Image Credits

The Big Bang

Card, artistic reconstruction. Cinematic illustration of the Big Bang and the expanding universe. An artistic depiction, not an observation. Nothing records the beginning itself, and the earliest light we can detect left about 380,000 years later.

Background. Cinematic illustration of the Big Bang, made for the timeline background. An artistic depiction, not an observation. Nothing records the beginning itself.

First Atoms

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of the first atoms forming as the early universe cooled. The atoms are drawn as simple orbiting models for clarity. No picture of this moment exists.

First Light

Card, documentary image. All-sky map of the cosmic microwave background, nine years of data from NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), 2012. NASA/WMAP Science Team. Public domain. The colors mark tiny temperature differences. They are not colors the eye can see. Wikimedia Commons, NASA/WMAP Science Team.

Background. Cinematic background showing the first light of the universe, as a glowing haze cooling from white to orange. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. Nothing could be seen at that time. The colours are a visual translation.

First Stars

Card, artistic reconstruction. Artist’s concept of the first stars turning on, NASA/WMAP Science Team. Public domain. An illustration, not a photograph. No picture of a first star exists. Wikimedia Commons, NASA/WMAP Science Team.

First Galaxies

Card, artistic reconstruction. Artist’s impression of JADES-GS-z14-0, ESO/M. Kornmesser, CC BY 4.0. Cropped to 4:3. An illustration of the most distant confirmed galaxy, seen less than 300 million years after the Big Bang. It is not a photograph, and this galaxy is not claimed to be the first. Wikimedia Commons, ESO/M. Kornmesser. License: CC BY 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing early galaxies strung along filaments of the cosmic web. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment.

First Black Holes

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of a black hole in the young universe. It does not show a specific black hole, and no first black hole has been identified.

Background. Cinematic background showing a black hole with a glowing accretion disk. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. It is not an observation and does not claim to show the first black hole.

The Milky Way

Card, documentary image. Gaia’s all-sky view of the Milky Way, ESA/Gaia/DPAC, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, as distributed by the European Southern Observatory (CC BY 4.0). The map shows stars across the whole sky. It does not single out the thick disc. Wikimedia Commons, ESA/Gaia/DPAC. License: CC BY 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a spiral galaxy seen from outside. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. Nobody has seen our own galaxy from this angle.

The Solar System

Card, documentary image. The Sun on 19 August 2010 in extreme ultraviolet light (304 Å), NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory, Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. Public domain. The color is added to light the eye cannot see. This is today’s Sun, not an image of its formation. Wikimedia Commons, NASA/SDO (AIA).

Background. Cinematic background showing the Sun and planets of a young Solar System. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. Sizes and distances are not to scale.

Birth of Earth

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of the molten young Earth. No picture of this period exists, and the details are an interpretation.

Birth of the Moon

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of the giant-impact idea for the Moon’s origin. It is an interpretation of a leading theory, not an observation.

First Life

Card, documentary image. Stromatolite from the Strelley Pool Formation, Western Australia, about 3.4 billion years old, photograph by James St. John, CC BY 2.0. It is a little younger than the oldest stromatolites, about 3.48 billion years old, and illustrates the kind of rock record that preserves early microbial life. Wikimedia Commons, James St. John. License: CC BY 2.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing microbial mats in a shallow early sea. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The exact appearance of the earliest life is unknown.

Great Oxidation

Card, documentary image. Banded iron formation at Dales Gorge, Western Australia, about 2.5 billion years old, photograph by Graeme Churchard, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons, Graeme Churchard. License: CC BY 2.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing oxygen bubbling through an iron-rich sea. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The colours are a reconstruction from the rocks that record the change.

First Complex Cells

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of an early cell with a nucleus. It is an interpretation and does not show a known fossil. No picture of the first complex cell exists.

First Animals

Card, documentary image. Dickinsonia costata from the Ediacara Hills, South Australia, in the Galerie de Paléontologie, Paris, photograph by Ghedo, 2019, CC BY-SA 4.0. Dickinsonia lived about 560 million years ago, after the span shown here. It is one of the oldest large animals in the fossil record, not one of the first. Wikimedia Commons, Ghedo. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing soft-bodied early animals on a sunlit seabed. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. Their forms are reconstructed from fossils.

