Invention
Where does Ferris wheel come from?
Engineer George Ferris built the first Ferris wheel, 80 m tall, for Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. It was meant to rival the Eiffel Tower from Paris's 1889 fair.
More Inventions
Invention
Hot-air balloon
📍 Annonay, France
Paper-makers Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier first flew their hot-air balloon publicly in their hometown of Annonay, France, in June 1783. Chinese sky lanterns came first, but theirs carried the first passengers: a sheep, a duck and a rooster.
Invention
Cat's eye (road reflector)
📍 Halifax, England
Cat's eyes were invented by Percy Shaw of Halifax, England, who patented them in 1934 and named them after a cat's eyeshine. Wartime blackouts showed their value and helped spread them across British roads.
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Invention
Ski chairlift
📍 Sun Valley, Idaho, USA
The world's first ski chairlifts opened in 1936 at Sun Valley, Idaho. A railroad engineer, Jim Curran, designed them by swapping the hooks of a banana-loading conveyor for chairs.
More from North America
Food
Nachos
📍 Piedras Negras, Mexico
In 1943, maître d' Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya created tortilla chips topped with cheese and jalapeños for American customers at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, Mexico, and named them after himself.
Game
Pickleball
📍 Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA
Pickleball was invented in 1965 as a children's backyard game on Bainbridge Island, Washington, cobbled together from a badminton court, table-tennis paddles and a perforated plastic ball.
Food
Maize (corn)
📍 Balsas River valley, Mexico
Corn was bred about 9,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte in Mexico's Balsas River valley. It was domesticated only once, then spread throughout the Americas.