, Virginia asked historians
to select what they thought were the top news stories of the 20th century
. Based on the survey results
, here are the top 20:
20. 1953 - FDA approves birth-control pill.
19. 1905 - Albert Einstein presents special theory of relativity: general relativity theory to follow.
18. 1957 - Soviets launch Sputnik, first space satellite: space race begins.
17. 1913 - Henry Ford organizes the first major U.S. assembly line to produce Model T cars.
16. 1917 - Russian Revolution ends. Communists take over.
15. 1939 - Germany invades Poland: World War II begins in Europe.
14. 1974 - President Richard Nixon resigns after Watergate scandal.
13. 1991 - Soviet Union dissolves, Mikhail Gorbachev resigns: Boris Yeltsin takes over.
12. 1953 - Structure of DNA discovered.
11. 1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers the first antibiotic, penicillin.
10. 1929 - U.S. Stock Market crashes: the Great Depression sets in.
9. 1954 - Brown vs. Board of Education ends "separate but equal" school segregation.
8. 1914 - World War I begins in Europe.
7. 1945 - Horrors of Nazi Holocaust, concentration camps exposed.
6. 1963 - President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas.
5. 1920 - Women win the vote.
4. 1903 - Wilbur and Orville Wright fly the first powered airplane.
3. 1941 - Japan bombs Pearl Harbour: United States enters World War II.
2. 1969 - American astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the firts human to walk on the moon.
1. 1945 - Unites States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Japan surrenders to end World War II.