{ "title": "On this day: mastering mass and energy", "generated": "2026-10-06", "note": "Every event has a source that states the exact day; see 'dropped' for candidates left out. 'reserve' holds verified events trimmed only to keep each month at 15 or fewer.", "events": [ { "month": 1, "day": 2, "year": 1959, "title": "Luna 1 becomes the first craft to reach escape velocity", "why": "The first spacecraft to reach escape velocity and leave Earth's gravity, ending up in orbit around the Sun.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/beyond-earth-tagged.pdf", "source_name": "NASA, Beyond Earth", "id": "luna1" }, { "month": 1, "day": 4, "year": 2001, "title": "Tejas light combat aircraft first flight", "why": "First flight of India's indigenous light combat aircraft, with a fly-by-wire system that keeps an unstable airframe under control.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20131017225618/http://www.tejas.gov.in/history/timeline.html", "source_name": "ADA Tejas programme site (archived)", "id": "tejas-first" }, { "month": 1, "day": 5, "year": 1769, "title": "James Watt's separate-condenser patent granted", "why": "Condensing steam outside the cylinder kept it hot, cutting fuel use sharply: the first big step in converting heat into work efficiently.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/james-watt-and-the-separate-condenser/", "source_name": "Science Museum", "id": "watt-condenser" }, { "month": 1, "day": 5, "year": 2014, "title": "GSLV-D5 flies India's own cryogenic upper stage", "why": "India's first successful flight of its own cryogenic stage, burning liquid hydrogen kept at about −253 °C.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/mission_GSLV_D5GSAT_14.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "gslv-d5" }, { "month": 1, "day": 6, "year": 2024, "title": "Aditya-L1 enters halo orbit around L1", "why": "India's solar observatory was steered into a halo orbit around Sun–Earth L1, a point where gravity and orbital motion balance.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/Aditya_L1.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "aditya-halo" }, { "month": 1, "day": 7, "year": 1785, "title": "Blanchard and Jeffries cross the English Channel by balloon", "why": "A hydrogen balloon carried two people across open sea, showing a gas lighter than air could move people between countries.", "verb": "Move", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Pierre-Francois-Blanchard", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "blanchard-channel" }, { "month": 1, "day": 10, "year": 1901, "title": "Spindletop gusher opens the Texas oil age", "why": "A gusher that flowed about 100,000 barrels a day made oil cheap enough to burn as fuel, starting the petroleum age.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.tshaonline.org/texas-day-by-day/entry/212", "source_name": "Texas State Historical Association", "id": "spindletop", "note": "The TSHA source was intermittently down when checked; the date matches the Texas State Library and Texas Historical Commission." }, { "month": 1, "day": 11, "year": 1922, "title": "First insulin injection, Toronto", "why": "First use of pancreatic extract on a diabetic patient; Collip's purified extract on 23 January then brought his blood sugar down, regulating a living system from outside.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://fisherdigitus.library.utoronto.ca/exhibits/show/insulin100/early-patients/leonard-thompson", "source_name": "University of Toronto Libraries", "id": "insulin-first", "note": "A purer extract given from 23 January produced the clear clinical response." }, { "month": 1, "day": 16, "year": 2025, "title": "SpaDeX: India's first docking in orbit", "why": "Two Indian satellites found each other and docked in orbit, making India the fourth country to dock spacecraft.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2093369", "source_name": "PIB, Government of India", "id": "spadex-dock" }, { "month": 1, "day": 17, "year": 1955, "title": "USS Nautilus: 'Underway on nuclear power'", "why": "The first ship driven by a nuclear reactor: fission heat turned into motion, with no air needed for combustion.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/ships/submarines/uss-nautilus.html", "source_name": "US Naval History and Heritage Command", "id": "nautilus" }, { "month": 1, "day": 20, "year": 2025, "title": "EAST tokamak holds high-confinement plasma 1,066 s", "why": "China's EAST tokamak held a high-confinement plasma for 1,066 seconds, a record for magnetically contained fusion fuel.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://english.cas.cn/newsroom/cas_media/202501/t20250121_899052.shtml", "source_name": "Chinese Academy of Sciences", "id": "east-1066" }, { "month": 1, "day": 23, "year": 1960, "title": "Trieste reaches the bottom of Challenger Deep", "why": "A steel sphere held two people at about 11 km depth, where the water pushes back with over a thousand atmospheres of pressure.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2020/february/triestes-deepest-dive", "source_name": "US Naval Institute", "id": "trieste" }, { "month": 1, "day": 25, "year": 1983, "title": "CERN announces the W boson", "why": "CERN announced the W boson, a carrier of the weak force, by colliding protons and antiprotons hard enough to create it.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://home.cern/w-boson-turns-40/", "source_name": "CERN", "id": "w-boson" }, { "month": 1, "day": 29, "year": 1886, "title": "Carl Benz files the motor-car patent", "why": "The patent for a vehicle powered by a gas engine, widely called the motor car's birth certificate: a small engine turning heat into wheeled motion.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://group.mercedes-benz.com/company/tradition/company-history/1885-1886.html", "source_name": "Mercedes-Benz Group archive", "id": "benz-patent" }, { "month": 1, "day": 31, "year": 1958, "title": "Explorer 1, first US satellite, reaches orbit", "why": "America's first satellite; its radiation counter revealed the Van Allen belts of charged particles trapped by Earth's magnetic field.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/explorer-1", "source_name": "NASA JPL", "id": "explorer1", "note": "Launched late on 31 January local time (1 February UTC)." }, { "month": 2, "day": 3, "year": 1925, "title": "India's first electric train, Bombay VT–Kurla", "why": "India's first electric train ran between Bombay VT and Kurla, replacing steam with power drawn from wires.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://irgreenri.railsaver.gov.in/tile_elect.html", "source_name": "Indian Railways (electrification history)", "id": "mumbai-electric" }, { "month": 2, "day": 3, "year": 1966, "title": "Luna 9 makes the first soft landing on the Moon", "why": "The first controlled landing on another world, and the first pictures from the Moon's surface.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunar_artifact_impacts.html", "source_name": "NASA NSSDCA", "id": "luna9" }, { "month": 2, "day": 12, "year": 1941, "title": "First patient treated with purified penicillin, Oxford", "why": "The first patient given purified penicillin improved within days, but died when the small supply ran out. It showed the drug worked in people.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://oxfordhealth.web.ox.ac.uk/penicillin", "source_name": "Oxford Health Histories, University of Oxford", "id": "penicillin-alexander" }, { "month": 2, "day": 12, "year": 2025, "title": "WEST tokamak holds plasma for 1,337 s", "why": "France's WEST tokamak held a plasma for 1,337 seconds, beating the duration record set by China's EAST three weeks earlier.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://irfm.cea.fr/en/2025/02/west-sets-a-new-plasma-duration-record/", "source_name": "CEA-IRFM", "id": "west-1337" }, { "month": 2, "day": 15, "year": 2010, "title": "RHIC reports 4 trillion degrees, hottest matter made", "why": "Brookhaven reported a quark–gluon plasma at about 4 trillion °C, the hottest matter ever made in a laboratory.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=111074", "source_name": "Brookhaven National Laboratory", "id": "rhic-4t" }, { "month": 2, "day": 15, "year": 2017, "title": "PSLV-C37 places 104 satellites in one launch", "why": "One PSLV placed 104 satellites into orbit, each released in sequence to keep them apart. A record at the time.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/Upper_stage_PSLV37_launched_104satellites.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "pslv-c37" }, { "month": 2, "day": 17, "year": 1932, "title": "Chadwick reports the neutron", "why": "Chadwick's letter to Nature, dated this day, reported the neutron: the neutral particle that later made chain reactions possible.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://web.mit.edu/22.54/resources/Chadwick.pdf", "source_name": "Chadwick, Nature 129 (1932), via MIT", "id": "chadwick", "note": "The letter is dated 17 February; Nature printed it on 27 February 1932." }, { "month": 2, "day": 18, "year": 2021, "title": "Perseverance lands on Mars", "why": "A rover landed by sky crane in Jezero Crater, steering itself away from hazards during the descent.