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."
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

Famous Firsts

According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey released in October 2006, married couples for the first time represented the minority of household in the United States. The majority of married couples has been shrinking for decades. In 1930, married couples accounted for 84 percent of all U.S. households.
More Famous Firsts

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

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

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

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

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

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.
More Famous Firsts

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

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

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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".
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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."
More Famous Firsts

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.

More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

Cosmopolitan Magazine

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

Greek Proverb

"First secure an independent income, then practice virtue." -- Greek Proverb.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

The first 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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

Christopher Columbus

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.
More Famous Firsts

The Pennsylvania Turnpike

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

Alfred E. Wiggam

"A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time." -- Alfred E. Wiggam.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

The Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance was first published as "The Pledge to the Flag" in September 1892 in a Boston magazine 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."
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

Sandra Day O'Connor

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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."
More Famous Firsts

Trans-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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

Silicon Valley

Stanford Industrial Park in Palo Alto, California was created in 1950 to establish a center of high technology close to Stanford University. 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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

The First Bank of the U.S.

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

Baseball on TV

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.
More Famous Firsts

The Great Pyramid

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was first compiled by Greek historians around 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%.
More Famous Firsts

Rap music

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.
More Famous Firsts

Gladiator games

The first recorded gladiatorial combat 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 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.
More Famous Firsts

First oil well

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.
More Famous Firsts

Broadband lines

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.
More Famous Firsts

Sir William Osler

"One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine." -- Sir William Osler.
More Famous Firsts

Starbucks

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.
More Famous Firsts

Pulitzer Prizes

Nineteenth Century journalist and iconic newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer established in his 1904 will the provision for the Pulitzer Prizes as incentive for journalistic excellence. The first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded in 1917 to Herbert Bayard Swope (reporting), the New York Tribune (editorial), J.J. Jusserand (history), Laura E. Richards and Maude Howe Elliott (biography).
More Famous Firsts

First televised hole-in-one

British hall of fame golfer Tony Jacklin hit the first televised hole-in-one while competing in the 1967 Dunlop Masters. Jacklin aced the 163-yard 16th hole at Royal St. George's golf course in the final round that helped him to a victory. The shot was one of the most significant ever taken by a British golfer.
More Famous Firsts

Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson made national news in 1947 when he became the first African-American baseball player in Major league baseball. Robinson joined the National League Brooklyn Dodgers at the age of 28. Larry Doby signed with the Cleveland Indians later that same year to become the American League's first African-American player.
More Famous Firsts

First compact disk

New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen's 1984 landmark album "Born in the USA" sold more than 18 million copies worldwide. Classic songs from the album include the title track, "I'm on Fire", "Glory Days", "Dancing in the Dark", and "My Hometown." The album also has the distinction of being the first compact disk pressed in the United States for commercial release.
More Famous Firsts

Breakfast cereal

In November 1924, the ready-to-eat cereal known as Washburn's Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes (later shortened to "Wheaties") made its debut on store shelves. The "Breakfast of Champions" boomed through the 1930s from its sponsorship of sports. In 1958, Wheaties began featuring a spokesperson on the box. The first on the cover of a Wheaties box was Olympic pole vaulter Bob Richards.
More Famous Firsts

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.
More Famous Firsts

Yesterday

The most recorded song is in music history is "Yesterday" written by Paul McCartney. Over 2,500 versions of the song have been recorded since the song was first recorded in June 1965 and released on the Beatles Help! album. The song has been covered by artists such as Elvis Presley, Boyz II Men, Frank Sinatra, James Brown and Gladys Knight.
More Famous Firsts

First television station

WRGB-TV in Schenectady, New York is credited with being the first television station in the United States. Originally called W2XB, the station began offering regular TV programming complete with newscasts three days a week in May 1928. The station's signal came from a 380-meter antenna and offered 24 vertical lines of resolution at 21 frames per second.
More Famous Firsts

Mount Everest

Attempts to climb Mount Everest began in 1921 when Tibet first opened its borders to outsiders. Eleven expeditions over a period of thirty years failed to conquer the world's tallest mountain. On May 29, 1953, New Zealanders Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay overcame crevasses, ferocious winds, sudden storms and oxygen deprivation to became the first to conquer Everest.
More Famous Firsts

