On this night in science
A true thing, night by night.
A discovery, a launch, a first look at something new: one true thing for a night of the year, with a question to wonder about together and the sources it was checked against. Seventy-five nights so far, and more as they're checked.
January
- January 1: The first asteroid is found
- January 2: The first spacecraft to leave the Earth behind
- January 3: The first landing on the far side of the Moon
- January 4: Louis Braille is born
- January 6: Messages along a wire
- January 7: Galileo finds Jupiter's moons
- January 8: Stephen Hawking is born
- January 9: The first free balloon flight in America
- January 10: The first underground railway
October
- October 13: Charles Messier spots the Whirlpool Galaxy
- October 14: Faster than sound
- October 15: Cassini sets off for Saturn
- October 16: A weather satellite that stays in one place
- October 18: Galileo sets off for Jupiter
- October 19: A visitor from another star
- October 20: A gentle tap on an asteroid
- October 21: Stars on a ceiling
- October 22: The first photo from the ground on Venus
- October 23: A new room for the space station
- October 24: Two new moons for Uranus
- October 26: The Erie Canal opens
- October 27: The first Saturn rocket
- October 28: The last piece of the Gateway Arch
- October 29: The first message on the network that became the internet
- October 30: A pen with a ball at its tip
- October 31: The first crew to live on the space station
November
- November 1: The first official weather reports
- November 2: The giant wooden flying boat's only flight
- November 3: Off to Mercury, by way of Venus
- November 4: A close look at a little comet
- November 5: India sets off for Mars
- November 7: A tiny dot crosses the sun
- November 8: The discovery of X-rays
- November 9: The giant Moon rocket's first flight
- November 11: Learning to work outside a spacecraft
- November 12: The first landing on a comet
- November 13: Snow made by a scientist
- November 15: A computer's brain on one tiny chip
- November 16: A message sent to the stars
- November 17: The first rover on the Moon
- November 18: The day of two noons
- November 19: A pinpoint landing on the Moon
- November 20: The first piece of the space station
- November 21: The first people to fly
- November 24: Lucy is found
- November 25: Einstein's new idea about gravity
- November 26: A lander that listened to Mars
- November 27: Anders Celsius is born
- November 28: The first close-up pictures of Mars
- November 30: Galileo looks at the Moon
December
- December 1: A whole continent set aside for science
- December 2: A spacecraft to watch the sun
- December 3: The first text message
- December 4: Off to Mars with a little rover
- December 5: Orion's first test flight
- December 7: The Blue Marble
- December 9: The computer mouse is shown to the world
- December 10: The very first Nobel Prizes
- December 11: The last Moon landing, so far
- December 12: A radio signal across the ocean
- December 13: Measuring the size of a star
- December 14: The first visit to another planet
- December 15: Two spacecraft meet in space
- December 16: The first transistor works
- December 17: The first airplane flight
- December 19: The first voice from space
- December 21: The first people to travel to the Moon
- December 23: Around the world without stopping
- December 24: Earthrise
- December 25: The Webb telescope sets off
- December 27: Darwin sets sail
- December 28: Galileo sees Neptune without knowing it
- December 29: Plenty of room at the bottom
- December 30: Cassini's portrait of Jupiter
- December 31: A night lit by electric lights
Tonight's is on Tonight, just before you press play.