On this day

4 July in history.

5 moments from 1845 to 2012: discovery, creativity and courage, each with a source to read more.

5 moments

Large Hadron Collider

2012

The Higgs boson. Scientists at CERN announced they had found a long-sought particle that helps explain why things have mass.

Wikipedia: Higgs boson

Photo: Arpad Horvath / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)

More from 4 July

  1. An outlook of Walden Pond

    1845

    Thoreau goes to Walden

    Henry David Thoreau moved into a small cabin by Walden Pond to live simply. He wrote about it in his book Walden.

    Wikipedia: Henry David ThoreauWikipedia: Walden

    Photo: Erik Granlund / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  2. Alice Liddell, drawn by Lewis Carroll

    1862

    Alice begins on a boat trip

    Rowing on the Thames, Charles Dodgson told young Alice Liddell and her sisters a story. It became Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

    Wikipedia: Alice's Adventures in WonderlandWikipedia: Lewis Carroll

    Photo: Lewis Carroll / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  3. Lou Gehrig playing for the New York Yankees in 1923

    1939

    The luckiest man

    Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with ALS, told a packed Yankee Stadium that he considered himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth".

    Wikipedia: Lou Gehrig

    Photo: Unknown author / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  4. Mars Pathfinder

    1997

    Pathfinder lands on Mars

    NASA's Pathfinder bounced to a landing on Mars on airbags and released Sojourner, a small rover about the size of a microwave oven.

    Wikipedia: Mars PathfinderWikipedia: Sojourner (rover)

    Photo: NASA / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Moments chosen for discovery, creativity and courage. Each one links to a source where you can read more; photos are credited to their owners.