million-year-old human skull found in China suggests that our species, Homo sapiens, began emerging at least half a million years earlier than previously thought, researchers argue in a study published in September 2025. It also shows that we coexisted with other sister species, including Neanderthals,
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Svante Paabo of Sweden for his work on human evolution. The Prize Committee declared that he achieved the seemingly impossible task of deciphering the genetic code of one of our extinct relatives: the Neanderthals.
The discovery of a child’s tooth and stone tools in a cave in southern France suggests that Homo sapiens was in Western Europe around 54,000 years ago. This is several thousand years earlier than previously thought, indicating that the two species could have coexisted for
Discovery in a cave in Circeo: remains of nine Neanderthals, including a teenager and a woman, in a cave once used as a den by packs of hyenas. There are also remains of enormous animals such as cave bears, cave lions, and giant deer. The
Brussels. In a coup by French and Belgian special forces, three suspects in the Paris attacks are arrested, including Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving terrorist (he was neither killed nor blew himself up). The arrest occurs after a firefight in which Salah is wounded in
Libya. A US airstrike kills Wisam Al Busaidi (also known as Abu Nabil Al Anbari), ISIS leader in Libya. Al Baghdadi’s deputy, he had been sent to Libya to establish a second Islamic state.
Nigeria. The Nigerian army advances into the Nigerian forest, repelling Boko Haram Islamist extremists, and frees 234 girls kidnapped in the last 12 months.
Fivizzano, Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck. Property was damaged, but no casualties were reported.
Two satellites, Iridium 33 (an American satellite owned by Iridium Satellite LLC) and Cosmos 2251 (a Russian satellite, inoperative for ten years), collided in orbit at an altitude of 780 km over Siberia. No fewer than 6,000 satellites have been placed into orbit since 1957.
Pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko elected president of Ukraine in rerun elections
Lawrence Joseph Giacoletto, who in 1969 developed an effective high-frequency small-signal model of transistors, also known as the Giacoletto-Johnson model, dies in Michigan.
Two young volunteers from the humanitarian organization Un Ponte Per were held hostage by Iraqi kidnappers for 20 days; they were believed to be intelligence agents working to convert Iraqis to Christianity.
4:00 GMT: The Cassini spacecraft (a NASA-ASI collaboration) enters orbit around Saturn after a 95-minute burn; it passes 20,112 km from Saturn within the main ring belt.
After the arrival of Spanish special forces, five Islamic terrorists barricaded themselves in a Madrid building and blew themselves up, killing a police officer. The five were later identified as the organizers of the March 11 Madrid attacks. In the preceding weeks, 18 other suspected
Attacks against Americans in Iraq escalate; four American civilians are also killed, their bodies mutilated and carried in triumph through the streets of Fallujah.
Al Qaeda has killed more than 20 people in a series of suicide attacks in Uzbekistan, a US ally in the war on terror.
Plane crashes in Zurich, killing 24; Jerusalem’s mayor was among the passengers.
Erich Hartmann, a Luftwaffe ace during World War II, dies. He was the pilot with the most kills of the entire war, with 352 victories, all against the Soviets, and 825 missions with 14 emergency landings.
In Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, in the presence of Bill Clinton, signed the peace agreement for Palestinian autonomy in the Gaza Strip and in Jericho. On August 20, in Norway, Peres, Israeli Prime Minister, and Abu Alaa, Prime
The ISS has its origins and roots in the American-Russian understanding on space. On the American side, Reagan had funded the Freedom space station in the 1980s, but little concrete progress had been made. On the Russian side, MIR was nearing completion and there was
The Mafia mega-trial begins, the first level of judgment. Thanks to the repentant boss Buscetta, the true name of the Sicilian Mafia is now known: “Cosa Nostra.” The mafiosi on trial are confident that, as always, everything will be resolved in court. But this time
Attack by Hizbullah (or Hezbollah, Iranian-backed terrorists) against the American embassy in Beirut: it is razed to the ground, killing 65, including 63 embassy employees, including the CIA director for the Middle East.
Law No. 300 of May 20, 1970. Provisions on the protection of workers’ freedom and dignity, freedom of association and trade union activity in the workplace, and provisions on job placement. Better known as the Workers’ Statute, it is one of the key labor law
Soyuz 4 and 5 are launched 24 hours apart, rendezvous in orbit, dock, perform EVAs (spacewalks), undock, and each return to Earth without incident. In one fell swoop, the Soviets make up for all the delays they had accumulated with respect to the Gemini Program.
Venera 6 is crushed by Venus’ atmosphere at an altitude of 10 km.
Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments experimentally demonstrates to his superiors the “monolithic idea,” that is, the idea of manufacturing not only transistors, but also resistors and capacitors on a silicon chip.
