US President Theodore Roosevelt became the first US President to ride in an automobile. (1902) Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, rode in a Columbia Electric Victoria Phaeton in Hartford, Connecticut. The police detail covering the event rode bicycles.
The world’s first air raid took place — using hot air balloons. (1849) The Austrian military launched 200 unmanned balloons over Venice, Italy. The balloons had bombs with timers attached.
The first America’s Cup was won. (1851) The American schooner America won the race, beating out 15 competitors. The race was a 53-mile (85-kilometer) regatta at the Isle of Wight. The Cup is the oldest trophy awarded in international sports.
Pitcher Nolan Ryan struck out batter 5,000. (1989) Ryan, pitching for the Texas Rangers, struck out Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics; he was the first pitcher to strike out 5,000 batters in Major League Baseball history.
The International Red Cross was established. (1864) The First Geneva Convention was signed by 12 countries, agreeing to send aid to those wounded during times of war. The agreement was based on the ideas of Jean-Henri Dunant, a Swiss humanitarian who won the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. The Red Cross emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the reverse of the Swiss flag and was chosen in Dunant’s honor.
The world’s first nuclear-powered cargo ship set sail. (1962) The NS Savannah, which was in service until January 10, 1972, is one of just four nuclear-powered cargo ships in the world.
Rhodesia was expelled from the 1972 Olympic Games. (1972) The expulsion occurred just four days before the opening ceremonies began and was due to political pressure regarding the country’s racist policies. Competing African countries argued Rhodesia was an illegal regime. Rhodesia returned to the Olympics in 1980, under new rule and with a new country name: Zimbabwe.
The Queen Charlotte earthquake struck Canada. (1949) The earthquake was an 8.1-magnitude interplate earthquake that ruptured more than 622 miles (1,000 kilometers) along the Queen Charlotte Fault. It was bigger than the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Incredibly, no deaths were reported.
The “Storm botnet” sent out a record 57 million e-mails in one day. (2007) The Storm Worm, a Trojan horse that is spread by spam e-mail, created the “Storm botnet.” The botnet has been used in many criminal activities, but the creators have never been identified.
The Loch Ness monster was first said to have been spotted. (565) St. Columbia reported seeing the monster as a group of people were burying someone who had been killed by the monster. St. Columbia made the sign of the cross and told the monster, “you will go no further,” and it fled.
The first ring of Neptune was discovered. (1989) The ring system was discovered by NASA’s space probe Voyager 2.