I wouldn't know by hard what has happend in 1776, and having 2 starts of war in the top10 (1939 and 1914) was unexpected for me. It is telling that people think such a dates are important.

2001 gets there due to the movie? A space Odyssee?

i think 2001 gets there due to twin towers. The most thrilling answer for me is “0”… as there were no “year 0”, nothing important could have happened!!

1776 was - i think - the birth of the US. 0 i had 1865 (1 point) as well - wasn't that the end of the US civil war?

Greg, nice thinking about '0'. Got me a lot of points. Wasn't Jesus born in 3 BC?

Yes, 1776 is when the Declaration of Independence was written, signed and published. Until 1783, when the Americans won the ensuing revolutionary war, it could have become a mere footnote of treason against king George II.

Last I heard, the speculation was that Jesus was born in 6 BC, but I see now that Wikipedia says 5 BC.

I posted 33 (AD) as the date of Jesus's death and resurrection. 1 point…

1492 was 21 points, 476 just 3. I didn't insert 1492 because I run out of space. I really didn't expect such a difference between the start and end of middle ages.

I also got 1 point for 1991, the year when USSR ended.

I can't believe I didn't play 1939. And I didn't even think of 1969, which I presume was a popular choice because of Apollo 11.

1492 is the end of the middle ages?

It's Colombus' discovery of America…

Colombus? Wasn't he discovering murders?

1492 was the year 7000 in Slavonic countries, which supposedly was the end of the world!

And Christopher Columbus (actually Christoffa Corombo) found the Carribean (the 'West-Indian Isles', as he thought he was in India) and Cuba, Dom Rep and Haiti (which are not really America) In 1498 he set first foot on the South American continent. He never saw anything of North America… so why is there a Columbus day in North America?

If I had played, I would surely include 1969. Quite disapointing that Einstein's magical year (1905) was only worth two points.

Only 3 for 1215 ???

What happened in 1215?

Magna Carta

magna carta! Of corse! How has he been, lately?

(Well, that calls for a wiki!)

1776 was the only one I did any research for, where research means saying “Anna - when was the US declaration of independence?”

I was hoping 0 would pull in a few points, and glad I wasn't wrong. To those who say there was no year 0, there was no year 1 either, or 2, or 3, etc, either.

There was no year 0, 1, 2, or 3.

There still is no year 0, but there is a 1, 2, and 3.

Complete bollocks

I agree that there was no year 0

I agree that there was NO year 1, 2, 3 etc. When the world adopted the system of numeration, it had passed more than ten centuries

More like 3 centuries, though the details were refined later.

And 13 more centuries later scientists decided that a numbering scheme for years that corresponded to normal integers made a lot more sense, and so year 0 was introduced. Modern scientists saw that that made sense and formalised it as an internationally agreed upon standard usage.

…and if a culture 1000 years from now introduces a new counting concept, and today becomes part of year '12345', was there a year 12345? Even though we don't know it is while it lasts?

Obviously, it depends on your definition of 'was' (I'm aware of the danger of sounding like a former US president in a tight spot).

From our point of view (in our counting system), there was such a year. From the point of view of the people that lived in that time, there wasn't one, as they didn't call it that.

IMO, the most relevant scientists, if you can call them that, are historians. If and when they accept the standard Phil is talking about, it would make sense to consider that the consensual reality. Until events that took place more than 2010 years ago, say like the assassination of Julius Caesar being dated at 43 BC (or BCE) rather than the customary 44 BC, this is nothing more than a representative of some niche academic community adopting a new piece of jargon and insisting that everyone else must adhere to their jargony usage.

Actually, I guess that would be 42 BC, since I suppose the rationalizers must want to add both a 0 AD and a 0 BC.

1969 Was woodstock, and Eddy Merckx -the greatest cyclist ever- winning his first tour (on July 21st)

0 was logical choice for although I know it never existed.

I still think that it is strange to see 1776 so much

Historians are irrelevant, as they're only interested things that have happened in a millionth of the time in a nonillionth of the possible locations for things to occur. Astronomers are almost immeasurably more relevant. And 'BC' etc. are just as jargony, they just happen to be more popular currently.

And no, I'd not call historians scientists. They don't make testable hypotheses.

And can you please cite a spokesman for those who do use astronomical time insisting that everyone else uses astronomical time, or alternatively retract that claim.

You were doing so yourself.

FatPhil, are you saying the using meters (or yards, which are still used by some primitive tribes) within a building or for instance within sports is stupid because there is a stellar way to measure it? If you are serious about this I think you are totally wrong and being unscientific. Knowing you however I am very certain you are just kidding.

By the way history is science. I try to make my students (16 y) to grasp at least that all material we present them in high school is also part of scientific research, while we only present them results (in my case mainly 19th century and earlier, I am giving maths)