1868day.year
Time zone: New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally.
In 1868, New Zealand became the first country to adopt a nationwide standard time.
This innovation synchronized clocks across the islands and set a global precedent.
Prior to 1868, each New Zealand town kept its own local solar time.
On November 2nd, the New Zealand Government Gazette defined a uniform legal time based on 172°30′ east of Greenwich.
Known as 'New Zealand Mean Time,' it aligned clocks colony-wide.
The change streamlined schedules for railways, telegraphs, and maritime navigation.
New Zealand thus became the first nation with a legal standard time.
Its success inspired other countries to adopt similar time zones.
Standardized time revolutionized commerce, communication, and daily life worldwide.
1868
Time zone
standard time
1947day.year
In California, designer Howard Hughes performs the maiden (and only) flight of the Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the "Spruce Goose"), the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever built until Scaled Composites rolled out their Stratolaunch in May 2017.
On November 2, 1947, Howard Hughes piloted the Hughes H-4 Hercules—nicknamed the "Spruce Goose"—on its only flight, boasting the largest wingspan ever built.
Conceived during World War II to transport troops and materials across the Atlantic, the H-4 Hercules was constructed almost entirely of wood due to wartime metal shortages. Funded by U.S. government contracts and Hughes’s own fortune, its wingspan of nearly 100 meters remained unmatched for decades. The aircraft lifted off briefly over Long Beach Harbor under Hughes’s control, proving its design but never entering production. Technical challenges, cost overruns, and shifting postwar priorities grounded the plane permanently. Today, the Spruce Goose stands as a testament to ambitious engineering and one of aviation’s greatest curiosities at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.
1947
Howard Hughes
Hughes H-4 Hercules
Stratolaunch
1988day.year
The Morris worm, the first Internet-distributed computer worm to gain significant mainstream media attention, is launched from MIT.
The Morris worm, one of the first Internet-distributed computer worms, is released from MIT.
On November 2, 1988, the Morris worm was launched, infecting thousands of computers on the fledgling Internet.
Created by graduate student Robert Tappan Morris, it was intended as a security experiment but spread uncontrollably.
The worm exploited vulnerabilities in Unix systems, causing major slowdowns and crashes.
Its outbreak prompted the first major response by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT).
The incident led to the enactment of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and reshaped cybersecurity practices.
1988
Morris worm
computer worm
MIT
2000day.year
Expedition 1 arrived at the International Space Station for the first long-duration stay onboard. From this day to present, a continuous human presence in space on the station remains uninterrupted.
Expedition 1 arrives at the International Space Station, beginning continuous human occupancy in space.
On November 2, 2000, Commander William Shepherd and Flight Engineers Sergey Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko docked with the ISS.
This marked the start of the first long-duration human mission to the orbiting station.
Since their arrival, the ISS has maintained an unbroken human presence in space for over two decades.
The crew conducted scientific experiments, station assembly, and maintenance tasks.
Their mission laid the foundation for international cooperation in space exploration.
2000
Expedition 1
International Space Station