100+ History Facts & Fun daily Insights about History

Move over analogue dials! The first digital dashboard display appeared in an Aston Martin  Lagonda. It included trip computers, speed and temperature readings and fuel economy measures. However, digital dashboards weren’t that popular with drivers at the time, and most cars today still use an analogue speedometer alongside the digital displays.

General Motors launched connected cars with its OnStar system, which used your mobile phone to call 911 in an accident.

Today the technology links with the phones’ GPS location to guide the emergency services straight to the car.

• The first roads were invented in the Bronze Age in 4000 BCE, created by the older Indus Valley Civilization. This was the first time that straight, 90 degree intersecting roads were seen.
• The Roman civilization created advanced road systems that encouraged travel and connection, forming a lifeline of connecting various cultures, institutions and beliefs.
• The Romans managed to create major roadways and highways with traffic segregation, something unheard of before.
• They had 372 roads with 29 major highways. The first major roadway was called the Appian Way, connecting Rome with Capua, back in 312 BCE. This road was used efficiently during the Samnite Wars in the same era.

Gesture controls

Forget touchscreen – carmakers are already working on making displays that respond to gesture control.

Biometric access

Sorry 1949, but one day car keys might be a thing of the past! Carmakers are working on technology to let you unlock and start your car with your fingerprint.

Windscreen displays

Soon all the information you need about the car could be displayed on smart glass in the windscreen.

• Paris became among the first cities to install gas street lighting in the 19th century.
• During the19th century artistic achievements reached new highs with marvels such as the Eiffel Tower, impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces.
• Influential painters include Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Henri Rousseau, and Vincent Van Gogh.
• Well-known writers of that era include Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, and Alexandre Dumas.

There are lots of overnight tragedies. There are rarely overnight miracles.

Progress happens too slowly for people to notice; setbacks happen too fast for people to ignore. Growth means compounding and that always takes time. Destruction is driven by single points of failure, which can happen in seconds.

Most of history is derived from government documents, transcripts, newspaper articles, and recently, from digital data. Oral history, a tradition from the old, pre-written cultures are often crucial in providing a holistic, rich, and complete picture of a historical event.

Oral histories (and even personal journals) sometimes answer questions that aren’t found in the official texts, about the inner motivations and discarded facts that may be important.

The first ice cream factories opened in the USA before the war. In Italy, pre-confectioned ice cream was a post-war delicacy.

In recent years, home-made or artisan ice-cream has become increasingly sophisticated in technique and ingredients.

The first time women took part in the Olympic events was at the 1900 Games in Paris. Back then, women were allowed to compete in five sports: tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism, and golf.

The 2012 Games in London were the first in which women competed in all the sports on the program.

The end-of-history illusion is when we underestimate how much our personalities, work situations and values will change in the future.

The end-of-history illusion was coined in 2013. It is based on a series of studies showing that people tend to think that they will change relatively little in the future, even though they've changed tremendously in the past.

Power steering technology uses hydraulic power to amplify the pressure on the wheels as you as you turn the steering wheel, saving you so much elbow grease. Power steering first appeared on a Chrysler Imperial and then in a Cadillac a year later.

• Take the time to consider who you were three years ago. What kinds of activities did you like? What type of work did you lie the most? Who were your friends?
  
• Now consider who you are right now. Consider your current friends, activities you like now, and your work priorities. 

Thinking about our past selves can help foster the right mindset about how we might change in the future.

Elon Musk was the first to offer autopilot technology on the Model S.

It’s the first commercially available driver assistance that can steer the car and even change lanes on the motorway.

The first hands-free bluetooth kit appeared in 2001. Later that year, an even better bluetooth technology came out that worked with speech recognition. These days bluetooth is integrated with the cars’ infotainment system.

• H. Briggs was the first French Championship winner who defeated P. Baigneres.
• 1897. Adine Masson became the first ladies' tournament champion when she defeated P. Girod 6-3 6-1.
• 1925. Suzanne Lenglen was the first Grand Slam title winner in the women's singles and René Lacoste in the men's singles.
• Max Decugis, a French player, won 8 titles before WWI.
• 1938. Don Budge is the only American to win 4 Grand Slams in one year.
• 1956. Althea Gibson is the first African-American to win a Grand Slam title.
• Chris Evert holds the most French Open championship titles in the women's singles.