The Cambrian Explosion

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of animals from the Burgess Shale, which lived about 508 million years ago, some 30 million years after the start of the Cambrian. The animals are an interpretation drawn from fossils.

Life Conquers Land

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of a shoreline about 430 million years ago, when small plants such as Cooksonia grew near water. The scene is an interpretation drawn from fossils.

The Great Dying

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of the volcanic eruptions in Siberia, the leading explanation for the Permian extinction. It is an interpretation of the scene.

First Dinosaurs

Card, documentary image. Skeleton of Eoraptor lunensis, from the Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina, about 230 million years old, on exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History of Chile, photograph by Rjcastillo, 2025, CC BY-SA 4.0. It is a mounted specimen, and parts of it are reconstructed. Wikimedia Commons, Rjcastillo. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing small early dinosaurs in a misty valley. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. Colours and surroundings are imagined.

First Mammals

Card, artistic reconstruction. Reconstruction of Megazostrodon, Natural History Museum, London, photograph by Theklan, 2017, CC BY-SA 4.0. A museum model of an early mammal that lived in southern Africa about 200 million years ago. It shows what an early mammal may have looked like, and it is not the first mammal. The fur and color are an artist’s interpretation. Wikimedia Commons, Theklan. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a small early mammal at night among the dinosaurs. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. Colours and surroundings are imagined.

Dinosaur Extinction

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of the asteroid impact that ended the age of the dinosaurs. The animals are representative of the Late Cretaceous, and the scene is an interpretation.

Dawn of Humanity

Card, documentary image. Cast of the Sahelanthropus tchadensis cranium TM 266-01-060-1, nicknamed Toumaï, photograph by Didier Descouens, 2010, CC BY-SA 4.0. The original fossil was found in Chad in 2001. Wikimedia Commons, Didier Descouens. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a lakeside savanna at sunrise in Africa. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. No individual is depicted.

First Steps

Card, documentary image. Remains of Ardipithecus ramidus (“Ardi”), about 4.4 million years old, from Aramis, Ethiopia, displayed at the National Museum of Ethiopia, photograph by Sailko, 2018, CC BY 3.0. The photograph does not say whether the bones are originals or casts. Wikimedia Commons, Sailko. License: CC BY 3.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing two upright walkers crossing volcanic ground. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. It is inspired by the Laetoli footprints and is not a record of them.

First Tools

Card, documentary image. Olduvai chopping tool of basalt, from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, 1.8 to 2 million years old. British Museum, 1934,1214.1. Photograph by BabelStone, 2012, CC BY-SA 3.0. This is an Oldowan tool, much later than the Lomekwi tools of this Moment. No licensed photograph of a Lomekwi tool was available. Wikimedia Commons, BabelStone. License: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a toolmaker striking stone at dusk. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The figure is imagined.

Lucy

Card, documentary image. Cast of the “Lucy” skeleton (AL 288-1), Australopithecus afarensis, from the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Paris, photograph by 120, 2007, CC BY 2.5. The original is in Ethiopia. Wikimedia Commons, 120. License: CC BY 2.5.

Background. Cinematic background showing an early human ancestor at a lake at dusk. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The figure is imagined and not a portrait of the individual named Lucy.

Out of Africa

Card, documentary image. Skull D2282 from Dmanisi, Georgia, about 1.8 million years old, as shown in the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, photograph by Ryan Somma, CC BY-SA 2.0. The original fossil is in Georgia. Wikimedia Commons, Ryan Somma. License: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a small group travelling across open grassland. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The group and the landscape are imagined.

Discovery of Fire

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of early humans gathered at a hearth. The people, clothing and setting are an interpretation, because the evidence for fire is burned material.

Neanderthals

Card, artistic reconstruction. Neanderthal mother and child, detail of a diorama in the Anthropos Pavilion, Moravian Museum, Brno, photograph by Jaroslav A. Polák, 2013, CC0. A museum reconstruction, an interpretation of how Neanderthals may have looked, not a photograph of one. Wikimedia Commons, Jaroslav A. Polák. License: CC0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a cave shelter by a fire in a snowy valley. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The figures are imagined.

Modern Humans

Card, documentary image. Cast of the Jebel Irhoud 1 skull on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, photograph by Jonathan Chen, 2024, CC BY-SA 4.0. The original is from Morocco. Wikimedia Commons, Jonathan Chen. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing people looking over a valley at sunrise. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The figures are imagined.

