FIRST RISING SUN OF 2012 Photograph by JIJI Press/AFP/Getty Images The first rising sun of 2012 appears above Mt. Fuji, observed at Yamanashi prefecture on January 1, 2012. All Nippon Airways (ANA) had organized a rising sun observation flight with 137 passengers on New Year’s Day. via The Atlantic’s…
ARTHUR WYNNE’S ‘WORD-CROSS’, THE FIRST CROSSWORD PUZZLE, IS PUBLISHED – DECEMBER 21, 1913 On December 21, 1913, Arthur Wynne, a journalist from Liverpool, England, published a “word-cross” puzzle in the New York World that embodied most of the features of the genre as we know it. This puzzle is frequently…
JAW-DROPPING 3D FRESCO BY ANDREA POZZO Photograph by BRUCE MCADAM Andrea Pozzo was an Italian Jesuit Brother, Baroque painter and architect, decorator, stage designer, and art theoretician. He was best known for his grandiose frescoes using illusionistic technique called quadratura, in which architecture and fancy are intermixed. His masterpiece is the nave…
ROALD AMUNDSEN’S TEAM BECOME FIRST PEOPLE TO REACH THE SOUTH POLE – DECEMBER 14, 1911 The first recorded humans to reach the Geographic South Pole were Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his party on December 14, 1911. Amundsen named his camp Polheim and the entire plateau surrounding the Pole King Haakon…
OUTLAW JESSE JAMES COMMITS HIS FIRST BANK ROBBERY DECEMBER 7, 1869 Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847 – April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked…
FIRST EVER INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL MATCH – NOVEMBER 30, 1872 Scotland v England (1872) was the first ever official international football match to be played. It was contested by the national teams of Scotland and England. The match took place on 30 November 1872 at West of Scotland Cricket Club’s ground…
Sphinx & Pyramids of Chefren and Mankaura, Giza – Photograph via NYPL Digital Gallery The New York Public Library has shared an incredible gallery of over 9,000 photographs and illustrations of the Middle East from the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century. These include, books, albums and archival compilations. Monuments…
LIFE REBORN AS WEEKLY PHOTOJOURNALISM MAGAZINE – NOV. 23, 1936 In 1936 publisher Henry Luce paid $92,000 to the owners of Life magazine because he sought the name for Time Inc. Wanting only the old Life’s name in the sale, Time Inc. sold Life’s subscription list, features, and goodwill to…
LSD (ACID) FIRST SYNTHESIZED BY ALBERT HOFMANN – NOV. 16, 1938 Skeletal formula and ball-and-stick and space-filling models of the lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) molecule, C20H25N3O by Ben Mills Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was first synthesized on November 16, 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann at the Sandoz Laboratories in…