Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Professional racing cyclist Lee Wai Sze, who also goes by the name of Sarah Lee, was born in the urban area of Kowloon in Hong Kong. Despite being born with anemia, Lee participated in and excelled in athletics at an early age. She eventually developed a strong interest in cycling, and started pursuing that sport on a... Continue Reading →
A group of 19 businessman meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, formed a new shipping company. The Northern Steam Ship Company (NSS) was specifically established to take over both the vessels and business of the Auckland Steam Packet Company. Despite what appeared to be a strong start, NSS struggled financially during its first several years of... Continue Reading →
A ceremony was held to lay the foundation stone for a new railway station in Western Australia’s city of Perth. This Monday afternoon event, however, received a decidedly lackluster review from the region’s Herald newspaper. “There was a very small attendance of the public, there being scarcely any persons present but officials and children,” reported... Continue Reading →
In New Zealand, aviation pioneer George B. Bolt inaugurated the first regular airmail service between the cities of Auckland and Whangarei. This venture marked only the latest of his major contributions to airborne transportation in his homeland. Bolt, who had been born in the city of Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island in 1893, developed... Continue Reading →
Gino Bianco, who achieved fame as a racecar driver from Brazil, died in Rio de Janeiro at the age of 67. He had been born Luigi Emilio Rodolfo Bertetti in Milan, Italy, in 1916, and immigrated to Brazil as a child with his family. His original automotive career involved working as a car mechanic and... Continue Reading →
The formal inauguration of Singapore’s navy took place during a ceremony at Telok Ayer Basin in the Southeast Asian nation. At 5:55 p.m., the men, and women of the new Singapore Naval Volunteer Force (SNVF) stood at attention while the Singapore naval force white ensign – featuring a crescent moon with five stars as well... 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 →
Narinder Singh Kapany has become widely known as “The Father of Fiber Optics” due to his pioneering work with fibers as a means to transmit light signals over long distances for such purposes as telecommunications. Kapany even coined the phrase “fiber optics” more than a half-century ago. Kapany’s extensive research and innovations involving fiber optics... 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 →
Transportation History 