On this Day in History

On this Day in History in 1905: French Dufaux brothers test helicopter.

 

On this Day in History in 1896: Stamasia Portrisi is 1st woman to win a marathon (5:30 in Athens).

 

On this Day in History in 1892: George C Blickensderfer patents portable typewriter.

 

On this Day in History in 1877: Catcher’s mask 1st used in a baseball game.

 

On this Day in History in 1961: Soviet Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin became first man to orbit the Earth.

On this Day in History

On this Day in History in 837: Comet 1P/837 F1 (Halley) approaches within 0.0334 AUs of Earth.

 

On this Day in History in 1710: The first law regulating copyright is issued in Great Britain.

 

On this Day in History in 1930: The first synthetic rubber was produced.

Fun Fact of the Day

Fun Fact of the Day: When the Earth’s shadow sweeps across the lunar landscape, the temperature drops radically. In fact, the resulting “thermal shock” may cause lunar rocks to crumble and gas to escape from within the moon.

Fun Fact of the Day

Fun Fact of the Day: 252 million years ago, the Siberian Traps, erupted and lasted less than 1 million years but left behind Earth’s biggest “large igneous province,” a pile of lava and other volcanic rocks about 720,000 cubic miles (3 million cubic kilometers) in volume.

Riddle of the Day

Yesterday’s Riddle Answer: Water, Fire, Earth and Wind

 

Riddle of the Day: I am a mother and a father, but have never given birth. I’m rarely still, but I never wander. What am I?

Fun Fact of the Day

Fun Fact of the Day: Time on Earth is actually slowing down. Due to tidal friction from the sun and moon, the solar day is lengthening by 1.7 milliseconds each century as the Earth’s rotation slows down.

Fun Fact of the Day

Fun Fact of the Day: While it seems counterintuitive, Earth is actually closest to the sun in December, even though winter solstice is the shortest day of the year.