11 Most Incredible Firsts In Human History

In the modern age of fast progress it’s easy to forget there’s a first time for everything. Things we now take for granted like the simple act of taking a photo, calling someone on the phone, or even using toilet paper used to be a big deal for someone. A few decades ago video-chatting was a thing you could only see in sci-fi movies and a few centuries ago no one could imagine a world filled with planes, cars, and space rockets. We are surrounded by wonders of technological and scientific progress, and it’s about time we took a step back and reviewed the most prominent first times in human history. Some of the inventions are younger than you think!

Retro Apple
It’s hard to imagine Apple tech looking anything but cutting-edge, but back in 1976 this was the look that helped Steve Jobs secure the deal with the Byte Shop. Built by Steve Wozniak, Apple I was the first ever desktop computer presented to the public. Its cost was set to $666.66 because Wozniak was into ‘repeating digits’.

Cell phone that changed everything
If you think your new smartphone is bulky, take a look at this sturdy fella that weighed more than 1 kg, working for no more than 30 minutes at a time. Yep, you wouldn’t take this little gadget on your morning run, that’s for sure. Martin Cooper, an engineer working for Motorola, created the first ever cell phone in 1973 and made the first call to taunt their rival company. This mobile phone took 10 hours to charge!

The oldest selfie
It seems that people have had a thing for selfies since the dawn of times. The word itself may be just 16 years old, but the first ever selfie was taken way before that. Back in 1839, Robert Cornelius, a chemist by day and a photographer by night, had to pose for a whole minute without moving to create the shot in the store owned by his parents.

Holy vending machine
Hero of Alexandria, a famous Greek engineer, was responsible for a number of ‘cutting-edge’ devices around the first century A.D. He was bent on creating all kinds of automatic mechanisms, so no wonder he came up with his very own ancient version of a vending machine. Using a lever system that was activated by a coin, the machine distributed holy water in the temples of Greece. It turned out some people were greedier than others when it came to holy water, so the engineer decided to control the process.

Lightning
As soon as people figured out how to take pictures they started exploring the world surrounding them. It’s only natural that a spectacular phenomenon like lighting would get special attention. Photographer William Jennings wanted to explore lightning and find out whether it really was of a zig-zag form, thus, taking this memorable photo in 1882.