Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 17, 2012 The first cable-stayed bridge in Rio de Janeiro was officially opened. This 780-meter (2,559.1-foot)-long structure, which was named Ponte do Saber (Portuguese for “Bridge of Knowledge”), carries vehicular traffic across the Canal do Fundão (an artificial estuary created in 1951). The bridge serves as a connection between the Ilha do Fundão campus... Continue Reading →
February 11, 1974 In the state of Pará in northern Brazil, a port in the city of Santarém was inaugurated. The Port of Santarém is located on the right bank of the Tapajós River and only about two miles (three kilometers) from where this river converges with the Amazon River. (The Tapajós River is formed... Continue Reading →
Shirley Reilly, who is of Iñupiat descent, has compiled a noteworthy record as a world-class wheelchair racer. (The Iñupiat are a group of Alaska Natives; their wide-ranging traditional territory extends from Norton Sound, an inlet of the Bering Sea, to the United States’ border with Canada.) Shirley Reilly was born in Anchorage on May 29,... Continue Reading →
November 13, 1899 In a widely publicized flight, Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932) piloted an airship in the skies above Paris. He had been born in southeastern Brazil’s municipality of Palmira, which was eventually renamed after him, and ended up spending most of his adult life in France to more fully pursue his strong... Continue Reading →
September 16, 1946 In the aftermath of World War II, the airline Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali was formally instituted in Rome. “British European Airways and the Italian Institute for Industrial Reconstruction signed an agreement today establishing a new British-Italian airline to be called the ‘Italian International Airlines,’” reported the Associated Press. “At the start the line... Continue Reading →
In 1922, Brazilian airplane pilot Anésia Pinheiro Machado was granted Brevet No. 77 from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (the international regulatory organization for flying). This certification, which was specifically given to Machado by Aeroclube do Brasil, made her only the second licensed female pilot in Brazil. (The first woman in Brazil to earn such a... Continue Reading →
November 14, 1922 Construction began on a record-setting suspension bridge in Florianópolis, the capital city of the state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. It was built to serve as the first fixed connection between the mainland part of Florianópolis and the city’s island of Santa Catarina. The bridge was designed by the American firm... Continue Reading →
October 23, 1906 Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont made the first sustained and officially witnessed flight in a powered heavier-than-air machine in Europe when he piloted his 14-bis biplane in Paris, France. Santos-Dumont came from a family of wealthy coffee producers in his native Brazil, but devoted his life instead to the study of human flight... Continue Reading →
October 9, 1884 In the present-day Federative Republic of Brazil, the Corcovado Rack Railway made its debut in Rio de Janeiro. At the time, Rio de Janeiro was the capital of the Empire of Brazil. Emperor Dom Pedro II officially inaugurated the railway, which transports passengers between the neighborhood of Cosme Velho and the summit... Continue Reading →
September 5, 1889 In western Brazil’s province (now state) of Mato Grosso, local merchants Manoel da Silva Monteiro and Joaquim Francisco de Matos obtained a franchise to build a street railway in the city of Cuiabá. This city has long been considered by many of its residents and others to be the geographical center of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 