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "perseverance" }, { "month": 2, "day": 20, "year": 1962, "title": "John Glenn orbits Earth", "why": "The first American to orbit Earth flew three orbits and came home through re-entry heat despite a warning that his heat shield might be loose.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1962-003A", "source_name": "NASA NSSDCA", "id": "glenn" }, { "month": 2, "day": 21, "year": 1804, "title": "Trevithick's locomotive makes the first railway steam journey", "why": "A high-pressure steam locomotive hauled iron and passengers on rails in Wales, the first railway journey by steam.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/400379/", "source_name": "Coflein, Royal Commission (Wales)", "id": "trevithick" }, { "month": 2, "day": 22, "year": 1828, "title": "Wöhler synthesises urea from inorganic salts", "why": "Wöhler made urea, a compound from living bodies, out of inorganic salts: chemistry, not a 'vital force', builds life's molecules.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "http://chem125.webspace.yale.edu/125/history99/4RadicalsTypes/UreaLetter1828.html", "source_name": "Wöhler's letter, via Yale Chem 125", "id": "wohler" }, { "month": 2, "day": 23, "year": 1886, "title": "Hall makes aluminium by electrolysis", "why": "Charles Martin Hall got aluminium out of its oxide by passing a current through molten cryolite, turning a precious metal into a cheap one.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/aluminumprocess.html", "source_name": "American Chemical Society", "id": "hall-aluminium" }, { "month": 2, "day": 23, "year": 1893, "title": "Rudolf Diesel's engine patent granted", "why": "Diesel's patent for compression ignition: squeezing air until it is hot enough to ignite fuel, for higher efficiency.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.dhm.de/lemo/bestand/objekt/patentschrift-von-rudolf-diesel-1893", "source_name": "Deutsches Historisches Museum", "id": "diesel-patent" }, { "month": 2, "day": 28, "year": 1928, "title": "C. V. Raman discovers the Raman effect", "why": "Raman saw light scattered by molecules change colour, a fingerprint of how they vibrate. India marks the day as National Science Day.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://ethw.org/Milestones:Raman_Effect,_1928", "source_name": "IEEE Milestone", "id": "raman" }, { "month": 2, "day": 28, "year": 1935, "title": "Carothers' team first makes nylon 6,6", "why": "DuPont's lab first made nylon 6,6, the first fully synthetic fibre: chemistry used to design matter to order.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/carotherspolymers.html", "source_name": "American Chemical Society", "id": "nylon", "note": "Gerard Berchet made the first sample in Carothers' group." }, { "month": 3, "day": 1, "year": 1896, "title": "Becquerel finds uranium's rays fog plates", "why": "Uranium salts fogged a photographic plate with no sunlight involved, revealing radioactivity: energy released from inside atoms.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2008/02/becquerel-discovers-radioactivity", "source_name": "American Physical Society", "id": "becquerel" }, { "month": 3, "day": 1, "year": 1966, "title": "Venera 3 becomes the first craft to reach another planet", "why": "The first human-made object to reach another planet, crashing into Venus.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/beyond-earth-tagged.pdf", "source_name": "NASA, Beyond Earth", "id": "venera3" }, { "month": 3, "day": 2, "year": 1949, "title": "Lucky Lady II completes the first non-stop round-the-world flight", "why": "A B-50 flew round the world non-stop in about 94 hours, refuelled in the air four times.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.afhistory.af.mil/FAQs/Fact-Sheets/Article/458978/lucky-ladies-i-ii-and-iii/", "source_name": "US Air Force Historical Support Division", "id": "lucky-lady" }, { "month": 3, "day": 2, "year": 1969, "title": "Concorde first flight", "why": "First flight of the Anglo-French supersonic airliner, built to cruise at about twice the speed of sound.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "http://www.designmuseum.org/design/concorde", "source_name": "Design Museum", "id": "concorde-first" }, { "month": 3, "day": 2, "year": 1972, "title": "Pioneer 10 launches toward Jupiter and beyond", "why": "The first probe sent through the asteroid belt and past Jupiter, on a path out of the Solar System.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pioneer-10/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "pioneer10", "note": "Launched on 2 March local time (3 March UTC)." }, { "month": 3, "day": 6, "year": 1899, "title": "Aspirin registered as a trademark", "why": "Bayer's synthesised acetylsalicylic acid became a registered trademark, a stable, mass-made drug derived from willow bark chemistry.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/aspirin-turn-of-the-century-miracle-drug", "source_name": "Science History Institute", "id": "aspirin" }, { "month": 3, "day": 14, "year": 1942, "title": "First US patient saved by penicillin", "why": "A dying patient in Connecticut recovered after penicillin, the first US civilian life saved by the drug.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/from-penicillin-to-phages-yales-century-long-fight-against-infection/", "source_name": "Yale School of Medicine", "id": "anne-miller" }, { "month": 3, "day": 16, "year": 1926, "title": "Goddard flies the first liquid-fuel rocket", "why": "Goddard's 2.5-second flight in Auburn, Massachusetts, proved liquid propellants could drive a rocket.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sgoddard.htm", "source_name": "NASA Goddard", "id": "goddard" }, { "month": 3, "day": 17, "year": 1958, "title": "Vanguard 1, first solar-powered satellite", "why": "The first satellite powered by solar cells; it still orbits and is the oldest human object in space.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20171213061610/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1958-002B", "source_name": "NASA NSSDCA (archived)", "id": "vanguard1" }, { "month": 3, "day": 18, "year": 1965, "title": "Leonov makes the first spacewalk", "why": "Alexei Leonov spent about 12 minutes outside Voskhod 2, a pressure suit holding his body's atmosphere in vacuum.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://history.nasa.gov/monograph7.pdf", "source_name": "NASA History", "id": "leonov" }, { "month": 3, "day": 18, "year": 2011, "title": "MESSENGER enters orbit around Mercury", "why": "The first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, steered close to the Sun with a sunshade facing temperatures above 300 °C.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/messenger/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "messenger", "note": "Orbit insertion 18 March UTC (17 March US Eastern time)." }, { "month": 3, "day": 20, "year": 1800, "title": "Volta describes the electric pile", "why": "Volta's letter to the Royal Society, dated this day, described the pile: the first steady source of electric current, made from chemistry.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alessandro-Volta", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "volta" }, { "month": 3, "day": 30, "year": 2010, "title": "LHC's first 7 TeV collisions", "why": "The LHC collided protons at 7 TeV, a world record energy that opened its physics programme.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://home.cern/lhc-research-programme-gets-underway/", "source_name": "CERN", "id": "lhc-7tev" }, { "month": 4, "day": 2, "year": 2023, "title": "RLV-LEX autonomous landing of a winged body", "why": "ISRO's winged reusable launch vehicle prototype was dropped from a helicopter and landed itself on a runway.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/Reusable_launch_vehicle_autonomous_landing_mission.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "rlv-lex" }, { "month": 4, "day": 3, "year": 1984, "title": "Rakesh Sharma flies to space", "why": "Rakesh Sharma launched on Soyuz T-11, the first Indian in space.", "verb": "Move", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rakesh-Sharma", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "rakesh" }, { "month": 4, "day": 3, "year": 2007, "title": "TGV sets the 574.8 km/h rail record", "why": "A modified TGV reached 574.8 km/h, the world speed record for a train on conventional rails.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6521295.stm", "source_name": "BBC News", "id": "tgv" }, { "month": 4, "day": 6, "year": 1938, "title": "Plunkett finds Teflon", "why": "Plunkett found that a cylinder of tetrafluoroethylene gas had polymerised into a slippery, inert solid: PTFE.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-long-strange-history-of-teflon-the-indestructible-product-nothing-seems-to-stick-to-180984920/", "source_name": "Smithsonian Magazine", "id": "teflon" }, { "month": 4, "day": 8, "year": 1911, "title": "Kamerlingh Onnes sees mercury lose resistance", "why": "Kamerlingh Onnes's notebook records mercury's resistance vanishing near 4 K: electricity flowing with no loss.