At the Mexico Games in 1968, African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze in the 200m sprint respectively.

During their medal ceremony, they raised their fists in a "Black Power" salute while the flag was being raised and the national anthem played. Their demonstration took place amid the US civil rights movement, and the non-violent gesture of the two athletes brought international recognition to the struggle for civil rights.

2020 is the projected release date of Google’s self-driving car, the Waymo.

It completed its first driverless ride on public roads in 2015 in Austin Texas with a blind man behind the wheel.

The word was coined during the 1940s after a Canadian newspaper referred to a particular muffin as a "superfood that contained all the known vitamins and some that had not been discovered." It took nearly another 50 years for the idea of superfoods to gain traction.

In the 1990s superfoods were fruits, mainly berries. Pomegranate was supposedly a superfruit above the rest. Today, you can find superfoods in every category, from drinks to dairy products and baked goods such as acai-berry cheesecake.

1. The Olympic Rings stand for the five continents, with colours that are found in all competing nations' flags.
2. The names of the winners are engraved on the stadium walls.
3. The ancient Olympic games only had Gold medals.
4. The Olympic Flame is always lit and can withstand almost any calamity or weather condition.
5. The Olympics was open for kids until 1997, and since then has an age barrier of 16 years.

Consider penning down a vision statement - what you really want in the future.

Ask yourself:

• What will a typical day look like?
• What will your work environment look like?
• How much money do you want to make?

Also consider relationships, children, running a company, or speaking another language. Once you have written your vision statement, you can plan to change for the better.

Ford first created computer diagnostics for its factory line in the 1980s. But over time the built-in 16-pin connector became essential for all carmakers because it also gave garage mechanics access to key information about the car for repairs. On-board diagnostics connections became compulsory in America in 1996 and Europe in 2001.

Australian athlete Cathy Freeman, one of 11 Aboriginals in the host nation's team, was under pressure to perform in the Sydney Games in 2000. It was hoped her performance could help promote the image of a modern, tolerant Australia.

Freeman was chosen to light the Olympic flame, but her real focus was the 400m, which she won comfortably, becoming Australia's 100th Olympic champion in the process.

Ancient Rome built sophisticated infrastructure ranging from bridges, amphitheatres, aqueducts and even sewer systems.

The Roman network of roads, called Viae Romanae and meaning ‘Roman Ways’ was a huge breakthrough in quick and easy transportation of trade goods, military supplies, and free movement of civilians and soldiers.

• Its origins go back to the existential philosophers of the 20th century, mainly to Jean-Paul Sartre, who declared in 1943 that we are “condemned to be free.”
• Viktor Frankl wrote Man’s Search for Meaning in 1946, and coined logotherapy as a method of creating meaning.
• Rollo May moved his perspective of the “existential-humanistic” approach in the 1950s from Europe to America.
• In 1980, Irvin Yalom defined the basis of the field of existential therapy, by establishing the four “givens” of the human condition: death, meaning, isolation, and freedom.
• Today there are a few different branches of existential therapy, but they all emphasize the fact that we can deal with existential givens in a way that can move us toward a free, authentic existence.

The Vikings were groups of traders, explorers and warriors that came in their ships. These travellers(The term Viking refers to a pirate) discovered the Americas much before Columbus, along with a host of other places across the globe, due to their seafaring occupation.

In many stories and history books, these people are attributed as ‘bad people’ who come for looting treasures and for women, but in reality, their motives and cultures are richer and more diverse.

• The French Open is an annual tennis tournament event. It is held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, and is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments in tennis.
• The French Open was established in 1891. It was exclusively a men's tournament and only for residents of France. Six years later, the ladies' tournament was introduced.
• The French Championships became international in 1925, but the participants were still restricted to amateurs.
• In 1928, a tennis stadium was built and named Roland Garros, after France's war hero.

People believe that the person they are now will be who they are for the rest of their lives. It can create certain effects:

• Reactive life choices. It is easier to default to what you are now rather than to work towards what you want to be.
• Fixed mindset. "I'm too introverted to make friends", or "my job will always come first". A fixed mindset may prevent us from changing for the better.
• Short-sighted planning. We can become overly optimistic or pessimistic, leading to short-sighted planning.

Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 that celebrates the planet Earth and raises public awareness about environmental issues. 

The day is observed worldwide with rallies, conferences, school projects and other activities. 

Sen. Gaylord Nelson started Earth Day in 1970. The event helped increase public support for the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address environmental issues.

Earth Day has since contributed to the passage of many environmental laws in the U.S. 

• Until the 1950s, people used headphones almost exclusively for radio communication.
• In 1958, John C. Koss introduced the Koss SP3 Steroephones along with a portable phonograph to patients in Milwaukee hospitals that proved revolutionary because their sound quality made them optimal for listening to music.
• 1979: The Sony "Walkman" created a need for a portable headphone and a lightweight set of MDR-3L2 headphones was included with the portable cassette player.
• In 1978, Dr. Amar Bose, while on a flight, tried an early set of electronic headphones used for passenger entertainment. But the cabin noise made it impossible to hear anything. He returned to Boston and investigated how ambient noise could be reduced with active noise cancellation.
• In 1989, the Noise Reduction Technology Group introduced the first noise-reduction headset, designed for the aviation industry.

The phrase ‘existential crisis’ has its roots on the philosophy of existentialism.

Existentialists view life in terms of meaning, freedom, isolation, death and ponder about the choices that are made everyday. They look towards problems and obstacles in a deeply penetrating way, trying to find meaning and purpose of their existence.

• Julius Caesar was a Roman politician, military general, and historian. Julius Caesar and Jon Snow do not share identical life stories - although both were born into prominent families before joining a military service - but they do share identical death stories
• John Stark  served as an officer in the British Army. The stories and names of Jon Snow and John Stark are so similar, it seems almost impossible that George R.R. Martin wasn’t at least partially inspired his life: Stark was adopted into a tribe he was captive to. Later on as a free man he refused to take part on a raid against the tribe. Jon Snow’s shows conflicted loyalties when fighting the Wildlings.

Based on records of stade-length races, the ancient Olympic games started in 776 B.C.E. But that era is not well-documented, so the actual date of the first Olympic Game is still contested.

The ancient Greeks told conflicting stories of the origins of the ancient Olympics. The stories were interlaced with mythology and history.

• Olympics were initially held in Olympia every four years from 776 BCE till 392 AD. 
• The games were then abolished by Roman Emperor Theodosius.
• The Olympic games returned after 1500 years in Athens with the formation of the International Olympic Committee in 1896.

There’s always something magical about the Olympics!

Athletes train for years to give their all and deliver the performance of a lifetime – often within a few seconds. We cry happy tears for the winners, sympathize with the losers, yell at the TV, and high-five strangers. Every two years, we adjust to a different time zone, feel a little bit more patriotic, and get really good at recognizing flags and national anthems from around the world.

In order to get into the Olympic spirit and the emotions that come with it, here are some onteresting facts about the Olympics-

Music has probably played an essential role in humans. Evidence shows that early man developed primitive flutes from animal bones and used stones and wood as percussion.

Surviving Greek notation has given scientists a clue to how the music of the early Greeks and later the Romans might have sounded. Instruments featured during these times include the trumpet as an instrument of announcement and the lyre as an integral player in the songs of poets.

• Many stories from the middle ages included a cartoonish and colourful entertainer full of vice and mischief.
• The 19th century refined the clown and made it appealing for kids by including simple slapstick comedy routines, later overtaken by science fiction novels and movies that depicted clowns as evil and sinister.
• Real-life events in the news involving killer clowns made the fear more real and tangible.

Using a weight-to-height index devised by Adolphe Quetelet in 1832 (the Quetelet index), Dr. Ancel Keys coined the term "body mass index" as a convenient way to measure relative obesity.

He judged BMI as inappropriate for individual evaluation.

However, it is widely used for preliminary diagnoses today.

• Ancient Rome had special wells to store ice and snow. The ruins of Pompeii left traces to make us think that some shops specialised in selling crushed ice sweetened with honey.
• In China and Japan, ice was gathered to preserve food. During the Tang Dynasty, a drink was recorded, consisting of milk cooked with flour and camphor, ten placed in iron containers, and buried in snow.
• Before the Incas conquered the Caranquis, large blocks of ice were brought down from the top of the volcano. A large cauldron was filled with ice, snow, and fruit juice (and sometimes milk), and mixed until the juices and ice froze together.

