Auld Lang Syne

Canadian bandleader Guy Lombardo performed the classic New Year's Eve song "Auld Lang Syne" at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City for the first time on December 31, 1929. Auld Lang Syne is an old Scottish song first written in the 1700s. The phrase Auld Lang Syne translates into the English phrase "times gone by."
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New Year's Ball drop

The first New Year's Ball drop occurred in Times Square in 1908. Looking to add some dash to its New Year's celebration, the New York Times adapted the maritime port and shipping time-ball concept to its building on its square. A gigantic time-ball at the top of the New York Times Building at One Times Square dropped as 1907 became 1908.
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Politics

"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." -- Ronald Reagan.
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First public film screening

Auguste and Louis Lumiere held the world's first public film screening on December 28, 1895. Their showing of short films in the basement lounge of the Grand Cafe in Paris lasted twenty minutes. The Lumiere Brothers believed their invention was without a future as they thought that people would be bored by images that they could just as easily see by walking out into the street.
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Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is celebrated from December 26 to January 1. The pan-African holiday was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga to reaffirm the communitarian vision and values of African culture and to contribute to its restoration among African people. The word "Kwanzaa" means "first-fruits." Dr. Maulana Karenga celebrated the first Kwanzaa in 1966.
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The chicken or the egg?

What came first, the chicken or the egg? Most experts agree that the egg came first. Evolutionary theorists state that the egg or DNA always comes first. Those espousing creationism believe that the chicken came from an earlier "created" species, and thus would have been hatched from an egg.
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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.
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Sneakers

The origin of the modern athletic shoe dates back to the late 19th century when people wore rubber soled shoes called pimsolls. In 1915, the Converse company made the first athletic shoes for tennis. Two years later they designed the first basketball shoe. The U.S. Rubber company began selling "sneakers" in 1917, a name coined from the quiet walk of the shoe.
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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.
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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.
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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.

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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.
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The Nutcracker

Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky premiered the music for The Nutcracker Ballet Suite on December 18, 1892. The eight-part concert was held at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. This first performance was so successful, at least six times during the performance the audience demanded immediate encores of specific music selections.
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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.
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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.
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Crossword puzzles

The first crossword puzzle appeared in the New York World newspaper in December 1913. Editor Arthur Wynne developed a game for the paper that was inspired by a boyhood game called Magic Squares. Wynne called his new game "word cross." Crossword puzzles became a popular regular weekly feature in the New York World paper.
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St. Augustine, Florida

Founded in 1565, St. Augustine, Florida is the first known settlement of European origin in the United States. Forty-two years before the English colonized Jamestown, and fifty-five years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, the Spanish established St. Augustine as North America's first enduring settlement.
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The first Olympic games

The first Olympic games were held in Olympia, Greece in 776 BC. The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. The Games of the First Olympiad were staged with fourteen nations and about 240 all male athletes. There were forty-three events in nine sports included aquatics, athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling.
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First modern sky scraper

The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, Illinois is considered to be the world's first modern sky scraper. The structure earned this distinction due to its steel frame construction versus stone material. Rising ten stories to a height of 138 feet, the building was the world's tallest from 1885 to 1905. Two additional floors were added to the building in 1890.
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Email spam

The first federal law regulating email spam was passed in the U.S. in December 2003. The passage of the law capped a process that stretched more than six years and was marked by more than a dozen competing bills, all of which took different approaches to the ever-growing problem of unsolicited commercial e-mail.
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Nobel Prizes

The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. Alfred Nobel established in his will that interest income from his fortune was to be allotted each year in five equal parts as prizes to those who had most helped humanity. The first Nobel Prize winners were: Wilhelm C. Roentgen, physics; Jacobus H. van't Hoff, chemistry; Emil A. von Behring, medicine; Rene F. A. Sully-Prudhomme, literature; and Jean H. Dunant, peace.
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First property tax

The Massachusetts Bay Colony levied the first property tax in colonial America in 1634. Local administrators arbitrarily assessed colony property owners in order to raise revenue for local governments. The colony imposed a tax directly on estate property including buildings, livestock and other enumerated personal property items.
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Rocket 88

The song "Rocket 88" recorded in 1951 by Ike Turner and his band the Kings of Rhythm at Sam Phillips' recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee is considered to be the first rock-n-roll song. The song featured the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 automobile as a metaphor for romantic prowess. The song introduced rock-n-roll style and lyrical theme and inspired a new generation of music.
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The First State

Delaware was the first of the thirteen original states to ratify the Constitution of the United States. This unanimous ratification took place in a convention at Dover on December 7, 1787, whereby Delaware became "The First State" of the new Federal Union. Delaware's name was derived from colonial Virginia's Governor Lord De La Warr.
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Beer

The first evidence of beer is believed to be a 6,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people drinking a brewed beverage. The Sumerians lived between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It is believed they discovered the fermentation process by chance. A description of making a drink that made people feel "exhilarated, wonderful and blissful" was found on an ancient Sumerian engraving.
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The first guns

The Chinese developed the first guns with a metal barrel, gunpowder, and a flying projectile during the late thirteenth century. Most believe that gunpowder was invented as early as the tenth century and was developed independently in different regions of the world during various times. Guns began proliferating during the 16th century when English army switched from archer bows to guns.
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Air conditioners

Willis Carrier installed the first air conditioner to combat humidity inside a Brooklyn, New York printing company in 1902. Carrier was one-year out of college making $10 per week as a salaried employee at the Buffalo Forge Company when he developed his "apparatus for treating air." His invention was granted a patent in 1906, the first of several patents awarded to Willis Carrier.
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Heart transplant

South African surgeon Christiaan Barnard conducted the first human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital, Capetown, South Africa on December 3, 1967. Fifty-three year-old Lewis Washkansky's heart was surgically replaced during the successful 9-hour operation. Sadly, Mr. Washkansky lived for only 18 after the operation succumbing to double pneumonia.
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America's first fire insurance company

Celebrated American statesman Benjamin Franklin led the effort to create America's first fire insurance company. His group established "The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire" in 1752 with a board of directors and seventy shareholders. The first insured property to burn was repaired for 154 pounds, nearly a third of the Society's assets.
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Shopping mall

Shopping center architect Victor Gruen designed the first indoor shopping mall just outside Minneapolis in 1954. Southdale had seventy-two stores and two anchor department stores. Unlike other suburban shopping centers at the time, Southdale was a fully enclosed, multi-tiered shopping complex with a garden court under skylights.
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The first stock exchange

The first stock exchange in the United States was established in the city of Philadelphia in 1790. The exchange provided brokerage and equity trading for government and semi-government bonds, public works projects, and fledgling banks. The stock exchange resided in The City Tavern, also known as the Merchants Coffee House, until 1834.
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PONG

The PONG video arcade game was released by Atari on November 29, 1972. PONG is a video adaptation of tennis where players volley a graphical ball by controlling simple up and down movement of a racquet. PONG was the first video game experience for the masses and was a huge commercial success through the 1970s.
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Instant camera

