Most Remarkable Famous Photos

Below are some of the most noteworthy, famous, remarkable, artistic, provocative, and best photos ever taken. Because the importance of each is subjective they are organized by year taken. Each photo can be clicked to see it at the highest possible resolution.

Oldest known surviving heliograph (Nicéphore Niépce, 1825)

Oldest Known Surviving photograph (Nicéphore Niépce, 1826)

General Robert E. Lee after the confederate surrendering (unknown, 1826)

Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony (unknown, c. 1891)

First x-ray (Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen, 1901)

The Wright Brothers' first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight (John T. Daniels, 1903)

Young Spinner in the Whitnel Cotton Mill (Lewis Hine, 1908)

Power house mechanic working on steam pump (Lewis Hine, 1920)

Le Violon d'Ingres (Man Ray, 1924)

Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith (Lawrence Beitler, 1930)

Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper (Charles C. Ebbets, 1932)

Behind the Saint-Lazare (Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1932)

The "Surgeon's Photograph" of a Loch Ness Monster Hoax (supposedly Robert Kenneth Wilson, 1934)

Nuremberg Rally (Leni Riefenstahl, 1934)

The Falling Soldier, Federico Borrell García. (Robert Capa, 1936)

Jesse Owens (Leni Riefenstahl, 1936)

Florence Owens Thompson "Migrant Mother" (Dorothea Lange, 1936)

Nude (Edward Weston, 1936)

Hindenburg Disaster (Murray Becker, 1937)

Sunday on the Banks of the River Marne (Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1938)

Lina Medina (Edmundo Escomel, 1939)

The Last Jew of Vinnitsa, Ukraine (an unknown Einsatzgruppen D solider, 1941)

Portrait of Winston Churchill (unknown, 1941)

Anne Frank (unknown, 1942)

Tetons and Snake River (Ansel Adams, 1942)

Betty Grable (Frank Powolny, 1943)

D-Day (Robert Capa, 1944)

Bergen-Belsen (George Rodger, 1945)

Nagasaki Mushroom Cloud (unknown mission crew member, 1945)

Raising The Flag Over Iwo Jima (Staff Sergeant Louis R. Lowery, 1945)

Reichstag Flag (Yevgeny Khaldei, 1945)

VJ Day in Times Square (Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1945)

Glen Beck and Betty Snyder programming ENIAC 1 (unknown US Army photographer, 1946)

Gandhi at his Spinning Wheel (Margate Bourke-White, 1946)

The Walk to Paradise Garden (W. Eugene Smith, 1946)

The first Transistor (unknown, 1947)

Mao Zedong (毛澤東) proclaiming the creation of The People's Republic of China (中華人民共和國) (unknown, 1949)

Dali Atomicus (Philippe Halsman and Salvador Dali, 1948)

Segregated Water Fountains (Elliott Erwitt, 1950)

Albert Einstein showing his tongue (Arthur Sasse, 1951)

Watson and Crick (unknown, 1953)

4 Minute Mile (Charlie Warner, 1954)

James Dean, Times Square (Dennis Stock, 1955)

Marilyn Monroe (unknown, 1955)

Couple kissing viewed in side mirror of car at beach sunset (Elliott Erwitt, 1955)

Parade (Robert Frank, 1955)

Elizabeth Eckford (Will Counts, 1957)

Che Guevara (Alberto Korda, 1960)

Inejiro Asanuma (浅沼稲次郎) (Yasushi Nagao (長尾 靖), 1960)

Moon and Half Dome (Ansel Adams, 1960)

Berlin Soldier Jump (unknown, 1961)

Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park (Diane Arbus, 1962)

The Generals of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Richard Avedon, 1963)

Birmingham (Charles Moore, 1963)

Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream speech (unknown, 1963)

Hòa thượng Thích Quảng Đức (Malcolm Browne, 1963)

JFK Assassination, Frame 313 (Abraham Zapruder, 1963)