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ruth Wakefield baked the first Chocolate Chip Cookie in 1930. Ms. Wakefield accidentally discovered her new recipe while making chocolate cookies for her guests at her tourist lodge. She ran out of the baker's chocolate needed for the chocolate cookies and substituted a chocolate bar cut up into tiny pieces. The chocolate chip cookie was born!
More Famous Firsts

Dow Jones

The Dow Jones industrial average index was first published on May 26, 1896. The index consisted of twelve stocks and closed at 40.94. It took the Dow over 75 years to surpass 1,000. The Dow hit 4,000 in 1995; 8,000 in 1997; and 12,000 in 2006.
More Famous Firsts

Legal gambling

A New Jersey statewide referendum legalized casino gambling in 1976 marking the first time in nearly fifty years that legal gambling would take place outside of the state of Nevada. Resorts International became the first legal casino in the eastern United States when it opened on May 26, 1978. Other casinos were soon added along Atlantic City's boardwalk.
More Famous Firsts

Transcontinental railroad

The first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. was completed in May 1869. Seven years after President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, and four years after his death, the "golden spike" completing the rail link between the Eastern U.S. and California was celebrated at Promontory Summit, Utah. The railroad was considered the greatest technological feat of the 19th century.
More Famous Firsts

First paying space traveler

Dennis A. Tito, founder of Wilshire Associates, created the index now known as the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index, the broadest measure of the U.S. securities markets. Mr. Tito is also famous for becoming the world's first paying space traveler in 2001 when he flew with a Russian crew aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station.
More Famous Firsts

Barbary Wars

The First Barbary War was waged from 1801 to 1805 between the U.S. and four North African countries. The U.S. paid ransoms to these countries for several years in return for captured American ships and crews. Ransoms reached 20 percent of U.S. government revenues, which compelled Thomas Jefferson to send American Navy ships to the Mediterranean, thus entering the war.
More Famous Firsts

Mark Twain

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." -- Mark Twain.
More Famous Firsts

Lady Lindy

Amelia Earhart was nicknamed "Lady Lindy" because of her comparable achievements to Charles Lindbergh. On May 21, 1932, Earhart became the first female, and only second pilot, to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Earhart took off from Newfoundland, Canada and landed in Ireland, covering 2,026 miles in fifteen hours. Ms. Earhart was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress.
More Famous Firsts

Cal Ripken Jr.

Baltimore Orioles infielder Cal Ripken Jr. played in a record 2,632 straight Major League games. His consecutive game record set on September 6, 1995 spanned sixteen seasons and surpassed the record held by Lou Gehrig for 56 years. Cal's first of 2,632 straight games occurred on May 20, 1982. He batted eighth and played third base in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
More Famous Firsts

Little League Baseball

Little League Baseball was developed by Carl Stotz in 1938 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Eleven teams participated in the first Little League World Series in 1947. The Maynard Midget League of Williamsport defeated the Lock Haven All Stars in the final game to claim the first Little League World Series championship.
More Famous Firsts

Mark Spitz

Mark Spitz is considered by many to be the greatest swimmer of all time. Spitz earned this status during the 1972 Olympics when he became the first athlete to win seven gold medals in an Olympics. His performances were even more remarkable considering world records were set in all seven events he competed in.
More Famous Firsts

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is the oldest consecutively held thoroughbred race in America. The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875, before a crowd of 10,000. In that race, a field of 15 three-year-olds ran a 1.5 mile course which was won by H.P. McGrath's Aristides. The Derby's race distance was changed to the current 1.25 miles in 1896.
More Famous Firsts

Computer "bug"

The computer term "bug" was first used at Harvard University in August 1945 when the Mark I computer project staff noticed something wrong with one of the computer's circuits. After a lengthy search, a two-inch moth was located and removed from one of the computer cabinets. From then on computer problems were referred to as bugs.
More Famous Firsts

Bonanza

The television series Bonanza aired on NBC from September 1959 to January 1973. The popular cowboy series was the first network television series to film all of its episodes in color. The show chronicled the Cartwright family with father Ben and sons Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe living on a ranch called The Ponderosa.
More Famous Firsts

"In God We Trust"

"In God We Trust" was first declared as the current national motto of the United States by an act of Congress in 1956 and first appeared on paper currency in 1957. The new motto displaced the existing national motto "E Pluribus Unum."
More Famous Firsts

Winnie-the-Pooh

The first "Winnie-the-Pooh" book was published in 1926. British author Alan Alexander Milne developed the story around his son Christopher Robin Milne and his collection of stuffed animals, most notably the bear named Winnie-the-Pooh. Since then, Pooh and friends have made their way to radio, TV, movies, Broadway, and onto store shelves.
More Famous Firsts

