Today Got Better
Subscribe

The Almanac

On this day in science and progress

The discoveries, launches, and breakthroughs that landed on each date. Pick any day below and see what science and human progress accomplished on it.

94 anniversaries across 67 days, and counting.

The landmark days

  1. January 3 The first landing on the far side of the Moon 2019
  2. January 23 Insulin first saves a patient's life 1922
  3. February 15 The human genome is published 2001
  4. February 24 Steve Jobs is born 1955
  5. March 14 Albert Einstein is born 1879
  6. March 16 The first liquid-fueled rocket takes flight 1926
  7. April 12 The polio vaccine is declared safe and effective 1955
  8. April 25 The DNA double helix is revealed 1953
  9. May 8 Smallpox is declared eradicated 1980
  10. May 20 The first controlled clinical trial begins 1747
  11. May 25 Kennedy commits to landing on the Moon 1961
  12. June 1 Colossus, an early digital computer, goes to work 1944
  13. June 5 A new state of matter is created 1995
  14. June 26 The first draft of the human genome is announced 2000
  15. June 30 Einstein publishes special relativity 1905
  16. July 6 Pasteur's rabies vaccine saves a boy 1885
  17. July 7 The first international wildlife treaty is signed 1911
  18. July 8 The final Space Shuttle mission launches 2011
  19. July 9 Scientists sound the alarm on nuclear war 1955
  20. July 10 One of the first open-heart surgeries 1893
  21. July 11 NASA charts the course to the Moon 1962
  22. July 12 George Eastman, who made photography for everyone, is born 1854
  23. July 13 The first two-way flight across the Atlantic by air 1919
  24. July 14 New Horizons reaches Pluto 2015
  25. July 15 Cold War rivals shake hands in space 1975
  26. July 16 Apollo 11 launches toward the Moon 1969
  27. July 17 The first photograph of a star 1850
  28. July 18 Gemini 10 advances the road to the Moon 1966
  29. July 19 The first GPS signal is transmitted 1977
  30. July 20 Humans walk on the Moon 1969
  31. July 21 The Space Shuttle era comes to a close 2011
  32. July 22 The first animals to fly to space and return safely 1951
  33. July 23 The first satellite to watch over Earth 1972
  34. July 24 Apollo 11 returns safely home 1969
  35. July 25 The first IVF baby is born 1978
  36. July 26 The first satellite to hover over one spot 1963
  37. July 27 Insulin is discovered 1921
  38. July 28 The Flying Fortress takes its first flight 1935
  39. July 29 NASA is founded 1958
  40. July 30 Medicare and Medicaid are signed into law 1965
  41. July 31 The first close-up pictures of the Moon 1964
  42. August 2 The antimatter positron is discovered 1932
  43. August 3 The first voyage under the North Pole 1958
  44. August 4 The Phoenix lander launches to seek Martian ice 2007
  45. August 5 Neil Armstrong is born 1930
  46. August 6 The World Wide Web opens to the public 1991
  47. August 7 The scientist who stopped a birth-defect tragedy is honored 1962
  48. August 8 The first ascent of Mont Blanc 1786
  49. August 9 Smokey Bear begins protecting the forests 1944
  50. August 10 The Magellan probe reaches Venus 1990
  51. August 11 A Hollywood star patents the tech behind Wi-Fi 1942
  52. August 12 The first antiseptic surgery 1865
  53. August 13 Stainless steel is born 1913
  54. August 14 Social Security is signed into law 1935
  55. August 15 The Panama Canal opens 1914
  56. September 16 The world unites to save the ozone layer 1987
  57. September 20 The first voyage around the world sets sail 1519
  58. September 28 Penicillin is discovered 1928
  59. October 4 The Space Age begins 1957
  60. October 16 The first public demonstration of anaesthesia 1846
  61. October 29 The first message travels the internet's ancestor 1969
  62. November 7 Marie Curie is born 1867
  63. November 8 X-rays are discovered 1895
  64. November 9 The Berlin Wall opens 1989
  65. December 3 The first human heart transplant 1967
  66. December 14 The first people reach the South Pole 1911
  67. December 17 The first powered airplane flight 1903

Every day we have

Each date links to its own page. When more than one thing happened, they all live there.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Every entry names what actually happened on that date, with a link to the source. Nothing here is invented to fill a day.

Progress like this happens every day.

We find the day's real wins in science, medicine and beyond, and send you the proof every morning. Free, forever.