Saturday, December 24, 2011

First radio broadcast

Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden transmitted the first radio broadcast on December 24, 1906 from Brant Rock, Massachusetts. After six years of refining his radio transmission idea and overcoming many hurdles, Fessenden produced a short broadcast program that included his playing the song "O Holy Night" on the violin and reading a passage from the Bible.
More Famous Firsts

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Diet book

Englishman William Banting's 1862 book "Letter on Corpulence Addressed to the Public” is considered to be the world's first book on the subject of dieting. After many weight-loss attempts, Banting shed 45 pounds with advice from Dr. William Harvey that suggested a diet void of bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer and potatoes. Banting's diet book sold 63,000 copies worldwide.
More Famous Firsts

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

First basketball game

The first basketball game was played at a YMCA training school in Springfield, Massachusetts on December 21, 1891. James Naismith, a physical education teacher at the school, invented the game for his students by hanging peach baskets at opposite ends of the gymnasium, providing a soccer ball, and a few simple rules. His students immediately took to the game.
More Famous Firsts

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Frst NFL playoff game

The first NFL playoff game was played in Chicago on December 18, 1932. Due to extremely cold weather, the game was played on a modified 80-yard field indoors at Chicago Stadium. Besides being the first playoff game, it was also the first NFL game to be played indoors. The Chicago Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0.

More Famous Firsts

Monday, December 19, 2011

Freedom Tower

The first steel columns for the Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan were installed on December 19, 2006, more than five years after the 911 events. Several 25-ton steel beams were erected with fanfare at Ground Zero marking the first vertical construction of the planned 1,776 foot tower at the former site of the World Trade Center Twin Towers.
More Famous Firsts

Saturday, December 17, 2011

First in flight

Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first sustained air craft flight on the windy beaches of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. By day's end, the brothers made several flights in their gas-powered, six-hundred pound craft. The final flight of the day carried Wilbur 852 feet in 59 seconds. Orville and Wilbur Wright were awarded a patent for their "aeroplane" on May 22, 1906.
More Famous Firsts

Friday, December 16, 2011

Mario Lemieux

In December 1988, hockey superstar Mario Lemieux became the first and only player in National Hockey League history to score one each of the five types of goals in a single game: an even-strength goal, a power-play goal, a short-handed goal, a penalty shot, and an empty-net goal.
More Famous Firsts