The parachute was invented by Andre-Jaques Garnerin of France who made the first descent over the Parc Monceau, Paris, on October 22, 1797 when he was released from a balloon at a height of 2,230 ft. He rode in a gondola. The parachute had a diameter of 23ft, was supported by a rigid pole, and had its 32 white canvas …

Since the very early days of their history men have been making bricks of clay or other materials for use in building. The Tower of Babel, for which, according to the Old Testament, ‘they had brick for stone’, was probably a brick temple. People who lived in ancient Egypt built their houses from both sun-dried and kiln-baked bricks.

Cereals, of course, in the general sense, including wheat, rice, maize (known as corn in Canada and the United States), rye, oats and barley were among the earliest plants grown by man. But packaged or processed cereals are a modern development. Breakfast cereals owe their origin to the vegetarians of the last century and health fanatics who believed they could …

The first known lighthouse was the Pharos of Alexandria in Egypt, a 400 tower built about 280 B.C. A wood fire was kept burning on the top of the tower, which became one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Before this the light from volcanoes had acted as a guide for sailors. The first lighthouse in Britain was built …

Although the remarkable properties of the rubber tree were known to the Aztecs and other South American Indians, for perhaps a thousands years, rubber was unknown in Europe until the discovery of the New World. Pietro Martyre d’Anghiera, chaplain to the court of Ferdinand of Aragon, Castile and Leon, gave the first written account of the elastic gum in his …

The date was 17 December 1903; the scene: the cold windy hills of North Carolina; the name of the place which was to go down in history: Kitty Hawk; the occasion: man’s first powered flight. The aeroplane had arrived. Orville Wright (one of the two aviation pioneer brothers, Orville and Wilbur) was at the controls. The aircraft, powered by a …

Concrete can be said to have been used for thousands of years, if the words is taken generally to mean a hard building material produced from a mixture of cement, sand, gravel and stone. The Assyrians and Babylonians used clay to bind sand and stones, and the ancient Egyptians discovered lime and gypsum. The Romans mixed slaked time with volcanic …

On 17 January 1779 two ships of Captain James Cook anchored in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii. The natives believed that in ancient times Lono, god of fertility and cultivated foods, came down from the sky. Lono was honoured in the Makahiki festivities that lasted from October to February. When Cook landed, the people greeted him as Lono. Priests brought offerings, and …

In the violent beginnings of our planet the surface of the Earth looked a terrifying place. White-hot magma, formed of molten rock from the Earth’s interior, boiled on the surface with constant explosions. At the same time showers of meteorites and cosmic dust, attracted by the pull of the Earth’s gravity, made the sphere grow bigger and bigger as it …

As it gradually cooled, the magma solidified on the surface and the Earth became covered with a crust of primeval rocks, mainly consisting of granite and basalt. These rocks encased our globe like a rigid shell, while inside it continued to be burning hot. When the Earth cooled still more it shrank, and the rocky layer which covered it had …