1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: The Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi, I'm Eves and Welcome to This Day 3 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:10,959 Speaker 1: in History Class, a show that uncovers a little bit 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: more about history every day. Today is June. The day 5 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: was June night, around seven fourteen in the morning in 6 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:37,160 Speaker 1: the atmosphere above Siberia's Potka Manya Tunguska River, and explosion occurred. 7 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:43,480 Speaker 1: The ground shook, millions of trees were flattened, reindeer were killed, 8 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: windows shattered. Villagers in the area said they saw smoke 9 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: and flashes of light. There are no pictures of the explosion, 10 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: which came to be known as the Tunguska Event, but 11 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: scientists have theorized about what caused the black The Tunguska 12 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: region is a remote area of the Russian Tiger, so 13 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: there were no official reports of people dying from the explosion, 14 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: though one hunter reportedly died after he was flung against 15 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: a tree. The explosion happened at an altitude of about 16 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: three to six miles or five to ten kilometers. It's 17 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: estimated to have exploded with hundreds of times the force 18 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,680 Speaker 1: of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, though 19 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: some estimates are way higher, and some are lower. Such 20 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: estimates are hard to get right since there was no 21 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: actual impact crater. The blast killed hundreds of reindeer, knocked 22 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: down about eighty million trees over about eight hundred square miles, 23 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: and affected towns more than thirty five miles from the 24 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: event site. It was visible from hundreds of miles away, 25 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: and places in Siberia and Europe had bright nighttime skies 26 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: for a while after the explosion. Meteorological stations in Europe 27 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: even record its seismic and atmospheric waves, but authorities did 28 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: not immediately go to the site of the event to 29 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: figure out what happened. The newspapers reported a potential impact 30 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: or explosion. Tunguska was not easily accessible and the political 31 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:21,360 Speaker 1: climate of Russia was unstable. Russian mineralogist Leonid Kulik interviewed 32 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: local eyewitnesses in nineteen one. People who witnessed the event 33 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: said they saw a fireball that caused the ground to tremble, 34 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: hot winds to blow people over, and loud noises that 35 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: sound like guns firing. It wasn't until nineteen when a 36 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: team led by Leonid Kulik traveled to the site to 37 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 1: investigate they found a large area of flattened trees, with 38 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: some bar charred trees still standing at the epicenter of 39 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: the explosion. They did not find a large crater or 40 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: remnants of a meteor, but they suggested that a meteor 41 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,239 Speaker 1: had exploded in the atmosphere anyway. They explained the lack 42 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: of a crater by saying that the ground was too 43 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: soft and swampy to preserve an impact crater, and that 44 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: any debris was buried. In nineteen thirty four, Soviet scientists 45 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: proposed that the extraterrestrial body that blew up in the 46 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: atmosphere was instead a comment. Since comments are made up 47 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: of ice rather than rock, it would have vaporized when 48 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: it hit the Earth. Later, more theories cropped up. An 49 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: engineer and writer said it could have been the result 50 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: of an extraterrestrial nuclear explosion. In nineteen seventy three, physicists 51 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: suggested that a black hole had collided with Earth. Others 52 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:43,200 Speaker 1: suggested nearby Lake checa formed after the impact, though this 53 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: idea was mostly rejected and yes some have proposed that 54 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: aliens caused the explosion when a spaceship exploded in the 55 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: air while heading to lake by call for its fresh water. 56 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: But in a team of Ukrainian, German, and American science 57 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: is analyzed rocks collected from the site earlier and found 58 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: that they were of meteoric origin, but that still was 59 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: not a definitive answer to the mystery because meteor showers 60 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: are not uncommon. Though debate over the cause of the 61 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: explosion continues, the consensus is that a meteor or comment 62 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:24,919 Speaker 1: collided with substances and Earth's atmosphere and exploded. It's thought 63 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: that the cosmic body was broken into smaller pieces as 64 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: it approached the Earth's surface, and any remnants that entered 65 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:35,919 Speaker 1: Earth's atmosphere may have been turned into dust. The explosion 66 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:38,479 Speaker 1: is considered the largest impact of it to happen over 67 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: land in the recorded history of Earth, even though there 68 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:46,280 Speaker 1: was no actual impact. I'm each Jeffcote and hopefully you 69 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 70 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: You can learn more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, 71 00:04:55,279 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 1: and Instagram. At T D I h C. Podcas asked 72 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: if you haven't yet listened to a new show that 73 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: I host called it, I'm popular. You can get it 74 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,479 Speaker 1: anywhere you get this day in history class, thank you 75 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: again for listening, and we will see you tomorrow. For 76 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 77 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.