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://physicstoday.aip.org/features/the-discovery-of-superconductivity", "source_name": "Physics Today", "id": "supercond" }, { "month": 4, "day": 12, "year": 1955, "title": "Salk polio vaccine declared safe and effective", "why": "The Francis field trial announced the Salk polio vaccine safe and effective: immunity trained at national scale.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://sph.umich.edu/polio/", "source_name": "University of Michigan School of Public Health", "id": "salk" }, { "month": 4, "day": 12, "year": 1961, "title": "Yuri Gagarin, first human in orbit", "why": "Yuri Gagarin made one orbit of Earth in Vostok 1, the first human in space.", "verb": "Move", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_history/50_years_of_humans_in_space/The_flight_of_Vostok_1", "source_name": "ESA", "id": "gagarin" }, { "month": 4, "day": 12, "year": 1981, "title": "First Space Shuttle launch", "why": "First flight of the Space Shuttle, the first reusable crewed orbital spacecraft.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/mission/sts-1/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "sts1" }, { "month": 4, "day": 14, "year": 1932, "title": "Cockcroft and Walton split the atom with an accelerator", "why": "Cockcroft and Walton split lithium nuclei with accelerated protons, the first nuclear transmutation by a machine.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://physicstoday.aip.org/news/splitting-the-atom", "source_name": "Physics Today", "id": "cockcroft" }, { "month": 4, "day": 16, "year": 1853, "title": "India's first passenger train, Bori Bunder–Thane", "why": "India's first passenger train ran 34 km from Bori Bunder to Thane, hauled by steam.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://cag.gov.in/rly/mumbai-i/en/page-rly-mumbai-i-history", "source_name": "Comptroller and Auditor General of India (Railways)", "id": "ir-first" }, { "month": 4, "day": 19, "year": 1975, "title": "Aryabhata, India's first satellite", "why": "India's first satellite, built by ISRO and launched on a Soviet rocket.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/aryabhata_1.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "aryabhata" }, { "month": 4, "day": 19, "year": 2021, "title": "Ingenuity: first powered flight on another planet", "why": "A 1.8 kg helicopter lifted off in Mars's thin atmosphere, about 1% as dense as Earth's: the first powered flight on another planet.", "verb": "Move", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance/ingenuity-mars-helicopter/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "ingenuity" }, { "month": 4, "day": 21, "year": 2015, "title": "SCMaglev reaches 603 km/h", "why": "A Japanese superconducting maglev reached 603 km/h, floating on magnetic fields: the fastest train run on record.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/fastest-maglev-train", "source_name": "Guinness World Records", "id": "scmaglev" }, { "month": 4, "day": 25, "year": 1953, "title": "DNA double helix published", "why": "Watson and Crick's double helix (with Franklin's and Wilkins's X-ray data) showed how living systems store and copy information.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/171737a0", "source_name": "Nature", "id": "dna" }, { "month": 4, "day": 25, "year": 1954, "title": "Bell Labs unveils the silicon solar cell", "why": "Bell Labs showed a silicon solar cell turning about 6% of sunlight into electricity, the start of practical photovoltaics.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2009/04/bell-labs-silicon-solar-cell", "source_name": "American Physical Society", "id": "solar-cell" }, { "month": 5, "day": 2, "year": 1952, "title": "De Havilland Comet opens jet airliner service", "why": "BOAC's de Havilland Comet flew the world's first scheduled jet airliner service, London to Johannesburg.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/archive-exhibitions/comet-the-worlds-first-jet-airliner/comet-enters-service/", "source_name": "RAF Museum", "id": "comet" }, { "month": 5, "day": 5, "year": 1961, "title": "Alan Shepard's Freedom 7", "why": "Alan Shepard's suborbital Freedom 7 flight, the first American in space.", "verb": "Move", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/history/may-5-1961-alan-shepard-becomes-the-first-american-in-space/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "shepard" }, { "month": 5, "day": 6, "year": 1851, "title": "Gorrie patents mechanical ice-making", "why": "John Gorrie's US patent for a machine that made ice by expanding compressed air, a forerunner of mechanical refrigeration.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Gorrie", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "gorrie" }, { "month": 5, "day": 8, "year": 1980, "title": "World Health Assembly declares smallpox eradicated", "why": "The World Health Assembly declared smallpox eradicated, the first human disease ended by deliberate effort.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/about/history.html", "source_name": "US CDC", "id": "smallpox" }, { "month": 5, "day": 10, "year": 1869, "title": "Golden spike joins the first US transcontinental railroad", "why": "At Promontory Summit, a golden spike completed the first US transcontinental railroad.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.nps.gov/gosp/learn/historyculture/index.htm", "source_name": "US National Park Service", "id": "golden-spike" }, { "month": 5, "day": 10, "year": 1898, "title": "Dewar liquefies hydrogen", "why": "James Dewar liquefied hydrogen at about 20 K, using vacuum-insulated flasks he had invented to hold the cold.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspl.1898.0031", "source_name": "Dewar, Proceedings of the Royal Society (1898)", "id": "dewar-h2" }, { "month": 5, "day": 11, "year": 1998, "title": "Pokhran-II tests; now National Technology Day", "why": "India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests; 11 May is now marked as National Technology Day.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://dst.gov.in/national-technology-day", "source_name": "Department of Science & Technology, India", "id": "pokhran2", "note": "Weapons tests are included for the energy milestone they mark, not as celebration." }, { "month": 5, "day": 14, "year": 1796, "title": "Jenner vaccinates James Phipps", "why": "Edward Jenner inoculated James Phipps with cowpox and showed it protected against smallpox, the first vaccination.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://historyofvaccines.org/history/edward-jenner-frs-frcpe/timeline/", "source_name": "History of Vaccines (College of Physicians of Philadelphia)", "id": "jenner" }, { "month": 5, "day": 16, "year": 1888, "title": "Tesla presents the AC induction motor", "why": "Tesla's lecture to the AIEE set out the polyphase AC motor, driven by a rotating magnetic field.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/articles/new-system-alternate-current-motors-and-transformers", "source_name": "Tesla's AIEE lecture text, via Tesla Universe", "id": "tesla-aiee" }, { "month": 5, "day": 16, "year": 1960, "title": "Maiman's ruby laser fires", "why": "Theodore Maiman's ruby laser fired at Hughes Research Labs, the first time light was made coherent and aimed this tightly.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.hrl.com/about/laser", "source_name": "HRL Laboratories", "id": "laser" }, { "month": 5, "day": 18, "year": 1974, "title": "Pokhran-I, India's first nuclear test", "why": "India's first nuclear test, an underground implosion device at Pokhran: fission energy released on purpose, announced as a peaceful nuclear explosion.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve14p2/d47", "source_name": "US Office of the Historian (embassy telegram, 18 May 1974)", "id": "pokhran1", "note": "Weapons tests are included for the energy milestone they mark, not as celebration." }, { "month": 5, "day": 20, "year": 1927, "title": "Lindbergh takes off on the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight", "why": "Lindbergh left New York alone and landed near Paris 33.5 hours later: one engine and a fuel load moving a person across an ocean.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.si.edu/object/nasm_A19280021000", "source_name": "Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum", "id": "lindbergh", "note": "He landed at Le Bourget on the night of 21 May, Paris time." }, { "month": 5, "day": 25, "year": 2012, "title": "Dragon becomes first commercial craft at the ISS", "why": "SpaceX's Dragon was berthed at the ISS, the first commercial spacecraft to visit the station.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.spaceflightnow.com/falcon9/003/120525arrival/", "source_name": "Spaceflight Now", "id": "dragon-iss" }, { "month": 5, "day": 30, "year": 2020, "title": "Crew Dragon Demo-2 launches", "why": "The first crewed orbital launch from the US since 2011, and the first by a commercially built spacecraft.", "verb": "Move", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-astronauts-launch-from-america-in-historic-test-flight-of-spacex-crew-dragon/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "demo2" }, { "month": 6, "day": 4, "year": 1783, "title": "Montgolfiers' public hot-air balloon demonstration", "why": "In Annonay, the Montgolfier brothers flew an uncrewed hot-air balloon in public: heated air lifting a load.", "verb": "Move", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Montgolfier-brothers", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "montgolfier" }, { "month": 6, "day": 4, "year": 1924, "title": "S. N. Bose writes to Einstein", "why": "S. N. Bose sent Einstein his new way of counting photons, the statistics that predict Bose–Einstein condensates.