first commercial fluorescent lamps for photographic studios and industrial use.
Fly-Fishing
Around 500 B.C.E., the Macedonians in the northernmost part of ancient Greece were perhaps the world’s first fly fishermen. Their fishing was written about in the first century C.E. by Latin poet Marcus Valerius Martialis and in 200 C.E. by Roman author Claudius Aelianus. These authors wrote of people fishing in a river with a handmade fly. Aelianus described how the ancient Macedonians attached red wool and feathers to a hook. Their fishing rods (lacquered, sticklike poles) were about 6 feet long, which was the same length of the string attached with a snaring fly at the end.
Folding Stepladder
On January 7, 1862, John N. Balsley of Dayton, Ohio, patented the first folding stepladder. It was a wooden six-step device with an A-shape frame that could be folded or closed in behind the steps. (The steps themselves did not fold.) Balsley was a carpenter and inventor who replaced the typical ladder rungs with steps and attached the A-shape frame. The A-shape support behind the steps had a much wider base than the width of the steps, which provided stability. Previous to Balsley’s invention, steplad ders were not foldable for storage or ease of transporting.
Food Processor
The food processor is the brainchild of Pierre Verdan, a salesman in the early 1960s for a French catering company. Verdan noticed his commercial clients were spending a lot of time in the kitchen chopping, shredding, and mixing. His solution was a bowl with a revolving blade inside the base. In 1960, Verdan established Robot Coupe, a company to manufacture the first food processors, powered by industrial induction motors, for the catering industry. The food processor was not introduced to the domestic market until the 1970s.
Football Goalpost
On May 14, 1874, the first football goalposts were at Jarvis Field in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a contest that pitted McGill University of Montreal against Harvard in a game of rugby football under Harvard rules. The goalposts were H-shape, constructed with two wooden upright posts, with a crossbar connecting them. The exact dimensions of these first goalposts are not well documented, but there was one goalpost at each end of the playing field. The game was also the first international rugby football contest as well as the first instance of an admission fee charged at a collegiate sporting event.
Football Helmet
In the 1893 Army-Navy football game, Admiral Joseph Mason Reeves (who would later be named “the father of carrier aviation”) wore the first football helmet. It had been created by an Annapolis, Maryland, shoemaker after Reeves’s navy doctor advised him that he risked death or “instant insanity” if he took another kick to the head. That first flimsy helmet with earflaps was crudely made of moleskin, but Reeves figured something on his head as protection was better than nothing. This helmet also served as the basis for early aviator caps.
Football Stadium
In July 1903, ground was broken for Harvard Stadium, the first stadium specifically built for American football. Located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Harvard Stadium is a horseshoe-shape facility that was originally built by the Aberthaw Construction Company. The first football game played there was on November 14, 1903. Dartmouth defeated Harvard 11-0. The stadium’s capacity at the time, including standing room, was near 40,000. It was also the first facility built primarily of concrete and the largest steel-reinforced concrete structure in the world at the time.
Forensic Autopsy
In 44 B.C.E., ancient Roman physician Antistius performed the first postmortem forensic examination in a criminal case as he comprehensively examined the dead body of Julius Caesar after his assassination. According to Antistius’s autopsy report, he found that only 1 of Caesar’s 23 stab wounds had proved fatal—the one to the chest.
Fly-Fishing
Around 500 B.C.E., the Macedonians in the northernmost part of ancient Greece were perhaps the world’s first fly fishermen. Their fishing was written about in the first century C.E. by Latin poet Marcus Valerius Martialis and in 200 C.E. by Roman author Claudius Aelianus. These authors wrote of people fishing in a river with a handmade fly. Aelianus described how the ancient Macedonians attached red wool and feathers to a hook. Their fishing rods (lacquered, sticklike poles) were about 6 feet long, which was the same length of the string attached with a snaring fly at the end.
Folding Stepladder
On January 7, 1862, John N. Balsley of Dayton, Ohio, patented the first folding stepladder. It was a wooden six-step device with an A-shape frame that could be folded or closed in behind the steps. (The steps themselves did not fold.) Balsley was a carpenter and inventor who replaced the typical ladder rungs with steps and attached the A-shape frame. The A-shape support behind the steps had a much wider base than the width of the steps, which provided stability. Previous to Balsley’s invention, steplad ders were not foldable for storage or ease of transporting.
Food Processor
The food processor is the brainchild of Pierre Verdan, a salesman in the early 1960s for a French catering company. Verdan noticed his commercial clients were spending a lot of time in the kitchen chopping, shredding, and mixing. His solution was a bowl with a revolving blade inside the base. In 1960, Verdan established Robot Coupe, a company to manufacture the first food processors, powered by industrial induction motors, for the catering industry. The food processor was not introduced to the domestic market until the 1970s.
Football Goalpost
On May 14, 1874, the first football goalposts were at Jarvis Field in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a contest that pitted McGill University of Montreal against Harvard in a game of rugby football under Harvard rules. The goalposts were H-shape, constructed with two wooden upright posts, with a crossbar connecting them. The exact dimensions of these first goalposts are not well documented, but there was one goalpost at each end of the playing field. The game was also the first international rugby football contest as well as the first instance of an admission fee charged at a collegiate sporting event.
Football Helmet
In the 1893 Army-Navy football game, Admiral Joseph Mason Reeves (who would later be named “the father of carrier aviation”) wore the first football helmet. It had been created by an Annapolis, Maryland, shoemaker after Reeves’s navy doctor advised him that he risked death or “instant insanity” if he took another kick to the head. That first flimsy helmet with earflaps was crudely made of moleskin, but Reeves figured something on his head as protection was better than nothing. This helmet also served as the basis for early aviator caps.
Football Stadium
In July 1903, ground was broken for Harvard Stadium, the first stadium specifically built for American football. Located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Harvard Stadium is a horseshoe-shape facility that was originally built by the Aberthaw Construction Company. The first football game played there was on November 14, 1903. Dartmouth defeated Harvard 11-0. The stadium’s capacity at the time, including standing room, was near 40,000. It was also the first facility built primarily of concrete and the largest steel-reinforced concrete structure in the world at the time.
Forensic Autopsy
In 44 B.C.E., ancient Roman physician Antistius performed the first postmortem forensic examination in a criminal case as he comprehensively examined the dead body of Julius Caesar after his assassination. According to Antistius’s autopsy report, he found that only 1 of Caesar’s 23 stab wounds had proved fatal—the one to the chest.
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