Charles Lindbergh

On May 12, 1927, Charles Lindbergh and his plane "The Spirit of St. Louis" landed in Curtiss Field on Long Island, New York to break the existing record for the fastest transcontinental flight. Eight days later, Lindbergh landed safely at Le Bourget Field in Paris becoming the first pilot to fly a transatlantic flight solo. The flight through fog and ice covered 3,600 miles and took almost 34 hours.
More Famous Firsts

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are the oldest continuous franchise in all of American professional sports. The Phillies were established in the National League as the Philadelphia Quakers in 1883. The storied and often maligned baseball franchise ended a 97-year World Series championship drought by defeating the Kansas City Royals in 1980 to win its first World Series.
More Famous Firsts

Mother's Day

Anna M. Jarvis is credited with establishing the celebration of Mother's Day in the United States. Ms. Jarvis solicited the help of hundreds of legislators and prominent businessmen to create this special day. The first Mother's Day was celebrated on May 10, 1908 in a church. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as a national holiday in honor of mothers.
More Famous Firsts

First commercial airlines

United Airlines was the first commercial airlines in the U.S. Walter Varney launched what would become United Airlines as an air mail service in 1925. Varney's service was purchased in 1927 by William Boeing, who later renamed the company United Aircraft-Transport Corp. Boeing's company was later split into three separate company's: United Technologies, Boeing Airplane Company and United Airlines.
More Famous Firsts

American Dictionary

Noah Webster published the first edition of his American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. In this edition of nearly 50,000 words, Webster standardized the spelling of many of the words, introducing the convention of having one acceptable and correct spelling for a word. Webster's dictionary was so popular that "Webster's" became synonymous with dictionary to many Americans.
More Famous Firsts

Cell phones

The first working cell phones began in 1947 when researchers developed two-way over the air radio transmission using cell towers. The Federal Communications Commission was reluctant to open the necessary cellular phone frequencies for commercial use. The first commercial cell phone service in the U.S. was offered in Chicago in 1983, thirty-seven years after its development.
More Famous Firsts

The four-minute mile

English runner Roger Bannister broke the widely-held assumption that it was impossible for a human to run a mile in under four minutes. He became the first to do this when he ran a mile in 3.594 minutes in Oxford on the May 6, 1954. In addition to being a skilled runner, Bannister used his knowledge as a physician to research the mechanical aspects of running and to develop scientific training methods.
More Famous Firsts

Carnegie Hall

Andrew Carnegie laid the first ceremonial cornerstone in 1890 on what would become the most famous concert hall in the world. The "Music Hall" officially opened on May 5, 1891 with a concert conducted by Walter Damrosch and composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The building was renamed Carnegie Hall in 1893. Carnegie Hall was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
More Famous Firsts

Oldsmobile

The first factory specifically set up to manufacture automobiles in the United States was built by the Olds Motor Works in 1899 on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. By 1901, the Oldsmobile became the first American car to be manufactured in quantity. The Olds Motor Vehicle Company was established in 1897 by Ransom E. Olds.
More Famous Firsts

The White House

The construction of The White House took place over a period of eight years, from October 13, 1792 to November 1, 1800. President John Adams was the first U.S. President to reside in the White House. The newly constructed building was referred to as the "President's Palace," "Presidential Mansion," and "President's House," until 1811 when the term "White House" was first used.
More Famous Firsts

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is considered by many to have been the greatest writer the English language has ever known. Between 1586 and 1612 Shakespeare wrote nearly 40 plays, 154 sonnets, and a variety of poems. He authored his first play at the age of twenty-five titled "Henry VI, Part One," the first in series four plays often referred to as "The Wars of the Roses."
More Famous Firsts

The North Pole

Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura was the first person to reach the North Pole alone. Naomi reached the North Pole on May 1, 1978, after a harrowing 57 day trip. Naomi almost gave up twice during the quest. Once, after he and his dog team survived an attack by a polar bear. The second when they became stranded on a floating island of ice. Naomi is world famous for his solo adventures.
More Famous Firsts

President Washington

On April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States from the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York. George Washington ran unopposed for election as President under the established electoral college. John Adams was elected as the first Vice President of the United States.
More Famous Firsts

