It is widely accepted that the earliest mechanically printed full-length book was the Gutenberg Bible, printed in Mainz, Germany c.1455 by Johann Henne zum Gensfleisch zur Laden, called zu Gutenberg (c. 1398–1468). Some scholars argue that it was not Gutenberg but the Chinese who had invented the movable type 6 or 7 centuries before his time.
A series of carvings on a rock at Knowth, Ireland, has been identified as the most ancient Moon map discovered to date. It is estimated to have been carved around 5,000 years ago.
The oldest olympic canoeing medallist is Josefa Idem (Italy) (b.23 September 1964) aged 43 yr 335 days when she won a silver medal in the K1 500 m flatwater at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, on 23 August 2008. A certificate was presented to Josefa Idem on the set of Lo Show Dei Record, in Milan, Italy, on 18 April 2009.
Oscar Swahn (Sweden) was in the winning Running Deer shooting team at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, aged 64 years 258 days. In 1920, at the Antwerp Olympics, Belgium, he became the oldest silver medalist in this event at 72 years 280 days. He was born 20 October 1847 in Tanum, Sweden and died 1 May 1927. He won his first gold medal at the 1908 Olympic Games held in London and returned to the following two Games to eventually win three gold, one
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In August 2000 Australian scientists announced their discovery of minute oil droplets within fluid inclusions inside mineral grains in rocks that date back some 3.2 billion years. The ancient oil must have formed from the decayed remains of organisms that lived during this period
Neft Daslari is an entire functioning town constructed in the Caspian Sea 55 km from the coast of Azerbaijan. Construction began in 1949 and began oil production in 1951. Construction and development continued until the town included hotels, hostels, a bakery, a power station, and a total of 7 ha of surface area, consisting of separate ‘islands’ connected by more than 200 km of trestle bridges, all supported on metal stilts. Although much of Neft Daslari has been reclaimed by the sea, its rigs still
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The world’s oceans are constantly changing in size as tectonics makes the great plates of the Earth’s crust slowly move around. The Pacific is the oldest of the current ocean basins, with the oldest rocks on its floor being around 200 million years old. The Pacific is gradually shrinking in size by a few cm per year as the Atlantic Ocean expands due to plate tectonics.
Chariton’s Chaireas & Callirhoe, subtitled Love Story in Syracuse, is the oldest extant novel. The novel, which was written in the first century AD,narrates the adventures of a beautiful bride named Callirhoe. Also in existence from the same time is Apuleius’s The Golden Ass or Metamorphoses (as it is also known), which is the only Latin novel which still survives in whole. This book is reported to have been written in AD123.
At 44 years 66 days, Jacques Plante (b. 17 January 1929, d. 27 February 1986, Canada) became the oldest National Hockey League (NHL) goalie to record a shutout when he stopped 29 shots as the Boston Bruins (USA) blanked the New York Rangers (USA) 3-0 on 24 March 1973.
The oldest netball club in continuous existence is the Poly Netball Club, London, UK, which was founded in 1907 and still operates as of June 2007. The name was shortened from Polytechnic Netball Club. This was printed in our archived editions, so is not ‘new’.