First win (female), IndyCar
The earliest female winner of an IndyCar race was Danica Patrick (USA), who won the Indy Japan 300 in Motegi, Japan, on 20 April 2008.
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First wildfire
The earliest wildfire smouldered approximately 419 million years ago during the Silurian period, when oxygen levels may have been higher than today’s. A team of scientists from Cardiff University’s School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Science (UK) found evidence of a low-intensity burn, probably started by a lightning, whilst studying three-dimensional charred fossils of small plants found in rocks near Ludlow, in the Welsh Borderland, UK in April 2004.
First woman to be named among Wisden’s five ‘Cricketers of the Year’
England batsman Claire Taylor, who was awarded an MBE (for services to sport) in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours 2010, was the first woman to receive the Wisden accolade in the 120-year history of the award. In 2009, Taylor was an integral part of the England team that won the Women’s World Cup (she was named player of the tournament for her 324 runs at an average of 64.80) and the inaugural Women’s World Twenty20 and retained the Ashes (against Australia). Taylor has also scored Continue reading →
First Winter Olympic medallist from the southern hemisphere
In 1992, at the XVI Olympiad in Albertville, France, skier Annelise Coberger (New Zealand) made history with a silver medal in the women’s slalom, becoming the first Winter Olympic medallist from the southern hemisphere.
First Winter Olympic Games
The Winter Olympics were first held in Chamonix, France, between 25 January and 5 February 1924, and were originally established to support snow and ice-based sports not suited to the summer. In front of 10,004 paying spectators, a total of 247 men and 11 women competed across just 16 events that included speed skating, ice hockey, curling and ski jumping.
First woman to lead the Indianapolis 500
Danica Patrick (USA) made history by becoming the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500, leading three times for 19 laps, in May 2005. Patrick, the fourth woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500, started the race fourth and finished fourth – the highest start and finish of any woman in the history of the event.
First woman to fly an airplane with her feet
The first woman to fly an airplane with her feet is Jessica Cox (b. 2 February 1983, USA), who was able to gain her pilot’s licence on 10 October 2008 in spite of being born without arms. Jessica holds a Sport Pilot certificate, which qualifies her to fly a light-sport aircraft to altitudes of 10,000 feet. Flying a Ercoupoe, a plane manufactured in the mid-1940s compatible with her abilities, Jessica mans the controls with one foot and delicately guides the steering column with the other. Continue reading →
First World Championship nine-dart finish
The first nine-dart finish in a darts World Championship match was made by Paul Lim (USA) in his Embassy World Professional Darts Championship match against Jack McKenna (Ireland) at Lakeside, Frimley Green, UK on January 9, 1990
First woman to play with the Harlem Globetrotters
Lynette Woodard (USA) joined the Harlem Globetrotters (USA) in 1985, becoming the first woman to play as a member of the world famous team of basketball entertainers. Woodard, a standout at Kansas University (USA), was captain of the 1984 U.S. Olympic gold-medal winning team and a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She played professionally in Italy and Japan before finishing her career in the Women’s National Basketball Association with the Cleveland Rockers (USA) and Detroit Shock (USA).
First written language
The earliest written language discovered has been on Yangshao culture pottery from Paa-t’o, found in 1962 near Xi’an in the Shaanxi province of China. This bears proto-characters for the numbers 5, 7 and 8 and has been dated to 5000—4000 BC. Information taken from Archives (e.g.1993). Submitted for use in Scholastic’s Modern Marvels.