The First to Do It Trivia Quiz

The first successful heart transplant occurred in Cape Town, South Africa, on December 3, 1963. Dr. Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant on Louis Washkansky. The surgery was a success, but Washkansky died a few weeks later from pneumonia due to a weakened immune system.

The world's first photograph was taken in Le Gras, France, around 1826 by Nicéphore Niépce, although he also experimented with similar inventions a few years earlier. The first photograph is called the "View from the Window at Le Gras". His process was not convenient, however, and the film exposure to take the photo lasted hours if not days.

The world's first cell phone call was received in New Jersey's Bell Labs after being placed from Sixth Avenue in New York City on April 3, 1973. Martin Cooper of Motorola placed the call to Bell Labs, which was a rival firm also working on mobile phones.

John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight when they landed in Clifden, Ireland, in 1919. They departed from St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. As a reward for their feat, they were awarded 10,000 pounds from the "Daily Mail", who sponsored the competition to complete the journey.

The first vending machine was located in Alexandria, Egypt, in the first century AD. Hero of Alexandria invented the machine to dispense wine and holy water. When a coin was inserted, it would trigger a mechanism that would release either wine or holy water.

Artificial refrigeration was invented in Glasgow, Scotland, by William Cullen in 1748. Cullen invented artificial refrigeration by boiling diethyl ether and injecting it into a vacuum. However, Cullen did not further develop his invention into any practical use or device. The refrigerator as we know it today was not invented until 1844.

The pendulum clock was invented by Dutch Christian Huygens on Christmas Day 1656. Huygens hired clockmaker Salomen Coster to construct his invention, the idea of which was conceived by using unused directions and blueprints from Galileo Galilei. Today the world's first pendulum clock is on display at Museum Boerhaave in Leiden.

The world's first World Cup took place in 1930 in Montevideo, Uruguay, and was won by the home team. Because of the ongoing Great Depression, only 13 teams participated, a majority of them were from North and South America because it was too expensive and burdensome for other continents to travel to Uruguay. The home country defeated Argentina 4-2 to win the tournament.

The earliest known paper dates back to 205 AD while the paper making process probably started earlier than that. China is generally considered to be the home nation of paper, beginning when court official Cai Lun started using pulp from tree bark to mass produce paper.

The world's first opera debuted in Florence, Italy, in 1597. It was called "Dafine". The music was written by Jacopo Peri and the libretto by Ottavio Rinuccini. The opera was very popular, and, although the music is now lost, the libretto survives. The opera centered on Apollo and his love for the nymph, Dafne.

The world's first dockyard was built in Lothal, Gujarat, India, around 2400 BC. It was part of the Indus Valley Civilization's expansion of maritime trade with nearby regions. It was located near the Sabarmati River to avoid flooding and destruction, but still provided access to the river.

The first power drill debuted in Melbourne, Australia, in 1889. It was invented by Arthur Arnot and William Brian. It was very large, so was only used for large-scale projects. It would not be until three years later that a smaller, portable electric drill was invented.

General anesthesia was first used in 1804 when Japanese surgeon Hanaoka Seishu removed cancerous breast tissue. General anesthesia was controversial at the time because of the common fears the patient could still feel pain or would not wake up. But after his first use was a success, patients came from all over Japan to be treated for various conditions.

The anesthesia he used was called tsusensan, and came in the form of a drink.

The world's first external pacemaker was created in 1950 by John Hopps, a physician in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was implanted in a dog's heart, but the device proved to be painful and large and was not used until significant improvements were made over the course of a decade.

The world's first roller coasters were located in and around what is now St. Petersburg, Russia, in the 17th century. There were called Russian Mountains and mostly consisted of slides with 70 to 80 foot droops. They were popular with the Russian upper class with Catherine the Great being known to have financed the construction of some of these roller coasters in the 18th century.