These fascinating past and present photos of famous events give us a clear, wonderful picture of human progress. Enjoy!
The first World Series in Pittsburgh in 1903
Wikipedia
The 2014 World Series final which was slightly more organised.
EPA/Justin Lane
The first ever Rockefeller Christmas tree in 1931
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Rockefeller Christmas tree in 2013
Rockefeller Center
The first International match at Wimbledon in 1883.
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The Wimbledon Championships in 2014
hdwallpapersinn
The first Glastonbury festival in 1970 attracting 1,500 people who paid £1 each for a ticket and free milk.
Getty Images
The Glastonbury festival in 2014 attracting 135,000 people who paid £225 for a ticket and beer instead of milk.
RCA
The first official gay pride march in London surrounded by police for their protection.
History Porn
2014 LGBT London pride parade flanked by supporters.
Valerie Benguiat / Digital Journal
The first photo ever taken from space, in which a camera was strapped onto a V2 rocket fired straight up in 1946.
History Porn
The Aurora Australis taken from the International Space Station in 2013.
NASA
The first official Paralympic Games held in Rome in 1960, in which 400 athletes from 23 countries participated.
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2012 Paralympic Games in London, in which 4,300 athletes from 164 nations participated.
John Godley
The first climber, Sir Edmund Hillary, reached the summit of Mt Everest in 1953.
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With far better equipment today, a traffic jam like this one in 2013 becomes a common problem on Everest.
Utmost Adventure Trekking/Al Jazeera
Aerial view of the 1930 World Cup final in Montevideo, Uruguay, with only 13 teams participating because of the difficulty of getting to South America at the time.
AP Archive
2014 World Cup in Brazil with 209 countries eligible to enter
braziltheguide
History Porn
The first photograph of Earth taken from the moon in 1969.
NASA
Photo of both the Earth and moon from China’s Chang’e 5-TI satellite in 2014.
China National Space Administration
Three men participating in the marathon at the first modern Olympics in 1896, in which only 16 nations were allowed to compete.
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2012 marathon in London, in which 206 nations participated.
David Levene/Guardian
The first neon sign installed on the Las Vegas strip in 1941.
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Las Vegas strip today.
EPA/Justin Lane
The first modern Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896
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2012 Olympics held in London
Nicholas Moon
New York’s first subway in 1904, which was the first choice of transportation of New York’s upper class to escape the busy streets
History Porn
New York’s subway today
EPA/Justin Lane
Western Berliners looking on as work begins on the Berlin wall in 1961.
History Porn
United Berliners celebrated the anniversary of the fall of the wall and marked it’s former path with illuminated balloons this year.
Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters
Bill Murray as the first guest on The David Letterman Show in 1983.
CBS
In 2014, Bill Murray shared on the same stage again with David Letterman, along with Lady Gaga.
CBS
Boston Marathon organizers attempt to stop Kathrine Switzer from running the race in 1967.
History Porn
Boston Marathon in 2014
Brian Snyder/Reuters
The Wright brothers’s successful flight in 1903, with their plane flying for 59 seconds over 852 feet.
History Porn
The Philae probe had traveled 4 billion miles and landed on a comet in 2014
ESA
A French soldier fitted with a prosthetic mask in 1918.
History Porn
In 2011, the first full face transplant was successfully accomplished on Dallas Wiens who lost all of his face in an accident.
Paul Beaty/AP
Otto Lilienthal made the first glider flight in 1894.
History Porn
Annie Edson Taylor became the first person ever to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel in 1901.
History Porn
Felix Baumgartner took a plunge from the stratosphere, 24 miles above Earth, in 2012.
Red Bull