Human history is full of events that shaped how we live today.
Brief moments in time have the potential to radically shift how we view the world or ourselves.
This seems to be happening at an alarming rate at the moment, from the lingering effects of the 2020 global pandemic to increasingly divisive politics; the fact that our world seems so connected through technology and social media means we are – perhaps – more susceptible to experiencing world-shaking events than ever before.
To put our current worries into context, keep watching as we count down seven unforgettable events that shook the world.
7.
The Chernobyl Disaster In April 1986, a routine safety test of a Soviet nuclear power plant went horribly awry, causing 190 tons of radioactive uranium to explode into the Earth's atmosphere.
At first, the Soviets tried to keep the scale of the disaster under wraps and downplayed it to the people of the nearby town of Pripyat, even during their evacuation.
As the cloud spread across Ukraine, the Soviets continued to suppress news of the disaster until Swedish scientists detected a massive radioactive fallout.
They tracked the nuclear dust cloud to its source near Kyiv and pressed the Soviet government for an explanation.
Under international pressure, the Soviets were forced to admit there had been an accident at Chernobyl, and newspapers across the world began printing reports and tracking the airborne radioactive materials.
