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June 10, 1943: The Ballpoint Pen — Ink Dry for Me, Argentina
1943: Brothers László and Georg Bíró, Hungarian refugees living in Argentina, patent the ballpoint pen. A half-century-old idea is coming to commercial fruition. Lewis Waterman’s invention of a...
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June 17, 1867: Lister Cuts Clean, Saves Lives
British surgeon Joseph Lister performs the first surgery under antiseptic conditions. Death rates would plummet, but you should still be thankful you were born in the 20th century and not the 19th.
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June 29, 1888: Handel Oratorio Becomes First Musical Recording
The earliest known musical recording is made. The piece, Georg Friedrich Handel's Israel in Egypt, is recorded on a paraffin cylinder.
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July 1, 1858: Darwin and Wallace Shift the Paradigm
The Linnaean Society of London listens to the reading of a composite paper on how natural selection accounts for the evolution and variety of species. The authors are Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel...
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July 8, 1908: Some Movies Get Colorful
Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion-picture process is demonstrated at a scientific meeting in Paris.
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July 18, 1876: Royal Commissioners Wrinkle Their Noses
The British government appoints a Royal Commission on Noxious Vapours to look into the growing problem of industrial air pollution. Its report two years later would bring better regulation but warn...
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Oct. 5, 1986: Israel’s Secret Nuke Arsenal Exposed
A former technician blows the whistle to The Times of London, and Israel's nuclear capability is revealed to the world. The whistleblower becomes a hero to the peace movement and a traitor to Israel.
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Oct. 14, 1858: This History Might Ring a Bell
Manual labor hoists the great hour bell into place high in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament in London. Some people are already calling the 14.33-ton bell "Big Ben."
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Oct. 31, 1951: We’ll Cross That Street When We Come to It
1951: The first official zebra crossing starts protecting pedestrians at Slough, just west of London. Postwar Britain had only 10 percent of its current road traffic, but fatalities were mounting. The...
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Nov. 14, 1666: Watching a Transfusion, and Taking Notes
1666: Samuel Pepys, writing in his famous diary, records the first description of a blood transfusion. Pepys (whose name is usually pronounced Peeps, or occasionally Peppis) was an able administrator...
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