Ford Motor Company institutes world’s first moving assembly line for the Model T
The assembly line, driven by conveyor belts, reduced production time for a Model T to just 93 minutes by dividing the process into 45 steps.
United States
Frank Shuman builds the world’s first solar thermal power plant in Egypt
Frank Shuman was an American inventor, engineer, and solar energy pioneer known for his work on solar engines. Shuman built the world’s first solar thermal power station in Maadi, Egypt in 1913, using used semi circle shaped troughs to power a 60-70 horsepower engine that pumped 6,000 gallons of water per minute from the Nile River to adjacent cotton fields.
ʻAbdu’l-Bahá travels to the Americas to spread his teachings about the unity of humankind
When he arrived in America, newspapers called him the “Apostle of Peace.” He “will surely unite the East and West,” the president of Stanford University remarked, “for he treads the mystic way with practical feet.”
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded
The NAACP is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey and Ida B. Wells.
The Ford Company invents the Model T, the first car affordable to the masses
Conceived by Henry Ford as practical, affordable transportation for the common man, it quickly became prized for its low cost, durability, versatility, and ease of maintenance.
Wright Brothers invent first successful airplane
With over a thousand glides from atop Big Kill Devil Hill, the Wrights made themselves the first true pilots.
The 12-minute-long silent film, The Great Train Robbery becomes the first narrative movie ever
The Great Train Robbery’s popularity led directly to the opening up of permanent movie theaters and the possibility of a future film industry.
Clara Abbott of Abbott Laboratories becomes perhaps the first women ever to serve on a corporate board
She served on the board of Abbott Laboratories from 1900 to 1908 and from 1911 to 1924 before the company was publicly listed, blazing a trail for female business leaders for decades to come.
Mark Twain publishes “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
Set in a Southern antebellum society that had ceased to exist over 20 years before the work was published, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing satire on entrenched attitudes, particularly racism.
Thomas Edison establishes the world’s first commercial power plant
Pearl Street Station located in Manhattan and established by Thomas Edison’s Edison Illuminating began with six 100 kW dynamos, and it started generating electricity on September 4, 1882, serving an initial load of 400 lamps to 82 customers. By 1884, Pearl Street Station was serving 508 customers with 10,164 lamps. The station burned down in 1890. It was rebuilt, and ran till 1895, when it was decommissioned, since larger and more efficient plants had been built nearby.