are born-1564

An earthquake in China is worst in history with a death toll of 830,000-1556

University of Mexico is founded-1551

First botanical garden is founded in Pisa, Italy-1543 Francesco Coronado introduces horses to North America-1540

The Reformation begins-1517

Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Florida-1513

Michelangelo finishes painting Sistine Chapel ceiling-1512

First sugar cane mill is established in the Americas-1509

Leonardo da Vinci completes "Mona Lisa"-1505

The Incan Empire reaches its height-1500

The toothbrush is invented by a Chinese dentist-1498

John Cabot discovers Newfoundland -1497

Courtesy of: The USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service