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://physicstoday.aip.org/features/the-man-behind-bose-statistics", "source_name": "Physics Today", "id": "bose-letter" }, { "month": 6, "day": 5, "year": 1995, "title": "First Bose–Einstein condensate, JILA", "why": "At JILA, Cornell and Wieman cooled rubidium atoms to about 170 nK and made the first Bose–Einstein condensate.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.colorado.edu/jila/2025/07/08/thirty-years-bose-einstein-condensates", "source_name": "JILA, University of Colorado Boulder", "id": "bec" }, { "month": 6, "day": 5, "year": 2017, "title": "GSLV Mk III's first orbital flight", "why": "GSLV Mk III (now LVM3) reached orbit on its first developmental flight, India's heaviest launcher.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/mission_GSLVMkIIID1.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "lvm3-d1" }, { "month": 6, "day": 11, "year": 1644, "title": "Torricelli's letter describes the mercury barometer and a vacuum", "why": "Torricelli's letter, dated this day, described a column of mercury held up by air pressure, with an empty space above it: the barometer.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://catalogue.museogalileo.it/indepth/TorricellianExperiment.html", "source_name": "Museo Galileo", "id": "torricelli" }, { "month": 6, "day": 12, "year": 1979, "title": "Gossamer Albatross: human-powered Channel crossing", "why": "Bryan Allen pedalled the Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel: human muscle power alone, in flight.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/gossamer-albatross/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "gossamer" }, { "month": 6, "day": 15, "year": 1919, "title": "Alcock and Brown complete the first non-stop transatlantic flight", "why": "Alcock and Brown landed in Ireland after the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic, from Newfoundland.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/the-first-non-stop-transatlantic-flight/", "source_name": "Science Museum", "id": "alcock" }, { "month": 6, "day": 16, "year": 1657, "title": "Huygens patents the pendulum clock", "why": "Huygens patented the pendulum clock, regulating motion so accurately that timekeeping errors fell to seconds a day.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/huyg003oeuv02_01/huyg003oeuv02_01_0159.php", "source_name": "Huygens, Oeuvres complètes II (DBNL)", "id": "huygens-clock" }, { "month": 6, "day": 16, "year": 1963, "title": "Tereshkova, first woman in space", "why": "Valentina Tereshkova orbited Earth 48 times in Vostok 6, the first woman in space.", "verb": "Move", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Valentina-Tereshkova", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "tereshkova" }, { "month": 6, "day": 25, "year": 2025, "title": "Shubhanshu Shukla launches on Axiom-4", "why": "Shubhanshu Shukla launched on Axiom Mission 4 and became the first Indian aboard the International Space Station.", "verb": "Move", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/Axiom04_mission_successfully_concluded_return_ISRO_Gaganyatri_ShubhanshuShukla.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "axiom4" }, { "month": 6, "day": 26, "year": 1897, "title": "Turbinia's steam-turbine dash at Spithead", "why": "Parsons's Turbinia ran past the Fleet Review at Spithead, showing steam turbines could beat piston engines for speed.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.maritimefoundation.uk/publications/maritime-2023/sir-charles-parsons-and-the-birth-of-the-steam-turbine/", "source_name": "Maritime Foundation", "id": "turbinia" }, { "month": 6, "day": 26, "year": 2000, "title": "Human genome working draft announced", "why": "A working draft of the human genome was announced, the full instruction set of a living system laid out.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.genome.gov/human-genome-project/timeline", "source_name": "NHGRI (NIH)", "id": "genome" }, { "month": 6, "day": 27, "year": 1954, "title": "Obninsk: first nuclear plant feeds a grid", "why": "The Obninsk plant near Moscow began supplying electricity to the grid, the first nuclear plant to do so.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/26404794246.pdf", "source_name": "IAEA", "id": "obninsk", "note": "IAEA material gives 26 or 27 June for grid connection; 27 June is the commonly cited date." }, { "month": 6, "day": 28, "year": 2012, "title": "CRISPR-Cas9 programmable cutting published", "why": "Jinek, Doudna, Charpentier and colleagues showed Cas9 can be programmed to cut chosen DNA sequences.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1225829", "source_name": "Science (Jinek et al., 2012)", "id": "crispr" }, { "month": 6, "day": 30, "year": 1902, "title": "Shivanasamudra hydro plant powers Kolar gold fields", "why": "One of Asia's first hydroelectric plants sent power about 150 km to the Kolar Gold Fields.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/when-the-electric-age-dawned-on-bangalore-112-years-ago/article19388540.ece", "source_name": "The Hindu", "id": "shivanasamudra" }, { "month": 7, "day": 2, "year": 1909, "title": "Haber demonstrates ammonia synthesis to BASF", "why": "Fritz Haber's tabletop apparatus made ammonia from air's nitrogen at high pressure, shown to BASF: the route to synthetic fertiliser.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co525226/sample-of-habers-synthetic-ammonia-2-july-1909", "source_name": "Science Museum Group", "id": "haber" }, { "month": 7, "day": 3, "year": 1938, "title": "Mallard sets the steam speed record", "why": "LNER A4 Mallard reached 126 mph, still the world speed record for a steam locomotive.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/62943-fastest-steam-locomotive", "source_name": "Guinness World Records", "id": "mallard", "note": "The 126 mph (203 km/h) peak was held only briefly; Guinness lists the ratified figure as 201 km/h." }, { "month": 7, "day": 4, "year": 1904, "title": "Larderello: first electricity from geothermal steam", "why": "Prince Piero Ginori Conti lit five light bulbs with a dynamo driven by natural steam: the first electricity from geothermal heat.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5121438", "source_name": "OSTI (US DOE)", "id": "larderello" }, { "month": 7, "day": 4, "year": 2012, "title": "CERN announces a Higgs-like boson", "why": "ATLAS and CMS announced a new particle consistent with the Higgs boson, the field that gives fundamental particles their mass.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://home.cern/science/physics/higgs-boson", "source_name": "CERN", "id": "higgs" }, { "month": 7, "day": 10, "year": 1908, "title": "Kamerlingh Onnes liquefies helium", "why": "Kamerlingh Onnes liquefied helium at about 4 K, the last gas to give in and the route to ultra-low temperatures.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2019/07/liquid-heliums-birthday", "source_name": "Leiden University", "id": "helium", "note": "Date from Leiden University's account of Kamerlingh Onnes's lab; his Nobel lecture describes the same run." }, { "month": 7, "day": 10, "year": 1960, "title": "CIRUS research reactor goes critical", "why": "The CIRUS research reactor at Trombay went critical, a core facility for India's nuclear programme.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.barc.gov.in/reactor/index.html", "source_name": "BARC", "id": "cirus" }, { "month": 7, "day": 14, "year": 2023, "title": "Chandrayaan-3 launches on LVM3", "why": "LVM3 launched Chandrayaan-3 toward the Moon.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan3.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "ch3-launch" }, { "month": 7, "day": 16, "year": 1945, "title": "Trinity: first nuclear explosive test", "why": "The first nuclear explosive test, in New Mexico: the first large release of fission energy, at enormous human cost.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.energy.gov/lm/doe-history/manhattan-project-background-information-and-preservation-work/manhattan-project-1", "source_name": "US Department of Energy", "id": "trinity", "note": "Weapons tests are included for the energy milestone they mark, not as celebration." }, { "month": 7, "day": 17, "year": 1902, "title": "Carrier's first modern air-conditioning design", "why": "Willis Carrier's drawings for a Brooklyn printing plant controlled humidity and temperature together: modern air-conditioning.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.williscarrier.com/weathermakers/1876-1902/", "source_name": "Carrier (Willis Carrier heritage)", "id": "carrier" }, { "month": 7, "day": 18, "year": 1980, "title": "SLV-3 puts Rohini in orbit", "why": "SLV-3 put the Rohini satellite into orbit, making India the sixth country to launch a satellite on its own rocket.