Cooperation & social change 1977-2011
Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement
Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement linked tree planting with women's livelihoods and democratic rights, and led to the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.
Extraordinary Humans
Achievements
Stories of discovery, care, craft and courage, told with the teams, tools and setbacks left in. Credit is shared where the record shows it was shared.
All achievements
Medicine 1967-2015
Tu Youyou and the Discovery of Artemisinin
Tu Youyou led one branch of a large, secret Chinese program that produced artemisinin, today the basis of the standard treatment for malaria.
Discovery 1896-1934
Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity
Marie Curie's work with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel opened a new field, brought her two Nobel Prizes, and exposed researchers to hazards nobody yet understood.
Engineering 1943-1986
Katherine Johnson and the Spaceflight Teams
Katherine Johnson's orbital mathematics mattered, and so did the larger group of Black women mathematicians at Langley whose work and persistence opened doors for others.
Discovery c. 965-c. 1040
Ibn al-Haytham and the Book of Optics
Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics reshaped how light and sight were understood, though historians debate how far to call it a founding moment of experimental science.
Discovery 1990-2003 (gaps closed 2022)
The Human Genome Project
Thousands of researchers in six countries produced a reference human genome sequence by 2003, and a later consortium filled the remaining gaps in 2022.
Engineering 1891-1917
Early Powered Flight
The Wright brothers' 1903 flights built on gliding research, a mechanic's engine and careful testing, and were soon followed by disputes over patents and credit.
Engineering 1830s-1990s
Contributors to Computing
Computing grew from ideas, machines, programs and networks built by many people, some celebrated and some overlooked for decades.
Medicine 1854-2024
Clean Water and Sanitation
Epidemiology, sewer engineering and water disinfection reduced deadly disease in cities; WHO and UNICEF report that billions of people still lack safely managed services.
Art & literature 16th century to the present
Artistic Innovation Across Cultures
Art changes through craft knowledge, collaboration, commerce and community decisions. Four examples from four regions show how.
Exploration 1961-1969
Apollo 11 and the Teams Behind It
Apollo 11 put two people on the Moon on 20 July 1969, and relied on a widely cited estimate of around 400,000 people and a programme that cost…
Sport & endurance 1944-present
Adaptive Sport and Performance
Sport used in rehabilitation grew into the Paralympic movement, and prosthetic technology now raises questions about fairness that scientists and courts have debated.
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