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READ: Gallery — The Modern World

Innovations in transportation, communication, and weapons transformed the world in the 20th century. Humanity learned to fly, waged world wars, and sent astronauts to the moon. The modern era is the most complex yet, and the most fragile.

Learning to Fly

© Bettmann/CORBIS
On December 17, 1903 the Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, made the first manned flight in a mechanically powered airplane. The first flight lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Flight technology quickly improved and, within a few years, many pilots were building and flying their own airplanes. In this photograph, French entrepreneur Louis LeJeune stands with his own airplane at one of the aviation races that were held in Europe in the early part of the century.

In the Trenches

© CORBIS
When World War I erupted in Europe in 1914, new technology had transformed warfare. Armies built trenches along the "front lines" and used new weaponry like machine guns and explosive artillery shells in some of the bloodiest battles the world had seen. Airplane technology would become more important later in the war with the introduction of the German Fokker triplane and its most famous pilot, Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron).

Atomic Bombs

© Bettmann/CORBIS
As World War II was being fought, scientists around the world rushed to advance weapons technology to a new level by developing the nuclear bomb. Some of the greatest physicists and chemists contributed to the development of the nuclear weapons that would prove so destructive but, also, so important in helping to end the War.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

© Bettmann/CORBIS
On August 6, 1945, the United States military used a nuclear weapon to destroy the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, another atomic bomb was used on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. More than 200,000 people were killed in these attacks and many more would experience sickness or death in the days and weeks to come. The human capacity for destruction of the biosphere had reached a new high. In this photograph, US soldiers inspect the aftermath in Hiroshima.

The United Nations

© Reuters/CORBIS
When World War II came to an end, the United Nations was formed for the purpose of preventing future wars between nations and to provide a neutral platform for different governments to communicate. Today, the United Nations includes 193 sovereign states and is heavily involved in efforts to conquer hunger, disease, and illiteracy and to encourage universal rights and freedoms.

Man on the Moon

NASA
One of the greatest human accomplishments, something that had been dreamed of for centuries, was travel to the Moon. In 1969, American astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins traveled to the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission, with Aldrin and Armstrong landing on the Moon’s surface on July 20. Shown here is Aldrin deploying equipment for scientific experiments while the Eagle lunar module rests in the background.

The Worldwide Web

Chris Harrison/Carnegie Mellon and The Big History Project
In the last 50 years, the global exchange network reached a degree of connection that few would have imagined just 100-200 years ago. The Internet connects most of the world, providing high-speed transfers of information around the planet and taking collective learning to a new level.

The Giant Panda

© Keren Su/Corbis
Development, technological innovation, and increasing complexity have not come without a price. As humans take control of the biosphere and consume natural resources, other species are put at risk, or even forced into extinction. The giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, once roamed throughout central China but agriculture, deforestation, and development have forced the bears into very specific mountain forests. The giant panda is listed as endangered in the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species.

Global Warming

© Patrick Fraser/Corbis
Climate change may be one of the greatest challenges facing us in the future. As temperatures rise and the polar ice caps diminish, other species are also forced to change their lifeways. Though these arctic bears are not officially considered "endangered," polar bear habitat is shrinking as glaciers melt and humans continue encroaching northward.

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