Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
May 11, 2018 The research vessel Eugen Seibold was launched at the German city of Kiel, which is located on the southwestern shore of the Baltic Sea. Construction on this sailing yacht had begun the previous year. Measuring 72.2 feet (22 meters) in length, the Eugen Seibold is used for the study and contamination-free sampling... Continue Reading →
May 10, 1876 The Centennial International Exhibition -- held in Philadelphia to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in that city -- was opened. Officially called the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine, it was the first actual World’s Fair held in the United... Continue Reading →
In 2018, Pooja Joshin Jesrani became the first woman of South Asian descent to serve as a flight director at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA’s flight directors are responsible for managing operations for various human spaceflight initiatives. Jesrani’s own role in this regard has involved overseeing the ground team for the International... Continue Reading →
May 6, 2006 After making its final flight, the Lockheed C-141C Starlifter strategic airlift plane best known as “Hanoi Taxi” touched down at 9:30 a.m. at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) in Ohio for a formal retirement ceremony there at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (USAF). This plane, which was delivered... Continue Reading →
May 5, 1835 The first steam passenger railway in continental Europe was opened in Belgium. This section of railway, which connected the cities of Brussels and Mechelen, was the initial segment of the Belgian Railway Line 25. English civil engineer George Stephenson was among the first to travel on the new line. His company, as a... Continue Reading →
May 4, 1870 George Preston Coleman, who would become chairman of the Virginia State Highway Commission (the Old Dominion State’s original highway agency) and the second president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHO), was born in Williamsburg, Virginia. Coleman came from a family of high-profile lawyers, professors, and public officials.... Continue Reading →
May 3, 1865 The French government formally authorized the start of construction on the Phare des Pierres Noires (Black Rocks Lighthouse) on the northwest coast of France. This conical structure is specifically located at Le Conquet, which is a commune in the department of Finistère (an administrative division of France’s Brittany region). Le Conquet is... Continue Reading →
In 1968, Juan T. Salas became the first Chamorro to graduate from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) in New London, Connecticut. The Chamorros are indigenous Pacific Islanders from the Mariana Archipelago. Salas grew up in the village of Piti on the western coast of Guam, a U.S. territory that is the largest and southernmost... Continue Reading →
April 29, 1915 In San Francisco, the schooner SS Wapama began a long and varied career when she was officially entered into service as a ship of the Charles McCormick Lumber Company. The “ownership oath” for this acquisition of the Wapama was completed on that date by Sidney Hauptman, the company’s secretary. Two days later,... Continue Reading →
April 28, 1903 The second day of the National Good Roads Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, took place. This convention was held at the Odeon Theater on North Grand Avenue. The significance of the convention in promoting the need for good roads nationwide was a theme highlighted both by those who addressed the delegates that day... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 