The first geological map was drawn by William Smith. He compiled it in 1799 of the area around the city of Bath, UK. It is now kept in the archives of the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford. Smith also drew the oldest geological map of England and Wales, in 1801.
Dr Crawford Williamson Long (USA)(1815-78) removed a cyst from the neck of James Venable (USA), using diethyl ether (C2H5)2O, in Jefferson, Georgia, USA on 30 March 1842.
The first actual golden disc was once sprayed by R.C.A. Victor for presentation to the U.S. trombonist and band-laeder Alton “Glenn” Miller (1904-1944) for his Chattanooga Choo Choo on 10 Feb 1942.
The Portuguese established the first global maritime and commercial empire under the leadership of Henry the Navigator in the 15th century. In the 1440s, Henry sent out key expeditions to Africa and Asia, and in the 16th and 17th centuries, Portugal went on to establish colonies in Brazil, Africa, East Timor, India and Macau. The Spanish quickly followed suit by conquering Mexico in 1519 and, shortly thereafter, Peru, the Philippines and most of Central and South America (except Brazil).
The first communications satellite to operate in the geostationary orbit was Syncom 3. It was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, on 19 August 1964 and manoeuvred to its orbit, some 35,788 km (22,238 miles) above the Earth. At this altitude, Syncom 3 took exactly 24 hours to orbit the Earth and so appeared stationary from the ground. Today more than 200 satellites operate in the geostationary or ‘Clarke’ orbit.
The first group of players to successfully beat the final boss in the expansion pack World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard, 2006) was Blood Legion (USA), who completed the challenge with a 10-player team on 2 February 2010 . Featured in Guinness World Records Gamers Edition 2011
Graphic novels are book-length comics printed stories told visually. Creators of these ‘graphic stories’ or ‘graphic literature’ often argue that they represent an artistic movement, not merely a publishing format. The word ‘graphic novel’ first appeared in 1976 on the dust jacket of Bloodstar by Richard Corben (illustrator, USA) and Robert E. Howard (author, USA). In the same year, George Metzger’s (USA) comic book Beyond Time and Again was subtitled A Graphic Novel, and Red Tide by Jim Steranko (USA) was labelled both a
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StarChase is a tracking system developed by the US company of the same name. It is a small cannon designed to be mounted on a police car or handheld, which fires a golf ball-sized sticky projectile at a vehicle being pursued by law-enforcement personnel. The projectile contains a small GPS tracker, receiver and power supply and allows the police to track fugitives without having to directly follow their vehicle in a car chase.
Holidaymakers in Weymouth beach in Dorset, UK, can spend the night in a hotel made entirely of sand. A total of 600 hours were needed to build the open-air 15 m? (50 ft?) hotel. A family room with a double and single bed, and a sea view, can be rented for ?10 (US$21) a night. The hotel was the brainchild of sculptor Mark Anderson (UK), who was commissioned by the website LateRooms.com.
Gunpowder may have been invented in China, India, Arabia or Europe in the 13th century. Although it cannot be accepted as proven, it is believed that the earliest guns were constructed both in China and in Northern Africa c. 1250. The invention of the gun certainly dates from before 1326 for which there is documentary evidence, and references thereafter become more frequent. The earliest known example of a gun was found in the ruins of the castle of Monte Varino in Italy. The castle was
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