Polaroid Corporation founder Edwin H. Land demonstrated the first "instant" camera at a meeting of the Optical Society of America in 1947. The Land camera let users snap a picture, turn a knob, and sixty-seconds later, produce a finished photograph print. The first Polaroid instant camera was sold to the public in November 1948, ushering in a new era of photography for the masses.
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The first World Cup

The first World Cup tournament was hosted by Uruguay in 1930. Thirteen nations participated, seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America. Argentina and Uruguay played the first World Cup final. Victoriano Santos Iriarte scored the game winning goal for Uruguay in the 68th minute of the second half. Uruguay won the match 4-2.
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The NHL

The National Hockey League was founded on November 26, 1917. The teams that played the NHL's first season included: the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas. The Montreal Wanderers defeated the Toronto Arenas 10-9 in the NHL's first regulation game.
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First motor car race

The Chicago Times-Herald newspaper announced the first motor car race in the United States in June 1895. On November 28, 1895, a field of six vehicles --four gas-powered and two electric-- left Chicago for a 54 mile race to Evanston, Illinois and back. Frank Duryea won the race in just over ten hours at an average speed of about 7.3 miles per hour. Duryea earned $2,000 for the victory.
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The first pizza

The first pizza was first created by chef Raffeale Esposito in Naples, Italy in the late 1880s. Flat breads called "pizzas" were popular in Italy through the 1800s but were not topped with anything. Esposito formalized the pizza by making a pizza topped with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil for Italian Queen Margherita in 1889, which became one of the queen's favorite dishes.
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The first traffic lights

The first traffic lights appeared before the advent of the automobile. The first traffic light was a revolving gas lantern with red and green lights installed in a London intersection in 1868. Garrett Augustus Morgan invented the modern day traffic light and received a patent on November 23, 1923. His t-shaped traffic signal was used throughout North America.
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Thanksgiving

The Pilgrim's feast celebrating their first harvest in their new land in 1621 is often referred to as the first Thanksgiving. The three day feast brought together natives and pilgrims who ate plentiful amounts of venison, turkey, duck, and geese. President Lincoln made Thanksgivings a national holiday in 1863. Congress officially designated Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday of November In 1941.
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Keith Ellison

Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old lawyer, became the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress in November 2007. The democrat won a Minnesota seat in the House of Representatives by promoting national issues such as health insurance and energy. Mr. Ellison had served in the Minnesota House of Representatives and also the Minneapolis City Council.
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The Boston Police

The Boston Police Department became first paid, professional public safety department in the United States in 1838. The police force consisted of 260 officers and a chief, and was structured and modeled after the London Police force. A typical Boston police officer on duty carried a six-foot pole, painted blue and white to protect himself, and a "police rattle" to call for assistance.
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Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse first appeared in a film named "Steamboat Willie" on November 19, 1928, at the Colony Theatre in New York. This film also featured the first appearance of Minnie Mouse. Walt Disney created Mickey during a train ride from New York to Los Angeles. Walt's wife Lilly suggested the name "Mickey Mouse".
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Women voting

New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote. With the signing of the Electoral Bill by Governor Lord Glasgow, New Zealand gave national voting rights to its women citizens. New Zealand women first went to the polls in the national elections of November 1893. The U.S. granted women the right to vote in 1920. Great Britain guaranteed full voting rights for women in 1928.
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Income tax

The first income tax in the United States was enacted in 1862. Congress passed the income tax law in order to raise revenue to pay for the Civil War effort. A typical worker during this time paid about three percent of their income in taxes. In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system.
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The Lisa

In 1983, Apple Computer announced the Lisa, the first commercial computer with a graphical user interface and mouse, designed for the mass market. The Lisa was named after Steve Jobs' daughter, however Lisa officially stood for "Logical Integrated Software Architecture." Although critically acclaimed, the Lisa generated relatively low sales numbers due to its $10,000 price tag.
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Cable television

John Walson established the first Community Antenna Television (CATV), now called cable television, in the hills of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania in June 1948. Walson connected a large antennae receiving Philadelphia television at his appliance store with several nearby homes via a physical wire, enabling clear TV reception. John Walson is credited as the founder of the cable television industry.
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Email

Ray Tomlinson sent the first email messages in late 1971. While working on the TENEX timesharing system, Tomlinson modified the existing SNDMG mail utility and CYPTNET protocol to allow mail transmission from one ARPANET host to another. Tomlinson also devised the ubiquitous @ between the user's name and the host name.
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Electric guitars

The first electric guitar was developed by Adolph Rickenbacker and George Beauchamp in the early 1930s. Production of an aluminum cast, six-string electric guitar nicknamed the "Frying Pan" began in Rickenbacker's Los Angeles tool and die plant in 1931. Use of electric guitars was initially slow due to the Great Depression and musicians' skepticism.
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Zoos

The world's first zoological garden was established in Vienna, Austria in 1752. Emperor Franz I commissioned the design of a menagerie in the park of Schönbrunn, which consisted of twelve equally sized animal houses along with an administrative building. In summer 1752, after a one-year construction period, the animals were brought to the zoo and presented to the public.
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Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was the first woman to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. On November 11, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson awarded Dr. Mary Edwards Walker the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously to recognize her contributions during the Civil War. Dr. Edwards served as a volunteer surgeon in the Army and was also taken prisoner by the Confederate army for four months.
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Street lights

The UK city of Godalming installed the world's first electric street lights in 1881. The electric current for the lights was produced by two water wheels in the nearby River Wey as well as an additional steam engine. Siemens A.C. alternators and dynamos transferred the electric power from the generators to the city's electric arc street lamps.
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Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone magazine was founded by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The first issue of Rolling Stone Magazine was sold from the publication's San Francisco office on November 9, 1967. The bi-weekly magazine's first edition cover resembled a newspaper, and featured a photograph of Beatle John Lennon from his film "How I Won the War."
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Ice Hockey

Ice Hockey originated around 1800 at King's College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The students adapted the field game of Hurley to the ice and originated a new winter game called Ice Hurley. Over the ensuing decades, Ice Hurley gradually developed into Ice Hockey, first by the soldiers at Fort Edward, in Windsor, who brought the game with them to Halifax, Kingston, and Montreal.

