Noble Price and Other Awards

Nobel Prizes, etc.

Nobel Prize winner for Literature -

Sully Prudhomme, France (1901)

 

First Nobel Prize winner for Peace- Jean Henri Dunant, Switzerland & Frederic Passy, France (1901)

 

First Nobel Prize winner for Economics- Ragnar Frisch, Norway & Jan Tinbergen, Netherlands (1969)

 

First person to win two Nobel Prizes-Marie Sklodowska Curie (first in Physics, 1911)

 

First black to receive the Nobel Peace Prize-Ralph Bunche (1950)

 

First Indian to win Nobel Prize in Literature  - Rabindranath Tagore. He was also the first Asian to get the prize (1913)

 

First Indian to win Booker Prize-Arundhati  Roy. For 'The God of Small Things' (1997)

 

First Indian to win Bharat Ratna-Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, C.Rajgopalachari, and Dr. C.V. Raman (1954)

 

winner - Marie Skiodowska Curie, Physics. She is the first to win Physics Nobel (1903).

 

First woman Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry - Marie Sklodowska Curie (1911)

 

First woman Mother and daughter to win Nobel prize - Marie Sklodowska Curie (1903) and daughter lrene joliot Curie (1935)

 

First woman Nobel Prize winner for Peace Baroness Bertha Sohie Felicita von Suttner (1905)

 

First woman Nobel Prize winner for Literature - Selma Ottiia Lovisa Lagerlof (1909)

 

First American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Peace - lane Addams, social worker (1931).

 

First Black woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature - Toni Morrison (1993)

 

First Muslim woman to win a Nobel Prize-Shirin Ebadi (2003)

First Black woman to win a Pulitzer prize -Gwendolyn Brooks (1950)

 

Woman selected as Time magazine's "Man of the Year"- Wallis Warfield Simpson (1936)

 

First Black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress - Halle Berry (2002)

 

First woman to win the Inanpith-Ashapurna Devi (1976)

 

First woman to receive Bharat Ratna - Indira Gandhi (1971)

 

First Indian woman to win a Puitzer Prize - Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)

 

First owman Pulitzer Winner for fiction -Edith Wharton, American novelist for "The Age of Innocence" (1921)

 

Education

First Education Minister of free India - Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad

 

First women's university, Mumbai (1916)

 

First women's college in India - Bethune College, Calcutta (1879)

 

First woman law graduate in India - Cornelia Sorabji, Calcutta (1894)

 

First deaf and dumb woman to be a graduate -Helen Keller, Radcliffe College (1904)

 

Film World

First Indian to win Dadasaheb Phalke Award - Devika Rani (1970)

 

First talkie movie in the world - "The Jazz Singer" (1927)

 

First Oscar winner for the Best Actor - Emil jannings (1928)

 

First black actor towin an Oscar in a major category - Sidney Poitier. ("Lilies of the Field", 1964)

 

First Indian Oscar winner - Bhanu Athaiya, For Best Costume Design for the film 'Gandhi' (1982)

 

First Indian Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film - Mother Indian 1957)

 

First Oscar winner for Best Actress - Janet Gaynor, for her total work (1928)

 

First black actress to win an Oscar - Hattie McDaniel. (Best Supporting Actress for "Gone with the Wind", 1939)

 

First Lady of the Indian film director - Alice Guy Blache (1896)

 

Medicine

First direct transfusion of blood performed by Richard Lower, English physician and physiologist (1666)

 

First person to be executed by the guillotine - Nicolas J. Pelletier (1792)

 

First sex-change operation in the world-George (Christine) Jorgenson (1952)

 

First hman heart trnasplant was performed by - Dr. Christian Barnard (1967)

 

First human heart trnasplant recipient. - Louis Washkansky, 1967.

 

First recipient of a permanent artificial heart - Barney Clark (1982)        

 

First Indian Test tube baby - Harsha, at KEM hospital Mumbai. Indira Hinduja was the doctor (1986)

 

To qualify as a medical doctor in Europe -Dr. Maria Montessori, University of Rome, Italy (1986)

 

First Indian lady doctor - Kadambani Ganguly (1886)

 

First woman President the World Health Assembly of WHO - Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, India (1950)

 

Literature, Media

First american novel - The Power of Sympathy by William Hill Brown (1789)

First dictionary in the world - 'Explaning Words, Analysing Characters (Chinese) Compiled by Hsew Shen (C 100 AD)

 

First Thesaurus in the world - Chinese 'Literary Approximater' (C 800 BC)

 

First Encyclopaedia in the world-'Antiquities of Things Human and Divine' written by Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro (47 BC)

 

First daily newspaper in the world - The Daily News (Acta Diurna), Rome 1st BC.

 

First printed book in the world - Diamond Sutra. This Chinese book on Buddhist scriptures, 868 AD.

 

First novel in the world - Cyropaedia, historical Greek novel written in Corinth about the life of Cyrus (360 BC)

 

Government

First US President- George Washington, 189

 

First US President to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. - Thomas jefferson (1801)

 

First US President to die in office - William Henry Harrison. He also had the shortest term in office, 32 days (1841)

 

First US President to be assassinated - Abraham Lincoln, 1865.

