THE COSMIC CALENDAR

The history of the mankind is altogether out of proportion to that of the earth. When discussing the earth's history we are forced to deal with numbers which boggle the mind and defy reason. To place the earth's history in understandable terms the following list condenses the entire history of the earth into a single year of 365 day. The earth's creation (beginning) takes place on January first and the end of the 20th century occurs on December 31. By reading the following chart you can gain an appreciation of the earth age.

PRE-DECEMBER DATES

January 1 The Big Bang

May 1 Origin of the Milky Way

September 9 Origin of the Solar System

September 14 Formation of the Earth

September 25 Origin of Life on Earth

October 2 Formation of the Oldest Rocks known on Earth

October 9 Date of Oldest Fossils (Bacteria and Blue-green algae)

November 1 Creation of Sex (by microorganisms)

November 12 Oldest Fossil photosynthetic plants

November 15 First Cells with Nuclei flourish

DECEMBER 31

1:30 p.m. Origin of Proconsul and Ramapithecus, probable ancestors of apes and men

10:30 p.m. First humans

11:00 p. m. Widespread use of stone tools

11:46 p.m. Domestication of fire by Peking man

11:56 p.m. Beginning of most recent glacial period

11:58 p.m. Seafarers settle Australia

11:59 p.m. Extensive cave painting in Europe

11:59:20 p.m. Invention of agriculture

11-59-35 p.m. Neolithic civilization; first cities

11.59:50 p.m. First dynasties in Sumer, Ebla, and Egypt" development of astronomy

11:59:51 p.m. Invention of the alphabet; Akkadian Empire

11: 59:52 p.m Hammurabic legal codes in Babylon; Middle Kingdom in Egypt

11: 59:53 p.m Bronze metallurgy; Mycenaean culture; Trojan War; Olmec culture; invention of the compass

11:59:54 p.m. Iron metallurgy; First Assyrian Empire; Kingdom of Israel; founding of Carthage by Phoenicia

11:59-55 p.m. Asokan India; Chin Dynasty China; Periclean Athens; birth of Buddha

11:59:56 p.m. Euclidean geometry; Archimedean physics-I Ptolemaic astronomy; Roman Empire; birth of Christ

11:59:57 p.m. Zero and decimals invented in Indian arithmetic-I Rome falls; Moslem conquests

11:59:58 p.m. Mayan civilization, Sung Dynasty China; Byzantine empire- Mongol invasion; Crusades

11:59:59 p.m. Renaissance in Europe voyages of discovery from Europe and from Ming Dynasty China; emergence of the experimental method in science

Now; the First Second of New Year's Day

Widespread development of science and technology; emergence of a global culture- acquisition of the means for self-destruction of the human species; first steps in spacecraft planetary exploration and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence