First Powered Flight at Kitty Hawk
Date: December 17th, 1903
Place: Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
Photographer: John T. Daniels

The Shooting of a Loyalist Militiaman
Spanish civil war: Federico Borrell García, was shot to death the instant this photograph was taken.

Date: September 5, 1936
Place: Cordoba Front, Spain
Photographer: Robert Capa

Hindenburg Disaster
Date: May 6, 1937
Place: Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey
Photographer: Sam Shere

Mounting the Soviet Flag over the Reichstag
Date: May 2, 1945
Place: Berlin, Germany
Photographer: Yevgeny Khaldei

Celebrating the end of WWII: Kiss at Time Square
After you’ve had a big fight, you make up with a kiss.

Date: August 14, 1945
Place: Manhattan, New York City
Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt

Hiroshima Aftermath
Date: September 7, 1945
Place: Hiroshima, Japan
Photographer: Stanley Troutman

The Most Beautiful Suicide
Evelyn McHale threw herself from the observation deck of the Empire State Building and died immediately upon landing on a car down below. Before she jumped, she left behind a note: ‘He is much better off without me … I wouldn’t make a good wife for anybody,’

Date: May 1, 1947
Place: Manhattan, New York City
Photographer: Robert Wiles

Segregated Water Fountains
Date: 1950
Place: North Carolina
Photographer: Elliott Erwitt

Atomic Explosion Split Nanoseconds after Detonation
Nuclear test site: Because the explosions happened so fast, special ‘rapatronic’ cameras were built to capture the blast immediately after detonation. The last image is from a video to measure the damage done by a blast in an urban setting.

Date: Spring, 1956
Place: Nevada
Photographer: Harold Edgerton

Hans Conrad Shuman Leaping to the West
Date: August 15, 1961
Place: Berlin, Germany
Photographer: Peter Leibing

Monk Sets Himself on Fire
A Buddhist monk protesting the poor reforms of the South Vietnam government of the time, poured gazoline over his body and then set himself on fire.

Date: June 10, 1963
Place: Saigon, South Vietnam
Photographer: Malcolm Browne

Police Chief Executes a Viet Cong Captain
During the Tet Offensive, Viet Cong captain Nguyễn Văn Lém was captured after targeting the families of South Vietnam’s police officers. South Vietnam’s national police chief  Nguyen Ngoc Loan was caught on film the moment he executed Lém personally.

Date: February 1, 1968
Place: Saigon, South Vietnam
Photographer: Eddie Adams

‘Too Hot! Too Hot!’
The words Phan Thị Kim Phúc screamed as she fled a village that had just been destroyed by a napalm bomb.

Date: June 8, 1972
Place: Trang Bang, South Vietnam
Photographer: Nick Út

Fall of Saigon
Americans and Vietnam citizens who had been loyal to the US were airlifted out of Saigon as the Viet Cong approached the city. This was taken at the US embassy as people scrambled to the roof in the hopes of catching a helicopter out.

Date: April 29, 1975
Place: Saigon, South Vietnam
Photographer: Hubert van Es

Challenger Disaster
This would be the first mission a teacher would go up into space and as such got a lot of attention at school before the Challenger was launched. It was a shock when we say it go up in flames.

Date: January 28, 1986
Place: Cape Canaveral, Florida
Photographer: Unknown

Man Holds off Tanks
This is probably one of the most powerful images of a single man trying to make a difference.

Date: June 5, 1989
Place: Near Tiananmen Square in Bejing, China
Photographer: Jeff Widener

United Colors of Benetton
This photo is the odd one out, it being an advertisement for Benetton, but it defied all rules at the time by carrying a political message instead of just selling clothes. This was one of the first ones in a series of advertisements that tried to break taboos.

Date: 1989
Place: Italy
Photographer: Oliviero Toscani

Highway of Death
Iraqi soldier scorched to death when an escaping convoy was obliviated by attacking US planes. Until then, the first Gulf War had been portrayed as an almost clinical operation with precision bombings and surgical strikes. It was only in the aftermath of the war that another image started to appear.

Date: March, 1991
Place: Kuwait
Photographer: Kenneth Jarecke.

Falling Man
During the 9/11 attacks, many of those on the top floors of the twin towers were trapped. Trying to escape from the heat, many of them had no choice but to jump.

Date: September 11, 2001
Place: Manhattan, New York City
Photographer: Richard Drew

Mourning a relative after the Tsunami
Date: December 28, 2004
Place: Cuddalore, India
Photographer: Arko Datta

After the Bombs have Fallen
One of the strangest pictures here depicting that our times have changed. We’re using to seeing the after math of war as one of suffering and pain. Not of young hipsters driving around driving around tricked out cars and taking pictures of the damage with their mobiles.

Date: August 15, 2006
Place: South Beirut, Lebanon
Photographer: Spencer Platt

Rebel Leader Laurent Nkunda
Date: 2007
Place: Kichanga, Democratic Republic of Congo
Photographer: Cédric Gerbehaye