In 1948, UK neurologist Sir Ludwig Guttman, who worked with war veterans suffering from spinal injuries, added sport into his patients' rehabilitation program.

Others started copying Guttman's methods, and athletic competitions ensued. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Guttman brought 400 wheelchair athletes to compete in the Parallel Olympics. Since then, the Paralympics have gone from strength to strength.

25 Countries staged a boycott of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. They were outraged that New Zealand, whose rugby team had toured South Africa in the year despite the country being under apartheid, was allowed to take part in the 1976 Olympics.

The foreign minister of Kenya at the time, said in a statement: “The government and the people of Kenya hold the view that principles are more precious than medals.”

• Olympics for the disabled and differently-abled started in Rome in 1960, and since then has seen many athletes with no hands and no legs win medals.
• The same year Abebe Bikila won the Olympic marathon(26 miles) barefoot.
• True equality was showcased in the 2012 London Olympics when every sport had female competitors.

ABS or Anti-Lock Braking System, is a clever technology that stops the wheels locking up during sharp braking, preventing skidding.

It was originally used on trains and Concorde aircraft, before being adapted for a Chrysler Imperial.

• 1973 – Catalytic converter
• 1974 - Digital dashboard displays
• 1984 – CD players
• 1988 – Airbags
• 1992 – Electromagnetic parking sensors
• 1994 – On-board diagnostics
• 1996 – Connected cars
• 2000 – GPS sat nav
• 2000 – Hybrid cars
• 2001 – Bluetooth
• 2002 – Reversing camera
• 2003 – Automatic parking
• 2010s – Driver assist features
• 2014 – Tesla autopilot
• 2014 – 4G wi-fi hotspots
• 2020 - Self-driving cars

Like so many large malls with built-in theatres nowadays, a grand plaza known as ‘The Forum’ became an influential marketplace and later the main civic center in Rome. It was a place where gladiatorial fights, court sessions, shopping and ceremonial activities happened.

A monument called Milliarium Aureum or the Golden Milestone was built there in 20 BCE.

• One of the earliest devices that used rocket propulsion was called the aeolipile, designed in the 1st century AD by Heron of Alexandria, and used steam to spin a metal ball.
• Early prototypes of rockets were produced for firework displays in China in the 13th century, with the real, metal versions coming in the 19th century, used in Navy ships as an upgraded version of cannon.
• Early rockets use flammable substances like gunpowder that propel it using the thrust of exhaust gases.

The 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany were supposed to demonstrate the Aryan racial supremacy. But Jesse Owens, a black athlete, won gold in the 100m, 200m, the 4 x 100m relay, and the long jump.

After the latter event, German athlete Carl Ludwig Long was the first to congratulate Owens, and the two walked arm-in-arm to collect their medals. It took a lot of courage for Long to befriend Owens in front of Hitler, something that Owens had great admiration for at that moment.

• In the summer of 2004, Adam Curry decided to program and develop the first podcatcher application using Apple scripts. The program was able to read through the RSS and download the audio. It would use the iTunes API to add the files to the playlist.
• George W. Bush became the first President of America to create a podcast when the RSS 2.0 feed was uploaded on the White House website.
• As more people became aware of the meaning of podcasting, the numbers continued to grow. In 2015, there were 100,000,000 searches from people across the globe.
• One year after the founding of the first podcast directory, Apple joined the ranks by setting up its directory to iTunes. Steve Jobs referenced podcasts to becoming the future of audio.
• The entry of Apple into the market increased the accessibility of podcasts all over the world.

Looking for a better way to get the car running, Chrysler invented a technology to start both the electric starter and the ignition.

It placed this power inside a key and soon everyone was using one.

During the 1972 Games in Munich, a Palestinian terrorist group Black September took hostage and killed 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team, shattering the image of international cooperation and friendship associated with the Olympics.

• The French philosopher Rene Descartes theorized the idea that while the mind and body are separate, they do interact.
• Structuralists used introspection to analyze and report conscious sensations, thoughts, and experiences of their own minds. It was very subjective but inspired further research.
• American psychologist William James thought consciousness was unbroken and continuous despite the constant changes.
• Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud focused on understanding the importance of the unconscious and conscious mind.

