To put into perspective a complete chronology and evolution of life on our tiny planet Earth, I decided to summarize what I consider the most relevant information from the very distant past to our immediate future. The objective is to reach a better understanding about the long-term evolution of life and science.
Big History is a new discipline that allows us to analyze with a multidisciplinary focus the way events follow each other throughout time. Starting with a huge time scale from the faraway past to the present, we can see that there is an acceleration of the speed of changes, that should continue now thanks to exponential technologies.
So let’s start our journey with millions of years ago all the way to the formation of our own Species.
| Millions of years ago (Ma) | ||
| ~13,800 Ma | Big Bang and formation of the known Universe | |
| ~12,500 Ma | Milky Way Galaxy formation | |
| ~4,600 Ma | Solar System formation | |
| ~4,500 Ma | Earth formation | |
| ~4,300 Ma | First water concentration on Earth | |
| ~4,000 Ma | First unicellular life (prokaryotes) | |
| ~4,000 Ma | LUCA, our Last Universal Common Ancestor, was born | |
| ~3,500 Ma | Oxygen concentration rises on Earth atmosphere | |
| ~3,000 Ma | First photosynthesis in simple unicellular organisms | |
| ~2,000 Ma | Evolution of unicellular prokaryotes (without nucleus) into eukaryotes (with nucleus) | |
| ~1,500 Ma | First multicellular eukaryote organisms | |
| ~1,200 Ma | First sexual reproduction (germinal and somatic cells appear) | |
| ~600 Ma | First invertebrate marine animals | |
| ~540 Ma | Cambrian explosion and appearance of multiple species | |
| ~520 Ma | First vertebrate marine animals | |
| ~440 Ma | Evolution from marine life to terrestrial life (first plants on dry land) | |
| ~360 Ma | First terrestrial plants with seeds, and first crabs | |
| ~300 Ma | First reptiles | |
| ~250 Ma | First dinosaurs | |
| ~200 Ma | First mammals, and first birds | |
| ~130 Ma | First angiosperm plants (with flowers) | |
| ~65 Ma | Extinction of dinosaurs and development of primate | |
| ~15 Ma | Hominidae family (big primates) appears | |
| ~3.5 Ma | First tools made of stone | |
| ~2.5 Ma | Homo Species appears | |
| ~1.5 Ma | First use of fire | |
| ~0.8 Ma | First time cooking was used | |
| ~0.5 Ma | First time clothes were used | |
| ~0.2 Ma | Homo Sapiens species appears | |
| ~0.1 Ma | Homo sapiens sapiens comes out of Africa and starts colonizing planet Earth |
| Thousands of years ago | |
| < 20,000 BC | Lighter skin evolution due to migration to regions with less sun |
| < 5,000 BC | Neolithic proto-writing appears |
| < 4,000 BC | Possible invention of the Wheel in Mesopotamia |
| < 3,500 BC | Communication – Egyptians invent hieroglyphics and Sumerians cuneiform writing |
| < 3,300 BC | Healing – Documented use of herbology and physiotherapy in China and Egypt |
| < 3,000 BC | Writing – Papyrus was invented in Egypt and clay tablets were invented in Mesopotamia |
| < 2,800 BC | Chinese emperor Shennong compiles a text on acupuncture |
| < 2.600 BC | Imhotep is considered the God of Medicine in Egypt |
| < 2,500 BC | Healing – Documented use of Ayurveda medicine in India |
| < 2,000 BC | Medicine – The Code of Hammurabi establishes rules to exercise medicine in Babylon |
| 650 BC | Assurbanipal compiles 800 tablets about medicine in the library of Nineveh |
| 450 BC | Xenophanes of Colophon examines fossils and speculates about the evolution of life |
| 420 BC | Hippocrates writes the Hippocratic Treaties and creates the Hippocratic Oath |
| 350 BC | Aristotle writes about evolutionary biology and tries to classify animals |
| 300 BC | Herophilos of Chalcedon makes medical dissections on humans |
| 100 BC | Asclepiades of Bithynia imports Greek medicine to Rome and funds the Methodic School |
So we can see medicine and healing techniques have been established before the era of Christ. Their developments were pursued in ancient Greece, Mesopotamia, Egyptian empire and India, among others then major centers of civilisation.
Homo Sapiens curiosity and desire to live longer and healthier life has been documented throughout millennia.
| First millennium AD | ||
| 180 AD | Greek doctor Galen of Pergamon studies the connection between paralysis and the spinal cord | |
| 219 AD | Zhang Zhongjing publishes the Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders) in China | |
| 250 AD | Foundation of a school of tribal medicine in Monte Alban, Mexico | |
| 390 AD | Oribasius of Pergamon compiles the Medical Collections in Constantinople | |
| 400 AD | First Christian hospital founded by Saint Fabiola in Rome | |
| 630 AD | Isidore of Seville compiles his great work The Etymologies | |
| 870 AD | Persian doctor Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari writes a medical encyclopedia in Arabic | |
| 910 AD | Persian doctor Rasis identifies the difference between smallpox and measles | |
2nd Millenium saw a major increase in interest towards medicine, especially after first worldwide epidemics and deaths attributed to viruses – Black Death in Europe.