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The first First Lady

Hillary Rodham Clinton is the first First Lady to be elected to a public office in the United States. On November 7, 2000, the former First Lady of the United States and the State of Arkansas defeated Republican Rick Lazio by a resounding 55% to 43% to become the first female U.S. Senator to represent New York state.
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Meet the Press

NBC TV's "Meet the Press" is the longest-running network television program. The political interview panel show premiered on NBC on November 6, 1947. James A. Farley, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Franklin Roosevelt’s postmaster general was the show's first guest. The show's most frequent guest through the years has been Senator Bob Dole.
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Coffee

The coffee plant was first discovered in the Ethiopian region of Kaffa and its use spread to other parts of Africa and the Middle East. Coffee as a beverage was first served up by Arabians and Turks in 800 B.C. Around this time, stories tell about a mysterious black and bitter beverage with powers of stimulation.
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The election of 1848

The election of 1848 was the first U.S. presidential election held in every state and on the same day. Zachary Taylor was elected the 12th President of the United States on November 7, 1848. Whig Party candidate won over Democrat party candidate Lewis Cass, capturing 163 of the 290 electoral votes.
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Movie rating system

On the heels of social change, court challenges, and ever-racier Hollywood films, the Motion Picture Association of America announced the first movie rating system on November 1, 1968. Movies would be rated according to one of four categories: G, M, R, and X. The M rating was subsequently replaced with PG and PG13, and the X with NC-17.
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KDKA in Pittsburgh

KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is credited with being the first commercial radio station in the United States. KDKA started broadcasting on November 2, 1920 under the call letters 8XK with a 75 watt signal. The first entertainment programming heard by 8XK listeners was produced by holding a microphone next to a phonograph. KDKA AM radio continues to operates in Pittsburgh.
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NBA

Toronto, Canada was the site of the first official NBA game. The New York Knicks defeated the Toronto Huskies 68-66 before a crowd of 7,090 fans at Maple Leaf Gardens on November 1, 1946. The eleven team league played 60 games during the first season. The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Chicago Stags 4-1 in the first best-of-seven NBA title series.
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Ice cream cones

The first ice cream cone was introduced at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. Ernest Hamwi, a waffle vendor at the Fair, began filling his waffles with a nearby ice cream vendor's ice cream. The ice cream cone was born. Hamwi later founded the Missouri Cone Company which grew to be one of the largest ice cream cone makers in the United States.
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Web pages

Tim Berners-Lee began work on a hypertext browser and editor in October 1990. One month later, he produced the first world wide web server and web page. The first web server was named nxoc01.cern.ch. The first web page was theproject.html. Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the World Wide Web.
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Thomas Edison

On October 28, 1868, Thomas Edison applied for his first patent for the Electrical Vote Recorder. Thomas Alva Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,097 U.S. patents in his name. Edison's famous inventions include the phonograph, the light bulb, and the motion picture camera. He also improved the typewriter and the telegraph.
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Muhammad Ali

Olympic gold medal boxer Cassius Clay won his first professional boxing match on October 28, 1960 in Louisville, Kentucky. Cassius Clay would later take the name Muhammad Ali and reign as "The Greatest of All Time." Through two-decades the controversial boxing icon brought boxing to new heights in claiming, and reclaiming, the heavyweight title in several classic boxing matches.
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Marijuana

The first known use of Marijuana goes back further than 7,000 B.C. Over the centuries, the hemp plant was used for food and for weaving cloth and making rope. America's first marijuana law was enacted at Jamestown Colony, Virginia in 1619. The law ordered all farmers to grow Indian hempseed to alleviate a shortage of the essential raw material used for making rope.
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Poker

The first modern game of Poker was most likely played on Mississippi riverboats during the mid 1830s. The "Cheating Game," played with five cards, was adapted from the three-card bluffing game "poque," introduced to America by the French in the 18th century. Author Jonathan H. Green coined the name Poker in his book about gambling written in the late 1830s.
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The "Anita"

The "Anita" was developed in 1961 by Sumlock Computer LTD of London as the first electronic calculator. Anita stood for "A New Inspiration To Arithmetic." The 33 pound calculator functioned with various electronic components including vacuum tubes. The new electronic calculator era would help transcend the world from mechanical adding machines and slide rules to solid state, electronic devices.
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Niagara Falls in a barrel

Annie Taylor holds the distinction of being the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. On October 24, 1901, the 63-year old school teacher was strapped into a wooden barrel and dropped into the Niagara River. Taylor emerged from her barrel 17 minutes after the plunge over the Falls, dazed but triumphant.
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The first lawn mowers

Edwin Beard Budding invented the first grass cutting lawn mower in Great Britain in 1830. Budding developed his idea for the mower after seeing a machine in a local cloth mill with a cutting cylinder mounted on a bench to trim cloth. Budding's lawn mower design required two people: one person to push and one to pull.
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The Lambeau Leap

Green bay Packers safety LeRoy Butler was the first to do the "Lambeau Leap". After taking a lateral from Reggie White and running 25 yards into the end zone, Butler made a spontaneous leap into the arms of fans in the bleachers of Lambeau. Wide receiver Robert Brooks popularized the celebratory move through the rest of the season.
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Cosmo

Cosmopolitan Magazine was founded in 1886 Editor Paul Schlicht told his readers in the first edition that his intention was to produce a "first-class family magazine." The magazine featured a department devoted exclusively to the interests of women, with articles on fashions, on household decoration, on cooking, and the care and management of children.
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Boston Red Sox

On October 20, 2004, the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees 10-3 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium. In doing so, they became the first team in Major League baseball post season history to win a seven-game series after losing the first three games. The Red Sox went on to claim their first World Series title since 1917.
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The first capital of the United States

New York City was the first capital of the United States. George Washington took the oath of office in New York City to become the first President of the United States. President Washington and the Congress decided that the capital would move to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1791 for ten years and then to a suitable permanent location on the Potomac River.
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Peanuts

The Peanuts comic strip, featuring Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, and Snoopy, first debuted in October 1950. The Sunday comic strip was written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. It was published every Sunday until Schultz died in February 2000. The popular comic strip peaked at 355 million readers in 75 countries.
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The first iPod

The first iPod was released by Apple in October 2001. Starting in early 2001, Apple Computer developed the business idea to take an MP3 player, build a music sale service to complement it, and build a company around it. Apple CEO Steve Jobs was highly involved with the project since its inception and molded the device's shape, feel and design.
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First day on a new job

Tips for your first day on a new job: dress conservatively; lower the attitude; smile; try to remember names; arrive early; introduce yourself; show team spirit; ask questions; leave late.
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Anesthesia

On October 16, 1846, Boston dentist William T.G. Morton made the first demonstrated use of Anesthesia. Using a glass inhaler containing an ether-soaked sponge, Morton administered the anesthetic to a patient undergoing surgery to remove a vascular tumor on his jaw. Upon waking up after the successful removal of the tumor, the patient informed attending physicians and medical students that he had experienced no pain.
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The microwave oven

Raytheon scientist Dr. Percy Spencer invented the concept of cooking food with microwave energy during radar experiments in 1946. In 1947, the first commercial microwave oven -- standing 5 1/2 feet tall, weighing over 750 pounds, and costing $5000 -- was installed in a Boston restaurant. By 1975, sales of microwave ovens exceeded that of gas ranges.
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The first banner ad

