| Origins

Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Programme read the news that smallpox had been globally eradicated, 1980.

The WHO and the Eradication of Smallpox

Image of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft taken on July 13, 2015.

Discovering Pluto

Albert Hofmann holding model of LSD, background is bright color collage

Albert Hofmann and the Discovery of LSD

In November 1938, Albert Hofmann November 1938, first created a derivative of ergot that would later be dubbed lysergic acid diethalyamide: LSD.

Zimbabwe Flag against a blue sky

Colonial Land Injustices in Post-Independence Zimbabwe

DC Police Car in the snow

A Long View of Policing in America

rows of skulls on a shelf

Origins on Video

Justice for the Rwandan Genocide

A group of boys at Chirec International School in India playing Cricket, 2015.

Features

Cricket without Boundaries: The Story of a Global Game

buildings in ancient Rome on fire

Origins on Video

The Great Fire of Rome

Ludwig van Beethoven in front of sheet music from his first symphony.

Beethoven’s First Symphony

view of the site of the explosion in Tunguska

Origins on Video

The Tunguska Mystery Explosion

penguin standing on sand at a beach with a plant and ocean behind it

Early Encounters with Penguins

More from Origins

A Well-Informed People

A Well-Informed People

AWIP is your one-stop shop for the historical context needed to be an informed voter. Check out our site for the history of today's important issues!

Mothers and Children marching for the right to an education

Picturing Black History

Picturing Black History, a collaboration with Getty Images, uncovers untold stories and rarely seen images of the Black experience.

From our Instagram

Three white men standing around a table atop of which a black woman kneels

Poster advertising a fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman

Picture of a man on a billboard

Image of a pod of Sperm Whales