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/mission_SLV_3E2.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "slv3" }, { "month": 7, "day": 20, "year": 1969, "title": "Apollo 11 lands on the Moon", "why": "Eagle landed on the Moon with Armstrong and Aldrin, steered by hand past a boulder field with seconds of fuel margin.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-11/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "apollo11" }, { "month": 7, "day": 21, "year": 1820, "title": "Ørsted publishes electromagnetism", "why": "Ørsted's pamphlet showed an electric current deflects a compass needle, linking electricity and magnetism.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "http://publ.royalacademy.dk/backend/web/uploads/2019-10-03/AFL%204/SP_44_02_00_1920_6486/SP_44_02_09_1820_5563.pdf", "source_name": "Ørsted's 1820 pamphlet (Royal Danish Academy)", "id": "oersted" }, { "month": 7, "day": 25, "year": 1909, "title": "Blériot flies across the English Channel", "why": "Louis Blériot flew across the English Channel in about 37 minutes, the first flight across a sea in a heavier-than-air craft.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Bleriot", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "bleriot" }, { "month": 7, "day": 25, "year": 1978, "title": "Louise Brown, first IVF baby, born", "why": "Louise Brown was born, the first baby conceived by in-vitro fertilisation.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louise-Brown", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "ivf" }, { "month": 7, "day": 26, "year": 2016, "title": "Solar Impulse 2 completes a solar-powered circumnavigation", "why": "A solar-powered aircraft finished a round-the-world flight with no fuel, flying through nights on stored battery energy.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://aroundtheworld.solarimpulse.com/", "source_name": "Solar Impulse", "id": "solar-impulse" }, { "month": 8, "day": 1, "year": 1774, "title": "Priestley isolates oxygen", "why": "Priestley heated mercuric oxide and collected a gas in which a candle burned brightly: oxygen.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/joseph-priestley/", "source_name": "Science History Institute", "id": "priestley" }, { "month": 8, "day": 4, "year": 1956, "title": "Apsara, Asia's first research reactor, goes critical", "why": "Apsara at Trombay went critical, the first research reactor in Asia.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.barc.gov.in/publications/apsara.pdf", "source_name": "BARC", "id": "apsara" }, { "month": 8, "day": 6, "year": 2012, "title": "Curiosity's sky-crane landing on Mars", "why": "A sky crane lowered the car-sized rover onto Mars, an automated landing sequence that came to be called seven minutes of terror.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "curiosity", "note": "Landed 6 August UTC (5 August Pacific time)." }, { "month": 8, "day": 12, "year": 2018, "title": "Parker Solar Probe launches", "why": "Parker Solar Probe launched on a path to fly through the Sun's outer atmosphere.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/parker-solar-probe/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "parker-launch" }, { "month": 8, "day": 13, "year": 1856, "title": "Bessemer presents steel 'without fuel'", "why": "Bessemer's paper described blowing air through molten iron to burn out carbon, making cheap steel in minutes.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Henry_Bessemer", "source_name": "Grace's Guide to British Industrial History", "id": "bessemer" }, { "month": 8, "day": 13, "year": 1913, "title": "Brearley casts the first stainless steel", "why": "Harry Brearley cast a chromium steel in Sheffield that resisted rust: the first stainless steel.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://historymatters.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/blog-archive/2013/designed-to-shinecelebrating-100-years-of-stainless-steel", "source_name": "University of Sheffield", "id": "stainless", "note": "Brearley's first cast; the first commercial cast followed on 20 August 1913." }, { "month": 8, "day": 14, "year": 1834, "title": "Perkins patents vapour-compression refrigeration", "why": "Jacob Perkins's British patent described a closed vapour-compression cycle, the principle inside most refrigerators.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.asme.org/getmedia/cb9bea09-6d23-425e-bfe5-5f6d786919fb/274-perkins-vapor-comp-refrig.pdf", "source_name": "ASME landmark brochure", "id": "perkins" }, { "month": 8, "day": 15, "year": 1914, "title": "Panama Canal opens", "why": "The canal opened, lifting ships 26 m over the isthmus through locks fed by Gatun Lake.", "verb": "Move", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://pancanal.com/en/history/", "source_name": "Panama Canal Authority", "id": "panama" }, { "month": 8, "day": 18, "year": 2015, "title": "Cochin airport becomes fully solar powered", "why": "Cochin International Airport became the world's first airport run fully on solar power.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/kochi-airport-becomes-worlds-first-to-operate-on-solar-power/", "source_name": "The Indian Express", "id": "cial" }, { "month": 8, "day": 23, "year": 2023, "title": "Chandrayaan-3 lands near the lunar south pole", "why": "Vikram landed near the lunar south pole, making India the fourth country to soft-land on the Moon. India marks the day as National Space Day.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan3.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "ch3-land" }, { "month": 8, "day": 27, "year": 1859, "title": "Drake's well strikes oil, Titusville", "why": "Edwin Drake's well at Titusville struck oil at 69.5 feet, the start of the modern US oil industry.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://aoghs.org/petroleum-pioneers/american-oil-history/", "source_name": "American Oil & Gas Historical Society", "id": "drake" }, { "month": 8, "day": 27, "year": 1939, "title": "Heinkel He 178, first jet-powered flight", "why": "The Heinkel He 178 made the first flight powered by a turbojet.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/heinkel-von-ohain-hes-3b-turbojet-engine-reproduction/nasm_A19810039000", "source_name": "Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum", "id": "he178" }, { "month": 8, "day": 28, "year": 2016, "title": "ISRO flight-tests a scramjet engine", "why": "ISRO flew a scramjet engine that breathes air at hypersonic speed to burn its fuel.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/ScramjetEngine.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "scramjet" }, { "month": 8, "day": 29, "year": 1831, "title": "Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction", "why": "Faraday's diary records current induced by a changing magnetic field, the principle behind every generator and transformer.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Faraday", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "faraday-induction" }, { "month": 9, "day": 2, "year": 2023, "title": "Aditya-L1 launches", "why": "PSLV-C57 launched Aditya-L1, India's first solar observatory in space.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/Aditya_L1.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "aditya-launch" }, { "month": 9, "day": 3, "year": 1821, "title": "Faraday's electromagnetic rotation", "why": "Faraday made a wire carrying a current rotate around a magnet: electricity turned into continuous motion.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.rigb.org/explore-science/explore/blog/birth-electric-motion", "source_name": "Royal Institution", "id": "faraday-motor" }, { "month": 9, "day": 4, "year": 1882, "title": "Edison's Pearl Street station starts", "why": "Edison's Pearl Street station began supplying power to Lower Manhattan, the first central power station for incandescent lighting.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://ethw.org/Milestones:Pearl_Street_Station,_1882", "source_name": "IEEE Milestone", "id": "pearl-street" }, { "month": 9, "day": 5, "year": 1977, "title": "Voyager 1 launches", "why": "Launched to Jupiter and Saturn, it is now the most distant human-made object.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-1/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "voyager1-launch" }, { "month": 9, "day": 7, "year": 2020, "title": "DRDO flies the HSTDV scramjet demonstrator", "why": "DRDO's hypersonic technology demonstrator flew under scramjet power at about Mach 6.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1651956", "source_name": "PIB, Government of India", "id": "hstdv" }, { "month": 9, "day": 9, "year": 1913, "title": "First industrial Haber–Bosch ammonia plant starts, Oppau", "why": "BASF's Oppau plant started making ammonia by the Haber–Bosch process at industrial scale.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.aiche.org/sites/default/files/cep/20160969.pdf", "source_name": "AIChE, Chemical Engineering Progress", "id": "oppau" }, { "month": 9, "day": 10, "year": 2008, "title": "LHC first beam", "why": "The first proton beam went round the 27 km LHC ring, steered by superconducting magnets at 1.9 K.