21 Iconic Pics That Helped Change The World

1.

The Burning Monk, Malcolm Browne, 1963. The self-immolation of Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk Thích Quang Duc in Saigon spurred, and continues to spur, waves of emotion in people from all over the world. It was coordinated in response to the Diem regime's discriminatory Buddhist laws, including the banning of the Buddhist flag.

2.

The Terror of War, Nick Ut, 1972. Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo shows a heartbreaking scene of children fleeing a Napalm bombing in Trang Bang as a result of the Vietnam War. Phan Thị Kim Phúc, the 9-year-old girl pictured fully nude, was later known as the "Napalm girl." Despite being severely burned on her back, she survived the attack and has since undergone several surgical procedures.

3.

Starving Child and Vulture, Kevin Carter, 1993. Also called "Struggling Girl" and "The Vulture and the Little Girl," this photo is one of the most controversial photos ever taken. While the little girl was on her way to a United Nations feeding center in Sudan, the vulture eyed her for its next meal. When readers saw the photo in the New York Times, they wrote in asking about the girl's fate. They criticized the photographer, Kevin Carter, for exploiting her for the photo instead of helping her. It was later revealed that he waited about 20 minutes to get the perfect shot before finally chasing the bird away. Carter took his own life at the age of 33. The photo went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.

4.

Lunch Atop a Skyscraper, 1932. This iconic 20th-century photograph of 11 ironworkers enjoying lunch on a steel beam some 850 feet in the air is one of the biggest mysteries. No one has confirmed the photographer, and only a few of the men have been identified. We do know, however, that the photo was taken at the RCA building, or modern-day GE building, in Manhattan's Rockefeller Center.

5.

Tank Man, Jeff Widener, 1989. The unidentified man in the photo is known only as "tank man." He was in the middle of shopping—take a look at the bags in his hands—but decided to try and stop these tanks from moving forward in Tiananmen Square. The drivers tried to make their way around him but he continued to block them. No fires were made, and the man was eventually removed from the scene. The incident followed a crackdown which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of protestors. Photographer Jeff Widener notes that this photo shows that "[Tank man has] just had enough" ... "his statement is more important than his own life.

6.

Falling Man, Richard Drew, 2001. "The Falling Man" was taken at 9:41:15 a.m. shortly after the September 11 attacks. The photo is "one man’s distinct escape from the collapsing buildings, a symbol of individuality against the backdrop of faceless skyscrapers," says TIME.

7.

Aylan Kurdi, Nilüfer Demir, 2015. Aylan Kurdi was a 2-year-old Kurd from Syria, and he was on his way to Greece, reports CTV. He was on a small boat with about a dozen other refugees from the Middle East when it capsized. His father, Abdullah Kurdi, is the lone survivor. The photographer, 29-year-old Nilüfer Demir, wanted the world to hear their silent screams.

8.

Earthrise, William Anders, NASA, 1968. Astronauts abroad Apollo 8 conducted a live broadcast from lunar orbit, and the photos they shared were remarkable; viewers could see the Earth and moon in one shot. Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell spoke of "the vast loneliness" he felt out there. "It makes you realize just what you have back on Earth," he said.

9.

Mushroom Cloud Over Nagasaki, Lieutenant Charles Levy, 1945. The U.S. bombed Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and three days later, it bombed Nagasaki. The latter is pictured here. You're looking at a 45,000-foot cloud of radioactive particles. "It was purple, red, white, all colors—something like boiling coffee. It looked alive, " Lieutenant Charles Levy, bombardier, described the scene. The death toll was estimated at 80,000.

10.

V-J Day in Times Square, Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1945. This photo of a sailor kissing a nurse shows the lively and spontaneous joy that so many Americans were feeling the moment they learned that World War II was finally over. Critics say that this photo shouldn't be celebrated as the two were strangers and it is unclear whether or not the woman consented to such a kiss.

11.

Fire Escape Collapse, Stanley Forman, 1975. Nineteen-year-old Diana Bryant falls from a burning apartment in Boston, and her 2-year-old goddaughter Tiare Jones follows shortly after. The two went from panic to hope as a turntable ladder emerged. Unfortunately, the fifth-floor fire escape collapsed, causing the young woman to fall to her death. Jones landed on her body and survived.

12.

A Man on the Moon, Neil Armstrong, NASA, 1969. Neil Armstrong may have been the first man on the moon but he wasn't alone—Buzz Aldrin, pictured here, was also there. If you look closely, you can catch a glimpse of Armstrong in his visor.

13.

Pillars of Creation, NASA, 1995. The space shuttle Atlantis housed the Hubble Space Telescope, an instrument that "almost didn't make it." A repair mission brought Hubble to work some three years later, and the result was magnificent. Here is the Eagle Nebula in the constellation Serpens Cauda, 6,500 light-years from Earth.

14.

Guerillero Heroico, Alberto Korda, 1960. Che Guevara, or El Che, was a communist leader and guerrilla leader in South America. After the Bolivian army executed him in 1967, the Cuban regime and leftists around the world viewed him as a martyr and symbol of radicalism and anti-imperialism. This iconic photograph was taken by Alberto Korda 7 years earlier after a ship exploded in Havana Harbor.

15.

Migrant Mother, Dorothea Lange, 1936. Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" shows a woman, Frances Owens Thompson, in the middle of the Great Depression. Lange initially drove past Nipomo, where this photo was taken but decided to turn around. Thompson, 32, was one of many in the Pea-Pickers Camp there. She had sold her tires to buy food for her children, who also killed birds for meals. Lange informed the authorities of their dire situation and food was sent to the camp.

16.

Bloody Saturday, H.S. Wong, 1937. A baby cries out in the middle of a ruined Shanghai South Railway Station. The damage was caused by a Japanese air attack on civilians as part of the Battle of Shanghai. The photo, which sparked western anger of Japanese wartime atrocities, was dubbed "one of the most successful propaganda pieces of all time” by journalist Harold Isaacs.

17.

Albino Boy, Biafra, Don McCullin, 1969. The Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state in Nigeria, existed for a short period between 1967 to 1970. Researchers estimate that millions of people lost their lives due to starvation and disease during this time. Photographer Don McCullin describes this as one of the most obscene photos he's ever taken. A young albino boy is ostracized by his peers, on top of suffering from hunger. Other starving children were dropping dead at the scene, McCullin told TIME.

18.

Oscars Selfie, Bradley Cooper, 2014. You'd never guess that Liza Minelli was actually trying to get in the frame as well. Ellen DeGeneres wanted to take a photo that would break the record for the most retweets to match Meryl Streep's record-breaking number of Oscar nominations. Bradley Cooper was able to capture this shot, thanks to his long arms.

19.

The Hindenburg Disaster, Sam Shere, 1937. Photographer Sam Shere was waiting for the LZ 129 Hindenburg, a German passenger airship, to come through New Jersey. Crowds stood in shock as the ship caught fire. Electrostatic discharge had sparked leaking hydrogen, killing 36 people (35 on board and 1 on the ground).

20.

Jewish Boy Surrenders in Warsaw, 1943. A 7-year-old boy raises his hands while standing alongside other Warsaw ghetto Jews as a German troop looks on. The scene captures the horror of the Holocaust. He says that his family was moved to a camp in western Germany. They moved to Israel at the end of the war but later migrated to the U.S.

21.

Dalí Atomicus, Philippe Halsman, 1948. Philippe Halsman and Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí got their perfect shot after 28 tries. Included in the photo is Dalí's Leda Atomica. The theme is that of suspension, as shown by not only the painting but the cats, chair, easel, and water as well.