Top 20 news stories of the 20th Century (1 Viewer)

[Steve Christou]

I found this list interesting, scholars and journalists were asked to select the 100 top news stories of the 20th Century, here is their top 20.
1. United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki: Japan surrenders to end World War II. 1945
2. American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the moon. 1969
3. Japan bombs Pearl Harbor: United States enters World War II. 1941
4. Wilbur and Orville Wright fly the first powered airplane. 1903
5. Women win the vote. 1920
6. President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas. 1963
7. Horrors of Nazi Holocaust, concentration camps exposed. 1945
8. World War I begins in Europe. 1914
9. Brown v. Board of Education ends "separate but equal" school segregation. 1954
10. U.S. stock market crashes: The Great Depression sets in. 1929
11. Alexander Fleming discovers the first antibiotic, penicillin. 1928
12. Structure of DNA discovered. 1953
13. U.S.S.R dissolves, Mikhail Gorbachev resigns: Boris Yeltsin takes over. 1991
14. President Richard M. Nixon resigns after Watergate scandal. 1974
15. Germany invades Poland: World War II begins in Europe. 1939
16. Russian revolution ends: Communists take over. 1917
17. Henry Ford organizes the first major U.S. assembly line to produce Model T cars. 1913
18. Soviets launch Sputnik, first space satellite: space race begins. 1957
19. Albert Einstein presents special theory of relativity: general relativity theory to follow. 1905
20. FDA approves birth-control pill. 1960
Hmmmm, I would have put Neil Armstrong at no.1, hey walking on the moon isn't a walk in the park, supposed to be mankinds greatest achievement isn't it?
The top 100 can be found here....
http://www.freedomforum.org/template...ocumentID=6327

 

[SteveGon]

Wow! Not even a mention of the no-widescreen Willy Wonka dvd debacle!

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Or the birth of the Home Theater Forum!

 

[MikeF]

That must have been a survey of American journalists, since many of the stories are of a primarily or entirely American interest (i.e. Brown v. Board of Education).

 

[Steve Christou]

Yeah I thought Ron and Parker would have been in the top 100 somewhere.
Our friend Bill Gates and Microsoft is at no.97.
Didn't know the first computer was created in 1946 and called ENIAC (isn't that Caine spelt backward?).
In a parallel Earth that list might have been different, like....
1. ENIAC becomes supreme ruler of our planet. (1951)
2. ENIAC shows signs of artificial intelligence. (1948)
3. ENIAC worlds first computer. (1946)
4. ENIAC joins the Home Theater Forum quickly becomes moderator. (1999)

 

[Denward]

I agree with Mike. I think it's very USA biased. Even the "world" events seem skewed to those that affected the US. Brown v. Board of Ed and Jackie Robinson are pretty weak entries in the international scheme of things. A lot of the stuff on the full list isn't really newsworthy at the time it happened (i.e. Ford assembly line, founding of Microsoft in 1975).

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Didn't know the first computer was created in 1946 and called ENIAC (isn't that Caine spelt backward?).

Actually the first digital computer was "Colossus" built at Bletchley Park in the UK during WWII. But its very existance was classified under "Ultra" until the 1970's so some older books credit ENIAC by mistake. For years people considered the "Turing machine" of Alan Turing merely a mental exercise. It turns out that the Brits actually built it in the early 1940's! http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/history2.asp
The follow-on to ENIAC was MANIAC. I'm not making this up!
And Dennis is sinned spelled backwards.....