MOST IMPORTANT YEAR? TIME TO VOTE

What was the most important year in human history? Andrew Marr, history columnist for Intelligent Life, has a few ideas--1776, 1945, 2009, perhaps--and some Economist writers have submitted their own. Ann Wroe, The Economist's obituaries editor, proposes 1439:

Since 1439 words printed by Gutenberg’s process have driven every invention, change of thinking and political idea. And in Gutenberg’s type—if not in our uniform, lifeless electronic fonts—words also contain light and shade, and dance.

But what about Jesus? Adrian Wooldridge, The Economist's Washington bureau chief, suggests 5BC:

You do not have to be a believer (and the author of this article is not) to recognise that Jesus’s birth was the most important event in human history. Jesus inspired the world’s most popular religion and plays an important role in both Judaism and Islam. But he also shaped all subsequent secular history.

A few other years have been tossed into the ring as well (1204, 1791, 1944), and you have suggested some ideas of your own. Now it's time to vote. What was the most important year ever? Visit our very first More Intelligent Life poll (bottom right) and weigh in. Winners will earn the prize of being part of a consensus view of the world. Losers will stare on with lonesome disdain. Let us know what you think.

~ EMILY BOBROW

Picture credit: gregoryjameswalsh (via Flickr)

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My Birthday

June 17, 2009 - 17:24 — Rick in Hawaii (not verified)

The most important year ever was 1952. It was the year I was born, and without it, 1776, 1945 or any other year probably wouldn't seem all that important to me.

the most important day was

June 18, 2009 - 02:25 — Visitor (not verified)

the most important day was the day human was born. without that day how can we live today? after that day the second most important was the day spartans fought in thermopylae. If they didnt hold persians modern history could never been as it is.

in my opinion the most

June 18, 2009 - 04:25 — Mauro della Porta Raffo (not verified)

in my opinion the most important year is 1241, year of the death of Ogodei who forced Batu Kahn, who was already in Wien after having conquered actual Ucraina, Russia, Poland, former Jugoslavia and Hungary, to go back to Mongolia for the election of the succssor and in this way he saved Europe from the conquest of the Mongols

480 BC: The day of the battle in Hot Gates

June 18, 2009 - 05:59 — Visitor (not verified)

We must find out the day that changed the world as it was and transformed it into what we live today. I think this is 480 BC, when 300 Spartans and some Greeks more delayed Persian army in Hot Gates and detered the world of being now a muslim world, accounting all the consequences that it might have!

GOLDEN AGE OF GREECE

June 18, 2009 - 06:33 — LUCAS (not verified)

500-323 BC CLASSICAL PERIOD

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERIOD THAT ALL PEOPLE SHOULD CONSIDER AS IS THE BEGGINING OF THE WESTERN CIVILISATION.

the most important year is

June 18, 2009 - 06:38 — Visitor

the most important year is dna discovered because open new ways in the medical science

Platon still influences

June 18, 2009 - 07:30 — Vasil (not verified)

Platon still influences human nation...above religius matterand believes. He was born 427BC.

where are you from?

June 18, 2009 - 07:46 — Visitor (not verified)

i think that you have a point but think about the born of democracy in athens. Dont you think tha this was the most important time of history?

the most important year is

June 18, 2009 - 08:19 — george the biologist (not verified)

the most important year is DNA discovered!! Biology rules!!!

in my opinion the most

June 18, 2009 - 08:45 — Visitor (not verified)

in my opinion the most important year is 1453, the fall of Constantinople which started the Renaisance

1963 for everrrrrrrrr....

June 18, 2009 - 08:56 — Visitor (not verified)

1963 for everrrrrrrrr....

misunderstanding

June 18, 2009 - 10:08 — Visitor (not verified)

You have confused the hot gates battle. At that time there was no muslim nor christian religion. This battle is a milestone for the evolution of the Persian wars, because Greeks got vital time for reorganizing the army and setting up the counter-attack. So, this had, for sure, effect on the later creation of the Athenian democracy, during the Periklis Golden area.

In terms of ethnological and humanological importance, the decelarating of the early muslim campaign is for sure one of the major facts. For those dates we might look into the battles that "cut" Arabs off the Eastern Europe, on the 7th century (AC) at the door of Konstantinoupolis, as well as at the battle of Poitiers (France), which was of great importance for the Western Europe.

