Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
In western India, the Bandra-Worli Sea Link was first opened to traffic. Characterized by the Mumbai-based Economic Times as “India’s latest showcase to the world,” the cable-stayed bridge formally debuted with only four of its eight lanes opened. The other four lanes were opened nearly nine months later. The bridge, measuring three-and-a-half miles in length,... Continue Reading →
Josef Ressel, an inventor who helped pioneer key advances in ship propellers, was born in the town of Chrudim in Bohemia (at the time under the rule of the Austrian branch of the royal House of Habsburg and now part of the Czech Republic). Ressel studied at various institutions, including an artillery school in the... Continue Reading →
In Southeast Asia, the newly established Wearnes Air Services (WAS) began operations. This marked the first regular commercial air service between the island of Singapore and the Malay Peninsula, with a de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide biplane known as “Governor Raffles” making the inaugural flight from Singapore (at the time part of the British territories... Continue Reading →
On a Sunday evening in South Australia, a new lighthouse made its formal debut at Cape du Couedic on Kangaroo Island. It had taken approximately three years to build the 82-foot-tall Cape du Couedic Lighthouse. G.G. Duthie was named the head keeper for the new lighthouse, with G.E. Luckett and G. Marmant appointed to assist... Continue Reading →
Anders Svedlund became the first person to cross the Indian Ocean in a rowing boat when he arrived at a beach near the city of Diego-Suarez (now Antsiranana) in northern Madagascar. Svedlund, who had been born in Sweden but ultimately moved to New Zealand, completed his pioneering journey 64 days after setting off from Western... Continue Reading →
Louis Chiron, a record-setting Monégasque driver in the Grands Prix that are part of the Formula One car races, died in Monte Carlo at the age of 79. Chiron, who was born in Monte Carlo in 1899, developed a strong interest in both cars and racing as a teenager. Chiron’s first big racing victory occurred... Continue Reading →
Amsterdam's Coen Tunnel was opened by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. Travel between the city and suburb of Zaandam before the tunnel was built was largely by ferry and the Schellingwouder bridge and, as traffic grew during the 1950s, proved to be a large bottleneck. Wait times for the ferry often stretched to 45 minutes... Continue Reading →
The SS Savannah became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was built in 1818 by the New York shipbuilding firm of Fickett & Crockett. During its construction, Captain Moses Rogers asked the Savannah-based shipping company, Scarborough & Isaacs, to convert it to a steamship with the goal of providing the world's... Continue Reading →
Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, landed safely back on Earth after a three-day mission on orbit. Tereshkova was born in central Russia in 1937 to so-called 'proletarian' parents, and out of school worked at a textile factory. She developed a passion for skydiving during this period, and this skill brought her to the... Continue Reading →
Henry Berliner, a Washington D.C. native, son of an inventor, and a technical genius in his own right demonstrated a prototype helicopter to the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics in College Park, Maryland. Berliner was the sixth son of Emile Berliner, and after a brief stint as an aerial photographer with the Army Air Service,... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 