The first banner ad appeared on a world wide web page in October 1994. HotWired, an early and prolific website content creator, is credited with inventing the banner ad motif. The first banner ad was a 320 by 40 pixel graphic stating "Have you ever clicked your mouse here?" The clickable ad was linked to the AT&T website.
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Oktoberfest

The first Oktoberfest was held on October 12, 1810 in Bavaria. Crown prince Ludwig of Bavaria married princess Therese of Saxon-Hildburghausen. The wedding festivities lasted five days and included parades of riflemen, music, eating and drinking. The festivities ended with a horse race held on a green. Over the next several years the festivities were repeated and Oktoberfest was born.
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Saturday Night Live

Live from New York, it's Saturday Night! The late-night comedy sketch television program "Saturday Night Live" made its NBC debut on October 11, 1975. George Carlin was the guest host. Billy Preston and Janis Ian were the music guests. Regular cast members included Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, and Garrett Morris.
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The First Amendment

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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Famous Firsts

"First secure an independent income, then practice virtue." -- Greek Proverb.
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World Series perfect game

New York Yankee pitcher Don Larsen pitched the first and only perfect game in a World Series on October 8, 1956. Surprised to be the starting pitcher in game 5 of the World Series, Larson needed just 97 pitches to complete a no-hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Dodger pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell was caught looking on the final pitch.
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World Series

In 1903, the Boston Americans played the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first official World Series. The American league Americans defeated the National League Pirates 5 games to 3 games in an eight game series. Players from Boston received $1,182.00 each for the series. Players from Pittsburgh lost the series yet received $1,316.25 each.
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Mr. October

Reggie Jackson, known as "Mr. October", hit three consecutive home runs, each on the first pitch, off three different pitchers in game six of the 1977 World Series. Jackson set a World Series record by hitting four home runs on four consecutive swings of the bat. The Yankees defeated the Dodgers 4-2 to capture their first World Series title since 1962.
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Marijuana seller

On October 5, 1937, Samuel Caldwell went into the history trivia books as the first marijuana seller convicted under U.S. federal law. Caldwell was arrested with two marijuana cigarettes. The fifty-eight year old unemployed laborer was sentenced to four years of hard labor in Leavenworth Penitentiary, plus a $1,000 fine.
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The first artificial satellite

The Soviet Union successfully launched the world's first artificial satellite into orbit on October 4, 1957. Sputnik I was roughly the size of a basketball and weighed about 185 pounds. Its first orbit of the Earth took about 98 minutes. This event struck a political nerve in the United States as the Soviets unexpectedly claimed a highly publicized first round victory in the race to space.
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The first U.S. Open

The first U.S. Open Men's Championship was played on October 4, 1895 on a nine-hole golf course at the Newport Golf and Country Club in Rhode Island. Ten professionals and one amateur competed in four rounds of golf. Englishman Horace Rawlins won the first U.S. Open earning the first place $150 prize.
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The new world

Christopher Columbus first set eyes on the western hemisphere in October 1492. In search for a shorter route from Europe to Asia, Columbus and his crew explored what is today the Bahama Islands, Cuba and Haiti before returning to Spain. Columbus is credited with discovering the "new world." Columbus died in 1506, still convinced that he had reached the outposts of Asia.
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Super Highway

The Pennsylvania Turnpike is considered America's first Super Highway. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission was established in 1937 to build the highway from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. The highway was partly developed on an abandoned railroad line built by William H. Vanderbilt, including its nearly completed tunnels. The first paying customers drove the Turnpike on October 1, 1940.
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The first televised football game

The first televised football game was played on September 30, 1939 between Waynesburg College and Fordham University. Five months later, in February, 1940, Fordham University and The University of Pittsburgh played in the first televised basketball game at Madison Square Garden. The estimated number of TV sets in the fifty-mile broadcast radius was about 1,000.
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Famous Firsts

"A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time." -- Alfred E. Wiggam.
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Around-the-world airplane trip

The first around-the-world airplane trip was recorded in September 1924. Three Douglas World Cruiser biplanes made the trip covering 27,553 miles with a total flying time of 371 hours. Eighty-one years later, in March 2005, Steve Fossett became the first person to fly an airplane around the world solo without stops. Fossett's journey covered 25,000 miles in 67 hours.
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The Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance was first published as "The Pledge to the Flag" in September 1892 in a Boston-based youth magazine. It was published for kids to use during planned activities to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. That first Pledge of Allegiance read: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all."
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First televised presidential debate

On September 26, 1960, 70 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard Nixon in the first-ever televised presidential debate. Radio listeners of the debate gave the edge to Vice President Nixon, while TV viewers gave the edge to Senator Kennedy. Kennedy won a very close presidential election in November 1960.
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The First Century

Famous events from the First Century: Roman Emperor Augustus dies in 9 AD; John the Baptist is executed by Herod Antipas in 28 AD; the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in 34 AD; Caligula is assassinated by the Praetorian Guard in 41 AD; Mt. Vesuvius erupts burying the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD.
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McDonalds

Milkshake mixer salesman Ray Kroc opened the first McDonalds franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955. The first day's revenues were $366. The Des Plaines McDonalds site is now a museum containing McDonald's memorabilia and artifacts, including the original milkshake mixer sold by Kroc.
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The Jeep

Built by the American Bantam Car Company, the first Jeep was delivered to Camp Holabird, Maryland on September 23, 1940. The Jeep was the answer to the Army's need for a light reconnaissance vehicle in Europe and the Pacific during World War II. The military vehicle was first designated as a general purpose vehicle (GP), which was translated to the word jeep.
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Famous Firsts

Sandra Day O'Connor served as the first female Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. She replaced the retiring Potter Stewart on the Supreme Court in September 1981 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the Senate 99–0. Justice O'Conner served for over twenty-four years and retired in January 2006.
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Monday Night Football

The first NFL Monday Night Football game took place in Cleveland, Ohio on September 21, 1970. Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and Don Meredith called the game on ABC TV as the Cleveland Browns defeated the New York Jets 31-21 in front of 85,703 fans at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. Monday Night Football was an instant success and became an American television icon.
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Best Picture

The 1927 silent movie "Wings" was the first film to win the Academy Awards Best Picture. It was also the only silent movie to win Best Picture. The film tells the story of two men from the same town who join the air force to fight in World War I. The other nominated movies for Best Picture in 1928 were "The Racket" and "Seventh Heaven."
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Atlantic swim

In 1998, French swimmer Benoit Lecomte became the first man to swim across the Atlantic Ocean. Benoit swam 3,736 nautical miles from Hyannis, Massachusetts to Quiberon, France in 72 days. The 31-year old swimmer spent about eight hours in the water each day while taking rest and eating breaks on a nearby boat.
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First American law school

In 1779, Governor Thomas Jefferson guided the creation of the first law school in the U.S. at William and Mary College. Jefferson felt that legal education would best be accomplished in a university setting where students would study law amid the liberal arts. Students at William and Mary attended lectures twice a week on common law, American constitutional law, and the work of political theorists or classical authors.
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Silicon Valley

