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The World Health Organization declares that smallpox has been eradicated, three years after the last known endemic case. -
Mount Saint Helens in Washington state erupts in one of the greatest volcanic explosions ever recorded in North America. Thousands of animals are killed, and 10 million trees are blown down. -
The Hubble Space Telescope is launched. It is the first sophisticated optical observatory placed into orbit around Earth. -
Seattle-based rock band Nirvana releases its breakthrough album Nevermind, which announces a new musical style (grunge) and gives voice to the post-baby boom young adults known as Generation X. -
Led by star forward Mia Hamm, the United States wins the first Women’s World Cup of soccer. The United States defeated Norway 2–1 in the final in front of a crowd of 63,000 people at Guangzhou's Tianhe Stadium. -
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos, initially as "Cadabra" (later changed to Amazon) and began as an online bookstore, launching its website for public sales on July 16, 1995. -
The presidency of Nelson Mandela began in 1994, when Nelson Mandela, an anti-apartheid activist, leader of uMkhonto we Sizwe, lawyer, and former political prisoner, was inaugurated as President of South Africa, and ended on 14 June 1999. -
The American television sitcom "Friends," created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994, and ran for ten seasons, ending on May 6, 2004. -
Google is founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The search engine will become one of the most popular sites on the Internet.
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In one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, two students attack Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 before taking their own lives. -
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. -
The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq from 2003 to 2011, initiated by a US-led coalition invasion that resulted in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government. -
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. -
In 2020, SpaceX achieved a major milestone by launching the first crewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS), carrying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, marking the first time since the Space Shuttle's retirement that humans flew to the ISS from American soil. -
The magnitude of the earthquake that caused a devastating tsunami in 2011 was 9.0. The earthquake occurred at 2:46 PM on March 11, 2011. Also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, resulted in an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 deaths and missing persons. -
On December 14, 2012, a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, resulted in the deaths of 20 children and six educators, carried out by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who then killed himself. -
On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 5–4 decision that the Fourteenth Amendment requires all states to grant same-sex marriages and recognize same-sex marriages granted in other states. The Court overruled its prior decision in Baker v. Nelson, which the Sixth Circuit had invoked as precedent. -
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. -
Coronavirus disease 2019 is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. -
The United States House of Representatives voted to remove its speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California, through a motion to vacate filed by Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, a fellow member of the Republican Party.