Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
A new light rail system began operations in Genoa, Italy’s sixth largest city (nicknamed “The Proud One” for its storied past and historic landmarks). The debut of the first section of the single-line Genoa Metro coincided with the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament; that year’s competition was sponsored by... Continue Reading →
A sailing replica of the 18th-century Swedish ship Götheborg was launched. The ceremony took place in the presence of members of the Swedish royal family at the Terra Nova shipyard in Gothenburg on Sweden’s west coast. The original ship had been built for the Swedish East India Company, which conducted trade with East Asia, and... Continue Reading →
Pioneering canal engineer Engebret Soot was born in the municipality of Aurskog (now part of Aurskog-Høland) in southeastern Norway. At the time of Soot’s birth, the Kingdom of Norway was united with the Kingdom of Denmark as a state known as Denmark-Norway; this integrated state remained in existence until 1814, when Norway established itself as... Continue Reading →
Anatole Mallet, who became a consequential if initially underappreciated engineer and inventor, was born near Geneva, Switzerland. When he was very young, he and his family moved to France. Mallet’s longtime engineering career included helping to build the Suez Canal during the 1860s. His most significant contribution, however, was in the world of railroads. By... Continue Reading →
Polish aviation pioneer Tadeusz Góra made a record-setting flight of 359 miles in a PWS-101 glider (an unpowered aircraft dependent on air currents to stay airborne) between the village of Bezmiechowa Górna in southeastern Poland and the city of Šalčininkai in southeastern Lithuania. As a result of this achievement, Góra became the first-ever recipient of... Continue Reading →
In the Austrian Empire, the first segment of a railway to connect the capital city of Vienna with the pivotal Hungarian city of Győr (the halfway point between Vienna and Budapest) was officially opened. This initial section had been constructed between the town of Baden, which is 16 miles south of Vienna, and the Austrian... Continue Reading →
Engineer and helicopter designer Étienne Edmond Oehmichen established a new aviation record in his native France. He did so by flying his helicopter Oehmichen No. 2, which he had designed and built a couple of years earlier, around a triangular closed circuit of approximately six-tenths of a mile. This flight took seven minutes and 40... Continue Reading →
A transportation milestone for the Tsar-ruled Russian Empire took place when the first two trams with electric motors arrived in Kiev. On the same day as their arrival, both trams underwent test runs on Sahaydachny Street in the city. The trams, which were built by renowned engineer Amand Struve (1835-1898), marked the start of the... Continue Reading →
Robert Gerwig, a civil engineer who specialized in designing railways for unusually challenging terrain, was born in the city of Karlsruhe in the Grand Duchy of Baden (now part of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany). Gerwig studied civil engineering at Polytechnische Schule (the present-day University of Karlsruhe), and initially focused on road construction.... Continue Reading →
A pioneering aviation event in England came to an end when Louis Paulhan finished first in a two-man London-to-Manchester plane race. The French aviator landed in Manchester early in the morning after he had begun his 186-mile flight from London. His competitor, an Englishman named Claude Grahame-White, had been hampered by everything from engine problems... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 