Did the 21st Century Really Begin in 1998?

Two students, one garage, a rocket from Kazakhstan and eleven currencies locked together: was 1998 the real start of our century? In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin turned a Stanford research project into Google. Eleven European currencies had their exchange rates fixed for good, the day before the euro was born. A Russian rocket and an American shuttle carried the first two modules of the International Space Station into orbit. And in Belfast, the Good Friday Agreement ended most of the violence of the Troubles. But 1998 also brought India's and Pakistan's nuclear tests, the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, Russia's currency crash and a new war in Kosovo. This film follows four clues, and where each of them stands today, to answer one question about one year. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:20 The question 0:42 1 The Search Engine 2:12 2 The Currency 3:08 3 The Station 4:08 4 The Peace 5:28 5 The Shadows 6:21 6 Still Running 7:25 The answer The Long Answer: one question, eight minutes, the whole story. History, science, technology and strange events, explained clearly for curious people. Got a question you want answered? Leave it in the comments. Related on the channel: our films on the World Wide Web and on Linux. *Sources:* Narration based on the English Wikipedia articles "1998", "History of Google", "Google", "Euro", "International Space Station", "Zarya (ISS module)", "Unity (ISS module)", "Good Friday Agreement", "Omagh bombing", "Pokhran-II", "Chagai-I", "1998 United States embassy bombings" and "1998 Russian financial crisis" (CC BY-SA 4.0). *Photo credits* (Wikimedia Commons): *Public domain:* LarsSemDaanThomasLucas – Euro sign tile, Plein 1992, Maastricht; AlMare – One Deutsche Mark coin; NASA – Zarya under construction, Zarya and Unity seen from Endeavour, 1998, STS-88 crew at a hatch in Zarya, STS-88 launch, 4 December 1998, Unity and Zarya joined, December 1998, The International Space Station, 2011, Crew Dragon approaching the ISS, ISS crew on board, Earth at night from the ISS, Earth's horizon from the ISS, Aurora seen from the ISS, Atlantis docked to Mir, 1995, US and Russian crews on Mir, 1995, Pakistan seen from the ISS, Pakistan's deserts from the ISS; NASA/Tracy Caldwell Dyson – ISS Cupola; NASA/Tom Buzbee – Space Station Freedom concept art; Arlington National Cemetery – Memorial to the 1998 embassy bombings, 25th anniversary memorial ceremony; US Senate – George J. Mitchell; White House Photograph Office – Clinton and Blair at the Omagh bomb site; Central Bank of Russia – 1,000-ruble banknote (1997); US National Imagery and Mapping Agency – US planning map of Kosovo, 1998. Archan dave (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Pokhran Fort, Rajasthan Ardfern (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Omagh bomb memorial; Omagh bomb memorial inscription Asoundd (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Googleplex, Mountain View Austin McKinley (CC BY 3.0) – Googleplex from the air Berthold Werner (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Vrijthof square, Maastricht Bryn Holmes (CC BY-SA 2.0) – The International Wall, Belfast Carlo Nardone (CC BY-SA 2.0) – Google's first production server, detail Chad Davis (CC BY 2.0) – Google data center, Council Bluffs Christian Wolf (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Frankfurt skyline Daniel VILLAFRUELA. (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Cenotaphs near Pokhran David Hillas (CC BY-SA 2.0) – Stormont estate Dietmar Rabich (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Google bicycles, Mountain View DiscoA340 (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Minting hall, Monnaie de Paris; Coins at the Monnaie de Paris DXR (CC BY-SA 4.0) – European Central Bank, Frankfurt Edho Pratama (CC0) – Google search on a phone Ehud Kenan (CC BY 2.0) – Larry Page and Sergey Brin Eric Jones (CC BY-SA 2.0) – Irish border at Killeen; Irish border crossing Facquis (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Italian lira coin Frank Schulenburg (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Gates Computer Science Building, Stanford Gareth James (CC BY-SA 2.0) – Peace wall, Belfast; Stormont Gerald England (CC BY-SA 2.0) – Parliament Buildings, Stormont Jawed (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Stanford Main Quad arcades Jimmy Harris (CC BY 2.0) – The Bogside, Derry Jirifry (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Euro coins on a map of Europe Johndmcdonald (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Parliament Buildings, Stormont Jolle (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Spanish peseta coins Jordiipa (CC BY-SA 3.0) – The Menlo Park house where Google was founded Jorge Láscar (CC BY 2.0) – Hellenic Parliament, Athens Joseph Mischyshyn (CC BY-SA 2.0) – Peace wall, Belfast; Bogside mural, Derry Katlinegrey (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Proton rocket rollout, Baikonur King of Hearts (CC BY-SA 3.0) – Stanford University, Main Quad; Stanford University and Hoover Tower; Stanford campus from above Lambtron (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Google data center entrance LiveJu99 (CC BY-SA 4.0) – Google search page Lukasz Kobus - European Commission (CC BY 4.0) – Euro coins Marcin Wichary (CC BY 2.0) – Google 'corkboard' server, Computer History Museum Mark Renders / European Communities (CC BY 4.0) – Bertie Ahern, 1997