  Adolf Hitler comes
to power in Germany Germany invades
Poland
Starts WWII
(1939-1945) France falls to
German invasion   Empire State Building
is completed The Richter Scale
completed by
seismologist
Charles Richter Precursor to first
computer is outlined
by Alan Turing Xerography invented
by Chester Carlson   Nation of Islam
founded by Wallace
Ford Muhammad Aldous Huxley,
Brave New World Henry Miller,
Tropic of Cancer Frank Lloyd Wright
builds Falling Water,
Bear Run, PA Earnest Hemingway,
For Whom the Bell Tolls   Walter Benjamin writes
essay “The Work of Art
in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction” Walker Evans and others document
America as part of New Deal Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
begins teaching at
the School of Design,
Chicago | Japanese bombing of Pearl
Harbor brings USA into WWII India gains independence
from Britain First nuclear reactor
built by Enrico Fermi Microwave oven invented
by Percy Spenser The transistors is invented
at Bell Telephone Laboratories Citizen Kane is
released in cinemas John Paul Sartre,
Being and Nothingness George Orwell,
Animal Farm Anti-Communist HUAC
hearings in Hollywood Matisse begins cut-paper
collage technique Jean Dubuffet causes scandal with
exhibition at Galerie Rene Drouin Alberto Giacometti
holds his first
post-war exhibition | Korean War begins Dwight Eisenhower
becomes US president Treaty of Rome establishes
European Economic Union Fidel Castro takes
power in Cuba Francis Crick and James
Watson discover structure of DNA Launch of Sputnik I,
first artificial satellite Theodore Maiman
produces first laser JD Salinger,
The Catcher
in the Rye JRR Tolkein publishes
Lord of the Rings (Vol I) Jack Keroac,
On the Road Vladimir Nabokov,
Lolita The Independent
Group begin
meeting in London Jasper Johns begins
work on Flag Hard-edged abstraction
debuts in Los Angeles | East German
government
builds
Berlin Wall John F. Kennedy assassinated.
LB Johnson becomes US president Malcolm X
assassinated Cultural Revolution
begins in China Six Day War. Israel defeats
Egypt, Syria and Jordan The Troubles begin
in Northern Ireland US troops
invade Cambodia Theodore Maiman produces
first laser Yuri Gagarin becomes
first man in space Broadcast of first transatlantic
television signals via satellite Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson
discover cosmic background radiation Christiaan Barnard
completes first successful
heart transplant Neil Armstrong becomes
first man on moon Frantz Fanon,
The Wretched
of the Earth Betty Friedan,
The Feminine Mystique Roy Lichtenstein stages
his first Pop art exhibition Andy Warhol stages his
first Pop art exhibition ADonald Judd publishes
essay “Specific Objects” Joseph Kosuth creates
One and Three Chairs Joseph Beuys performs
How to Explain
Pictures to a Dead Hare “The Responsive Eye”
exhibition at MoMA Valerie Solanas
shoots
Andy Warhol Survey of Conceptual art,
“Information,” at MoMA, NY Robert Smithson creates
Spiral Jetty |