JFK Jr. salute (Stanley Stearns (claimed by Joe O'Donnell), 1963)

Jack Ruby kills Lee Harvey Oswald (Robert H. Jackson, 1963)

Stroboscopy (Harold Edgerton, 1964)

Muhammad Ali vs Sonny Liston (Neil Leifer, 1964)

A Child Is born (Lennart Nilsson, 1965)

Jan Rose Kasmir (Marc Riboud, 1967)

Bigfoot (Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, 1967)

Black Power Olympic Salute (unknown AP photographer, 1968)

Earthrise (William Anders, 1968)

Lorraine Motel (unknown, 1968)

Nguyễn Văn Lém (Edward T. Adams, 1968)

Abbey Road (Iain Macmillan, 1969)

Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 (Neil Armstrong, 1969)

John Lennon & Yoko Ono bed-in (unknown, 1969)

Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over Jeffrey Miller, Kent State Shootings (John Paul Filo, 1970)

Earth from Apollo 17 (Ron Evans, 1972)

Lenna Sjööblom (unknown Playboy photographer, 1972)

Phan Thị Kim Phúc (Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, 1972)

Richard Milhous Nixon departure after his resignation (unknown, 1974)

Fire on Marlborough Street, Boston (Stanley J. Forman, 1975)

Black Bear Road (unknown, 1975)

Farrah Fawcett swimsuit poster (Bruce McBroom, 1976)

Hector Pieterson in Soweto (Sam Nzima, 1976)

Fiona Butler, Tennis Girl (Martin Elliott, 1976)

Boyd Fortin, Sweetwater, Texas Rattlesnake Roundup (Richard Avedon, 1979)

John Lennon & Yoko Ono (Annie Leibovitz, 1980)

Miracle on Ice (Heinz Kluetmeier, 1980)

Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent (Richard Avedon, 1981)

John Hinckley, Jr. & Ronald Reagan assassination attempt (unknown, 1981)

Burial of an unknown child, Bhopal, India (Raghu Rai, 1984)

Doland Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein (unknown, 1984)

Afghan Girl (Steve McCurry, 1984)

Sharbat Gula rediscovered (Steve McCurry, 1984 & 2002)

Omayra Sánchez (Frank Fournier, 1985)

Hand of God Goal (unknown, 1986)

Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion (unknown, 1986)

Brain on Drugs (unknown, 1987)

Man with umbrella jumping over puddle in front of the Eiffel tower (Elliott Erwitt, 1989)

Tank Man (Jeff Widener, 1989)

Sentry Pte. Patrick Cloutier and Warrior Brad Larocque at Oka, Quebec (Shaney Komulainen, 1990)

Rodney Glen King beaten by Los Angeles police (Ted Soqui, 1991)

Les Horribles Cernettes (unknown, 1992)

Stricken Child Crawling Towards UN Food Camp in Sudan (Kevin Carter, 1994)

Ear Mouse (unknown, 1995)

Johnny Cochran (Vince Bucci, 1995)

Chris Fields carries Baylee Almon, Oklahoma City (Charles H. Porter, 1995)

Pillars of Creation (The Hubble Space Telescope, 1995)

Bliss (Charles O’Rear, 1996)

Spina Bifida operation (Michael Clancy, 1999)

Gweneth Paltrow and Blythe Danner (Annie Leibovitz, 1999)

Elián González (Alan Diaz, 2000)

The Falling Man (Richard Drew, 2001)

Dan McWilliams, George Johnson, and Billy Eisengrein raising the US flag on the collapsed World Trade Center (Thomas E. Franklin, 2001)

Dolly the sheep (unknown, 2003)

Bullet Casings In Monrovia, Liberia (Carolyn Cole, 2003)

George W. Bush, mission accomplished (unknown, 2003)

Abu Ghraib Prisoner (unknown, 2004)

Miley Cyrus (Annie Leibovitz, 2008)