The Black Death, also known as the Pestilence, the Great Plague or the Plague, or less commonly the Black Plague, was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351.
The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe’s population. It took 200 years for the world population to recover to its previous level.
Not least the recovery is attributed to the improvement in medical standards, creation of vaccines, invention of microscope.
Benjamin Franklin was first to declare death is redundant and humanity should strive to preserve itself beyond current biological limit.
| 1000 – 1799 AD | |
| 1204 | Pope Innocent III organizes the first Holy Spirit hospital in Rome |
| 1403 | Quarantine against the Black Death pandemic in Venice (after death of millions in Europe) |
| 1541 | Swiss doctor Paracelsus made great progress in medicine (surgery and toxicology) |
| 1553 | Spanish doctor Miguel Servet studies pulmonary circulation (and burnt at the stake for heresy) |
| 1590 | Microscope is invented in the Netherlands and makes medicine move forward faster |
| 1665 | English scientist Robert Hooke uses the microscope to identify cells(and popularizes that name) |
| 1675 | Dutch scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek starts microbiology with microscopes |
| 1774 | English scientist Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen and starts modern chemistry |
| 1780 | US polymath Benjamin Franklin writes about curing aging and human preservation |
| 1796 | English doctor Edward Jenner develops the first effective vaccine against smallpox |
| 1798 | English scholar Thomas Malthus argues about food production and human overpopulation |
Clearly 2nd millennium accelerated and systematized the understanding of medicine and interest in human health and rejuvenation with big names like American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin jumping into the study of life.
But how does all this study move from the domain of theory and hypotheses into actual practical performance and saving lives?
In the table below I list first successful complex operations like Blood Transfusion and first use of Anesthesia as well as a stepping stone in the understanding of the evolution of life – Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection:
| 1800 – 1899 AD | |
| 1804 | French doctor René Laennec invents the stethoscope |
| 1809 | French scientist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposes the first theory of evolution |
| 1818 | English doctor James Blundell performs first successful blood transfusion |
| 1828 | German scientist Christian Ehrenberg coins the word bacterium (“cane” in Greek) |
| 1842 | US doctor Crawford Long accomplishes the first surgery with anesthesia |
| 1858 | German doctor Rudolf Virchow publishes his cell theory |
| 1859 | English scientist Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in London |
| 1865 | Austrian monk Gregor Mendel discovers the laws of genetics |
| 1869 | Swiss doctor Friedrich Miescher identifies DNA for the first time |
| 1870 | Scientists Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch publish the microbial theory of infections |
| 1882 | French scientist Louis Pasteur develops a vaccine against rabies |
| 1890 | Walter Flemming and others describe the chromosome distribution during cellular division |
| 1892 | German biologist August Weismann proposes the “immortality” of germ cells |
| 1895 | German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovers X-rays and their medical uses |
| 1896 | French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity |
| 1898 | Dutch scientist Martinus Beijerinck discovers the first virus and starts virology |
As we move into XX century scientist begin getting deeper into the cell level biology and the ways to replenish their strengths. Equally people delve deeper into the subtleties of nervous system, its functioning and the reasons for its degradation.
We can see first real Transhumanist discoveries such as artificial insemination, cloning, bionic parts of body as well as propagation of caloric restriction as a way to extend a healthy lifespan. The Immortality is also discovered, in cancer cells.
