Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Raja Chari, whose considerable flight experience so far has included a journey into space, was born in Milwaukee in 1977 to Sreenivas V. “Shari” Chari and Peggy Egbert. “Shari” Chari, an engineer, had been born in the city of Hyderabad in India in 1942. He and Peggy Egbert met in Milwaukee while he was a... Continue Reading →
May 27, 1931 Auguste Piccard, a world-renowned physicist and inventor, and his fellow physicist Paul Kipfer achieved a record-setting balloon flight in which they became the first human beings to enter into the stratosphere. (The stratosphere is the second layer of Earth’s atmosphere; it is located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere.) Auguste Piccard... Continue Reading →
May 26, 1932 In Denmark, a royal yacht was officially commissioned as an auxiliary ship of the Royal Danish Navy. His Danish Majesty’s Yacht (HDMY) Dannebrog (A540), which was named after the national flag of Denmark, had been built at the Naval Shipyard in Copenhagen. She was launched by Queen Alexandrine (1879-1952), who reigned as... Continue Reading →
May 25, 1884 The San Juan de Salvamento Lighthouse made its debut on Isla de los Estados, a remote island within Argentina’s section of the archipelago Tierra del Fuego. Isla de los Estados is located 18 miles (29 kilometers) off the easternmost point of that archipelago’s main island of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego.... Continue Reading →
May 24, 2007 The Cotswold Way, a footpath in southwestern England, was officially designated a National Trail. National Trails encompass long-distance footpaths and bridleways in both England and Wales and are administered by Natural England, a non-departmental public agency of the United Kingdom; and Natural Resources Wales, a Welsh Government-sponsored body that was formed in... Continue Reading →
In 2020, Josephine Tauoa made U.S. Navy history as the first female American Samoan to be promoted to command master chief petty officer. (An unincorporated territory of the United States, American Samoa is southeast of the independent state of Samoa in the South Pacific Ocean.) As command master chief petty officer (CMC), Tauoa serves as... Continue Reading →
May 20, 2014 A dedication ceremony was held for a single-span bridge in Dublin, Ireland. This structure -- measuring 157 feet (48 meters) in length and 85 feet (26 meters) in width -- crosses the River Liffey and serves as a link between Marlborough and Hawkins Streets in Ireland’s capital city. The bridge is used... Continue Reading →
May 19, 1869 In Australia, a railway station in the town of Musclebrook in the colony (now state) of New South Wales (NSW) was officially opened with considerable fanfare. (That town in the east-central section of NSW is now known as Muswellbrook.) This station was built as part of the NSW-based Great Northern Railway (the... Continue Reading →
May 18, 1908 Stanley Johnson Marx, who would serve as the head of a leading and influential school bus manufacturer on the west coast of the United States, was born in Oakland, California. In 1927, Marx began working for the California-based Gillig Brothers Company as a mechanic. This company traced its origins to a carriage and wagon shop established in... Continue Reading →
May 17, 2018 A station on Line H of the Buenos Aires Underground rapid transit system (Subterráneo de Buenos Aires) was officially opened. This station in the northern section of Argentina’s capital and largest city is adjacent to its namesake, the University of Buenos Aires’ law school (formally known as the Faculty of Law, or... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 