Firsts (19 page)

On October 22, 1938, Chester Floyd Carlson of New York City, a patent attorney and part-time inventor, made the first electro-photographic image with his photocopier apparatus. The first photocopy was made on wax paper pressed against an electrostatically charged, sulfur-coated zinc plate dusted with fine dark powder. The resulting image read “10.-22.-38 ASTORIA.” Carlson patented the process, which he called xerography, on October 6, 1942.

In 1822, the first successful photographic image, called a heliograph, was captured by Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. The photograph was taken as the
View from the Window at le Gras
and looked like the sides of shaded stone buildings on both the left and right with the horizon in the distance. Niépce was able to create a permanent image by exposing coated pewter plates to a camera image and then using the vapors from heated iodine crystals to darken the silver. The exposure time for this first photograph lasted 8 hours. In the photo, the sun appears to shine on both sides of the building(s) because the sun had moved from east to west during the day.

The first photojournalist was a Romanian-based photographer, Carol de Szathmari, who lived and worked during the Crimean War of 1853 to 1856. He took his camera to the war’s battlefields along with a horse-drawn wagon specially equipped with a dark room for processing pictures. In April 1854, he and his wagon became a target for the Turkish artillery from Oltenitza, a Romanian city. They thought he was a Russian spy, and luckily they missed as he continued his work. His collections of photographs received a great deal of worldwide attention and many awards. In October 1857, one of his photo images appeared in the French magazine
Le Monde Illustre.

Around 1720, Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy, developed the first piano, known as a pianoforte. Cristofori came up with the idea to produce loud and soft notes and to maintain dynamic variety from the same instrument. He improved upon earlier attempts in other instruments with his idea to strike the pianoforte’s strings with hammers that fell back from the strings after striking. This action was so fluid that one could play many repeated notes quickly and with a variety of tone. Cristofori produced about 20 of his pianos. They did not have legs but could be placed on a table or countertop for playing.

The “improved” Bagatelle-Table patented in 1871 is acknowledged as the ancestor of all pinball machines. British inventor Montague Redgrave manufactured the game at his factory in Cincinnati, Ohio. The original and older Bagatelle used a skinny, poollike table, ball, and cups at one end. Redgrave’s improved version made the game much smaller so it could sit on a bar or countertop. He also added a coiled spring and plunger, replaced the large bagatelle balls with marbles, and added an inclined playfield. By pulling back and releasing the plunger, the player could shoot balls up the inclined playfield, a device that remains to this day. Redgrave’s innovations in game design are acknowledged as the birth of modern pinball.

The first planetarium of note was the Globe of Gottorf, completed in 1664. It was constructed by Adam Olearius and Andreas Busch, who were residents of Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorf (now in Germany). The hollow celestial sphere measured about 10 feet in diameter and had a gilded star map on its interior. It weighed 3½ tons and could seat several persons on a circular bench. Water-driven gears powered the device, which rotated once a day. This marvel of contemporary craftsmanship was placed in a palace garden to amuse and amaze visitors.

During the Tang dynasty and no later than the ninth century, the Chinese began using tree leaves in simple card games. It’s been documented that Princess Tongchang, daughter of Emperor Yizong of Tang, played leaf games with members of the Wei clan to pass the time. Years later, and with the simultaneous development of sheets of paper instead of paper rolls, paper dominoes were shuffled and dealt. Some experts suggest the first playing cards were actual paper currency, so in card games, you were playing both with and for the cards.

In 1616, the concept of a poet laureate originated in England. Benjamin Jonson, a playwright and lyrical poet from Westminster, London, became the first poet laureate, although unofficially. King James I created the position and granted Jonson an annual pension for his literary services to the crown. The office of poet laureate was a development from the practice when minstrels and versifiers formed part of the king’s entourage, and Jonson was always on call to perform and create poetic greetings and readings.

George Hansburg, an Illinois baby furniture and toy designer, patented the first Pogo Stick in 1919. The early Pogos were wooden sticks with right-angled short planks for the feet that, Hansburg found, rotted and warped rather quickly. Hansburg improved the design and created a painted all-metal, enclosed-spring Pogo Stick with handles. He manufactured them in an Elmhurst, New York factory, and as an advertising ploy, he taught the girls of the
Ziegfeld Follies
how to Pogo. The Roaring ’20s proved to be the height of popularity for Pogo Sticks, and all kinds of stunts were performed using them—including a marriage ceremony!

In ancient Rome, from around 27 B.C.E. through the next 200 to 300 years, the Praetorian Guard was the world’s first organized police force or department. Instituted by Augustus Caesar as a protective organization for the use of military bodies as guardians of the peace, the Praetorian Guard protected the monarchs, although they at times corruptly assisted in the assassination of leaders. The guards’ duties were often extended as they kept order of the mobs of Rome and the intrigues of the Senate in line. Although deceitful at times, this first police department helped give the Roman Empire much-needed stability.

Around 621 B.C.E., in ancient Greece, the format within the Ecclesia was the birth of the world’s first political parties. The Ecclesia was a citizens’ assembly for the discussion of city policy and affairs. All citizens were permitted to attend, but the poorest could not address the assembly or run for office. The groups or pockets of ones within the Ecclesia who believed the same things and tried to push their beliefs and doctrines were the first political parties. They were loosely named from the leaders of the inner groups, such as
so-and-so
’s (leader’s name) followers. Their political party may have supported a certain political figure, wanted to advance a particular policy, or make a general ideological stand.

In 1834, a peasant girl named Anna Slezak invented the polka dance for her own amusement in Labska Tynice, Bohemia (later Czechoslovakia). She called the dance steps
Madera
and created them to the tune of a folk song called “Strycek Nimra Koupil Simla” (“Uncle Nimra Brought a White Horse”). The dance soon became known as the polka from the Czech word
pulka,
which meant “half-step,” and thanks to its liveliness and the rapid shift from one foot to another, the dance soon caught on.

