History Facts

Neil Armstrong was a NASA astronaut and the first man on the moon or, more accurately, the first man to set foot on the moon. He was also an accomplished test pilot and a figure so large in American and world history that you can bet many generations from now people will still be talking about him, as well as …

Microwave ovens have become an essential part of our homes.  Did you ever wonder how this easy and quick way of cooking started? The microwave oven did not come about as a result of someone trying to find a better, faster way to cook. During World War II, Dr. Spencer noticed something very unusual. He was testing a new vacuum …

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who became known for having organised the expedition that resulted in the first circumnavigation of the Earth completed by Juan Sebastian Elcano. Magellan’s expedition of 1519–1522 became the first expedition to sail from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean, and the first to cross the Pacific. His expedition completed the first circumnavigation of …

April 12 was already a huge day in space history twenty years before the launch of the first shuttle mission. On that day in 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and …

On December 21, 1981 the world’s longest airplane made it’s maiden flight. The An-225, which is built by the Russian company Antonov, was manufactured to carry the Buran orbiter, Russia’s version of the Space Shuttle. The An-225 holds over 200 records, including the world’s longest airplane at 84 meters or 276 feet. It is powered by six turbofan engines and …

The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the one and only Wonder which does not require a description by early historians and poets. It is the one and …

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were two American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who were credited with inventing and building the world’s first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. From 1905 to 1907, the brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft. Although not the …

Bell System engineers achieved the first voice transmission across the Atlantic, connecting Virginia and Paris briefly in 1915. A year later, they held the first two-way conversation with a ship at sea, and in 1926. The first two-way conversation across the Atlantic. On January 7, 1927, commercial telephone service (using radio) began between New York and London. Over the next several years, service …

The world’s first University was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education. The world’s first University Takshashila has a special place in the history …

The World’s largest and most powerful earthquake ever recorded, rating 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale occurred on May 22, 1960 near Valdivia, in southern Chile. It is referred to as the “Great Chilean Earthquake” and the “1960 Valdivia Earthquake”. Its resulting tsunami affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands in …