1908: the Tunguska blast flattened 2,000 km² of Siberian forest, and the Messina earthquake killed some 80,000 people.
The events
- Tunguska event1908 · Podkamennaya Tunguska, Siberia. On 30 June 1908 a cosmic body, probably an asteroid or comet fragment, exploded over the Siberian taiga. The blast flattened some 80 million trees over 2,000 km², and night skies over Europe glowed for days. Leonid Kulik's first expedition reached the site only in 1927.
- Messina earthquake1908 · Messina, Sicily. On 28 December 1908 an earthquake and tsunami levelled Messina and Reggio Calabria, killing an estimated 75,000 to 120,000 people. Sailors of a Russian naval squadron nearby were among the first rescuers and are still remembered in Messina.
More amazing facts
- 1889 The Eiffel Tower opened in spring 1889, and in June van Gogh painted The Starry Night at the Saint-Rémy asylum.
- 1893 · 1918 Women in New Zealand have voted in parliamentary elections since 1893, a quarter of a century before those in Britain, Germany or Russia.
- 1895 In 1895 Popov demonstrated a radio receiver in St Petersburg, and the Lumière brothers held the first paid film screening in Paris.
- 1903 · 1961 · 1969 Just 58 years separate the Wright brothers' first flight from Gagarin's, and 66 from the Moon landing — some who saw the first airplanes lived to see the Moon.
- 1914 Passenger pigeons once numbered in the billions, but the last one, Martha, died on 1 September 1914 — a month after World War I began.
- 1922 In November 1922 Howard Carter peered into Tutankhamun's tomb; just over a month later the USSR was founded.