Massachusetts has been the birthplace of numerous computer languages, but in February, 1905 the first US society to promote an entirely new spoken language was established in Boston. This language had been created for promoting international communication. Although it never gained widespread popularity in the U.S., today it is spoken by more than two million people around the world.
In 1928, Children's Hospital in Boston was the scene of the first use of this medical device which basically consisted of a galvanized iron box, a bed, and two household vacuum cleaners. For the next 30 years, this invention would mean the difference between life and death for victims of polio. This device was known as the …
This play, which opened on Broadway in 1953, about Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, seemed to draw parallels between the witchcraft hysteria and Senator Joseph McCarthy's House Committee on Un-American Activities. What is the name of this play, now considered a classic.
In 1994, while this skater from Stoneham, MA was leaving the ice after practicing for the US Figure Skating championships, she was assaulted by a man with a club. Recovered in time to compete for the U.S. at the Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, she turned in a nearly flawless performance and won the silver medal. The name of this skater is ...
In 1851, a group of evangelicals from several Boston churches founded this now well-known association, which quickly spread to New York and Washington, DC. Their initial mission was to ‘meet the young stranger as he enters our city, take him by the hand, direct him to a boarding house where he may find a quiet home . . . and in every way throw around him good influences, so that he may feel that he is not a stranger.’ A women’s version of this association opened in Boston in 1866, again the first in the nation. Both associations are thriving today. The men’s association founded in 1851 Boston is …
In 1863, two speakers were on hand to dedicate the Gettysburg's National Cemetery. One was the nation’s leading orator from Boston, who prepared by immersing himself in military reports, researching and reconstructing every aspect of the three-day battle so that he could re-create it, step by awful step. His speech held the crowd spellbound for two hours, moving many to tears. Earlier he had served five terms in the House of Representatives, four terms as governor of Massachusetts, four years as ambassador to England, as Secretary of State under Millard Fillmore, and one term in the U.S. Senate. He was also president of Harvard. What Bostonian spoke before Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg?
This Springfield, Massachusetts company took over the American English language torch lit by Noah Webster, when it acquired the rights to his dictionary after his death in 1843. Their philosophy holds that dictionaries should not try to dictate or influence the development of language, but should only record its actual use. This Massachusetts company is ...
Characterized by academic excellence since its founding in 1948, this Massachusetts university is one of the youngest private research universities. It is named for a justice of the Supreme Court who served until 1939. The name of this university, located in Waltham, Massachusetts is ...
On November 28, 1773, three East India Company ships, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, arrived in Boston Harbor carrying a cargo of tea as well as other goods. On December 16th, the night before British authorities planned to seize the tea for non-payment of taxes, a crowd of more than 5,000 men and women led by fiery Samuel Adams packed the Old South Meeting House to discuss how to prevent the tea from being unloaded. The action they took became known as the …
In 1946, an airplane flew over Mount Greylock in western Massachusetts to accomplish a Massachusetts first in the recreation business and create a national sensation. What did the airplane do?
In early March, 1930, shoppers in Springfield, Massachusetts become the first Americans to find this product in their grocery stores. The items were the work of Massachusetts naturalist, Clarence Birdseye, and rapidly transformed the American diet. This new product was ...
Esther Howland grew up in Massachusetts as the daughter of the owner of the largest book and stationery store in Worcester. In 1849, she had an idea for a product modeled after intricately detailed designs of England. Although she started with only 12 samples, her brother came back with orders for $5,000 worth of the products. The simpler versions of her product started at five cents, but highly elaborate and personalized versions could sell for the whopping price (for the time) of $50. What product did Howland bring to America that immediately turned into a booming industry?
The first version of this common household device weighed 750-pound and stood five feet tall. It was invented by Percy Spencer, a New England farm boy who never completed grammar school, but grew up to be one of the world's most successful — and respected — electrical engineers. Working for the American Appliance Company in Cambridge, which later changed its name to Raytheon, Spencer designed radar sets that were installed in U.S. bombers, where they were powerful enough to spot periscopes on German submarines. What appliance did Spencer invent that had limited popularity in the 1950s, but is now omnipresent?
On July 24, 1920, the Boston Post ran a story that ultimately exposed one of the biggest financial swindles in history. An Italian immigrant had been promising people in Boston a 50 percent return within 45 days. In seven months, 30,000 people invested more than $10,000,000 in the scheme. While he never intended to swindle his customers, at the same time he was never sure how to make good on his promises. What was the name of this person who was convicted of fraud, sent to prison, and on his release, deported to Italy?
