| 1638 | |
| 1692 | | 7 Jun:
The pirate haven of Port Royal, Jamaica is destroyed in a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami, portions sinking beneath the sea.UNESCO B B C |
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| 1700 | | 26 Jan:
A magnitude 9.0 earthquake strikes off the west coast of North America producing a huge tsunami that sweeps across the Pacific.NRCan USGS |
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| 1753 | | 7 Jun:
The world's oldest public museum, the British Museum is founded by Act of Parliament.BM tSP |
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| 1755 | | 1 Nov:
An earthquake destroys Lisbon, Portugal killing an estimated 70,000 people.Earth SA |
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| 1780 | | 4 May:
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences is founded.TiS AAoA&S |
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| 1797 | | 10 Mar:
Thomas Jefferson presents a scientific paper on a Megalonyx fossil to the American Philosophical Society that is considered the first American contribution to vertebrate paleontology.USNA SA |
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| 1811 | | 16 Dec:
A powerful earthquake, along with a strong aftershock, strike near New Madrid, Missouri.USGS SIMag |
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| 1812 | | 23 Jan:
The second powerful earthquake strikes the New Madrid, Missouri area.USGS SIMag |
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| 1815 | | 10 Apr:
Mount Tambora begins the largest eruption in recorded history which causes the following year to be known as the "year without a summer".NASA SIMag |
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| 1845 | | 28 Aug:
The first issue of Scientific American is published.SA SI |
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| 1846 | | 10 Aug:
The Smithsonian Institute is founded.SI USNA |
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| 1848 | | 24 Jan:
Gold is found at Sutter's Mill sparking the California Gold Rush in 1849.SI Coloma |
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| 1863 | | 3 Mar:
The National Academy of Sciences is established.NAS Harvard |
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| 1869 | | 6 Mar:
Dmitri Mendeleev presents his Periodic Table of Elements to the Russian Chemical Society.PopSci BYLib |
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| 1871 | | 27 Apr:
The American Museum of Natural History opens to the public.AMNH GoogleBooks |
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| 1879 | |
| 1883 | |
| | 27 Aug:
Krakatoa blows its top, making the loudest noise ever heard, then collapses into a caldera.Nautilus NOAA |
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| 1886 | |
| 1888 | | 27 Jan:
The National Geographic Society is incorporated. WHP |
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| | 22 Sep:
The National Geographic Society begins publishing its magazine. Biblio |
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| 1905 | | 25 Jan:
The world's largest diamond is found in a South African mine.GIA IS |
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| 1906 | | 18 Apr:
San Franciscans are shaken out of bed by the Great San Francisco Earthquake. The city is further destroyed by an uncontrolled inferno the rages for four days and nights.USGS USNA |
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| | 24 Sep:
President Roosevelt establishes the first National Monument, Devils Tower in Wyoming.NPS NPF |
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| 1908 | | 30 Jun:
A large meteorite, presumed to be about 120 feet across, enters the atmosphere above Siberia and explodes, destroying about 80 million trees and lighting up the sky. NASA EarthSky |
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| 1909 | | 30 Aug:
Charles Walcott of the Smithsonian Institute discovers the Burgess Shales, one of the world's richest fossil troves.ESCONI tCE |
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| 1925 | | 28 Feb:
An earthquake measuring approximately 7 on the Richter scale strikes the Charlevoix-Kamouraska area of eastern Canada.NRCan MM |
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| 1940 | | 12 Sep:
The Lascaux Cave paintings are discovered.VVD YouTube |
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| 1943 | | 20 Feb:
The Parícutin volcano begins to erupt in Parícutin, Mexico, marking the first time scientists are able to observe the complete life cycle of a volcano. SDSU SIArchives |
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| | 10 Jun:
Brothers László and Georg Bíró, Hungarian refugees living in Argentina, patent the ballpoint pen.W I R E D FPN |
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| 1954 | | 30 Nov:
A meteorite crashes through the roof and strikes a napping Ann Hodges in Sylacauga, Alabama, the only documented injury from an extra-terrestrial object.Space SIMag |
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| 1957 | | 27 Sep:
Capelinhos Volcano - a volcano begins erupting off the west coast of Faial, Azores lasting 13 months, causing an economic disaster and forcing a mass migration to the United States.PAJ PM |
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| 1960 | | 23 Jan:
The bathyscaphe Trieste takes the world\'s deepest dive into the Marianas Trench off the coast of Guam setting a record that stands for 40 years.NHHC EarthSky |
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| 1962 | |
| 1964 | | 27 Mar:
A great earthquake strikes Anchorage, Alaska.USGS Earth |
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| 1980 | | 18 May:
Earthquakes trigger a landslide and a cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State.USAF USGS |
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| 1991 | | 19 Sep:
Ötzi the Iceman is discovered entombed in a glacier in the Alps.SA |
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| 1994 | |
| 2003 | | 3 May:
The Old Man of the Mountain collapses.Earth WMNH |
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| 2004 | | 26 Dec:
A magnitude 9.1 earthquake strikes off the coast of Sumatra generating a deadly tsunami.NOAA SA |
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| 2010 | | 12 Jan:
Haiti is rocked by a huge earthquake and subsequent tsunami which kills around 300,000 people.CNN nature |
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| 2011 | | 11 Mar:
Northern Japan is struck by a triple disaster - a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggers a massive tsunami which in turn causes one of the worst nuclear accidents ever to occur.NOAA USGS |
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Geology