According to Soviet government statistics, 65% of sheep and 40% of cows were lost during the forced collectivization process.
Mary Stilwell, wife of Thomas Alva Edison, died at the young age of 29, of unknown causes. They married on December 25, 1871, when she was only 16, and had known each other for only two months. They had three children: Marion Estelle, Thomas Alva
The Ottoman Empire is losing power in Europe. The Congress of Berlin takes steps to fill this void. After skillful negotiations, Austria-Hungary occupies and administers Bosnia, Herzegovina, and the Sanjak (Sandzak) of Novi Pazar in perpetuity, although formal sovereignty remains with the Ottoman Empire. But
In Modena, Giovanni Canestrini gave a famous lecture entitled “The Antiquity of Man.” Canestrini would later link his name to the spread of Darwin’s ideas in Italy, earning a mention in “The Descent of Man,” first published in Italy in 1871.
General Robert E. Lee’s exhausted and starving Army of Northern Virginia is surrounded by overwhelming Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant near Appomattox, Virginia; sitting on a log, Lee tells General Porter Alexander that he sees only one solution: surrender. (Alexander had instead proposed
1:30 PM. Appomattox, Virginia. At a simple farmhouse, still open to visitors as it was, Lee and Grant meet. Lee, in his gray dress uniform, his shiny boots, his red silk scarf, and his gold-hilted saber at his belt, arrives first. Grant arrives in his
Ulysses Grant receives General Command of the United States Army from President Abraham Lincoln.
Siege of Charleston, South Carolina. After capturing Morris Island, the Union troops opened fire on Fort Wagner, opposite Fort Sumter. They then attacked. Leading the charge was the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, composed entirely of black soldiers except for the officers, led by the young Colonel
Lord Kelvin contributed to the invention of the common tap, the heat pump used for heating, an air conditioning system, and the first electric railways. In 1858, he also collaborated on the construction of the first submarine cable.
Nikola Tesla was born at midnight on July 9th in the village of Smiljan, in the province of Lika, Croatia. His father, Reverend Milutin Tesla, was an Orthodox priest who was also a talented writer and poet. At a young age, Nikola immersed himself in
Following the concessions of the Constitutions, the first parliamentary elections are held in Piedmont
Vienna. The Wiener presses on, despite the evidence, asserting that the government has not confirmed Radetzky’s alleged defeat. It also reports numerous rumors about the general: that he died on the battlefield, or that he lost both legs, or that he was wounded and locked
The Italian priest and professor Francesco Zantedeschi discovered the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction. Joseph Henry in the United States independently discovered it around the same time. Two years later, it was also discovered and documented by Faraday, who fully developed the idea.
Battle of Leipzig. Late afternoon. As on other occasions, Napoleon, after attacking the enemy’s flank, now strikes in the center: Murat launches his cavalry to break through the enemy’s center line, toward the hill where Schwarzenberg and all the Allied sovereigns are directing the battle.
Battle of Leipzig. 3:00 PM. Kleist and Württemberg’s dwindling battalions fight hopelessly against the main body of Napoleon’s forces. Unexpected assistance arrives from Count Nostiz’s cuirassier corps, which disperses the French. Napoleon loses hope of breaking through Kleist’s positions.
Battle of Borodino. 3:30 PM. Eugene de Beauharnais’s second assault on Raevsiy’s redoubt. Almost in ruins, it is defended by the 24th Division of the Sixth Corps, under the command of Pyotr Likhachev. The cavalry attack ends in hand-to-hand combat. Likhachev himself is captured. The
Smolensk, Russia. Napoleon delays and gives the Russians time to regroup behind the city walls.
Hainburg, eastern Austria. The Turks attack the city with siege guns. At sunset, the Janissaries enter and carry out sacks of heads to be carried in triumph to the Grand Vizier.
Isaac Newton becomes a fellow, or researcher, with a research grant.
Leonardo da Vinci leaves the parents’ home of his pupil Francesco Melzi and heads for Rome. Crossing the Apennines, he searches for his beloved fossils and finds them at La Verna. Arriving in Rome, he discovers a city entirely new to him.
Leonard Da Vinci, following Cesare Borgia to Imola, drew a map of it for military purposes, featuring several innovations that would become commonplace for centuries to come. It is an imaginary aerial view taken from the zenith; the measurements are taken accurately with an ingenious
The so-called Peasants’ Revolt, or Wat Tyler’s Revolt, was a popular uprising in England in 1381. This uprising involved rural residents who, faced with a general economic crisis that had been ongoing for years, stemming from the feudal policy of exploiting cultivated land by employing
In Europe, there are approximately a thousand autonomous state organizations. Even in the 16th century, there were still around two hundred.