Sun, Glorious Sun........

2004-1500 1500-AD-4.5 billion BC

1990s

A clear link emerges between sunshine and skin cancer.

1980s

Concern over skin cancer grows, as does popularity of sunbeds. People of all ages begin to take seriously the need for hats, sun hats, and sun protection clothing for the greatest care of their health and their continued enjoyment of the outdoors.

1979

An American government report concludes that sunscreens help prevent skin cancer

1960s and 1970s

Cheap package holidays introduce sunburn to a mass audience

1950s

The first self-tanning product comes onto the market

1940s

Swimwear, once designed to cover skin, now exposed it

1920s

Suntans are popularised by Coco Channel and Josephine Baker

1880

The first photocells are invented - converting sunlight directly into electrical energy

1849

The French physicist, Armand Fizeau, establishes the speed of light at approximately 186,300 miles (300,000km) per second

1801

The German physicist, Johann Wilhelm Ritter, discovers light contains ultraviolet radiation

1800

Astronomer William Herschel discovers infrared radiation

1666

Sir Isaac Newton performs his famous prism experiment. He concludes that sunlight is white light that contains all the colours of the spectrum

1629-1695

Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch scientist, develops a theory that light consists of waves, not particles

1512

Nicolaus Copernicus correctly places the Sun at the centre of the Solar System

1300s

Anasazi natives in North America live in south-facing cliff dwellings that capture the winter sun

500 BC

Pythagoras, Greek philosopher and mathematician, puts forward the 'particle' theory of light - every visible object emits a stream of particles, that bombard the eye

1500 BC

The sundial is thought to have been invented

2000-1500 BC

Stonehenge is built. The stones are thought to track the Sun - possibly showing the solstices, seasons or eclipses

2300 BC

Egyptians worship the Sun god, Ra, as the highest of the gods

2 Billion BC

As primitive organisms develop, one manages to convert the energy of sunlight into food. This method, later used by all plants, is called 'photosynthesis'

3 Billion BC

With the aid of sunlight, early life forms on Earth

4.5 Billion BC

The Sun is born. Scientists calculate that it will burn for another 10-30 billion years