In 1941, the first man-made polyester was a fiber called Terylene. It began as a group of polymers in Wallace Carothers’s DuPont chemical laboratory in Wilmington, Delaware. Carothers had discovered that alcohols and carboxyl acids could be successfully combined to form fibers. The work got put on the back burner after he discovered nylon (introduced in 1938). In 1939, a group of scientists at the Calico Printers Association in Great Britain took up Carothers’s work. After a couple years of further research, they created the first polyester fiber.

On January 4, 1936,
Billboard
magazine published its first pop music “Hit Parade,” a list of popular tunes and instrumentals (not a list of records). The first number one song was “Stop! Look! Listen!” by Joe Venuti, a jazz violinist. The direct ancestor of the Top 40 concept, Hit Parade was created as a result of the development and expansion of radio plus the production of phonograph records and jukeboxes. The hit tunes were originally published in sheet music format and were typically recorded by several different artists. Each record company promoted its own version.

In the 1940s, Harvard archaeology students discovered the oldest-known ears of popcorn, dating to 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, in the Bat Cave of west-central New Mexico. The partially popped kernels ranged from smaller than a penny to about 2 inches in size. Popcorn later became prevalent in early sixteenth-century Aztec Indian ceremonies. In the 1850s, farmers in the American Midwest made common use of the mold-board plow, which led to the widespread planting of flint or popping corn. Called Prairie Gold, the crop became an important commodity around 1890. The first commercial producer was the Albert Dickinson Company of Odebolt, Iowa.

In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson of San Francisco, California, accidentally left his fruit drink with a stirring stick in it outside on a cold night and it froze. The next morning, when he tugged on the stirring stick, out popped the world’s first fruit-flavored icicle. Epperson christened his treat an Epsicle, and it quickly became popular with his school friends. Epperson waited 18 years before releasing his frozen treat to the public and changed the name to Popsicle after his children’s frequent requests for “pop’s sicle.” Epperson received a patent for “frozen ice on a stick” in 1924.

Around 570 B.C.E., the first true popular elections were developed in the Greek city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica. Under the leadership of Solon, the founder of democratic principles, a constitution was established that gave voting power to a popular assembly of freeborn male citizens. This popular assembly voted directly in elections for select public officials, on legislation, and on execution bills.

Although the origins of a postal system date to antiquity, the General Post Office (GPO) was officially established in 1660 in England, by Charles II. Soon the GPO became a series of general post offices established across the British Empire. These first post offices were under the control of one Postmaster General and became the ancestor of the post office as it is known today. The first postmaster general of the GPO was Colonel Henry Bishop, who served from 1660 to 1663.

The penny black, the first postage stamp to be affixed to letters as a sign of prepayment, went on sale May 1, 1840, in London, England. The 1¢ stamps were printed in sheets of 240 on gummed paper. They weren’t perforated, so they had to be separated by using scissors or a knife. A profile of Queen Victoria was printed on each of the 68,158,080 penny blacks issued. The stamps were the conception of Sir Rowland Hill, a postal reformer who convinced Britain to adopt the new system more reliable than the previous “honor system” delivery. Needless to say, it worked.

In 1853, Native American George Crum was a chef at a Saratoga Springs, New York, resort when a customer complained that his french-fried potatoes were too thick. So out of spite, he fried up a serving of paper-thin potatoes cooked to a crunchy-crisp texture, which, to Crum’s dismay perhaps, the patron immensely enjoyed. The so-called Saratoga Chips became an instant hit with diners. To prepare, potatoes were tediously peeled and sliced by hand and soon packaged and sold, first locally, then throughout the New England area. The invention of the mechanical potato peeler in the 1920s paved the way for potato chips to soar from a small specialty item to a top-selling nationwide snack food. Potato chips are now the world’s number one snack choice.

On Sunday, January 18, 2009, in the run-up to the inauguration of President Barack Obama, a free gala was held for children who likely wouldn’t attend the more grown-up balls on inauguration day. Held at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., nearly 1,200 of the total 2,000 guests were children. Entertainment included the Nationals’ and Capitals’ mascots (from baseball and hockey), “Presidents” George and Abe, and penguins of Every Child Matters. Puppet shows, live music and magic, story times, face painting, balloon sculpting, mini classes, and exhibits were also available. Throughout the ball, carnival-inspired food like ice-cream novelties, popcorn, cotton candy, corn dogs, soft pretzels, cookies, and fruit was served.

On January 20, 2009, President Barack Obama held the first-ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball. The open-to-the-public event was held at Washington, D.C.’s Convention Center. It was a star-studded event that included Beyoncé Knowles, Jay-Z, Ray Romano, Mary J. Blige, Maroon 5, Jamie Foxx, Nick Cannon, Mariah Carey, Keri Washington, and more. The new President and First Lady Obama danced their first dance serenaded by Beyoncé Knowles.

On August 30, 1963, a direct telephone line between Moscow and Washington, D.C., was put into service. Its goal was to speed communication between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union to help prevent the possibility of an accidental nuclear war, especially after the near catastrophe surrounding the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. American teletype machines were installed in the Pentagon (not the White House), and the two countries exchanged encoding devices to decipher teletype (not voice) communications along the 10,000-mile-long cable. The first test message generated from the United States was “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back 1234567890.”

In 1795, President George Washington issued the first presidential pardon, which was also the first pardon that overturned an impending death sentence. Washington pardoned and granted amnesty to hundreds of citizens who had been found guilty of participating in an armed rebellion to protest high alcohol taxes Congress had placed on whiskey sales. Putting down the Whiskey Rebellion of western Pennsylvania was one of the first tests of the new U.S. government.