Firsts (16 page)

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, British electronic author Geoffrey William Arnold Dummer was the first to conceptualize the integrated circuit, commonly called the microchip. His electronic work findings stated the possibility to fabricate multiple circuit elements on and into a substance like silicon. In 1952, he presented his discoveries at a conference in Washington, D.C. This was some 6 years before Jack Kirby of Texas Instruments was awarded a patent for basically the same idea. History calls Dummer “the prophet of the integrated circuit.”

In 1946, Dr. Percy Spencer of the Raytheon Corporation in Waltham, Massachusetts, accidentally discovered the effects of the microwaves on food. While testing a new vacuum tube called a magnetron, he observed that the candy bar in his pocket had melted. The surrounding microwaves had cooked the candy bar and nothing else. The Raytheon Corporation produced the first commercial microwave oven in 1954, and Amana, a division of Raytheon, produced the first domestic version in 1967. Today, more than 90 percent of American homes have a microwave oven. LG Electronics of Seoul, Korea, is the number one global manufacturer.

During the eighth century in ancient Greece, the first military schools were established in the city-state of Sparta. After fighting two wars with the neighboring state of Messina, Sparta transformed its city-state into a military society. To survive during that time, Sparta dictated that all schools be military schools and the principle purpose of all education was the development of soldiers. Boys were sent to a residential military school at age 6 or 7 and continued until they were 18 to 20 years of age. They were subject to rigorous testing, and if they failed, they were not considered citizens and received no political rights.

The U.S. Patent Office granted toy factory owner John Van Wormer of Toledo, Ohio, a patent for his “paper bottle” on October 19, 1915. He got the idea after accidentally dropping a glass milk bottle one morning, which undoubtedly made a mess. Van Wormer called his new product Pure-Pak, and marketed the idea that it could be thrown away after one use, eliminating the need to return glass milk bottles. The concept didn’t catch on quickly, as Americans were very attached to milk in bottles, but a steady increase in glass costs worked in Van Wormer’s favor. Soon other companies started making their own paper milk cartons, and by 1950 Van Wormer was churning out 20 million a day. A tab on the side of the gable was created to make pouring possible. This opening device was primitive by today’s standards; it wasn’t until the mid-1950s that the current spout was introduced. By 1968, more than 70 percent of milk packaged in the United States went into paper gable-top milk cartons.

Although New Zealand and Australia set up labor arbitration boards in the 1890s, the United States instigated the first national minimum wage on October 24, 1938, at 25¢ per hour. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) set the lowest wage at which workers could sell their labor. The FLSA also guaranteed time and a half for overtime in certain jobs and prohibited most employment of minors in oppressive child labor.

In 1964, French fashion designer Andre Courrèges invented the first miniskirt, and soon his creation was copied over and over around the world. With the help of his “ascetic scissors,” Courrèges turned out garments that were magical in their simplicity and appealed to a younger, hipper generation. His miniskirt elongated the leg and was the shortest in Paris. Its cool colors were offered in pink, white, ice-blue, pale turquoise, day-glow orange, and lime green. Courrèges’s “space-age” miniskirt was a square-shape skirt that fell several inches above the knee and was suggested to be pleasantly accompanied by calf-high boots.

The first miracle in the Bible was creation, as found in the Book of Genesis starting with verse 1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (King James Version) Much later, around 27 C.E., Jesus performed his first miracle, the turning of water into wine at a wedding feast. This miracle is accounted in the Book of John 2:1-11.

On September 8, 1921, 16-year-old Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C., was crowned the winner in what was to become the first Miss America pageant. The gala took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and as contestants were being selected, Herb Test, a local newspaperman, enthusiastically proclaimed, “And we’ll call her Miss America!” On capturing the title, Miss Gorman was awarded the Golden Mermaid trophy and $100. She was chosen from only a handful of contestants by an equal combination of the crowd’s applause as the contestants strutted in swimsuits and points given to her by a panel of judges. Standing 5’1” tall and weighing 108 pounds, Miss Gorman’s bust, waist, and hip measurements were 30-25-32. Upon winning, she was crowned, wrapped in an American flag, and paraded around as Miss America. This first Miss America also bore a striking resemblance to Mary Pickford, the popular screen actress of the era.

Around 1000 C.E., the Chinese invented missile rockets as a spin-off from their gunpowder invention. The Chinese military engineers invented hollow bamboo tubes packed with powder and fixed to incendiary arrows. To aim the missile or set its projected path, they adjusted the angle of the rocket before launch. These first missiles added a new dimension to fireworks but inevitably were applied to warfare, as they were able to set enemy cities on fire from a distance.

Throughout Europe in the 1400s, the first mobile homes of note were the gypsy wagons. The gypsies traveled in roaming bands with their horse-drawn living wagons, or mobile homes. Each home was equipped with a bed, stove, closet, and several chests. Part of it was carpeted and partitioned off to accommodate a sleeping place. Curtains shaded its windows. A portion of the home served as a kitchen and was fitted with a stove whose small chimney passed up through the roof. The closet held a great pitcher of water, a few cooking utensils, and extra supplies and clothes. Portions of the wagon’s exterior were where the lady of the home could place ornaments, decorations, and usually some well-thumbed tambourines.

Around 9000 B.C.E., the first concept of money was instigated, but not in the traditional sense. Instead of coins, shells, or other small trinkets, cattle were used as money. By definition, money is any circulating medium of exchange used to buy or to get things. The barter process was the exchange of things of value that one has for other goods that are wanted, a trading of this for that. Livestock were often used as a unit of exchange. Then as agriculture developed, people used crops such as grain for bartering.