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://home.cern/first-beam-in-the-lhc-accelerating-science/", "source_name": "CERN", "id": "lhc-beam" }, { "month": 9, "day": 13, "year": 1959, "title": "Luna 2 reaches the Moon's surface", "why": "The first human-made object to reach the Moon, aimed across about 380,000 km of space.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunar_artifact_impacts.html", "source_name": "NASA NSSDCA", "id": "luna2", "note": "Impact was 21:02 UTC on 13 September, already 14 September in Moscow." }, { "month": 9, "day": 15, "year": 1830, "title": "Liverpool and Manchester Railway opens", "why": "The first intercity railway ran entirely on steam power, between Liverpool and Manchester.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/opening-of-liverpool-and-manchester-railway", "source_name": "National Museums Liverpool", "id": "lmr" }, { "month": 9, "day": 19, "year": 1648, "title": "Puy-de-Dôme: air pressure falls with height", "why": "Florin Périer carried Pascal's mercury tube up the Puy de Dôme and saw it fall, showing air has weight that thins with height.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://blaisepascal.bibliotheques-clermontmetropole.eu/son-oeuvre/pascal-savant/physique/experience-du-puy-de-dome", "source_name": "Bibliothèques Clermont Métropole", "id": "puy-de-dome" }, { "month": 9, "day": 24, "year": 2014, "title": "Mangalyaan enters Mars orbit on the first try", "why": "Mangalyaan entered Mars orbit, making India the first nation to succeed on its first attempt.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=109972", "source_name": "PIB, Government of India", "id": "mom" }, { "month": 9, "day": 27, "year": 1825, "title": "Stockton and Darlington Railway opens", "why": "The first public railway to use steam locomotives opened, with Locomotion No. 1 hauling coal and passengers.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/topic/Stockton-and-Darlington-Railway", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "stockton" }, { "month": 9, "day": 28, "year": 2008, "title": "Falcon 1 reaches orbit", "why": "The first privately developed liquid-fuelled rocket to reach Earth orbit.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/topic/SpaceX", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "falcon1" }, { "month": 9, "day": 30, "year": 1882, "title": "Vulcan Street: first hydroelectric central station", "why": "The Vulcan Street Plant in Appleton was the first hydroelectric central station serving private and commercial customers.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://ethw.org/Milestones:Vulcan_Street_Plant,_1882", "source_name": "IEEE Milestone", "id": "vulcan" }, { "month": 9, "day": 30, "year": 1935, "title": "Hoover Dam dedicated", "why": "Hoover Dam was dedicated, holding back the Colorado River and turning its fall into electricity.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/feature/HooverDam80th.pdf", "source_name": "US Bureau of Reclamation", "id": "hoover" }, { "month": 10, "day": 1, "year": 1964, "title": "Tokaido Shinkansen opens", "why": "The Tokaido Shinkansen opened between Tokyo and Osaka, the first high-speed rail line.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr64/pdf/6-17_web.pdf", "source_name": "Japan Railway & Transport Review", "id": "shinkansen" }, { "month": 10, "day": 3, "year": 1967, "title": "X-15 reaches Mach 6.7", "why": "Pete Knight flew the X-15 to Mach 6.7, the fastest crewed winged flight, which scorched the aircraft's heat-resistant coating.", "verb": "Move", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/reference/x-15/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "x15" }, { "month": 10, "day": 4, "year": 1957, "title": "Sputnik 1, first artificial satellite", "why": "Sputnik 1 reached orbit, the first artificial satellite: a rocket gave it enough speed to keep falling around Earth.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/history/65-years-ago-sputnik-ushers-in-the-space-age/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "sputnik" }, { "month": 10, "day": 8, "year": 1958, "title": "First implanted pacemaker", "why": "Arne Larsson received the first implanted pacemaker in Stockholm, an electrical pulse regulating a heartbeat.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2572009/", "source_name": "Europace (via PubMed Central)", "id": "pacemaker" }, { "month": 10, "day": 13, "year": 2024, "title": "Super Heavy booster caught by the launch tower", "why": "SpaceX caught a returning Super Heavy booster with the arms of its launch tower.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/13/spacex-starship-rocket-launch-flight-5-booster-catch-attempt.html", "source_name": "CNBC", "id": "starship-catch" }, { "month": 10, "day": 14, "year": 1947, "title": "Bell X-1 breaks the sound barrier", "why": "Chuck Yeager flew the rocket-powered Bell X-1 faster than sound, the first time in level flight.", "verb": "Move", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/bell-x-1-glamorous-glennis/nasm_A19510007000", "source_name": "Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum", "id": "yeager" }, { "month": 10, "day": 15, "year": 1994, "title": "PSLV's first successful flight", "why": "PSLV's first successful flight; it became India's workhorse launcher.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/mission_PSLV_D2.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "pslv-d2" }, { "month": 10, "day": 16, "year": 1846, "title": "Ether anaesthesia demonstrated, Boston", "why": "At Massachusetts General Hospital, William Morton's ether let surgery proceed without pain. The date is remembered as Ether Day.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://libguides.massgeneral.org/mghhistory/ether", "source_name": "Massachusetts General Hospital", "id": "ether" }, { "month": 10, "day": 17, "year": 1956, "title": "Calder Hall opens", "why": "Calder Hall was opened, the first nuclear power station to deliver electricity at commercial scale.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://nda.blog.gov.uk/decommissioning-the-worlds-first-commercial-nuclear-power-station/", "source_name": "Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (GOV.UK)", "id": "calder-hall" }, { "month": 10, "day": 19, "year": 1941, "title": "Smith–Putnam turbine feeds the grid", "why": "A 1.25 MW wind turbine on Grandpa's Knob, Vermont, fed a utility grid, the first megawatt-scale wind generator.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/640987-first-megawatt-wind-turbine", "source_name": "Guinness World Records", "id": "smith-putnam" }, { "month": 10, "day": 21, "year": 2023, "title": "Gaganyaan TV-D1 crew-escape test", "why": "ISRO's test vehicle fired the Gaganyaan crew escape system and parachuted the crew module into the sea.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/gaganyaan-mission-isro-launch-test-vehicle/article67445115.ece", "source_name": "The Hindu", "id": "tv-d1" }, { "month": 10, "day": 22, "year": 1963, "title": "Bhakra Dam dedicated", "why": "Bhakra Dam was dedicated to the nation, holding back the Sutlej for irrigation and hydropower.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "http://bbmb.gov.in/bhakra-project.htm", "source_name": "Bhakra Beas Management Board", "id": "bhakra" }, { "month": 10, "day": 22, "year": 2008, "title": "Chandrayaan-1 launches", "why": "PSLV-C11 launched Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to the Moon.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan_1.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "ch1-launch" }, { "month": 10, "day": 24, "year": 1984, "title": "Kolkata Metro, India's first metro, opens", "why": "Kolkata Metro opened its first section, India's first underground railway.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/events/kolkata-metro-forty-years-of-revolutionising-urban-travel-and-connecting-lives/cid/2058049", "source_name": "The Telegraph (India)", "id": "kolkata-metro" }, { "month": 10, "day": 28, "year": 1969, "title": "Tarapur, India's first nuclear power station, enters service", "why": "Tarapur Atomic Power Station began commercial operation, India's first nuclear power station.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.npcil.nic.in/content/302_1_TarapurAtomicPowerStation.aspx", "source_name": "NPCIL", "id": "tarapur" }, { "month": 11, "day": 5, "year": 2013, "title": "Mangalyaan launches", "why": "PSLV-C25 launched the Mars Orbiter Mission, which then coasted for about ten months on a transfer orbit timed to meet Mars.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/MarsOrbiterMissionSpacecraft.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "mom-launch" }, { "month": 11, "day": 8, "year": 1895, "title": "Röntgen discovers X-rays", "why": "Röntgen found that rays from a cathode-ray tube passed through matter and lit up a screen: X-rays.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1901/rontgen/biographical/", "source_name": "Nobel Prize", "id": "xray" }, { "month": 11, "day": 9, "year": 1967, "title": "Saturn V's first flight", "why": "First flight of the Saturn V, the most powerful rocket flown at the time, launched uncrewed.