Earth Day is celebrated to raise public awareness about the environment and mark the annual anniversary of the first Earth Day.  

Climate change is caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, which emit heat-trapping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that raise global temperatures and disrupt weather patterns. The impacts of climate change around the world include extreme weather events such as massive floods and intense wildfires.

In 2021, thousands of scientists warned that ignoring climate change will yield "untold suffering" for humanity.

• Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam tournament played on clay courts.
• In 1940 there was no competition in the French Open due to World War II.
• In 1968, the French Open became the first Grand Slam tournament to open to non-amateur players.
• The women's singles event winner receives the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, which is named after the greatest female player in French tennis history, Suzanne Lenglen.
• The men's singles champion receives Coupe des Mousquetaires, named after the Four Musketeers of French tennis: Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste.

Until this point, windscreen wipers had only had one speed, no matter the weather. Ford changed this to adjust the speed.

In the 1970s, carmakers began adding stereos that could play the latest cassette tape technology. Now drivers could blast out their favourite Led Zeppelin albums from their cars!

This technology has prevented many a reversing mishap. Little cameras stream live footage of the area behind the car as you reverse. The technology was first used outside of America in a Nissan Primera.

Toyota was first to launch this tech with its Intelligent Parking Assist that helped drivers parallel park.

In 2006, Lexus added a self-parking system to the LS model. Automatic parking is now available on many new cars.

Since 1976, the United States celebrates the achievements of African-Americans during Black History Month.

Black History Month started as "Nero History Week" in 1926. Historian Carter G. Woodson was bothered that many textbooks and other historical reviews did not consider the contributions of black figures. Woodson allocated the second week in February to raise awareness of these stories.

• In the 18th-century, Common schools emerged and provided education to students of all ages. Parents paid for their chid's tuition and provided housing for the teacher.
• By 1900, 31 states required students between the ages of 8-14 to attend public schools. By 1918, all students had to complete elementary school.
• In the late 18th-century, European factory-type education came to the surface and was adopted in North America in the mid19th century. Student outcomes were designed to meet societal needs.

The smooth buzz of rolling down an electric window was originally only available on luxury models,and it was usually an optional extra on most cars until quite recently. But eventually winding down your car windows became a thing of the past.

This technology was designed to clean up polluting exhaust fumes by reducing toxic emissions created by the engine. Catalytic converters became compulsory in petrol cars from 1993.

In the age of misinformation and disinformation, we’re (hopefully) all getting a little better about fact-checking—or at least, about not automatically believing every last thing we read or hear on the internet. But there are some fundamental truths we were taught as kids that, it turns out, were never true. Or they seemed true at one point but now we have more information and fresh facts that demote them to “myth” status.

From the very land and water of Earth, to the planetary bodies, to some supposedly basic history we’re remembering wrong, here are a few things it’s time to relearn.

• 1970. Australia's Margaret Court became the first woman to win all four Grand Slam titles in one year.
• 1972. Andres Gimeno from Spain became the oldest French Open champion at 34 years old.
• 1988. Steffi Graf won all 4 Gland Slam titles and the gold medal in tennis at the Summer Olympics.
• 1989. At age 17, Michael Chang became the youngest male player in the Open Era to win the Roland Garros.
• 1990. At age 16, Yugoslavia's Monica Seles won her first Grand Slam tennis tournament. She also won the next two consecutive years.
• 2000. Mary Pierce was the last French national to win the Roland Garros.

Dozens of automatic technology features have been developed to assist the driver. Common examples include, lane departure warnings, blind spot warnings, cross traffic alerts and headlamp high beam control.

Carmakers have also begun adding smartphone integration, with many producing apps so you can find your car via GPS, and remotely lock the car and check its fuel levels.

The first ice cream cup was found in Egypt in a tomb in 2700BC.

It was a kind of mould made from two silver cups, one of which contained snow or crushed ice, and the other cooked fruit.

Black history month honours the contributions of African Americans to U.S. history.

The celebrations began as "Negro History Week," created in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, a noted African American historian, scholar, educator and publisher. In 1976, it became a month-long celebration. The month of February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

The first car stereo was created in 1930 in monophonic AM frequency.

For the first time, driving could be set to music, though it would be another 22 years before the first radio capable of receiving FM frequency was added to a car, in 1952.

