100 Photos that Changed the World

Roberto Mottadelli directs the Iceigeo editorial lab in Milan and is a lecturer at the Department of Cultural and Environmental Heritage at the University of Milan, where he contributes to courses on visual culture. Gianni Morelli is a geographer by training and a novelist by passion. Over the years, he has travelled extensively, worked with renowned research institutes, and gained significant experience in publishing. Margherita Giacosa is an art historian with a passion for graphic design and illustration. She has long been involved in the publishing world, working as an author and editor for various publishing houses, with a keen interest in contemporary culture and history.

• 1869 The Transcontinental Railroad1889 The Eiffel Tower and the Expo1895 The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station1901 Wireless Telegraph Across the Atlantic1903 The First Flight1908 The Struggle for Female Suffrage1909 The First Flight Over the Channel1909 Robert Peary at the North Pole1911 Conquest of the South Pole1912 Great Loss of Life1913 The First Moving Assembly Line1915 Gas Attacks in the First World War1917 Assault on the Winter Palace1920 Lenin’s Speech to the Red Army1922 Opening of Tutankhamun’s Tomb1927 The First Solo Transatlantic Flight1929 The Great Depression1930 Gandhi and the Salt March1936 Migrant Mother1936 Falling Soldier1936 Nazi Party Rally1937 The Explosion of the Airship Hindenburg1941 Churchill Among the Ruins of Parliament1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor1943 Destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto1944 Allied Troops Land on Omaha Beach1945 The Yalta Conference1945 The Battle of Iwo Jima1945 Jewish Survivors in Buchenwald1945 The Nagasaki Atomic Explosion1945 V–J Day in Times Square1945 Mother and Child in Hiroshima1947 From Colonialism to Independence for India1948 The SS United Nations Lands in Palestine1948 The Berlin Air Bridge1949 Mao Zedong Declares the Foundation of the PRC1953 The Double Helix Model of DNA1953 Hillary and Tenzing on the Summit of Everest1953 The Coronation of Elizabeth II1956 Rosa Parks and Civil Disobedience1959 Fidel Castro Entering Havana1959 Tibetan Rebels Surrender to Chinese Troops1961 The First Man in Space1961 The Berlin Wall1963 The Sacrifice of Thich Quang Duc1963 I Have a Dream1963 John F. Kennedy’s Funeral1965 The Beatles at Buckingham Palace1966 Reaching Out1967 Six Day War1967 Girl Holding a Flower1968 The Execution of a Vietcong1968 The Funeral of Martin Luther King1968 French May1968 The Invasion of Prague1968 Olympics Black Power Salute1969 Man on the Moon1969 The Woodstock Festival1972 Bloody Sunday1972 The Terror of War1979 Khomeini Returns to Iran1979 The Killing Fields in Cambodia1980 John Lennon’s Murder1981 The Space Shuttle Columbia Launch1981 The Assassination Attempt on Pope John Paul II1984 Steve Jobs and the Macintosh 128k1985 Reagan and Gorbachev at the Geneva Summit1986 The Explosion of the Chernobyl Reactor1986 Veiled Women Practicing Shooting1989 The Exxon Valdez Environmental Disaster1989 Tank Man1989 The Fall of the Berlin Wall1990 The Liberation of Nelson Mandela1991 The First Intifada1991 Burning Oil Wells1991 Tim Berners-Lee and the Invention of the Web1991 Landing of Albanian Refugees in Bari1993 Vulture Stalking a Child1993 Signing of the Oslo Peace Accords1996 The AIDS Memorial Quilt1999 The Plight of Kosovo Refugees2001 Afghan Refugee Camp in Pakistan2001 Ground Zero2003 An Iraqi Prisoner with His Son2003 The Destruction of the Statue of Saddam Hussein2008 The Wall Street Crash2009 Barack Obama2011 The Arab Spring in Cairo2012 The Anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre2014 Malala Yousafzai Receives the Nobel Peace Prize2015 The March After the Charlie Hebdo Attack2015 Selfie by Curiosity on Mars2015 Refugees Landing on Lesbos2019 Notre-Dame Burns2020 Pope Francis’ Covid Prayers2021 Escape from Kabul2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine2023 New York City Engulfed in Flames2023 Pietà, Gaza2024 Assassination Attempt on Trump