Stanford University created the Stanford Industrial Park in Palo Alto, California in 1950. The goal was to create a center of high technology close to the university in order to raise money. The industrial park was the genesis of Silicon Valley, the world famous technology area that radiates outward from Stanford University and lies between the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west and the Coast Range to the southeast.
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Chocolate

After eight years of experimentation, candle maker Daniel Peter and baby food manufacturer Henri Nestlé devised a way of adding milk to chocolate and introduced the world to milk chocolate. Peter converted his candle making manufacturing facility and soon became a successful manufacturer of chocolate. The Peter Chocolate Company’s best seller was the milk chocolate "Gala" bar.
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Clones

In 1952, Robert Briggs and Thomas J. King produced the first successful clone experiment. The two research biologists successfully cloned frogs using a method of cell-nucleus transfer. This remarkable event set off two decades of scientific research in cloning that led to the cloning of sheep, cows, mice and other mammals.
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St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American citizen to be become a canonized saint. Elizabeth Bayley Seton was canonized by Pope Paul VI on September 14, 1975. A converted Roman Catholic, Elizabeth Seton established the Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children, the Daughters of Charity of Saint Joseph, and helped create hospitals, orphanages and parochial schools.
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National mail service

The U.S. Post Office began the first free national mail service in 1902. To deal with the challenging array of homemade and semi-functional mailboxes, the Post Office specified and approved mailboxes bearing the "Approved by the Postmaster General" mark. Patrons were asked to keep their mailboxes "buggy high" and within easy reach of the carriers.
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First policewoman

Alice Stebbins Wells, a graduate theology student and a social worker, joined the Los Angeles Police Department as the nation's first policewoman on September 12, 1910. She was allowed to design her own uniform and was active in promoting the need for policewomen in other forces. As a result of her efforts, seventeen departments in American were employing policewomen by 1916.
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The First Bank

Alexander Hamilton conceived The First Bank of the United States in the late 1780s. This was done to address the government's massive Revolutionary War debt and to create a standard form of currency in all the states. The bank was very controversial in the fledgling constitutional republic. Despite the debate the bank was built in the U.S. capital of Philadelphia.
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ESPN

Entertainment Sports Programming Network (ESPN) went on the air on September 7, 1979. The first show on the 24 hour all sports network was a slow-pitch softball game between the Kentucky Bourbons and the Milwaukee Schlitzes. ESPN was founded by Bill and Scott Rasmussen. The network also received investment money from the Getty Oil Corporation.
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Star Trek

The first episode of Star Trek, titled "The Man Trap," premiered on NBC on September 8, 1966. Star Trek is one of the most popular TV series in the history of television. Ironically, the show was cancelled after only three seasons due to low ratings. Since then, there have been ten Star Trek movies, five major television series, an animated series, and years of syndicated re-runs.
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Oprah

The Oprah Winfrey Show is the longest-running daytime television talk show in the United States. The nationally syndicated show produced by Oprah Winfrey is the highest-rated talk show in American television history. The Chicago-based show's first national broadcast occurred on September 8, 1986.
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Google's first name

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed the search engine they first called "BackRub" in reference to its unique ability to analyze the back links pointing to a given website. The term Google is a play on the word googol, a mathematical term that refers to the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros.
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First American Nobel Peace Prize

President Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He received his award in 1906 for helping mediate an end the Russo-Japanese War. The war ended with a treaty signed by the Russian and Japanese governments on September 5, 1905, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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Monopoly

The real estate board game Monopoly was invented in 1934 by Charles B. Darrow. His first version of the game was rejected by Parker Brothers due to design flaws. After Darrow sold 5,000 handmade sets of the game to a Philadelphia department store, Parker Brothers agreed to sell the game. Since then over 200 million Monopoly games have been sold worldwide.
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Archie

The first Internet search engine was called "Archie." The original name was "archives," but was shortened to Archie. Archie was created in 1990 by McGill University student Alan Emtage to retrieve Internet file names from a database that matched a user query. A web interface to Archie was developed during the 1990s.
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EDUSAT

India launched the world's first dedicated education satellite in September 2004. The EDUSAT satellite was designed to provide a virtual classroom concept to offer education to children in remote villages, quality higher education to rural students, adult literacy programs, and training modules for teachers. India's 2001 census showed that about 35% of the country’s billion-plus population were illiterate.
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First billionaire

Oil Tycoon John D. Rockefeller's net worth topped 1 billion dollars in September 1916 making him the world's first billionaire. Rockefeller began his run in 1862 when he set up a new oil refining company called Standard Oil. By 1890, Rockefeller's company had a virtual lock on the U.S. oil refining market. This monopoly resulted in the breakup of Standard Oil by the Supreme Court in 1911.
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The Holy Koran

The first line of the Holy Koran: "All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds." Opening 1.1.
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Harley-Davidson

The first Harley-Davidson motorcycles were built in Milwaukee in 1903. Working in a small shed with borrowed tools and some metal, Arthur and Walter Davidson along with Bill Harley built the very first Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The bike featured a three horsepower engine and a unique loop frame. Harley-Davidson incorporated in 1907 and began a fantastic run that continues today.
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The X Games

The X Games first debuted in 1995. Athletes competed in twenty seven events in nine sports categories including bungee jumping, eco-challenge, in-line skating, skateboarding, sky surfing, sport climbing, street luge, biking and water sports. The games were held over eight days in Rhode Island and Vermont, with 198,000 spectators on hand for the opening event.
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Major League Baseball's first televised game

Major League Baseball's first televised game occurred at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn on August 26, 1939. The double-header between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds was broadcast to about five hundred homes. Dodgers announcer Red Barber did the play by play. Two cameras were used to view the game, one from behind home plate and the other focused on Barber.
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The first recorded smoking ban

The first recorded smoking ban was issued in 1590 when Pope Urban VII declared a ban on public smoking and tobacco use inside a church. The Nazi party issued the first modern nationwide tobacco ban in 1941. A direct order from Adolph Hitler banned the use of tobacco in every German university, post office, military hospital and Nazi Party office.
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The Louvre

The Louvre was established as an art museum in Paris, France, in 1793, making it the first recognized art gallery in the world. The Louvre was built in the late 12th century as a fortress, then becoming a palace for Louis XIV during the 1700s. The nation's art collection was established there after the French Revolution. The Louvre currently has over 35,000 pieces of art.
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Chocolate bars

In 1847, Joseph Fry discovered a way to mix melted cacao butter with cocoa powder and sugar to create a molded chocolate bar. Adding to this several years later, Milton S. Hershey installed in his factory a chocolate-making machine he saw on display at the 1893 World's Fair and produced the first chocolate bars. Hershey began selling the first mass produced candy bar, the Hershey Bar, in 1900.
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400 richest Americans

