8 Historic Firsts That You Didn't Know About

There's a first time for everything. But sometimes the history books are a little sketchy about when that first was. Vodafone believes that all firsts should be celebrated: that’s why they’re challenging you to take the plunge and pitch your #First on First.com.

1. First person to hypothesize the theory of evolution

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You thought it was: Charles Darwin

It was actually: Erasmus Darwin

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Charles Darwin's grandfather. But rather than record it in a scientific journal, he wrote a poem about it:

Organic life beneath the shoreless waves
Was born and nurs'd in ocean's pearly caves;
First forms minute, unseen by spheric glass,
Move on the mud, or pierce the watery mass;
These, as successive generations bloom,
New powers acquire and larger limbs assume;
Whence countless groups of vegetation spring,
And breathing realms of fin and feet and wing.

Erasmus Darwin. The Temple of Nature. 1802.

Which really wasn't that helpful to the scientific community.

2. First person to make a transatlantic flight

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You thought it was: Charles Lindbergh.

It was actually: John Alcock and Arthur Brown

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Brits John Alcock and Arthur Brown cleared the Atlantic eight years before Lindbergh's record-breaking flight. The duo flew from Newfoundland back to Blighty in 1919.

Why don't you know about them? Well, even though they were a big deal in the UK (they were knighted by King George V and presented with money by Winston Churchill) the disinterested US meh-ed them out of the history books. So much so that Lindbergh was even awarded a medal that said he'd "demonstrated that travel across the ocean by aircraft was possible".

3. First person to invent and manufacture jeans

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You thought it was: Levi Strauss.

It was actually: Jacob Davis

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The Nevada tailor came up with the idea of combining hard-wearing fabric and metal rivets - but he couldn't afford the patent. His boss, Levi Strauss, stepped in and filed it under is own name in 1873.

4. First person to use a flush toilet

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You thought it was: Thomas Crapper.

It was actually: Sir John Harington

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Even though primitive versions of the flushing toilet had been around since the 26th century BC, the modern flush toilet was invented by Elizabethan courtier Sir John Harington. Crapper just invented the ballcock mechanism.

5. First person to invent the lightbulb

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You thought it was: Thomas Edison. There's even a song about it.

It was actually: Humphry Davy

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Humphry Davy, an English scientist, invented the electric light back in 1800. Edison merely improved it, finding the right filaments that would burn for 15,00 hours instead of a few. And it's alleged that he didn't even do that: rumour has it Canadian duo Henry Woodward and Matthew Evans invented it five years before Edison registered the device, but sold him their idea for some quick cash.

6. First person to use a printing press

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You thought it was: Johannes Gutenberg. Because you were taught that at school.

It was actually: Choe Yun-ui

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Your teacher was wrong: Johannes Gutenberg didn't invent the printing press. It was actually invented by Choe Yun-ui in Goryeo, Korea in 1234. 200 years before Gutenberg printed his bible.

7. First person to come up with the Pythagorean theorem

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You thought it was: Pythagoras. Duh.

It was actually: An ancient Chinese mathematician

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In fact, the Pythagorean theorem was already used by the ancient Chinese, Indian and Babylonians years before Pythagoras was even born. He just gave it a catchy name - his own.

8. First person to discover America

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You thought it was: Christopher Columbus.

It was actually: Leif Erikson (maybe)

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Columbus didn't actually reach mainland America at all - he only got as far as the Caribbean Islands.

Leif Erikson, a Viking explorer, is the first recorded person to reach the US. He landed in Newfoundland in 1000AD, 500 years before Columbus was even born.

You could make your own personal history by doing a first – pitch your idea at Firsts.com or join the conversation over on Facebook and Twitter to get inspired!