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-4/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "apollo4" }, { "month": 11, "day": 9, "year": 1991, "title": "JET makes the first controlled D–T fusion power", "why": "JET ran the first controlled fusion experiment with a deuterium–tritium fuel mix, making about 1.7 MW of fusion power.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0741-3335/34/4/001", "source_name": "Gibson, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion (1992)", "id": "jet-dt" }, { "month": 11, "day": 12, "year": 2014, "title": "Philae lands on a comet", "why": "The Philae lander touched down on comet 67P, the first landing on a comet.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Rosetta/Touchdown!_Rosetta_s_Philae_probe_lands_on_comet", "source_name": "ESA", "id": "philae" }, { "month": 11, "day": 14, "year": 2008, "title": "Moon Impact Probe reaches the lunar surface", "why": "Chandrayaan-1's Moon Impact Probe reached the lunar surface, putting the Indian flag on the Moon.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://new1.isro.gov.in/media_isro/pdf/ResourcesPdf/SpaceIndia/publication(6).pdf", "source_name": "ISRO, Space India", "id": "mip" }, { "month": 11, "day": 16, "year": 1896, "title": "Niagara power reaches Buffalo", "why": "Electricity from Niagara Falls reached Buffalo about 40 km away, proving long-distance AC transmission.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://reference.insulators.info/publications/view/?id=256", "source_name": "Electrical press, Nov 1896 (reprint)", "id": "niagara", "note": "Current reached Buffalo just after midnight on 16 November (dispatch dated 15 November)." }, { "month": 11, "day": 16, "year": 2004, "title": "X-43A scramjet reaches Mach 9.6", "why": "NASA's X-43A flew at about Mach 9.6 on scramjet power, a record for an air-breathing aircraft.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/reference/x-43a-hyper-x/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "x43" }, { "month": 11, "day": 17, "year": 1869, "title": "Suez Canal opens", "why": "The Suez Canal opened, joining the Mediterranean and Red Sea without locks.", "verb": "Move", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/English/About/SuezCanal/Pages/CanalHistory.aspx", "source_name": "Suez Canal Authority", "id": "suez" }, { "month": 11, "day": 17, "year": 2010, "title": "ALPHA traps antihydrogen atoms", "why": "CERN's ALPHA experiment trapped antihydrogen atoms in a magnetic bottle, containing antimatter that would vanish on touching matter.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/nature09610", "source_name": "Nature (ALPHA, 2010)", "id": "antihydrogen" }, { "month": 11, "day": 20, "year": 1998, "title": "Zarya, first ISS module, launches", "why": "Zarya, the first module of the International Space Station, launched.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/history/20-years-ago-space-station-construction-begins/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "zarya" }, { "month": 11, "day": 21, "year": 1783, "title": "First crewed free flight, hot-air balloon", "why": "Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes made the first crewed free flight, in a Montgolfier hot-air balloon over Paris.", "verb": "Move", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Francois-Pilatre-de-Rozier", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "balloon-manned" }, { "month": 11, "day": 21, "year": 1963, "title": "First rocket launch from Thumba", "why": "A Nike-Apache sounding rocket lifted off from Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram, the start of India's space programme.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.vssc.gov.in/soundingRockets.html", "source_name": "VSSC, ISRO", "id": "thumba" }, { "month": 11, "day": 26, "year": 1966, "title": "Rance tidal power station opens", "why": "The Rance tidal power station in Brittany opened, the first large plant generating electricity from the tides.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://fresques.ina.fr/de-gaulle/fiche-media/Gaulle00262/allocution-prononcee-lors-de-l-inauguration-de-l-usine-maremotrice-de-la-rance.html", "source_name": "INA (French national audiovisual archive)", "id": "rance" }, { "month": 12, "day": 2, "year": 1942, "title": "Chicago Pile-1: first self-sustaining chain reaction", "why": "Under Chicago's Stagg Field, Fermi's team achieved the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction and held it under control with cadmium rods.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/first-nuclear-reactor-explained", "source_name": "University of Chicago", "id": "cp1" }, { "month": 12, "day": 3, "year": 1967, "title": "First human heart transplant", "why": "Christiaan Barnard's team transplanted a human heart at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christiaan-Barnard", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "heart" }, { "month": 12, "day": 5, "year": 2022, "title": "NIF achieves fusion ignition", "why": "Lawrence Livermore's lasers produced more fusion energy (3.15 MJ) than they delivered to the target (2.05 MJ): ignition.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.llnl.gov/article/49306/lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory-achieves-fusion-ignition", "source_name": "Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory", "id": "nif" }, { "month": 12, "day": 15, "year": 1970, "title": "Venera 7: first data from another planet's surface", "why": "Venera 7 sent data from Venus's surface, about 475 °C under crushing pressure: the first transmission from another planet's surface.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/beyond-earth-tagged.pdf", "source_name": "NASA, Beyond Earth", "id": "venera7" }, { "month": 12, "day": 16, "year": 1947, "title": "Bell Labs point-contact transistor works", "why": "Bardeen and Brattain's point-contact transistor amplified a signal at Bell Labs, starting solid-state control of electric current.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://ethw.org/Milestones:Invention_of_the_First_Transistor_at_Bell_Telephone_Laboratories,_Inc.,_1947", "source_name": "IEEE Milestone", "id": "transistor" }, { "month": 12, "day": 16, "year": 1954, "title": "GE makes synthetic diamond", "why": "GE's Tracy Hall turned carbon into diamond at high pressure and temperature, repeatably.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.invent.org/inductees/h-tracy-hall", "source_name": "National Inventors Hall of Fame", "id": "diamond", "note": "ASEA in Sweden made diamonds in 1953 but did not publish; GE's was the first reproducible, announced result." }, { "month": 12, "day": 17, "year": 1903, "title": "Wright brothers' first powered flights", "why": "Orville and Wilbur Wright made four controlled, powered flights at Kitty Hawk, the longest lasting 59 seconds.", "verb": "Move", "object": "fluids", "source_url": "https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/1903-wright-flyer/nasm_A19610048000", "source_name": "Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum", "id": "wright" }, { "month": 12, "day": 18, "year": 2014, "title": "LVM3-X/CARE: crew-module re-entry test", "why": "LVM3-X carried an uncrewed crew-module prototype that came back through re-entry heat and splashed down in the Bay of Bengal.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/CARE.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "care" }, { "month": 12, "day": 20, "year": 1951, "title": "EBR-I: first electricity from nuclear power", "why": "EBR-I in Idaho lit four light bulbs with electricity from nuclear fission, a first.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://inl.gov/experimental-breeder-reactor-i/", "source_name": "Idaho National Laboratory", "id": "ebr1" }, { "month": 12, "day": 21, "year": 2015, "title": "First orbital-class booster lands upright", "why": "A Falcon 9 first stage came back after an orbital launch and landed upright at Cape Canaveral.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.britannica.com/topic/SpaceX", "source_name": "Britannica", "id": "falcon-land", "note": "Landing on 21 December local time in Florida." }, { "month": 12, "day": 21, "year": 2021, "title": "JET produces 59 MJ fusion energy", "why": "JET produced 59 megajoules of fusion energy in a five-second pulse, a world record at the time.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.iter.org/node/20687/jet-makes-history-again", "source_name": "ITER Organization", "id": "jet-59" }, { "month": 12, "day": 23, "year": 1954, "title": "First successful kidney transplant", "why": "Joseph Murray's team in Boston transplanted a kidney between identical twins, the first long-term success.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/exhibits/show/reconstructing-lives/transplantation/herrick-twins", "source_name": "Countway Library, Harvard Medical School", "id": "kidney" }, { "month": 12, "day": 24, "year": 1968, "title": "Apollo 8 orbits the Moon", "why": "Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit, the first crew to leave Earth's gravity well and see Earthrise.