Toy Story

The first fully computer-generated feature film "Toy Story" was a smashing commercial success in 1995. The film was produced by Pixar, which began in 1984 when animation engineer John Lasseter joined George Lucas' special effects computer group. The short movie "The Adventures of Andre and Wally B." was Pixar's first 3-D project.
More Famous Firsts

First Crusade

Pope Urban II initiated the First Crusade. He called for a war against the Muslims so that Jerusalem was regained for the Christian faith. This appeal quickly turned into a wholesale migration and conquest. Both knights and peasants from many nations of Western Europe traveled over land and by sea towards Jerusalem and captured the city in July 1099.
More Famous Firsts

Daylight saving

The idea of daylight saving was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin in 1784. The Standard Time Act of 1918 established daylight saving time, mainly as a World War I conservation strategy, and in response to Germany's practice of daylight savings. The act was repealed after the War, however daylight savings continued on in many localities.
More Famous Firsts

Wedding March

The "Wedding March" or "Here Comes the Bride" is a traditional choice of music played during a wedding processional. The song originated as the "Bridal Chorus" from German composer Richard Wagner's 1850 romantic opera, Lohengrin. The first use of the Wagner's song during a wedding was for the marriage of Princess Victoria and Frederick of Prussia in 1858.
More Famous Firsts

Federal highways

Construction for the first federal highway in the United States was authorized in March 1806. The National Road, also known as the Great National Pike and the Cumberland Road, stretched from Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois. The National Road was built in sections over four decades. The road forms part of the present day U.S. Route 40.
More Famous Firsts

The Boston Latin School

The Boston Latin School was founded in April 1635 and is considered America's first public school. Public funds were used to the support the school, with classes held in the home of the Head Master. Declaration of Independence signers John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Treat Paine, and William Hooper were pupils at this school.
More Famous Firsts

Hank Aaron

Hank Aaron hit his record breaking 715th home run In April 1974. The Hall of Fame slugger from Mobile, Alabama made his Major League debut as an outfielder with the Milwaukee Braves on April 13, 1954, going 0-5. On April 23, 1954, Hank Aaron hit his first Major League home run off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Vic Raschi.
More Famous Firsts

Earth Day

The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. Earth Day is held each year to inspire awareness of world-wide environmental issues and to promote appreciation for our planet. Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson created the concept of Earth Day during the late 1960s. Senator Nelson was awarded the Medal of Freedom in September 1995 for "his public service to care about the environment."
More Famous Firsts

"OK"

The first use of the uniquely American phrase "OK" was found in the Boston Morning Post in 1839. An article quote in the paper used O.K. to place an event as all correct. Since then, the phrase has been adopted nationally and universally as a sign of affirmation.
More Famous Firsts

WWJ in Detroit

The Scripps family, owner of the Detroit News, founded the Detroit station 8MK, later WWJ, which on August 20, 1920 became the fist commercial radio station in the U.S. The first day of programming included recorded music and news provided from the U.S. Naval Department. An estimated thirty homes in the Detroit area were tuned in.
More Famous Firsts

Boston Marathon

The first Boston Marathon was run on April 19, 1897. The course measured 24.5 miles, starting at Metcalfe's Mill in Asthland and finishing at Irvington Street Oval in Boston. There were 15 runners in the first race. John McDermott won the race in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds, despite the fact that he had to stop and wait several minutes for a funeral procession.
More Famous Firsts

19th Amendment

The 19th Amendment of the Constitution was ratified by Congress on August 18, 1920. This amendment gave American women the right to vote in elections for the first time. This historic event capped more than 70 years of lobbying, marching and organizing by Americans such as Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Stone, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul.
More Famous Firsts

The transistor

Bell Telephone Laboratories researchers John Bardeen and Walter Brattain developed the first point contact transistor in 1947. Their transistor concept was demonstrated to executives at Bell who were very impressed that the transistors did not need time to warm up like existing vacuum tubes. They immediately realized the power of the transistor.
More Famous Firsts

Iditarod

The first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska ran in 1973. Twenty-two mushers finished the 1,100 plus mile trail to Nome, Alaska in the first race. Iditarod race founder Dorothy G. Page created the sled dog race to celebrate Alaska's pioneer spirit and the trail's historical importance before the advent of airplanes and snowmobiles. The Iditarod has grown every year since 1973.
More Famous Firsts

