3.3 million years · one continuous record
All of Human History
Every invention, discovery and turning point, laid out on a single coiling spiral — the centre is three million years ago, the rim is today. Drag to pan, scroll to zoom, or jump straight to a year.
In view · 3.3 million BCE – 2026
20 entriesControlled use of fire
Hearths at Wonderwerk and Gesher Benot Ya'aqov show deliberately maintained fire.
Africa and Levant
Hearths at Gesher Benot Ya'aqov
Repeated burnt clusters at an Israeli lakeside site record deliberate, maintained fires and cooked plant foods.
Levant
Watermill
Vertical waterwheels grind grain across the Roman world.
Roman Empire
Windmill
Vertical-axis mills in Persia grind grain and pump water.
Persia
Windmill in Europe and the vertical axle in Persia
Post mills spread across the North Sea plain while Persian panemone mills ground grain.
Europe
Atmospheric steam engine
Newcomen's engine pumps water from coal mines using condensed steam.
England
Separate-condenser steam engine
Watt's improvement more than doubles fuel efficiency.
Scotland
Electric battery
Volta stacks zinc and copper discs to produce steady current.
Italy
Commercial oil drilling
Drake's well at Titusville proved oil could be pumped from depth in quantity.
United States
Four-stroke internal combustion engine
Nicolaus Otto's cycle made a compact, efficient engine.
Germany
Practical incandescent lamp
A long-lasting carbon filament in a vacuum bulb.
United States
Central electric power station
Pearl Street Station distributed current to paying customers in Manhattan.
United States
Steam turbine
Charles Parsons's turbine generated electricity far more efficiently than pistons.
Britain
Alternating current system
Nikola Tesla's polyphase motor and transformer made long-distance AC practical.
United States
Diesel engine
Rudolf Diesel patented a compression-ignition engine of unmatched efficiency.
Germany
Nuclear fission
Hahn and Meitner split the uranium nucleus and explain the energy release.
Germany and Sweden
Controlled nuclear chain reaction
Chicago Pile-1 achieves criticality under a squash court.
United States
Silicon solar cell
Bell Labs demonstrates a photovoltaic cell of practical efficiency.
United States
Lithium-ion mass adoption
Rechargeable lithium cells become the default for portable electronics.
Japan
Fusion ignition
The National Ignition Facility achieves more energy out than laser energy in.
United States