Chess is called ‘the royal game’ because it is considered the king of games. It is probably the oldest game known, some people claiming that it is 5,000 years old!The name ‘chess’ is derived from the Persian word shah, meaning ‘king’. And the word ‘checkmate’ is derived from Persian shah mat, meaning ‘the king is […]

Cement The Assyrians and Babylonians used clay as the bonding substance or cement. The Egyptians used lime and gypsum cement. In 1756, British engineer, John Smeaton made the first modern concrete by adding pebbles as coarse aggregate and mixing powdered brick into cement. In 1824, English inventor, Joseph Aspdin invented Portland cement, which has remained

Cellular telephone is a type of short-wave analog or digital telecommunication in which a subscriber has a wireless connection from a mobile telephone to a relatively nearby transmitter. The transmitter’s span of coverage is called a cell. As the cellular telephone user moves from one cell or area of coverage to another, the telephone is

The development of the first masking tape in the early 1920s showed just how gifted American Dick Richard G. Drew was in devising practical solutions to customer needs.But Drew was not one to rest on his laurels—or to neglect the ever-changing concerns of 3M customers. Naturally, then, Drew went straight to work when he learned

Jacques Brandenberger, a Swiss textile engineer was dinning at a restaurant when he saw a bottle of wine being spilt all over the tablecloth. That was in 1908. Brandenberger thought that it would be a good idea to develop a material that he could coat over cloth to make it waterproof.He experimented, and finally came

The word ‘cartoon’ was originally used by painters during the period of the Italian Renaissance. And in fact, it is still used today by artists. This is defined as the first sketch in actual size of any work of art which covers a large area, such as a mural, a tapestry, or stained glass windows.

In ancient times people used to eat something resembling candy as indicated by excavations. Pictures and written records in Egypt depict sweets and the procedures to make them. In those days, honey was used as a sweetener as refining of sugar was not known to them. In Orient, almost all the tribes had their candy

The first practical can opener was developed 50 years after the birth of the metal can. Canned food was invented for the British Navy in 1813. Made of solid iron, the cans usually weighed more than the food they held! The inventor, Peter Durand, was guilty of an incredible oversight. Though he figured out how

In 1928, bubble gum was invented by American named Walter E. Diemer. Here’s what Walter Diemer, the inventor himself, said about it just a year or two before he died— “It was an accident. I was doing something else, and it ended up with something with bubbles.” And history took one giant step forward. What

In ancient Greece, boxer performed at Olympic Games and other public games. Some of their rules matched with our present rules, but they wore the ‘cestus’ instead of gloves. Cestus was a wrapping of leather studded with lead of bronze plates, and a blow from it could be quite damaging. After the fall of Roman

The first jeans came in two styles—indigo blue and brown cotton ‘duck’. Unlike denim, the duck material never became soft and comfortable so it was eventually dropped from the line. Although denim pants had been around as work wear for many years, historically dating back to England in the 1600s with a fabric there called

A car crash on April 1, 1950, brought an abrupt end to the brilliant career of Dr. Charles Drew. Drew, an African- American physician and surgeon, gained notoriety for his techniques for processing and storing blood plasma for use in transfusions. Because of the existence of Blood Banks, accident victims are far less likely to

The game is so old that no one can say when it began. It was perhaps played in ancient Egypt. The Greeks know the game as long ago as 400 B.C. Catkire More, a king of Ireland, left behind him fifty-five billiard balls of brass, with the pools and cues of the same material in

Some history books will state that Pierre and Ernest Michaux, the French father and son team of carriage- makers, invented the first bicycle during the 1860s. Historians now disagree with this, and there is evidence that the bicycle is older than that. However, historians do agree that Ernest Michaux did invent the modern bicycle pedal

She’s a successful business woman, a member of a rock band and a Women’s World Cup Soccer player. Who is this superstar? It’s none other than Barbie Doll. A little hard to believe, but the Barbie Doll started out as a human being! She was Barbara Handler, the daughter of Ruth and Elliot Handler. In