First Art

Card, documentary image. Painting of a Sulawesi warty pig at Leang Tedongnge, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, at least 45,500 years old. Photograph by Basran Burhan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped to 4:3. The older scene, at least 51,200 years old, is at Leang Karampuang in the same region. Wikimedia Commons, Basran Burhan. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a torch-lit cave wall with hand prints and an animal. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The painting is imagined and not a copy of any known cave.

First Music

Card, documentary image. Flute made from a vulture bone, from Hohle Fels cave in the Swabian Jura, Germany, displayed at the Museum of Prehistory Blaubeuren (urmu), photograph by Tomatenpflanze, 2017, CC BY-SA 4.0. The oldest flutes known, from nearby Geißenklösterle, are slightly older. Wikimedia Commons, Tomatenpflanze. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a gathering around a fire in a painted cave. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene and the instrument are imagined.

The Ice Age

Card, artistic reconstruction. Earth at the Last Glacial Maximum, a rendering by Ittiz, 2010, CC BY-SA 3.0, based on Crowley, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 1995. A computer reconstruction of the planet about 20,000 years ago, not a photograph, with black added at the sides to fit the 4:3 frame. Wikimedia Commons, Ittiz. License: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing mammoths crossing a snowfield below mountains. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is imagined.

Agricultural Revolution

Card, artistic reconstruction. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of an early farming village in the Fertile Crescent. The people, tools and buildings are an interpretation.

Birth of Writing

Card, documentary image. Administrative account of barley distribution, proto-cuneiform tablet with cylinder seal impression, Jemdet Nasr period, ca. 3100–2900 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. CC0, Open Access. The tablet belongs to the earliest centuries of writing. It is not a photograph from 3200 BCE. Wikimedia Commons, Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access. License: CC0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a scribe pressing signs into a clay tablet in Mesopotamia. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is imagined.

The Great Pyramid

Card, documentary image. The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. Photograph by Gary Todd, 2013. CC0. Cropped to 4:3. The photograph is modern, and the pyramid’s completion is conventionally dated about 2560 BCE. Wikimedia Commons, photograph by Gary Todd. License: CC0.

Background. Cinematic background showing the Great Pyramid at sunset beside the Nile floodplain. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. It is shown with smooth white casing, as it is thought to have first looked.

First Emperor of China

Card, documentary image. Terracotta Army, Pit 1, in the mausoleum complex of Qin Shi Huang, near Xi’an. Photograph by Gary Lee Todd, 3 October 2011, CC0. The figures were made for the first emperor’s tomb, in the years after the unification. They are not a picture of 221 BCE, and the photograph is modern. Wikimedia Commons, photograph by Gary Lee Todd. License: CC0.

Background. Cinematic background showing ranks of terracotta soldiers in a pit. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. Colour and lighting are imagined.

Roman Empire

Card, historical artwork. Augustus of Prima Porta, marble, Vatican Museums. Photograph by Justin Benttinen, 8 September 2023, CC BY-SA 4.0. The statue was carved after Octavian took the name Augustus in 27 BCE, and it is a Roman copy of an earlier portrait. It is not a likeness made on that day. Wikimedia Commons, photograph by Justin Benttinen. License: CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing the Roman Forum at golden hour. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The buildings are shown in an imagined composite.

Birth of Jesus

Card, historical artwork. Geertgen tot Sint Jans (or a follower), The Nativity at Night, about 1490. The National Gallery, London. Public domain. The painting was made about fifteen centuries after the birth. It is not a likeness from 6–4 BCE. Wikimedia Commons, The Nativity at Night. License: Public domain.

Background. Cinematic background showing shepherds on a hillside under a bright star. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. It is a devotional scene, not a record.

Fall of Rome

Card, historical artwork. Nineteenth-century wood engraving of Romulus Augustulus giving the imperial insignia to Odoacer. Public domain. A later image of 476, not a record of the day.

Background. Cinematic background showing ruins of a burning city at dusk. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is imagined.

