A decade in review

The 1920s

15 moments we logged from 1920–1929.

1920192119221923192419251926192719281929

People born in the 1920s Lata, Kishore, Marilyn…

Notable figures who grew up in this decade.

  • culture1929

    Lata Mangeshkar

    Legendary playback singer, the 'Nightingale of India'.

    Wiki
  • culture1929

    Kishore Kumar

    Singer, actor, filmmaker — one of Bollywood's most beloved voices.

    Wiki
  • culture1926

    Marilyn Monroe

    Hollywood icon of the 1950s.

    Wiki
  • world1926

    Queen Elizabeth II

    UK's longest-reigning monarch.

    Wiki
  • culture1929

    Audrey Hepburn

    Hollywood icon, humanitarian.

    Wiki
  • world1929

    Martin Luther King Jr.

    US civil rights leader, 'I have a dream'.

    Wiki
  • world1926

    Elizabeth II

    Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952 to 2022.

    Wiki
  • world1928

    Che Guevara

    Argentine Marxist revolutionary (1928–1967).

    Wiki

Worldwide

  • 1920world

    Women's suffrage in US

    American women got the right to vote with the 19th Amendment.

  • 1921science

    Insulin discovered

    Banting and Best isolated insulin. Type 1 diabetes went from death sentence to manageable condition.

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  • 1922science

    King Tut's tomb discovered

    Howard Carter opened the tomb of Tutankhamun. The world rediscovered ancient Egypt.

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  • 1923tech

    Frozen food invented

    Clarence Birdseye developed flash-freezing for food. Your modern freezer aisle owes him.

  • 1924science

    Hubble proves other galaxies exist

    Edwin Hubble showed Andromeda is a separate galaxy. The universe became unimaginably bigger.

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  • 1925tech

    First TV demonstrated

    John Logie Baird publicly demonstrated television in London. The medium that would dominate the century arrived.

  • 1926tech

    First liquid-fuel rocket

    Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fuel rocket. It flew 12 meters. Spaceflight began.

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  • 1927culture

    First 'talkie' film

    'The Jazz Singer' became the first major film with synchronized sound. Silent cinema died.

  • 1927science

    Big Bang theory proposed

    Georges Lemaître proposed the universe began from a single point. It would take decades to be accepted.

  • 1928science

    Penicillin discovered

    Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered the first antibiotic. Modern medicine began.

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  • 1928tech

    First color photography

    Kodachrome was being developed at Kodak. Color photos for ordinary people were on the way.

  • 1929world

    Wall Street crashes

    The stock market crash on Black Tuesday triggered the Great Depression.

  • 1929science

    Hubble discovers expanding universe

    Hubble showed galaxies are moving away from us. The universe is expanding. Big Bang theory followed.

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India

  • 1920world

    Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement

    Mahatma Gandhi launched his first major nationwide movement against British rule.

  • 1928world

    Bhagat Singh and Simon Commission

    Lala Lajpat Rai was injured by police while protesting the Simon Commission; he died weeks later. Bhagat Singh vowed revenge.