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The Smithsonian Institution was founded on this date in 1846. It is named for British scientist James Smithson, who willed his fortune to the U.S. to establish the institution, even though he had never visited America. Today, the 170-year-old Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum and research complex, made up of 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoo, and nine research centers. It currently has over 138 million items in its collections. It is one of the main attractions for …

With so much modern infrastructure featuring soaring atriums and deep subterranean transit systems, it’s not easy to imagine getting by without escalators. However, this efficient people mover was conceived in a far simpler, down to earth time. The first patent for a moving stairway was obtained on this date in 1859 by Nathan Ames. However, it was never built. The first practical escalator was built by Jesse Reno in 1896 at Coney Island, New York. Reno called his device an …

On this date in 1930, an offbeat sort of history was made when a stock trade order was placed from a zeppelin — an airship — off the Atlantic coast. This didn’t start a trend because the stock market had crashed and burned less than 10 months earlier, and a famous zeppelin crashed and burned just seven years later. While 810 million shares were traded in 1930, that was down significantly from 1929’s volume of 1.1 billion. The stock market …

Friday, August 5th.  On this day in 1966, a groundbreaking ceremony was held near the southern tip of Manhattan.  On the site of a recently cleared neighborhood of low-rise buildings called Radio Row, work began on what would become the World Trade Center.  The iconic twin towers, the landmark feature of the seven-building development, were briefly the tallest in the world after their completion in the early 1970s.  The cost of the World Trade Center complex was around $1.5-billion.  In …

In this first week of August 102 years ago, American motorists got the green light to safely proceed through increasingly traveled crossroads. A traffic light system, credited with being the first in the U.S., flashed red and green at the intersection of 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. To further prompt drivers, the words “Stop” and “Move” were emblazoned on the operating red and green lights. At the time, there were about 1.8 million motor vehicles in the …

Although the numbers have fallen sharply in the last few decades, still some people in the U.S. succumb to diseases that could have been prevented by immunization. Others experience pain, suffering and disability. That’s why this is National Immunization Awareness Month — highlighting the importance of vaccinations to a long and healthy life. The process of vaccination was known even in ancient cultures. Its most spectacular success came in the eradication of smallpox, a scourge of humanity for thousands of …