Forbes magazine's 2006 list of the 400 richest Americans consisted exclusively of people worth $1 billion or more. This marked the first time since the famous annual list began being published in 1982 that no millionaires appeared on it. As a group, the top 400 wealthiest Americans were worth over $1 trillion.
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Karaoke machines

The first Karaoke machine was developed in 1970 by Japanese singer Daisuke Inoue. To satisfy frequent "sing-along" requests for his songs, Inoue made a tape recorder that played a song for a 100-yen coin. Karaoke is a Japanese phrase, "kara" comes from "karappo" meaning empty and "oke" is the abbreviation of "okesutura," or orchestra.
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Clarence Darrow

"The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children." -- Clarence Darrow.
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The first mass-produced PC

First shipped in 1977, the Apple II computer was the first personal computer to be built in large-scale production. Up until the development of the Apple II, most microcomputers were sold in kits or were hand-built in relatively small quantities. The inexpensive and easy to use Apple II introduced computer users to digital spreadsheets, word processing, and computer graphics.
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The first proms

The first proms were held in the late 1800s at elite colleges of the Northeast. The spring time events were held as a means of instilling social skills and etiquette in students. The dances were strictly chaperoned and were often restricted to only the senior class. The word prom is a shortened form of promenade, meaning a march of the guests at the beginning of a ball or other formal event.
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The Flintstones

The animated cartoon series The Flintstones was the first successful prime time animated series in the U.S, airing on ABC from 1960 to 1966. The show was a takeoff of the 1950s series The Honeymooners, set in the town of Bedrock in the Stone Age era. The success of the Flintstones spawned other network prime time cartoon series such as The Jetsons, Top Cat, and The Alvin Show.
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The first modern mutual fund

The creation of the Massachusetts Investors' Trust in Boston, Massachusetts in 1924 is heralded as the first modern mutual fund. Assets of the fund grew from $50,000 to $392,000 when it went public in 1928. By 1929, there were nearly 750 mutual funds in operation. Today, there are more than 10,000 mutual funds with holdings measured in the trillions of dollars.
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The Beatles

The first performance of The Beatles took place at the Indra Club in Hamburg, Germany on August 18, 1960. The band members included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best and Stuart Stutcliffe. The group earned £10 playing almost five hours of rhythm and blues and rock and roll cover tunes.
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First year of the twentieth century

Events from the first year of the twentieth century: the world celebrates the start of the new century; President McKinley is assassinated in Buffalo, New York; the Cadillac Motor Company is formed in Detroit; the first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm; Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal; oil is discovered in Texas.
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Picador Porky

According to the Internet Movie Database, Mel Blanc is credited with having the most movie actor credits to his name. Known for his cartoon voices of Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, Mel Blanc has performed in over 700 films and over 100 TV movies and video productions. Blanc's first character was a drunken bull in the 1937 Looney Tunes short Picador Porky.
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Dance marathons

Dance marathons were first held in the U.S. during the 1920s as competitive events with paying spectators watching professional and amateur dancers. Marathon events garnered radio and newspaper coverage. By the late 1930s, dance marathons had faded from the cultural landscape, as World War II sent former marathoners and their audiences to work and to war.
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Ancient World Wonders

The list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was first compiled by Greek historians around the 200 BC. The first Ancient Wonder is The Great Pyramid of Giza. Built in what today is greater Ciaro, the Pyramid was the tallest structure on Earth for more than 43 centuries. Each pyramid side is oriented with the compass point north, south, east, and west. The maximum error between side lengths is less than 0.1%.
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Mount Everest

The Seven Natural Wonders of the World is comprised of natural phenomena that were not made or improved upon by humans. The first Natural Wonder of the World is Mount Everest. Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world measuring 29,028 feet or 8,848 meters. It stands in Nepal and borders Tibet. Everest's summit was first reached by a human expedition in 1953.
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The first IBM PC

The first IBM PC was introduced on August 12, 1981. Priced at $1,565, the PC had a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor, a 160-KB floppy disk drive, and an optional color monitor. The development team at IBM developed the IBM PC in twelve months, at that time, faster than any other hardware product in IBM's history.
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Chess

The first game of Chess is believed to have been played around 600 AD in what is now northern India or Afghanistan. By trade and war, the game spread to Persia and Europe. The Europeans modernized the game to represent their social status, thus giving the chess pieces the names we know today. The current rules of Chess have been used for the last 700 years.
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Genesis, 1:1

The first line of the Holy Bible: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis, 1:1
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Wrigley under lights

The first scheduled baseball game played at night under lights at Wrigley field took place on August 8, 1988. Every game at Wrigley had been played during the day since the first baseball game was played there on April 23, 1914. The Chicago Cubs installed lights after 5,687 consecutive day games to meet baseball's prime time interest from fans and television.
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President Richard Nixon

President Richard Nixon was the first U.S. President to resign this office. Faced with what seemed almost certain impeachment, Nixon announced on August 8, 1974, that he would resign the next day. The resignation stemmed from an attempted cover up of a break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee during the 1972 presidential campaign.
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Hustler's Convention

The Last Poets 1973 album "Hustler's Convention" is considered by many to be the first original inspiration of Rap music. A mix of funk, rhythm, DJing, and break-dancing evolved into Rap during the late 1970s, and Hip-Hop in the 1980s. The first Hip-Hop record is considered to be Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" released in 1979.
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The first baseball cards

The first baseball cards were designed as advertising trade cards used like brochures. A company named Peck and Snyder printed baseball cards in the late 1860s and used them as advertisements for their products. Baseball cards were distributed nationwide starting in the mid-1880s. The golden age of baseball cards is considered to be from 1909 to 1915.
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Rhazes

Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi, better known as Rhazes, was a leading figure in the field of medicine during the tenth century. He wrote the first-known description of small pox and was the first to describe and define allergies, particularly hay fever. He was also credited with being the first to use animal gut for sutures and plaster to construct casts.
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Endangered Species

The 1966 Endangered Species Preservation Act was the first U.S. law designed to protect endangered species. The act was inspired by the plight of the Whooping Crane, Grizzly Bear, American Alligator, and many other endangered species. The law created a list of endangered domestic fish and wildlife and allowed the federal government to spend up to $15 million per year to buy habitat for listed species
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Frisbees

The first Frisbee was crafted from plastic by Walter Frederick Morrison and Warren Franscioni in San Luis Obispo, California in 1947. Their plastic disc was called the Flyin' Saucer and later renamed the Pluto Platter. After ten-years of hawking their new toy, a partnership was formed in 1958 with Wham-O, which renamed the Pluto Platter to Frisbee.
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Cable cars

On August 1, 1873, a crowd gathered at the corner of Clay and Kearny Streets in San Francisco at five o'clock in the morning to board the first run of a cable car system developed by Andrew Smith Hallidie. After seeing many horses succumb to the steep slopes of the city, Hallidie devised a mechanism by which cars were drawn by metal cable running in a slot between the rails.
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Peace Corps

