An epoch which lasted from about 34 million years ago until about 23 million years ago.
Oligocene
Fact of the Day
In 1956 John Wayne starred as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror. It was filmed in Utah, downwind of the US government's nuclear tests in Nevada, and about half the cast and crew developed cancer as a result.
Quote of the Day
"If a book is worth reading, it is worth buying.
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~ John Ruskin
On This Day
1846 Scottish surgeon Robert Liston was the first European to use anaesthesia during an amputation. He could amputate a leg in two and a half minutes.
1898 Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.
1937 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', the world's first full-length animated film, premiered in the USA
1946 A tsunami caused by an undersea earthquake killed at least 1,362 and left thousands homeless in Japan.
1967 Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, died in Cape Town, South Africa, 18 days after his operation.
1988 Pan Am Flight 103 exploded as it was flying over Lockerbie, Scotland. All 243 passengers and 16 crew, and 11 residents of Lockerbie were killed