Mark Zuckerberg launches "Thefacebook" from his Harvard dormitory, a campus social network that would grow into the world's largest social media platform.

The British Beagle 2 lander, which vanished after reaching Mars on Christmas Day 2003, was officially declared lost by the European Space Agency.

Armed robbers stormed Oslo's Munch Museum in broad daylight and stole Edvard Munch's iconic painting 'The Scream' along with 'Madonna' at gunpoint.

Marking a symbolic reckoning, African leaders and diaspora representatives gathered to formally acknowledge African complicity in the transatlantic slave trade during ceremonies tied to emancipation commemorations.

SpaceShipOne, piloted by Mike Melvill, became the first privately funded crewed spacecraft to reach space, soaring past the 100-kilometer boundary.

Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the DNA double helix structure, died in San Diego at 88, having spent his final years unraveling the mysteries of consciousness.

Construction officially begins in Dubai on what will become the Burj Khalifa, the tallest man-made structure ever built.

A three-day hostage crisis at a North Ossetian school ended in chaos and gunfire, leaving over 330 people dead, including 186 children.

A magnitude 9.1 undersea earthquake off Sumatra triggered tsunamis that killed roughly 230,000 people across 14 countries.