The first Peace Corps units were sent abroad in 1961, following the agency's formation by President Kennedy in 1960. The group's purpose is to assist other countries in their development efforts by providing skilled workers in the fields of education, agriculture, health, trade, technology, and community development. Nearly 200,000 people have served in the Corps since its formation.
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Television censorship

The first occurrence of television censorship occurred on NBC in 1944. Controversial singer Eddie Cantor was edited by NBC while he and Nora Martin performed a duet of "We're Having a Baby, My Baby and Me." NBC wanted Cantor to perform another song but Cantor refused. In order to fix the problem engineers cut the sound feed and taped Cantor from the waste up only.
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HBO

Home Box Office first aired in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1972. HBO was established as a pay TV option with a sports focus, and served about 350 paying customers in its first year. The "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975 televised by HBO was a marquee event that established the success of the world-renowned broadcast franchise.
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Pay-per-view television

The first pay-per-view television system was introduced in Chicago in 1950. The Phonevision system allowed a limited number of viewers to watch feature programming and first run movies. Each paying subscriber was equipped with a set top converter and a dedicated telephone line to receive the daily programming. The initial results of the new service were considered disappointing.
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The Red Flag Act

The world's first speed limit law was enacted in England in July 1865. The Red Flag Act introduced a speed limit of two mph in towns and villages and four mph elsewhere. A year later, the first speeding ticket was issued, followed later that year by the first road-related death.
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Motown Records

Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records in the late 1950s. He named his company after "Motown," the sound sensation centered around Detroit area bands, singers and songwriters. The record company would introduce the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye during the 1960s. Its first million-selling song was "Shop Around" recorded by the Miracles in 1961.
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Earthquakes

In early 1783, a series of six earthquakes occurred over a two-month period centered around Calabria, Italy. The disastrous earthquakes caused massive destruction in the region killing an estimated 50,000 people. This earthquake was also historically significant in that the first formal, scientific post-earthquake investigation that included systematic documentation of the landslides was undertaken.
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In vitro

On July 25, 1978, the world's first in vitro baby was born in Manchester, England. In vitro fertilization is a medical procedure that involves retrieving the eggs from the mother and mixing them in a lab with sperm from the father. Louise Brown was delivered as the first "test-tube" baby by caesarean section shortly before midnight, weighing 5lb 12oz.
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The first modern ballet

The first modern ballet was given by Italian dance master Bergonzio di Botta at Tortona, Italy to celebrate the marriage of Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan, to Isabel Aragon in 1489. Each course of the celebratory wedding meal was heralded with a dance called an "entree". The word ballet comes from the Italian word balletti, meaning to dance.
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Midnight Cowboy

The 1969 film "Midnight Cowboy" starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight won three Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The provocative film made history for being the first and only X-rated film to receive the Best Picture Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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TV

The first commercially available television sets went on sale in the United States in 1928. The Daven Corporation of Newark, New Jersey advertised its television kit in the July 1928 issue of "Television" magazine. Daven's Scanning Disk Television kit had a 1.5 inch picture and was priced at $75.
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Robot-related fatality

The first documented case of a robot-related fatality in the U.S. occurred on July 21, 1984. An automotive worker in Michigan was found pinned between an automated die-casting industrial robot and a 4-inch-diameter steel safety pole used to restrict undesired arm movement by the robot. The worker suffered cardiopulmonary arrest after the robot stalled and applied sustained pressure to his chest.
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Tiger Woods

Two-year old Eldrick T. Woods, later knick-named "Tiger" Woods, made his first public television appearance in 1978 on the Mike Douglass variety television show. The pre-school golf phenom was a guest on the show and putted along with Douglass and comedian Bob Hope.
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The first U.S. patent

The first official U.S. patent was awarded to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont in July 1790. The patent was for an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process." Potash was used in soap and fertilizer. Pearlash was used in baking. The process produced carbon dioxide gas in dough, used in the first "quick breads."
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The first potato chips

The first potato chips were served up in the summer of 1853 in Saratoga Springs, New York. The Moon Lake Lodge's chef, George Crum, served up a thin and salty variation of traditional French fries to a finicky customer. The customer was very pleased. In the 1920s, Herman Lay introduced potato chips to the masses.
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First nuclear explosion

The first nuclear explosion in history took place at 5:29 AM on July 16, 1945 at the Alamogordo Test Range on the Jornada del Muerto desert in New Mexico. The test was the culmination of three years' planning and development within the top secret Manhattan Project.
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Apollo 11

The Apollo 11 rocket ship blasted off from the United States on July 16, 1969. Four days later, Neil Armstrong became the first man to step on the Moon. The crew did experiments and planted a U.S. flag on the Moon. On July 24, the Apollo 11 crew came back to Earth safely. This amazing mission capped a 1961 national challenge by President John F. Kennedy to put a man on the Moon.
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Nineteenth Amendment

The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted woman the civil right to vote in elections. This marked the first time that all citizens in the United States were eligible to vote in government elections. The Fifteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1870, prohibited the restriction of voting rights based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
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Victoria Woodhull

Victoria Woodhull became the first women to run for president years before woman could even vote. Woodhull was nominated with running mate Frederick Douglass by the Equal Rights Party for the U.S. Presidential election of 1872. Woodhull's campaign advocated ideas taken for granted today, such as the eight-hour work day, graduated income tax, and social welfare programs.
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Dr. Sally Ride

Five years after responding to NASA's call for astronauts in a Stanford University newspaper, Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on the shuttle Challenger's third mission in 1983. The once aspiring tennis pro and astrophysics doctorate began her training with NASA in 1977, assisting in the initial Challenger missions as a communications officer and design specialist.
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The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones gave their first performance at the Marquee Club in London on July 12, 1962. At the time, the group consisted of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Mick Avory, and Dick Taylor. The group performed eighteen songs that night including "Kansas City", "I Ain't Got You", and "Back in the USA".
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ATM

Docutel Vice President Don Wetzel conceptualized the idea for the automated teller machine (ATM) while waiting in line at a Dallas bank in the late 1960s. After a five million dollar investment, a working prototype of the ATM was delivered. The first ATM was installed in 1969 by Chemical Bank at its branch in Rockville Centre, New York.
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AIDS

Scientists have traced the first confirmed AIDS-related death to Africa in 1959. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was first identified in medical literature in June 1982 in an article by Dr. Michael Gottlieb and colleagues that appeared in a Centers for Disease Control publication. The AIDS epidemic is one of the most significant health-related events of the 20th century.
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The first woman elected to U.S. Congress

Jeanette Rankin was the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress in 1917, three years before women were guaranteed the Constitutional right to vote. Rankin, a republican, campaigned for universal suffrage, prohibition, child welfare reform, an end to child labor, and for staying out of the First World War. Rankin lost her seat in 1918, but was elected back into the House of Representatives in 1940.
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Monopoly