The ISS is a multi-nation super satellite, the largest single construct in space, made between 1998 and 2011.

• As of 2018, 230 astronauts and 18 countries have visited the International Space Station. It includes contributions(money and resources) from 15 nations like Russia, USA, and Europe.

• The ISS is assisted (and even controlled) by mission control centers in Houston and Moscow, along with a payload control center in Huntsville, Ala.

The way we interact and understand art is dependent on how the narrative of art history has been produced.

For example, art flourished during the Renaissance. One of the main sources about artists of this time comes from the book 'Lives of the Artists', written by Italian Giorgio Vasari during the 16th-century. Vasari draws a similarity between the passage of time and the artistic achievement of Italian artists. In writing about his fellow countrymen, Vasari wanted to promote the Italian Renaissance to the elevated position of high-achievement in all of art history.

Music and its creation come with a larger context of culture, ethnicity, heritage, lifestyles and habits of humans in the particular era. This study is known as Ethnomusicology, a term coined by musicologist Jaap Kunst.

Non-western music, like world music and folkloric music, is studied by ethnomusicologists who look at the wider culture, purpose, social roles and the various facets of identity to create a larger circle which encompasses comparative and historical musicology.

The most important lessons from history are the takeaways that are so broad they can apply to other fields, other historical times, and other people. 

The point is that the more specific a lesson of history is, the less relevant it becomes.

There were versions of GPS sat nav systems built in from the early 90s, but the US military added interference to the signals as they guarded the technology closely. In 2000, US President Bill Clinton ordered the military to stop scrambling GPS signals and open the technology up to everyone. Sat navs were quickly developed, though it was several more years before they were more accurate.

Pizza - pieces of flatbread, topped with savories - was a simple and tasty meal for those who could not afford plates.

• Early pizzas appear in Virgil's Aeneid. Aeneas and his crew ate thin wheaten cakes with mushrooms and herbs scattered on them.
• In the 18th century Naples, pizza as we know it came into being. With a struggling urban economy and a great number of poor inhabitants, they needed food that was cheap and easy to eat. Pizza met this need.

Muhammad Ali, first called Cassius Clay, won Olympic gold in Rome in 1960.

Back in the US, when Clay was refused service in a whites-only restaurant, he threw his Olympic medal into a river. Thirty-six years later, Muhammad Ali lit the flame at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and the International Olympic Committee presented him with a replacement medal.

Did you know? The fruit, "orange," was named before the color, "orange."

It wasn't until two centuries later that people started using the word orange to describe the color as well.

Previously, it was called "yellow-red" before the citrus fruit's name was adopted as the general color name.

You've been friends since when you were little and managed to stay friends through the years. 

You got used to each other and most likely would not be friends if you were to meet today.

The North Korean and South Korean teams marched as one at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Games in Sydney.

Female basketball player Chung Un Soon from South Korea, and Park Chong Chul, a male judo coach from the North, led the united teams. The teams were holding hands and wearing identical uniforms.

Austrian Karl Benz invented the first true automobile in the 19th century.

It was powered by an internal combustion engine and had three wheels.

Science fiction, by definition, is science that isn’t real. But looking beyond the fantastical elements there are some very innovative ideas, a lot of which have had a real influence on modern technology. Here are some examples:

• Star Trek: The motion Picture predicted the Internet as embodied in the movie by the all-enveloping sentient machine ‘V’Ger’.
• Ready Player One predicted VR technology and virtual workplaces.
• Total Recall predicted self-driving cars.
• iRobot predicted self-driving cars that would allow the driver to take over too.
• Minority Report predicted interactive augmented reality now being commercialized as wearable pair of glasses.
• Back to the Future predicted the self-tying shoes.

The connection between genius and possible insanity was first documented in 1891 in the Italian physicians’ book The Man Of Genius.

In 1869, this was taken up by the cousin of Charles Darwin, Francis Galton in his work Hereditary Genius.

Electric ignition starters were invented to replace manual hand cranks and to start the engine with a button instead. Hand cranks were considered to be dangerous because the engine could jump as the car started, occasionally injuring the driver.

The first electric starter was used on a Cadillac in 1912 and they were soon widely adopted.

Explore the history of car technology and how it has transformed the way we drive. 

