Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
April 27, 1922 Sheila Scott, who would break more than 100 aviation records, was born in the cathedral city of Worcester in central England. Prior to her pursuit of flying, she worked in such varied fields as nursing and acting. Scott learned how to fly in 1958. After nine months of training, she began to... Continue Reading →
April 17, 1962 A dedication ceremony took place for an airport in the vicinity of Bhubaneswar, the capital city of eastern India’s state of Odisha. This airport was specifically dedicated to the people of Odisha, and it had the distinction of being the first commercial airport in the state. The airport is named after Biju... Continue Reading →
Margaret A. Wilcox, who was born in Chicago in 1838, became a prolific mechanical engineer and inventor at a time when very few women -- due to prevailing social conventions -- played any meaningful role at all in these professions. She developed a strong interest in mechanical engineering early in life and would use her... Continue Reading →
February 26, 2021 A little over a month after being launched, the expeditionary survey boat HNLMS Hydrograaf (H8021) was commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy. This commissioning was carried out via video call by Barbara Visser (born in 1977), who became the Dutch government’s state secretary for defense in October 2017 and served in this... Continue Reading →
February 20, 2020 Operations began for the first two sets of four-car 8100 class trains that had been recently acquired by the Philippine National Railways (PNR) as part of its efforts to improve commuter services in Metro Manila (the National Capital Region), the largest metropolitan area of that Southeast Asian archipelagic country. These diesel multiple... Continue Reading →
Gladys West, who made pivotal contributions to the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS), was born on October 27, 1930, in the community of Sutherland, Virginia. After graduating from her high school as valedictorian, West attended Virginia State College (now Virginia State University). She graduated in 1952 with a B.S. in mathematics. West eventually... Continue Reading →
January 9, 1916 SS Duilio was launched at the Ansaldo Shipyard in the city of Genoa in northwestern Italy. This ship was the first Italian super ocean liner and ultimately became one of that country’s largest vessels. The Duilio was built for use by the Italian shipping company Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI). The vessel’s name was... Continue Reading →
January 7, 1946 On New Zealand’s North Island, a railway station in the city of Lower Hutt was officially opened. (At the time, New Zealand was still a dominion of the British Empire; it achieved full autonomy the following year.) This station serves Lower Hutt’s suburbs of Naenae and Avalon. The Naenae railway station, as... Continue Reading →
December 24, 1801 A steam-powered road vehicle was introduced to the public during a test run that began in southwestern England’s town of Camborne. This full-sized vehicle had been designed and built by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833), a prolific inventor and mining engineer from that region. Trevithick nicknamed his creation the Puffing Devil. Six passengers were... Continue Reading →
December 17, 2012 In the Scottish town of Port Glasgow, the ferry MV Hallaig was launched at the yard of Ferguson Shipbuilders – now known as Ferguson Marine Engineering – on the Firth of Clyde (the estuary of the River Clyde). Nicola Sturgeon (born in 1970), who was serving as deputy first minister of Scotland... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 