Charles Cooper

Charles Cooper became the first African-American signed by an NBA team when he agreed to a contract with the Boston Celtics on April 15, 1950. During the same season, Earl Lloyd became the first African-American to play in an NBA game when he played for the Washington Capitols against the Rochester Royals on October 31, 1950.
More Famous Firsts

J. C. Penney

James Cash Penney opened his first store The Golden Rule in Kemmerer, Wyoming on April 14, 1902. The company boomed as it brought reasonably-priced, fashionable goods to remote western towns. In 1916, the stores were renamed the J. C. Penney Company. Today, JCPenney is the largest department-store retailer and catalog merchant in the United States.
More Famous Firsts

Global warming

Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius first stated in 1896 the possibility that fossil fuel combustion may eventually result in enhanced global warming. Arrhenius and fellow scientist Thomas Chamberlin calculated that human activities could warm the earth by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
More Famous Firsts

Newspaper

The Boston News-Letter was America's first continuously-published newspaper. First distributed in April 1704, the weekly News-Letter published news and events from England, as well local listings of ship arrivals, deaths, sermons, political appointments, fires, and accidents. The last issue of the News-Letter appeared in February 1776 after three generations of family ownership.
More Famous Firsts

Census of Population

The first Census of Population in the United States took place in 1790. The first census tabulated counts by gender, race, free persons and slaves. It included the original thirteen colonies plus Kentucky, Maine and Vermont. The population of the United States in 1790 was 3,893,874.
More Famous Firsts

Titanic

The RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton on her maiden voyage to New York on April 10, 1912. Three days later, the ship struck an iceberg about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The Titanic plunged to the bottom of the sea taking more than 1500 people with her. The world was stunned to learn of the fate of the unsinkable Titanic.
More Famous Firsts

First breakfast cereal

The first breakfast cereal, called granula, was invented and served by Dr. James Caleb Jackson in 1863. In search of a healthier alternative to a pork and beef breakfast, Dr. Jackson developed granula by soaking dense bran nuggets overnight resulting in a chewable breakfast. Granula was regularly served up to Jackson's patients.
More Famous Firsts

Impeached

President Andrew Johnson was the first U.S. President to be impeached. Johnson was acquitted in each of two impeachment attempts by Congress during his presidency in the politically tumultuous post Civil War period. Sixteen federal officials, including two U.S. presidents, have been impeached in the U.S. since 1797.
More Famous Firsts

Toyota automobiles

The first Toyota automobiles were imported into the United States in 1958. The Toyota Land Cruiser was a half-ton, jeep-styled truck, and the Model SA Sedan, nicknamed the "Toyopet," was a 1-liter, two-door compact car. Neither sold very well. The first big seller in America was the 1964 Toyota Corona PT20.
More Famous Firsts

Filibuster

Senator John C. Calhoun was the first to use a filibuster in 1841. In opposition to Senator Henry Clay's proposed bank bill, Calhoun began a lengthy, unending rebuttal designed to leave no time for a vote on the bill. Clay threatened to change the Senate rules in order to end the debate but his effort was rebuked.

More Famous Firsts

Player strike

The National Hockey League is the first professional sports league to lose an entire season to player strike. The entire 2005 season came and went without a puck being dropped after the league locked out players. Major League Baseball lost almost half a season to a player strike in 1981. The NFL hired replacement players to fill-in for striking players in 1987. The NBA was locked out in 1998.
More Famous Firsts

First female mayor

Susanna M. Salter was elected mayor of Argonia, Kansas in April 1887, becoming the first female mayor of a U.S. city. Salter was nominated as a mayoral candidate on the Prohibition Party ticket by a local group intended as a joke. With the combined support of the Prohibitionists and the Republicans, Salter was elected mayor, making history and generating a world-wide news event.
More Famous Firsts

Pony Express

The Pony Express set off on its first mail delivery on April 3, 1860. The Pony Express was a relay delivery of mail by horses and riders from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. Each rider on the express rode for about 150 miles, horses ran for about fifteen miles. The 2,000 mile route took about ten days to complete during the summer and fourteen days during the winter.
More Famous Firsts

Teddy Bear

The first Teddy Bear was sold in a New York candy store in 1902. Morris Michtom came up with the stuffed animal idea after seeing political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman's Teddy Roosevelt bear hunting cartoon. Michtom sent Roosevelt his new Teddy Bear creation and asked permission to use the teddy bear name. Within a year, Teddy Bears were being mass produced.
More Famous Firsts

