Firsts
The first underground railway ran on steam
London's Metropolitan Railway opened in 1863 with steam locomotives in brick tunnels. Passengers travelled through smoke thick enough that ventilation shafts were cut into the streets.
More in Firsts
The first website is still online
Tim Berners-Lee published info.cern.ch in 1991 from a NeXT computer at CERN. It explained what the World Wide Web was — and the page is still reachable today.
The first photograph took hours to shoot
Nicéphore Niépce made the oldest surviving photograph around 1826 in France. The pewter plate needed an exposure of many hours, so the sun lit both sides of the courtyard.
The first phone call was a request for help
In March 1876 Alexander Graham Bell spoke the first words down a telephone to his assistant in the next room: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."
The first powered flight lasted 12 seconds
On 17 December 1903 at Kitty Hawk, the Wright Flyer stayed airborne for 12 seconds and covered about 36 metres — shorter than the wingspan of a modern airliner.
The first human in space orbited in 108 minutes
Yuri Gagarin launched on 12 April 1961 and circled the whole planet in 108 minutes. He ejected and parachuted down separately from his capsule.
The first Moon footprints may last millions of years
Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon on 20 July 1969. With no wind or rain, those bootprints in the dry lunar dust can survive for millions of years.