1845 ..... U.K ..... the FIRST pneumatic tyre was patented by the civil engineer, Robert Thompson 

1868 ..... U.K ..... Britain’s FIRST traffic lights were installed at the corner of Bridge Street and New Palace Yard, London in order to help MP’s cross over to the Houses of Parliament. However the lights were not popular and were removed four years later ..... and ..... Whitaker’s  Almanac was published for the FIRST time 

1869 ..... U.S.A .....  the FIRST legal provision for women to serve on juries was made by an Act of the Legislative Council of the territory of Wyoming. Chief Justice J.H.Howe, who empanelled the first women to serve on the juries of the Supreme Court in Cheyenne wrote in 1872 “After the grand jury had been in session for two days, the dance house keepers, gamblers and demi-monde fled out of the state in dismay to escape the indictment of women jurors”. Prior to 1869, the FIRST women sat on an all female jury in 1656 convened for the trial of Judith Catchpole which was held at Patuxent, America on 22nd September. She had been accused of murdering her infant child but the jury accepted that, far from murdering the child, she had never had one and they returned a verdict of Not Guilty

1889 ..... U.K ..... George Safford Parker patented his FIRST fountain pen. Two years later he became partners with William Palmer and in February 1892 the Parker Pen Company was incorporated

1895 ..... U.K ..... Britain’s FIRST motoring association The Self Propelled Traffic Association met for the FIRST time

1901 ..... the FIRST Nobel Prizes were awarded -

Peace Prize to Jean Henri Dunant -Switzerland - Red Cross Founder - shared with Frederic Passy - French - founder of the French Society of the Friends of Peace

Physics : Wilhelm Roentgen, Germany - X-Rays

Medicine : Emil von Behring - Germany - Serum therapy

Chemistry : Jacobus Henricus Van Hoff - Netherlands - Chemical Dynamics

Literature : Sully Prudhomme - France - Poetry

1903 ..... FRANCE ..... Marie Curie became the FIRST woman to win a Nobel Prize  - Physics           

1905 ..... Bertha Felicie Sophie Von Suttner became the FIRST woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She had worked for Alfred Nobel in 1868, then became governess to the Von Suttner family and in 1877 married Baron Von Suttner. She was involved in pacifist work and founded the International Peace League