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-8/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "apollo8" }, { "month": 12, "day": 24, "year": 2024, "title": "Parker Solar Probe's record closest pass to the Sun", "why": "Parker Solar Probe passed about 6.1 million km from the Sun's surface at about 692,000 km/h, the fastest and closest pass of any spacecraft.", "verb": "Move", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasas-parker-solar-probe-makes-history-with-closest-pass-to-sun/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "parker-peri" }, { "month": 12, "day": 26, "year": 1898, "title": "The Curies announce radium", "why": "Marie and Pierre Curie, with Gustave Bémont, announced radium to the Académie des Sciences.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://history.aip.org/exhibits/curie/discover.htm", "source_name": "American Institute of Physics", "id": "radium" } ], "reserve": [ { "month": 1, "day": 14, "year": 2005, "title": "Huygens probe lands on Titan", "why": "The first landing in the outer Solar System: a probe parachuted through Titan's thick atmosphere and sent data from the surface.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/beyond-earth-tagged.pdf", "source_name": "NASA, Beyond Earth", "id": "huygens" }, { "month": 1, "day": 19, "year": 2006, "title": "New Horizons launches at record speed", "why": "Launched faster than any spacecraft before it, it went on to fly past Pluto in 2015.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=2006-001A", "source_name": "NASA NSSDCA", "id": "new-horizons" }, { "month": 1, "day": 21, "year": 1976, "title": "Concorde begins supersonic passenger service", "why": "Scheduled passenger flights at twice the speed of sound began: heat and drag managed well enough to sell as a service.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/about-ba/history-and-heritage/celebrating-concorde", "source_name": "British Airways heritage", "id": "concorde-service" }, { "month": 1, "day": 22, "year": 2007, "title": "SRE-1 capsule survives re-entry and is recovered", "why": "ISRO's capsule came back through the atmosphere behind a heat shield and was recovered from the Bay of Bengal, India's first return from orbit.", "verb": "Contain", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/ISRO_EN/SRE_1.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "sre1" }, { "month": 1, "day": 23, "year": 2017, "title": "MAIUS-1 makes the first Bose–Einstein condensate in space", "why": "A sounding rocket made the first Bose–Einstein condensate in space, cooling atoms to within a hair of absolute zero in free fall.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "heat", "source_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0605-1", "source_name": "Nature (Becker et al., 2018)", "id": "maius1" }, { "month": 1, "day": 27, "year": 1880, "title": "Edison's incandescent-lamp patent granted", "why": "US patent 223,898 for a carbon filament in an evacuated bulb: electric current turned into steady, controllable light.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/thomas-edisons-patent-application-for-the-light-bulb", "source_name": "US National Archives", "id": "edison-patent" }, { "month": 2, "day": 7, "year": 1984, "title": "First untethered spacewalk with a jet backpack", "why": "Bruce McCandless flew free of the Shuttle on a nitrogen-jet backpack, steering his own motion in orbit with no tether.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter13.html", "source_name": "NASA History", "id": "mmu" }, { "month": 2, "day": 9, "year": 1969, "title": "Boeing 747 first flight", "why": "First flight of the jumbo jet, which made long-distance flying cheap enough for mass travel.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.historylink.org/file/1181", "source_name": "HistoryLink.org", "id": "b747" }, { "month": 2, "day": 22, "year": 1997, "title": "Dolly the sheep announced", "why": "Roslin Institute announced a sheep cloned from an adult cell, showing a specialised cell's DNA can be reprogrammed.", "verb": "Regulate", "object": "living systems", "source_url": "https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/natural-sciences/dolly-the-sheep/", "source_name": "National Museums Scotland", "id": "dolly-announce" }, { "month": 4, "day": 23, "year": 1886, "title": "Héroult patents aluminium electrolysis", "why": "Paul Héroult patented the same electrolytic route to aluminium in France as Hall did in America.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/aluminumprocess.html", "source_name": "American Chemical Society", "id": "heroult" }, { "month": 6, "day": 21, "year": 2004, "title": "SpaceShipOne makes the first private crewed spaceflight", "why": "Mike Melvill flew SpaceShipOne above 100 km, the first privately funded crewed spaceflight.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/scaled-composites-spaceshipone/nasm_A20050459000", "source_name": "Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum", "id": "spaceshipone" }, { "month": 7, "day": 15, "year": 1965, "title": "Mariner 4 flies past Mars", "why": "The first close flyby of Mars, returning the first pictures of another planet from space.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-077A", "source_name": "NASA NSSDCA", "id": "mariner4", "note": "Closest approach was on 15 July UTC." }, { "month": 7, "day": 20, "year": 1976, "title": "Viking 1 lands on Mars", "why": "The first fully successful Mars landing; Viking 1 worked on the surface for over six years.", "verb": "Direct", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/viking-1/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "viking1" }, { "month": 7, "day": 30, "year": 2025, "title": "NISAR launches on GSLV-F16", "why": "GSLV-F16 launched NISAR, the NASA–ISRO radar satellite that maps how Earth's surface moves.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.isro.gov.in/Mission_GSLVF16_NISAR.html", "source_name": "ISRO", "id": "nisar" }, { "month": 10, "day": 1, "year": 1908, "title": "Ford Model T goes on sale", "why": "Ford began selling the Model T, the car that put motor transport within reach of ordinary buyers.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.thehenryford.org/collections/explore/articles/fords-model-t", "source_name": "The Henry Ford", "id": "model-t" }, { "month": 10, "day": 15, "year": 1997, "title": "ThrustSSC: first supersonic land-speed record", "why": "Andy Green drove ThrustSSC past the speed of sound on land, at an average of 1,227.985 km/h.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/land-speed-(fastest-car)", "source_name": "Guinness World Records", "id": "thrust-ssc" }, { "month": 12, "day": 18, "year": 1957, "title": "Shippingport reaches full power", "why": "Shippingport, Pennsylvania, reached full power, the first full-scale US nuclear plant built for electricity alone.", "verb": "Convert", "object": "matter", "source_url": "https://www.asme.org/about-asme/engineering-history/landmarks/47-shippingport-nuclear-power-station", "source_name": "ASME", "id": "shippingport" }, { "month": 12, "day": 25, "year": 2021, "title": "JWST launches", "why": "Ariane 5 launched the James Webb Space Telescope, whose sunshield keeps its mirror below about −223 °C.", "verb": "Move", "object": "work/motion", "source_url": "https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/", "source_name": "NASA", "id": "jwst" } ], "dropped": [ "Davy isolates potassium, 6 Oct 1807: the day is widely repeated but not shown in his notebook or the Bakerian lecture we could check.", "Edison's carbon-filament lamp test, 22 Oct 1879: sources give 21 or 22 October for the 13.5-hour burn.", "Voyager 1 enters interstellar space, 25 Aug 2012: NASA says 'on or about' that date, reconstructed from later data.", "Savery's steam-pump patent, 25 Jul 1698: an Old Style (Julian) date, so the modern calendar day is ambiguous.", "Sidrapong hydro plant, Darjeeling, 10 Nov 1897: only weak secondary sources for the day.", "Fleming notices penicillin, 28 Sep 1928: the day comes from later recollection, not a dated record.", "Cailletet and Pictet liquefy oxygen, Dec 1877: accounts differ on which day counts (experiment vs announcement).", "Lauffen–Frankfurt three-phase transmission, 1891: accounts differ on the first day power reached Frankfurt.", "Wróblewski and Olszewski liquefy oxygen, 5 Apr 1883: no institutional source found in this pass that states the day.", "Otto's four-stroke engine first runs, 9 May 1876: the day could not be confirmed from a reliable source.", "Charles and Robert's hydrogen balloon, 1 Dec 1783: not verified against a reliable source in this pass.", "Ford's moving assembly line, 1 Dec 1913: Ford sources give different start days for different lines.", "Baekeland's Bakelite patent, 7 Dec 1909: the grant date could not be confirmed from the patent record in this pass.", "Southern grid synchronised with the national grid, 31 Dec 2013: no official source confirmed the exact day in this pass.", "Mission Shakti ASAT test, 27 Mar 2019: dropped on scope (a weapons demonstration, not a mass/energy first).", "Dolly the sheep born, 5 Jul 1996: duplicate of the 22 Feb 1997 announcement (kept that one in reserve).", "Collip's purified insulin, 23 Jan 1922: merged into the 11 Jan 1922 insulin entry as a note." ] }