istoryworld
Events relating to technology
French automobile pioneer Leon Serpollet sets a new land speed record, driving a steam car at 75 mph along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice
William K. Vanderbilt drives the first internal-combustion car to win the land speed record, at 76 mph at Ablis in France
The first Aswan dam, at this time the world's largest, is completed on the Nile
William Harley and three Davidson brothers begin the commercial production in Milwaukee of motorcycles, but complete only three by the end of the year
Britain's first national motor show is organized at the Crystal Palace, moving two years later to Olympia
Orville Wright travels 40 yards in the first successful powered flight, at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina
Charles Rolls and Henry Royce meet in a historic encounter in Manchester and launch their first car, the Rolls-Royde 10 hp, later in this same year.
An observatory with a 100-inch reflecting telescope is set up by George Ellery Hale on Mount Wilson in California
US inventor King C. Gillette receives a patent for a disposable safety razor
English engineer Herbert Austin sets up a factory to manufacture cars at Longbridge, south of Birmingham
The first boat to be powered by a combustion engine, the 125-ton vessel Venoga, is launched on Lake Geneva
Percival Lowell predicts the existence of an unknown planet, almost exactly where Pluto is discovered 25 years later
The Simplon rail tunnel, the longest in the world (20 km), is opened between Switzerland and Italy
The Cunard company launches the Lusitania on the Clyde as a sister ship to the Mauretania
US inventor Lee De Forest patents the Audion, a sensitive vacuum-tube radio receiver
Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce build their most famous car, the Silver Ghost, in the factory they have set up in Derby
Samuel Simon, working in Manchester, takes out a patent for the use of silk to support a stencil
The British liner Lusitania sets a new record for the Atlantic crossing, on the first of four such occasions
Swiss chemist Jacques Brandenberger patents cellophane, a flexible transparent film made from cellulose
The first Model T Ford rolls off the production line at the Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit
Leo Baekeland announces his discovery of Bakelite, calling it 'the material of a thousand uses'
Louis Blériot is the first to fly across the English Channel, winning the £1000 prize offered by the Daily Mail
Lee De Forest broadcasts Enrico Caruso live from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, but with mixed success owing to the poor quality
The wife of Harvey Crippen, an American doctor working in north London, vanishes mysteriously
Charles Stewart Rolls becomes the first man to fly non-stop across the English Channel and back
