The
Newseum in
Arlington, Virginia asked
historians and
journalists to select what they thought were the top news stories of the
20th century. Based on the
survey results, here are the top 20:
20. 1953 - FDA approves birth-control pill.
19. 1905 - Albert Einstein presents special theory of relativity: general relativity theory to follow.
18. 1957 - Soviets launch Sputnik, first space satellite: space race begins.
17. 1913 - Henry Ford organizes the first major U.S. assembly line to produce Model T cars.
16. 1917 - Russian Revolution ends. Communists take over.
15. 1939 - Germany invades Poland: World War II begins in Europe.
14. 1974 - President Richard Nixon resigns after Watergate scandal.
13. 1991 - Soviet Union dissolves, Mikhail Gorbachev resigns: Boris Yeltsin takes over.
12. 1953 - Structure of DNA discovered.
11. 1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers the first antibiotic, penicillin.
10. 1929 - U.S. Stock Market crashes: the Great Depression sets in.
9. 1954 - Brown vs. Board of Education ends "separate but equal" school segregation.
8. 1914 - World War I begins in Europe.
7. 1945 - Horrors of Nazi Holocaust, concentration camps exposed.
6. 1963 - President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas.
5. 1920 - Women win the vote.
4. 1903 - Wilbur and Orville Wright fly the first powered airplane.
3. 1941 - Japan bombs Pearl Harbour: United States enters World War II.
2. 1969 - American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the firts human to walk on the moon.
1. 1945 - Unites States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Japan surrenders to end World War II.