We’ve put together a timeline showing the evolution of car tech, from the first car to ever be invented to a raft of post-war technology including safety features and electric systems.

Ford’s Model T was the world’s first car produced by assembly line. This great leap in technology made the car much cheaper and therefore more widely affordable.

Its 20 horsepower petrol engine could reach speeds of 45mph, which was still slower than the galloping horses of the day.

• The Roman roads were built of several layers of stone and cement and were able to last for millennia due to the high level of craftsmanship and scientifically created design to withstand heavy loads and all weather conditions.
• The Roman baths in Algeria are still used, 2000 years after being made.
• The Roman Amphitheatre in France called the Arena of Nîmes still has live concerts in this age.
• The roads, of course, have left the greatest mark, with their alignments and routes still in use, now overlaid with modern roads.

1. Athletes were often naked in the Olympics held in Ancient Greece, as a tribute to the Gods.
2. Winners often bite their medal during the awards ceremony, as a nod to early merchants who used to bite the gold to check its authenticity. The ones with lead used to leave teeth marks.
3. Olympic Gold medals are actually just gold plated silver, and the last pure gold medals were awarded in 1904.

Previous iterations of airbags were installed in US government cars from the 1970s, but in 1988 Chrysler introduced the first production airbag.

Originally they were just for drivers, but today airbag technology can be placed all around the car to protect all passengers.

Wireless cigarette lighters had a removable component that was heated by electricity. By 1925 they were standard in most American cars.

Today cigarette lighters have fallen out of fashion, but we still have the sockets to plug in electric gadgets, like sat navs.

This new technology can turn your car into a travelling 4G router, meaning passengers can use it to connect smart devices to the Internet.

The Chrysler Imperial was the first production car to have air conditioning  as an option. It came with three settings: low, medium and high. The following year, the Nash “Integrated” system offered front end heating, ventilation and air conditioning, making driving a much more pleasurable experience in the summer.

Cruise control is a system developed to allow the driver to maintain a constant speed without the use of the accelerator.

The system made steady driving easier, especially on motorways. It was first used in another Chrysler Imperial and by 1960 it was a standard feature on all Cadillacs too.

Many carmakers began looking at ways to make driving more comfortable, and they landed on coil spring suspension. Each wheel (initially just the front two) was given its own metal coil spring, which compresses itself to absorb the shock you feel when driving over bumps in the road. This made for a much smoother, relaxing ride.

Adding a hybrid motor to a petrol engine was first dreamed up in the 19th century, but the idea was deemed unworkable. 

Toyota picked it up again at the turn of the century and invented the Prius, taking the world by storm. Today every carmaker is working on hybrid cars.

The modern three-pin seatbelt was invented by Nils Bohlin, Volvo’s first safety engineer. Volvo decided to give away the patent to other carmakers for free, knowing it would save lives.

It was compulsory for carmakers to fit seatbelts in the UK from 1965, but only compulsory to wear them in the front seats from 1983. Wearing a seatbelt became compulsory for all children from 1989 and for back seat passengers from 1991.

Over the centuries, many misperceptions created popular Viking myths, like their usage of the horned helmet, when in reality they went bareheaded or had a simple leather and metal-frame helmet, sometimes with a faceguard.

Another myth was they the Vikings were filthy and unkempt, something which was proven false by archaeologists who found evidence of the usage of combs, spoons and grooming utensils.

Technology called CDX-1 became the first car CD player, eventually supplanting cassette tapes, which had become old technology.

• 1886 – The first car is invented
• 1908 – Ford produced Model T
• 1911 – Electric ignition starters
• 1921 – Cigarette lighters
• 1930 – Car radio
• 1934 – Coil spring suspension
• 1949 - Car keys
• 1951 – Power steering
• 1953 – Air conditioning
• 1958 – Cruise control
• 1959 – Seatbelts
• 1960s – Electric windows
• 1969 – Intermittent windshield wipers
• 1970s – Cassette tape stereos
• 1971 – ABS technology

In 1901, Lady Duff Gordon presented her 'Gowns of Emotion' using models on a stage with scenery, lighting and music, while their entrances were choreographed with poses. This innovation introduced the idea of showing fashion to a larger audience.

The traditional catwalk took place in department stores where large spaces were available. These presentations for middle-class shoppers were vital in validating the fashionable styles set by designers.