Birth of Islam

Card, documentary image. The Birmingham Qur’an manuscript (Mingana 1572a), two parchment leaves radiocarbon dated to 568–645 CE, Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham. Public domain. The leaves are among the oldest surviving Qur’an manuscripts, copied close to Muhammad’s lifetime. They are not a record of the first revelation. Wikimedia Commons, Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham. License: Public Domain Mark.

Background. Cinematic background showing a mountain near Mecca at dawn. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. No people are shown. The scene is imagined.

Vikings

Card, documentary image. The Oseberg ship, Viking Ship Museum, Oslo. Photograph by Larry Lamsa, 19 October 2015, CC BY 2.0. The ship was built about 820 CE and buried in a Norwegian mound in 834. It was used for a high-status burial, not as a warship, and it belongs to the early Viking Age. Wikimedia Commons, photograph by Larry Lamsa. License: CC BY 2.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a longship under sail in rough seas. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is imagined.

First Crusade

Card, historical artwork. James Archer, Peter the Hermit Preaching the First Crusade, oil on canvas, 1883. Public domain. A nineteenth-century imagining, not a scene from 1096.

Background. Cinematic background showing an army marching toward a walled city at sunrise. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is imagined.

Mongol Empire

Card, historical artwork. Portrait of Emperor Taizu (Chinggis Khan), ink and color on silk, from the Album of Bust Portraits of Yuan Emperors. National Palace Museum, Taipei, 中畫00032400001. The facing inscription names him Chinggis Khan. The leaf was painted after his lifetime and is not a likeness from 1206. 元代帝半身像 冊 元太祖。國立故宮博物院，台北，CC BY 4.0 @ www.npm.gov.tw. National Palace Museum, Taipei. License: CC BY 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing riders crossing the steppe under a golden sky. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is imagined.

The Black Death

Card, historical artwork. Pierart dou Tielt, miniature of the plague at Tournai, 1349, in Gilles li Muisis, Tractatus quartus. Royal Library of Belgium, MS 13076-13077, fol. 24v. A later illustration of burials in Tournai, not a picture of the arrival at Messina in October 1347. The miniature is in the public domain. Photograph by Jean-Louis Torsin, KIK-IRPA, Brussels, cliché X004179, CC BY 4.0. KIK-IRPA, cliché X004179. License: CC BY 4.0.

Background. Cinematic background showing a foggy medieval street at night. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is imagined.

Gutenberg’s Printing Press

Card, historical artwork. Jost Amman, Der Buchdrucker, woodcut, 1568, from the Ständebuch published by Sigmund Feyerabend in Frankfurt. A later picture of a printing workshop, not a press from about 1450. Wellcome Collection, no. 34964i. Public Domain Mark. Wellcome Collection, no. 34964i. License: Public Domain Mark.

Background. Cinematic background showing a fifteenth-century printing workshop. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The press and the room are imagined.

Columbus Reaches the Americas

Card, historical artwork. John Vanderlyn, Landing of Columbus, oil on canvas, 1847, United States Capitol Rotunda. A detail of the painting. Commissioned in 1836 and finished in Paris; a later interpretation, not an image from 1492. The painting is in the public domain. Photograph: Architect of the Capitol, a work of the U.S. federal government. The Architect asks that the image not imply endorsement by Congress. Architect of the Capitol, Landing of Columbus. License: Public domain.

Background. Cinematic background showing three ships off a tropical shore. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is imagined.

Scientific Revolution

Card, documentary image. Heliocentric diagram from Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, Nuremberg, 1543. Public domain. A digital reproduction of the printed page, set on a dark ground so that the whole diagram shows. Wikimedia Commons, Copernican heliocentrism diagram. License: Public domain.

Background. Cinematic background showing a scholar's study by candlelight with an armillary sphere and telescope. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is imagined.

Industrial Revolution

Card, historical artwork. Philip James de Loutherbourg, Coalbrookdale by Night, oil on canvas, 1801. Science Museum Group, London. Public domain. A painting made during the period, not a photograph. Wikimedia Commons, Web Gallery of Art.

American Independence

Card, historical artwork. John Trumbull, Declaration of Independence, oil on canvas, 1819, United States Capitol Rotunda. Public domain. Painted more than forty years later, it shows the Committee of Five presenting its draft to Congress, not the signing, and not every man shown was present together on that day. Wikimedia Commons, John Trumbull. License: Public domain.

