January 5

  International Polio initiative

                                    In 2000, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) announced the final stage of the worldwide initiative to eradicate Polio.

  First colour newsreel

                                      In 1948, Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first colour newsreel, as pictures of the Tournament of Roses Parade taken New Years Day and the Rose Bowl football classic were seen by theatre audiences. It was made using the Cinecolor process.

  Golden Gate bridge

                                       In 1933, construction work on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge began on the Marin County side. It was the first in the U.S. to have piers built in open ocean, and also first to span the outer mouth of a major ocean harbour. The chief engineer was Joseph B. Strauss. The length of the main structure of the bridge is 8,940-ft, with towers rising 746-ft above the water and a minimum clearance of 220-ft. Its first public use was on Pedestrian Day on 27 May 1937, and it was ceremoniously opened for vehicles the following day, 28 May 1937.

  X-rays

                                       In 1896, the discovery of X-rays was published in an Austrian newspaper, Wiener Presse. This was the first public account of the observation made on 8 Nov 1895 by German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen, of the new form of radiation that became known as X-rays.

  Aurora photographed

                                            In 1892, the first successful auroral photograph was made by the German physicist Martin Brendel. Although it was limited to a blurred, low-contrast picture, it did convey some sense of the shape of the aurora. The task was not easy because the auroral light itself was generally feeble and flickering while photographic materials of the time required a long exposure, and was little sensitive to the deep reds in the aurora. One of his photographs, taken on 1 Feb 1892 was published in the Century Magazine of Oct 1897. Brendel had travelled to Alten Fiord, Lapland, to spend several months studying auroral displays and magnetic disturbances. The first colour pictures were not taken until about 1950, and Life magazine published colour aurora photographs in 1953.

  Hamburger

                                                   In 1889, the word hamburger first appeared in print in the Walla Walla Union, a Walla Walla, Washington, newspaper - according to the date given in the Oxford English Dictionary. The name comes a German food called hamburg steak, meaning “from Hamburg,” not because it contains ham. In the 19th century, German immigrants migrated to North America bringing along the recipe for the hamburg steak, a form of pounded beef. American people adopted the hamburg steak but used the adjective form “hamburger” without “steak” at the end. The word appeared as an entry in 1902 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. In 1902, the first description of a hamburg steak close to the American conception of the hamburger, gave a recipe calling for finely chopped beef mixed with onion and pepper.