Past is past and future is

June 18, 2009 - 11:56 — Visitor (not verified)

Past is past and future is future.Looking in past we can build the future.So in my opinion the most important year was 1917 when russian revolution took place.If that revolution didnt take place....i am sorry but in our days i dont know how much worse our lifes would be,concerning that capitalism would do much much more bad and faster.

1914 the end of innocence.

June 18, 2009 - 13:26 — Thomas from Greece (not verified)

1914 the end of innocence. The humanity pass in dangerous point...to fall

While the list has some

June 18, 2009 - 13:38 — Byzantine (not verified)

While the list has some interesting dates included so far, I am a bit surprised by the dates missing. How about:

*1918. End of World War I. Fall of both the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. Several new states emerge in Europe and the Middle East, gaining independence from either the two already mentioned empires, the already fallen Russian Empire or the still disintegrating Ottoman Empire.

*1917. Two Russian Revolutions within the same year. The February Revolution forces Nicholas II of Russia and effectively puts an end to the Russian Empire. The October Revolution leads the Bolsheviks to power and leads to a prolonged Russian Civil War and the creation of the Soviet Union.

*1916. Yuan Shikai, the President of China, declares himself Emperor in January but soon loses support and abdicates the title by March. His death in June marks the end of efforts to restore a Chinese Empire to existence.

*1913. The Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line, dramatically reducing assembly time. The move marks the start to a wide spreading of mass production methods.

*1912. Alfred Wegener proposeshis theory of the continental drift. the hypothesis that all modern continents had once formed a single landmass. While it would not gain much support to the 1960s, it would lead to significant changes in the field of geology.
**The same year Casimir Funk creates the new medical concept of the "vitamine" (modern: vitamin).

*1910. Lee De Forest broadcasts a musical performance of Enrico Caruso through radio. It marks the introduction of the first live musical radio program and the "birth" of public radio broadcasting.

*1907. Autochrome Lumière, patented in 1903, is first marketed by Auguste and Louis Lumière. It is the first color photography method available to the public.

*1906. Richard Dixon Oldham first argues that the Earth has a molten interior. Geological breakthrough.

*1905. Nettie Maria Stevens snd Edmund Beecher Wilson develop the XY sex-determination system, deducing the chromosomal basis of the sex. Stevens was among the first American women known for contributions to science.

*1903. The Wright Flyer (retrospectively called Kitty Hawk) created by Wilbur and Orville Wright completes the first well-recorded, controlled , powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight. About two centuries of previous efforts and experiments notwithstanding, this flight leads to the creation of the modern airplane industry.

*1900. Paul Ulrich Villard, a chemist and physicist studying uranium and radium, discovers gamma rays. It leads to several developments concerning irradiation processes and cancer studies.

*1899. Felix Hoffmann patents his discovery of the Aspirin and the Bayer AG company registers aspirin as its trademark.

*1898. Pierre Curie and his wife Maria Sklodowska-Curie announce the discovery of a new element, radium. The propagate the term radioactivity and initiate studies in the field. It leads to several further discoveries and practical uses for them.

*1897. Joseph John Thomson announces his discovery of subatomic particles which he names "corpuscles". They are soon identified with the "electrons" theorized to exist in previous studies. The older term comes into common use but the electron changes from a theory to a fact.

*1896. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen announces his discovery of the X-Rays. His study of electromagnetic radiation leads to new medical processes.

*1895. Auguste and Louis Lumière display their moving picture films to Paris audiences. Though various pioneers had created films since the 1870s, this display marks the "birth" of cinema as a form of public entertainment.

*1894. Patrick Manson develops the theory malaria is spread by mosquitoes. The theory is proved correct before the end of the decade.

*1893. Rudolf Diesel patents the diesel engine. In the following years the engine is added to submarines, ships and automobils.
**In the same year women in New Zealand are granted the right to vote. First victory for the women's suffrage movement.

*1892. Police in Buenos Aires, Argentina opens the first fingerprinting bureau in the world. Fingerprinting had been previously, unofficially used in British India and Japan but had yet to gain much support. Argentinian police adopted it officially after unofficial use helped resolve a celebrated murder case.

*1891. Eugene Dubois discovers homo erectus fossils in Java. A breakthrough in paleontology and our understanding of hominids.

*1889. Frederick Abel invents cordite, a low explosive used instead of gunpowder in the creation of rifles.

etc.

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