1519: Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés enteres Tenochtitlán, the magnificent capital of the Aztec Empire, where he is received by Emperor Moctezuma II. The city was built on an island in Lake Texcoco and was one of the largest urban centres in the world at the time. Within two years, the Spanish and their Indigenous allies would destroy the Aztec Empire, fundamentally transforming the history of Mexico.
1895: German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen accidentally discovers X-rays while experimenting with electrical discharges in a laboratory. He noticed that a fluorescent screen was glowing despite being separated from his equipment by cardboard, realising that an unknown form of radiation was passing through solid objects. He subsequently produced the first famous X-ray image of a human hand, showing the bones and wedding ring of his wife. His discovery revolutionises medicine and earns him the first-ever Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.
2006: Microsoft releases Windows Vista.
2016: Television personality Donald Trump is elected the 45th President of the United States in a surprise upset against his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Trump would be elected again in 2024 with his second term being even worse of the world than his first.
2020: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 passes 50 million worldwide.