French Revolution

Card, historical artwork. Jean-Pierre Houël, The Taking of the Bastille, 14 July 1789, watercolour, dated to 1789. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica, btv1b103025148. Public domain. An artist’s view of the best-known day of the Revolution, not a photograph. Cropped to remove the caption. Wikimedia Commons, Jean-Pierre Houël (BnF Gallica). License: Public domain.

Abolition of Slavery

Card, historical artwork. Am I Not a Man and a Brother?, Wedgwood jasperware medallion after the seal of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, about 1786–87. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 96.779. Photograph CC0. The medallion dates from the 1780s and stands for the abolition movement, not for the Act of 1833. Wikimedia Commons, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 96.779. License: CC0.

Background. Cinematic background showing iron shackles on a stone quay at sunset. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is symbolic.

First Flight

Card, documentary image. Photograph by John T. Daniels, 17 December 1903. Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

Background. Photograph by John T. Daniels, 17 December 1903. Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Cropped to the photograph, without the black margin around the print.

World War I

Card, documentary image. French general mobilization order for the army and the navy, 2 August 1914. The handwritten date reads Sunday, 2 August. Five days after Austria-Hungary’s declaration of 28 July. Photograph of the poster by Wikimedia Commons contributor Tangopaso, 2010, CC BY-SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons, Mobilisation Générale 1914. License: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Background. Crowd reading mobilization notices in Paris, 2 August 1914. Agence Rol, Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica). Public domain. Cropped to remove the scan border.

World War II

Card, documentary image. Hans Sönnke, German soldiers removing a border barrier with the Polish arms, on the Zoppot–Gdingen road near Danzig, during the invasion of Poland. German Federal Archive, Bild 146-1979-056-18A, dated 1 September 1939. The archive notes that the photograph belongs to a series containing staged motifs. Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1979-056-18A / Sönnke, Hans / CC-BY-SA 3.0. German Federal Archive, Bild 146-1979-056-18A. License: CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.

Background. Cinematic background showing a bombed city street under searchlights. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The scene is imagined and not a specific place.

Moon Landing

Card, documentary image. NASA photograph AS11-40-5903 of Buzz Aldrin, taken by Neil Armstrong on 20 July 1969. Public domain. Cropped to 4:3. Wikimedia Commons, NASA, Neil Armstrong. License: Public domain.

Background. Cinematic background showing a lunar module on the Moon with the Earth in the sky. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. The lander is a simplified rendering.

The World Wide Web

Card, documentary image. The NeXT computer used by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN as the first web server, displayed at CERN, with its handwritten “do not power it down” label. Photograph by Rama, 25 February 2006, CC BY-SA 2.0 France. A museum photograph of the machine, not of the years of its development. Wikimedia Commons, photograph by Rama. License: CC BY-SA 2.0 France.

Background. Cinematic background showing a glowing network around the Earth. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. It is symbolic.

Birth of Bitcoin

Card, documentary image. The Times, 3 January 2009, beside the coinbase text of the Bitcoin genesis block.

Background. Cinematic background showing a chain of glowing blocks. An illustration generated with an AI image tool for TIME. It is an artistic depiction, not a photograph or a record of the moment. It is symbolic.

Flying Cars

Card, speculative illustration. An illustration of an imagined scene. It is not a photograph of a real place or event.

Humanoid Robots

Card, speculative illustration. An illustration of an imagined scene. It is not a photograph of a real place or event.

Humans on Mars

Card, speculative illustration. An illustration of an imagined scene. It is not a photograph of a real place or event.

Artificial General Intelligence

Card, speculative illustration. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. It depicts an imagined scene. It is not a photograph of a real place or event, and it is not a prediction.

Fusion Energy

Card, speculative illustration. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. It depicts an imagined scene. It is not a photograph of a real place or event, and it is not a prediction.

Interstellar Travel

Card, speculative illustration. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. It depicts an imagined scene. It is not a photograph of a real place or event, and it is not a prediction.

Radical Life Extension

Card, speculative illustration. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. It depicts an imagined scene. It is not a photograph of a real place or event, and it is not a prediction.

Space Colonization

Card, speculative illustration. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. It depicts an imagined scene. It is not a photograph of a real place or event, and it is not a prediction.

First Contact

Card, speculative illustration. An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. It depicts an imagined scene. It is not a photograph of a real place or event, and it is not a prediction.