Today

From 1950 to today the world changes at a speed never seen before. Human beings leave the Earth, walk on the Moon and build a station in space. Computers, the internet and smartphones transform the way we study, work and spend time together. In Europe, after centuries of wars, many countries choose to unite and work together in peace. But great shared challenges remain, such as climate change, economic crises and pandemics.

The era on a line: 25 events

1. 1953 The double helix of DNA
2. 1955 The polio vaccine
3. 1957 Birth of the European Community
4. 1957 The first artificial satellite
5. 1961 The first human in space
6. about 1962 Pop art
7. 1963 The Beatles
8. 1963 Martin Luther King and civil rights
9. 1969 The Moon landing
10. 1969 The internet's first ARPANET links
11. 1970 Earth Day and the environmental movement
12. 1977 The personal computer
13. 1989 The fall of the Berlin Wall
14. 1991 The World Wide Web
15. 1993 The European Union
16. 1994 Nelson Mandela becomes president
17. 1998 The International Space Station
18. 2002 Euro notes and coins arrive
19. 2007 The modern smartphone
20. 2008 The global financial crisis
21. 2014 Malala wins the Nobel Peace Prize
22. 2015 The Paris Agreement on climate
23. 2019 The first image of a black hole
24. 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic
25. 2022 The Webb telescope starts observing

Did you know?

• The footprints the astronauts left on the Moon are still there: with no wind or rain, they could last for millions of years.
• The first message sent over ARPANET was supposed to be the word LOGIN, but the system crashed after two letters: only ‘LO’ arrived.
• The International Space Station goes all the way round the Earth in about 90 minutes: the people on board see about 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every day.

storiascopio.com/en/era/today/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class

1. Put in order: write 1 next to the oldest and 5 next to the most recent.

• Euro notes and coins arrive
• Martin Luther King and civil rights
• The fall of the Berlin Wall
• Birth of the European Community
• The first image of a black hole

2. Choose the right answer.

1. In which scientist's laboratory was the X-ray photograph that was key to understanding the shape of DNA taken?

   • Rosalind Franklin
   • Marie Curie
   • Maria Montessori
   • Valentina Tereshkova

2. What did Sputnik 1 send out as it circled the Earth?

   • A ‘beep’ that could be heard on the radio
   • Colour photographs of the Earth
   • Classical music
   • Messages recorded by astronauts

3. What does the Russian word Gagarin called out at lift-off mean?

   • ‘Help!’
   • ‘Goodbye!’
   • ‘I've done it!’
   • ‘Let's go!’

4. Which Apollo 11 astronaut stayed in orbit around the Moon during the landing?

   • Michael Collins
   • Neil Armstrong
   • Buzz Aldrin
   • Yuri Gagarin

3. Match each person to what they did: write the right letter.

Storiascopio · texts by Ciro Simone Irmici, written with the help of AI and checked · sources in the online cards