| 1900 – 1959 AD | |
| 1905 | English biologist William Bateson coins the term genetics |
| 1906 | English scientist Frederick Hopkins describes vitamins |
| 1906 | German doctor Alois Alzheimer discovers and describes dementia |
| 1906 | Santiago Ramón y Cajal receives the Nobel Prize for his studies about the nervous system |
| 1911 | Thomas Hunt Morgan demonstrates that genes reside in chromosomes |
| 1922 | Russian scientist Aleksandr Oparin proposes a theory about the origin of life on Earth |
| 1925 | French biologist Edouard Chatton coins the words prokaryote and eukaryote |
| 1927 | Global population reaches 2,000,000,000 people |
| 1927 | First vaccines against tetanus and tuberculosis |
| 1928 | English scientist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin (first universal antibiotic) |
| 1933 | Polish scientist Tadeus Reichstein synthesizes the first vitamin (vitamin C, ascorbic acid) |
| 1934 | Scientists working at Cornell University discover caloric restriction for life extension in mice |
| 1938 | A coelacanth (considered a “living fossil”- a genus of fish which has existed for more than 360 million years, but which was believed to have been extinct since the time of the dinosaurs) was fished in the south of Africa |
| 1950 | First synthetic antibiotic is developed |
| 1951 | Artificial insemination of cattle starts with cryopreserved semen |
| 1951 | HeLa (Henrietta Lacks) cancer cells are discovered to be “biologically immortal” |
| 1952 | US doctor Jonas Salk develops a vaccine against poliomyelitis |
| 1952 | US chemist Stanley Miller experiments about the origin of life |
| 1952 | First cloning experiments with frog eggs are made |
| 1953 | Scientists James D. Watson and Francis Crick demonstrate DNA’s double helix structure |
| 1954 | US doctor Joseph Murray transplants the first human kidney |
| 1958 | US doctor Jack Steele coins the word bionic |
| 1959 | Global population reaches 3,000,000,000 people |
| 1959 | Spanish scientist Severo Ochoa receives the Nobel Prize for his work about DNA and RNA |
Last half of XX century sees a dramatic increase in precision of medicine and real impact on human lives preservation – as scientists discovered the ways to transplant organs to people who needed them, identified shortening of telomeres as a probable cause of ageing as well as identified umbilical cord as the place where we can locate stem cells and use them to create artificial organs if there is a need for any given person throughout life.
| 1960 – 1999 AD | |
| 1961 | Spanish biochemist Joan Oró advances his theories about the origin of life |
| 1961 | US scientist Leonard Hayflick discovers a limit on cellular division |
| 1967 | US academic James Bedford becomes the first patient in cryopreservation |
| 1967 | South African doctor Christiaan Barnard makes the first human heart transplant |
| 1972 | Discovery that the DNA composition in humans and gorillas is almost 99% similar – thus supporting Darwinian hypothesis |
| 1974 | Global population reaches 4,000,000,000 people |
| 1975 | Different scientists finally discover the telomeres (first considered in 1933) |
| 1978 | First human being is born thanks to artificial insemination (Louise Brown in England) |
| 1978 | Stem cells discovered in the blood of an umbilical cord |
| 1980 | World Health Organization declares smallpox officially eradicated worldwide |
| 1981 | First stem cells (from mice) developed “in vitro” |
| 1982 | Humulin (drug for diabetes) is the first biotech product approved by the FDA |
| 1985 | Australian-American biologist Elizabeth Blackburn identifies the telomerase enzyme |
| 1986 | HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is identified as the cause of AIDS |
| 1987 | Global population reaches 5,000,000,000 people |
| 1990 | Human Genome Project starts as a great effort lead by several governments |
| 1990 | First gene therapy is approved to treat an immune disorder |
| 1990 | FDA approves the first genetically modified organism (Flavr Savr tomato) |
| 1993 | US biologist Cynthia Kenyon increases several times the lifespan of C. elegans |
| 1995 | US scientist Caleb Finch describes negligible senescence in some animals |
| 1996 | Scottish scientist Ian Wilmut clones Dolly, first cloned mammal (a sheep). Dolly lived for 6 years in Scotland. Some in the press speculated that a contributing factor to Dolly’s death was that she could have been born with a genetic age of six years, the same age as the sheep from which she was cloned. One basis for this idea was the finding that Dolly’s telomeres were short, which is typically a result of the aging process |
| 1998 | First embryonic stem cells isolated in young human embryos |
| 1999 | Global population reaches 6,000,000,000 people |
After a groundbreaking cloning of a living being and first human cryopreservation in Alcor 3rd Millennium really sees a boost of genetic research and the quest to tame nature and reverse human ageing and eventually Death.