April Fools Day

The first April Fools Day celebrations occurred in France in 1582. The introduction of the Gregorian Calendar a few years earlier moved New Year's from April 1 to January 1. Due to slow communications and refusal to change, some folks continued New Year's celebrations on April 1. Labeled as fools, these people were made the subject of practical jokes.
More Famous Firsts

ENIAC

The Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC) was the first all-electronic computer designed to be reprogrammed. The ENIAC was built in 1945 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The machine had a clock speed of 100 kHz and was used mainly for military purposes such as calculating ballistic firing tables and designing atomic weapons.
More Famous Firsts

Jeopardy

The popular and long-running game show Jeopardy first aired on NBC on March 30, 1964. The show's concept, rules and name were developed by Merv Griffin and his wife Julann. Mary Eubanks of North Carolina was the show's first champion winning $345. Within weeks of its premiere, Jeopardy was pulling in 40% of the TV-watching market during its time slot.
More Famous Firsts

Greatest Show on Earth

The first performance of the newly combined Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus was held in New York's Madison Square Garden in March 1929. The "Greatest Show on Earth" had more people, horses, elephants and larger tents than all other circuses. Traveling circuses were wildly popular through the 1920s reaching their commercial peak during the dawn of radio and television.
More Famous Firsts

National smoking ban

The Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to completely ban smoking in all workplaces in March 2004. The controversial ban, which also includes the country's more than 10,000 pubs, produced positive results after its first year. Public support and opinion remained high while sales of cigarettes were down from before the ban.
More Famous Firsts

NCAA basketball championship

Oregon defeated Ohio State in the first NCAA men's basketball championship game held at Northwestern University on March 27, 1939. Eight teams competed in two regions during the first NCAA tournament. Up until the 1950s, the NIT was considered a more prestigious tournament than the NCAA basketball tournament. College teams often chose to enter the NIT over the NCAA tourney.
More Famous Firsts

Beethoven

Ludwig Von Beethoven gave his first public piano performance in Cologne, Germany on March 26, 1778. Beethoven's father falsely reported Ludwig as six-years old in order to compare him to the other child prodigy Mozart. The great composer of "Moonlight Sonata", "Für Elise", "Minuet In G" and "Ode To Joy" died in 1827, exactly 49 years to the date of his first performance.
More Famous Firsts

Chicken wings

The first chicken wings were served up at the Anchor Bar on Main Street in Buffalo, New York in Spring 1964. Teresa Bellissimo made two plates of deep fried wings as a late night snack for her bartender son Dominic and his friends. The chicken wings with secret sauce were an instant hit and soon became a regular part of the menu at the Anchor Bar.
More Famous Firsts

NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) league ranks only behind the NFL in terms of sports television ratings in the U.S. NASCAR's roots go back to Daytona Beach, Florida. In March 1936, the first stock car race was staged on the beach of Daytona. Drivers raced a two mile stretch of beach as one straightaway and highway A1A as the other.
More Famous Firsts

Modern day computer programmers

The first modern day computer programmers appeared during the 1940s to compute complex ballistic trajectories for the U.S. Army using the ENIAC computer. The programmers had no manuals or courses, only logical diagrams to help them figure out how to make the ENIAC work. They physically programmed by using the 3,000 switches and dozens of cables and digit trays to physically route data and program pulses through the machine.
More Famous Firsts

Dark side of the Moon

Pink Floyd's album "Dark side of the Moon" first appeared on the Billboard 200 charts in March 1973. The British quartet's concept rock masterpiece stayed on the Billboard 200 for a record-setting 741 consecutive weeks, over 14 years. Interestingly, the album held the #1 spot on Billboard for only one week. Over 40 million copies of Dark Side of the Moon have been purchased since 1973.
More Famous Firsts

Rock-n-Roll

Radio disc jockey Alan Freed first coined the phrase "Rock-n-Roll" in 1951. Freed used the phrase while working at Cleveland radio station WJW to describe the R&B songs he was playing on the air. Freed is also credited with setting up the first Rock-n-Roll concert, dubbed The Moondog Coronation Ball on March 21, 1952.
More Famous Firsts

First day of spring

The first day of spring is usually around March 20 or 21, depending on what day the vernal equinox occurs. The vernal equinox occurs when the sun peaks directly above the equator between the Earth's northern and southern hemisphere. The beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere is the beginning of autumn for the southern hemisphere.
More Famous Firsts