The money order system was first formally established in Great Britain in 1792 by a private company, not a bank or postal entity. A money order is a payment order for a specified amount of money and is paid for in advance. The first money orders were difficult to process and had fees on both ends. They were proportionally expensive and not very successful. When the system started in England, it was supposed to somehow help one to save money. The people did not accept the idea until the mid- 1830s, when the system was taken over by the post office.

Around 1878 B.C.E., ancient Egypt had the first monopoly, which was on grain because of a 7-year famine. The monopoly came about because the pharaoh had experienced prophetic dreams that Joseph interpreted to foretell a famine. Joseph recommended that Egypt make preparations by stockpiling great amounts of food. The pharaoh then instituted a system for storing and rationing grain to see Egypt through the long, hard years. The monopoly stretched farther than Egypt, as accounted in Genesis 41:57: “And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because the famine was so sore (severe) in all lands.” (King James Version)

Built more than 2,000 years ago, the first mosque was the Kaaba, and/ or the area nearby. The prophet Abraham built the Kaaba as a shrine for the House of God. Located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the Kaaba is a cube-shape stone structure located inside the courtyard of the building, also a mosque, constructed around it. This building, still in existence, has immense indoor and outdoor praying spaces. It’s officially called the Sacred Mosque of Mecca, Al Masjid Al-Haram, but it’s more commonly known as the Haram or Haram Sharif. When Muslims all across the world pray, this first mosque is the direction they face.

The Milestone Mo-Tel (later the Motel Inn) opened its doors in San Luis Obispo, California, on December 12, 1925. Developed by architect Arthur S. Heineman of Pasadena, California, the Milestone cost $80,000 to build. Heineman wanted to create a “motor hotel” with characteristics between rustic auto camps and conventional hotels. Heineman found that the words
motor hotel
didn’t fit on his sign, so he scrunched them together to make
motel.
Favoring a Spanish mission, the Milestone had dozens of bungalows and accommodations for 160 guests. It offered easy access to the highway, reasonable prices, privacy, and a little anonymity. For $1.25 a night, paying guests got a two-room bungalow with a kitchen, bathroom, and private adjoining garage.

Around 1867, the first motorcycle was a steam-powered American invention built by Sylvester Howard Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts, who demonstrated it at fairs and circuses. The charcoal-fired, two-cylinder engine was on a specially built chassis. A vertical boiler was suspended between two 34-inch-diameter wooden-spoke wheels. Charcoal was fed through a small circular door on the side of the firebox. The motorcycle had a throttle on the handlebar, footrests, and a friction brake. Although the Roper steam motorcycle wasn’t commercially successful, the two-wheeled velocipede was road tested.

The first known reference to mouth rinsing appeared around 2700 B.C.E. in the Chinese treatment of gum disease that recommended rinsing the mouth with urine. The modern era of mouthwash began in 1914 when Listerine became the first commercially available mouthwash sold over the counter. (Since 1895, it had been sold to dental professionals only as a powerful oral antiseptic.) A new advertising campaign marketed the product as a remedy for bad breath and introduced the American public to the term
halitosis
and its social undesirability.

On June 11, 1878, the first motion picture, or movie, was shot before the press and starred a horse named Sallie Gardner at a Palo Alto, California, farm. The sponsors of the movie, Leland Stanford (later founder of Stanford University) and Eadweard Muybridge (inventor of a new photographic technology), wanted to establish whether a galloping horse ever has all four feet off the ground simultaneously. To experiment, the horse was photographed in fast motion using a series of 24 stereoscopic cameras. The galloping motion was illustrated through a series of still images viewed together. This first movie proved that a galloping horse does experience all four feet off the ground at the same time.

The actors of the first silent movies were not credited as they are today because in addition to acting, they were the stagehands and set decorators as well. In 1903, American actor Max Aronson (a.k.a. Bronco Billy, Max Anderson, and Gilbert M. Anderson) made his first movie appearance in
The Great Train Robbery.
As the first movie actor, Aronson played three roles in the movie: the bandit, the brakeman, and the passenger who was shot. Besides acting, Aronson also wrote and directed, and he later became the first cowboy star.

During the early days of silent movies, the names of the actresses were not publicized as they are today. In 1906, at 20 years of age, Canadian-born Florence Lawrence made her first motion picture and is often credited as the first movie star. Her acting talents guided her to also become known as the biograph girl, the imp girl, and the girl of a thousand faces. Throughout her acting career, Lawrence appeared in more than 270 films for various motion picture companies.

On August 6, 1932, the world’s first major film festival was held in Venice, Italy. The first festival wasn’t competitive; therefore, no prize was awarded. That didn’t come until the second festival, when the Golden Lion was awarded for the best film. During the first festival, the sole film shown was
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,
directed by Ruben Mamoulian. The movie was a screen adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novel. The festival still takes place today as the Venice Cinema Art Festival.

The first movie kiss (and calling it a “movie” is a bit of a stretch as it was more of a short film clip) was in an 1896 clip titled
The Kiss,
also called
The Widow Jones.
In the silent film created by Thomas Edison, the first known kiss caught on film was a 47-second re-creation of a stage kiss from the musical
The Widow Jones.
The couple involved were John C. Rice and May Irwin. The clip was considered scandalous at the time, but history marks it as one of the most memorable early films.