The real estate board game Monopoly was invented in 1934 by Charles B. Darrow. His first version of the game was rejected by Parker Brothers due to design flaws. After Darrow sold 5,000 handmade sets of the game to a Philadelphia department store, Parker Brothers agreed to sell the game. Since then, over 200 million Monopoly games have been sold worldwide.
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First photograph

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce produced the world's first photograph in Chalon-sur-Saône, France in 1826. Niépce's appreciation and experiments with lithography led to his first permanent photograph produced on pewter. Niépce had begun experimenting with light-sensitive materials as early as 1816, but spent the most of his time with his brothers attempting to develop a combustion engine.
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The first Major League All-Star Game

The first Major League All-Star Game was played on July 6, 1933 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The exhibition game was scheduled to coincide with the celebration of Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition. Major League Baseball managers and fans selected the all stars from both leagues. The American League defeated the National League 4-2.
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Born on the 4th of July

John Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States, was the first and only President to be born on the 4th of July. President Coolidge was born on July 4th, 1872 in Plymouth, Vermont. Vice President Coolidge became President on August 3, 1923 after the death of President Harding. He easily won a second term in 1924.
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First novel

The Tale of Genji is considered the world's first true novel. The book was written over 1,000 years ago in Japan by Murasaki Shikibu. The story is about the interactions between the main character Genji and the people he encounters. Themes of love, affection, friendship, loyalty, and family are explored through overlapping mini-sagas in the fifty-four chapter story.
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Gladiators

The first recorded gladiatorial combat in Rome occurred when three pairs of gladiators fought to the death during the funeral of Junius Brutus in 264 BC. Gladiator games peaked around 80 AD with the completion of the 50,000 seat Coliseum, built specifically for the games. A typical day at the games featured a procession of combatants, animal displays, executions of criminals, and individual gladiatorial combats.
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First Wi-Fi city

Grand Haven, Michigan is credited with being the first Wi-Fi city in the United Sates. In 2004, a wireless network was deployed to provide coverage throughout the town's six square miles as well as fifteen miles into Lake Michigan. Grand Haven's citizens, workers, and students were the first to enjoy high-speed, secure Internet access available anywhere within their town.
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NFL kickers

Polish immigrant Pete Gogolak is regarded as the first soccer-style kicker in U.S. football. He joined the Buffalo Bills in 1964 and revolutionized football's kicking game. By the 1970s, the majority of kickers in the NFL were sidewinders. Mark Moseley was the NFL's last straight-ahead kicker.
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Famous Firsts

The first oil well was struck in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859. The discovery of oil in the middle of quiet farm country in northwestern Pennsylvania was known as the Drake Well, after "Colonel" Edwin Drake, the man responsible for the well. The oil discovery set off a worldwide search for petroleum.
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Famous Firsts

According to WebsiteOptimzation.com, China officially passed the U.S. in total broadband lines during the third quarter of 2006, and now has the largest subscriber base in the world. The U.S. and China are followed by Japan, South Korea, Germany, and France in total broadband lines per country.
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Wal-Mart

Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962. Walton began his career in retailing working for JC Penney in the 1940s after graduating from the University of Missouri. During these years Walton developed his sales volume business model which would be the foundation of success for Wal-Mart over the next several decades. Sam Walton retired as Wal-Mart CEO in February 1988.
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Leonardo da Vinci

The famous painting "Baptism of Christ" was commissioned by the San Salvi monks of Florence. The painting was completed during the early 1470s by artist Andrea del Verrocchio with help from his twenty three year-old assistant named Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo's work on this painting is the first documented work of the great Italian Renaissance artist and scientist.
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Famous Firsts

"One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine." -- Sir William Osler.
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The first integrated circuit

Texas Instruments researcher Jack Kilby developed the first integrated circuit in the summer of 1958. Working alone in the TI lab, Kilby refined his idea to make chip components out of the same block of semiconductor material. In September 1958, he demonstrated the world's first integrated circuit, which worked perfectly in all tests.
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The first American sports car

The Chevrolet Corvette, the first modern American sports car, was introduced in June 1953 by General Motors. The development of the Corvette was inspired by European cars such as the MG, Jaguar, and Alfa Romeo. The first Corvettes were only available in white with red interior. The suggested retail price was $3,490.
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The automatic transmission

The automatic transmission was based on technology first developed in the early 1900s by German manufacturers of marine engines. The first automatic transmission for automobiles was developed by General Motors in 1938. The 1940 Oldsmobile featured GM's new automatic transmission called "Hydra-Matic" drive. Automatic transmission was a common feature on most American cars by 1948.
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The first roller coasters

The first roller coasters were created in Russia in the 1600s. People rode down steep ice slides on large sleds made from either wood or ice that were slowed with sand at the end of the ride. The first modern-day roller coaster in the United States was built at Coney Island, New York in June 1884. The ride was called the Switchback Railway and was designed by La Marcus Thompson.
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Traffic radar

In 1948, the Glastonbury Police in Connecticut became the first police force to use radar for traffic speed enforcement. It took two Glastonbury police officers to operate the microwave S-band traffic radar system. The first unfortunate driver to be ticketed by the radar device was never recorded.
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The first Father's Day

The first Father's Day celebration was held in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910. Sonora Smart Dodd came up with the idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. In 1972, President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June.
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Garfield

Garfield first appeared on comic pages on June 19, 1978. Garfield was created by cartoonist Jim Davis as a humorous strip centered around the lives of a fat, lazy, cynical orange cat who loves lasagna, coffee, and his remote control. The comic strip appears in over 2,570 newspapers and is read daily by 263 million people around the world.
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Famous Firsts

Starbucks first opened for business at Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1971. Starbucks operated solely as a coffee roasting facility until 1982 when the owners began marketing their coffee to upscale restaurants, cafes, and hotels. Inspired by Italian cafes, the owners opened their first retail coffee bar in Seattle in 1985. By 1987, seventeen Starbucks Cafes were established.
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Movies

The first commercial movie theatre in the U.S. opened for business in June 1905. The "Nickelodeon Theatre" on Smithfield Street in in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania hosted four hundred people its first day of business, each paying 5 cents to see a 15-minute moving picture show. Within a couple of years, thousands of movie theatres opened in cities across the country.
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Cool

The first use of the slang word "cool" occurred in America during early 1930s. The use of cool as "under control", "positive", and "having attitude" has been a mainstream part of English slang since World War II. The term cool has even been adapted into other languages, such as French and German.
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The first national debt

The United State registered its first national debt in 1791 when it owed creditors $75 million dollars. The national debt steadily decreased to its lowest historical level of $45 million dollars in 1811. Since then, the debt has increased, especially during times of pronounced government spending. The current national debt is over $11 trillion dollars and climbing
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"Call me Ishmael"

According to the 100 Best First Lines of Novels as chosen by the editors of American Book Review, the best first line of a novel is "Call me Ishmael" from the book "Moby-Dick". American author Herman Melville's whaling adventure dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne was first published in 1851.
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