| 2000 – 2019 AD | ||
| 2001 | US scientist Craig Venter announces his sequence of the human genome (based on his own) | |
| 2002 | First artificial virus (polio virus) is created by scientists | |
| 2003 | Human Genome Project ends officially, with both public and private participation and projects | |
| 2003 | English scientist Aubrey de Grey and his colleagues create the Methuselah Foundation | |
| 2004 | SARS epidemy is contained a year after its start (genome sequenced in days) | |
| 2006 | Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka generates induced pluripotent stem cells in Kyoto | |
| 2008 | Spanish biologist María Blasco announces the life extension of mice at CNIO in Madrid | |
| 2009 | English scientist Aubrey de Grey and his colleagues create the SENS Research Foundation that works to develop, promote, and ensure widespread access to therapies that cure and prevent the diseases and disabilities of aging by comprehensively repairing the damage that builds up in our bodies over time | |
| 2009 | Nobel Prize on Physiology and Medicine for studies on telomeres and telomerase | |
| 2010s | First Bridge towards indefinite lifespans using current technologies (Ray Kurzweil) | |
| 2010 | US scientist Craig Venter announces the creation of the first artificialbacterium (Synthia) | |
| 2010 | Nobel Prize on Physiology and Medicine for the development of in vitro fertilization | |
| 2011 | Global population reaches 7,000,000,000 people | |
| 2011 | French researches achieve the rejuvenation of human cells “in vitro” | |
| 2012 | Nobel Prize on Physiology and Medicine for cloning and cell reprogramming (pluripotent cells) | |
| 2013 | First rat kidney produced “in vitro” in the USA | |
| 2013 | First human liver produced with stem cells in Japan | |
| 2013 | Google announces the creation of Calico (California Life Company) to cure aging | |
| 2014 | IBM expands the use of its intelligent medical system called Doctor Watson | |
| 2014 | Korean-American doctor Joon Yun creates the Palo Alto Longevity Prize | |
| 2015 | First experimental vaccine against the virus of Ebola hemorrhagic fever | |
| 2016 | Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg announces that it will be possible to cure “all diseases” | |
| 2016 | Microsoft scientists announce that they should be able to cure cancer within 10 years | |
| 2017 | Spanish scientist Juan Carlos Izpisúa announces that he has been able to rejuvenate mice 40% | |
| 2018 | First commercial treatment with gene therapy using CRISPR | |
| 2018 | Birth of first CRISPR babies to avoid HIV infections in China | |
| 2019 | FDA approval of the first senolytics treatments for life extension | |
| 2020 | World is hit with coronavirus epidemics – COVID-19 SOS Alert | |
Transhumanism and the study of ageing, death and gene editing with the end goal of avoiding senescence has peaked in the recent future.
Since 2020 it is worth noting some science-based predictions for the immediate future and how they will affect the development of life:
| 2020 AD – 2029 AD (some possibilities) | |
| 2020s | Second Bridge towards indefinite lifespans using biotechnology (Ray Kurzweil) |
| 2020s | Worldwide eradication of poliomyelitis |
| 2020s | Worldwide eradication of measles |
| 2020s | Vaccine against malaria |
| 2020s | Vaccine against HIV |
| 2020s | Cure for the majority of cancers |
| 2020s | Cure for Parkinson’s disease |
| 2020s | 3D bioprinting of simple human organs |
| 2020s | Commercial cloning of human organs with own cells from patients |
| 2020s | Beginning of commercial rejuvenation treatments with stem cells and telomerase |
| 2020s | AI and robot doctors complement and supplement human doctors |
| 2020s | Telemedicine spreads worldwide |
| 2020s | First manned trips to Mars (Elon Musk) |
| 2025 | Molecular assemblers (nanotechnology) are possible(Ray Kurzweil) |
| 2023 | Global population reaches 8,000,000,000 people according to the United Nations |
| 2026 | Global population reaches 8,000,000,000 people according to the US Census Bureau |
| 2029 | Longevity escape velocity is reached (Ray Kurzweil) |
| 2029 | An advanced AI finally passes Alan Turing’s test (Ray Kurzweil) |
Ray Kurzweil predicts that cryopreserved patients will be reanimated in the 2050s
| After 2030 AD (more possibilities) | |
| 2030s | Third Bridge towards indefinite lifespans using nanotechnology (Ray Kurzweil) |
| 2030s | Cure for Alzheimer’s disease |
| 2030s | Worldwide eradication of malaria |
| 2030s | Worldwide eradication of HIV |
| 2030s | Consolidation of the first human colony in Mars (Elon Musk) |
| 2037 | Global population reaches 9,000,000,000 people according to the United Nations |
| 2039 | Mental transfer from brain to brain becomes possible (Ray Kurzweil) |
| 2040s | Fourth Bridge towards indefinite lifespans and immortality using AI (Ray Kurzweil) |
| 2040s | Interplanetary Internet connects to Earth, Moon, Mars, and spaceships |
| 2042 | Global population reaches 9,000,000,000 people according to the US Census Bureau |
| 2045 | Aging is cured and death becomes optional (Ray Kurzweil) |
| 2045 | The Singularity: AI surpasses all human intelligence (Ray Kurzweil) |
| 2049 | Distinction between reality and virtual reality disappears (Ray Kurzweil) |
| 2050 | Humanoid robots win English football cup (British Telecom) |
| 2050s | First reanimations of cryopreserved patients (Ray Kurzweil) |
| 2072 | Picotechnology starts (pico is one thousand times smaller than nano) |
| 2099 | Femtotechnology starts (femto – one thousand times smaller than pico) |
| 2099 | Lifespan becomes irrelevant in a world of “amortality” |
