Day in Engineering History Archive - May 8
Note: These historical tidbits have been collected from various sources, mostly on the Internet.
As detailed in
this article, there is a lot of
wrong information that is repeated hundreds of times because most websites do not validate with
authoritative sources. On RF Cafe, events with hyperlinks
have been verified. All will eventually be either verified or removed.
Please submit significant
historical events and dates for inclusion in these lists. I will be glad to include your name and
birthday. Please do not submit your death date ;-)
A couple years ago, I began commemorating the birthdays of notable people and events with special
RF Cafe logos. Where available, I like to use images from postage stamps from the country where
the person or event occurred.
May 8
1786: Thomas Hancock, who founded the British rubber industry, was born. 1792: The U.S. established the military draft. 1847: The rubber tire (for a carriage) was patented in the U.S. by Robert W. Thompson, of England. 1886: Pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton produced the syrup for Coca-Cola, and carried a jug of the new product down the street to Jacobs' Pharmacy and placed it on sale for five cents a glass as a soda fountain drink. 1914: C.W. Post, founder of Post Cereal Company, died. 1919: The first transatlantic flight took off by a navy seaplane. 1926: The first flight over North Pole was made by Bennett and Byrd. 1945: Victory was won in Europe (V-E Day), as Winston Churchill officially announced the end of the war with Germany. 1952: Mad Magazine debuted. 1961: The first practical seawater conversion plant in the U.S. was opened in Freeport, TX. 1962: The era of the trolleybus in London ended. 1999: The first female cadet graduated from The Citadel military college.
Webmaster: Kirt Blattenberger, BSEE, UVM 1989