 

First and only US president to resign from office - Richard Nixon (1974)

 

First and only US President to win election to nonconsecutive terms - Grover Cleveland. He is also the first US President married inside the White House in 1886 (1892)

 

First US President to reside in the White House - John Adams, 1797.

 

First and only bachelor to be elected US President - James Buchanan

 

First US President to be a Rhodes Scholar - Bill Clinton

 

First American Indian to become a US Senator - Charles Curtis (1907)

 

First openly gay U.S. Congress person- Barney Frank (1981)

 

First jew to become US Secretary of State - Henry Kissinger (1973)

 

First Black to become US secretary of State - Colin Powell (2000)

 

First black Secretary General of the United Nations - Kofi Anan (1987)

 

First Secretary General of United Nations - Trygve Lie, Norway (1946)

 

First Prime Minister of UK - Robert Walpole (1721)

 

First English Monarch to live in Buckingham Palace -Queen Victoria (1837)

 

First British Monarch to have a televised coronation - Elizabeth II (1953)

 

First Prime Minister of Canada - Sir John Alexander of McDonald (1867)

 

First Tsar of Russia - Ivan IV, the Terrible (1547)

 

First reigning queen of England - Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary) (1553)

 

First Indian Prime Minister to be voted out of office - Indira Gandhi, 1977.

 

First Non Congress government in India Janata Party Government with Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister (1977-1979)

 

First Emperor of Rome -Augustus (27 BC)

 

Canada - Sir John A, Macdonald (1867)

 

First Black President of South Africa - Nelson Mandela (1994)

 

First country to implement 'right to vote for women (female suffrage) New Zealand (1893)

 

First great woman in recorded history - Hatshepsut (1479 BC)

 

First woman ruler of India - Razia Sultana. She is the first woman ruler in South Asia (1236)

 

First woman minister in India - Vijayalakshimi Pandit, Uttar Pradesh (1937)

 

First woman foreign secretary of India Chokila Iyer (2001)

First woman Air marshall in India - Padma Bandopadhyay (2002)

 

First woman DGP in India - Kanchan Bhattacharya, Uttaranchal (2004)

 

First woman union minister in India Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Cabinet Minister, Health portfolio (1947)

 

First Black woman in US Senate - Carol Elizabeth MoseleyBraun, Illinois (1992)

World's first woman Prime Minsiter - Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, 1960.

 

First woman President in the world - Isabel Peron, Argentina (1974)

 

First Democratically elected woman head of state - Vigdls Finnbogad Uttir, President of Iceland (1980)

 

First woman Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir. She is the first Jewish woman Prime Minister. (1964)

 

First woman Prime Minister of Canada - Kim Campbell (1993)

 

First woman Chancellor of Germany - Dr. Angela Merkel (2005)

 

First woman Prime Minister of India - Indira Gandhi (1966)

 

First woman President of Chile - Michelle Bachelet (2006)

 

First African elected woman head of state - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as President of Liberia (2005)

 

First woman to become president of UN General Assembly - Vijayalakshmi Pandit (1953)

 

First woman to serve as US secretary of state - Condoleezza Rice (2005)

First woman to serve as US national security adviser - Condoleezza Rice (2001)

 

US First Lady - Martha Washington (1789)

 

Britain's first woman MP -Viscountess (Nancy) Astor, House of Commons (1919 Nov 28)

 

First woman President of the Indian National Congress - Annie Besant (1917)

 

First woman Chief Minister of a State in India - Sucheta Kripalani Uttar Pradesh (1963-67)

 

First woman Governor of a State in India - Sarojini Naidu, United Provinces (UP) (1947-49)

 

First woman Governor of a State in India - Sarojini Naidu, United Provinces (UP) (1947-49)

 

First woman Speaker of the US House of Representative - Nancy Pelosi (2007)

 

First woman Deputy Chairman of Indian Rajya Sabha - Violet Alva (1962-69)

 

First woman Prime Minister of Turkey -Tansu Ciller (1993 june 14)

 

Woman Prime Minister of Britain-Margaret Thatcher (1979 May 04)

 

Sport

First Asian city to host Olympics - Tokyo, Japan (1964)

 

First Tour de France (road bicycle race) winner-Maurice Garin (1903)

 

World's first chess champion - Wilheim Streinitz (1886)

 

First man to run a mile under 4 minutes-British athlete Sir Roger Bannister, 1954.

First Indian Olympic team medal - Gold for Hockey. At Amsterdam beating the Netherlands (1928)

 

First Indian Olympic individual medal winner - K.D. Jadhav, Bronze in wrestling at Helsinki (1952)

 

First athlete disqualified at the Olympics for drug use - Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall at the Mexico summer Olympics (1968)

 

First Indian Cricket tournament - The Bombay Triangular which later became the Bombay Quadrangular (1912)

 

First Indian Cricket test match- Against England at Lord's (1932)

 

First Indian Cricket captain - CK Nayudu, for the tour of England (1932)

 

First Indian cricketer to score a century - Lala amarnath, against England in South Bombay, 1933

 

First Indian cricketer to score a triple century - Virender Sehwag, against Pakistan at Multan (2004)

 

First Indian hat-trick in Test cricket- Harbhajan Singh, against Australia (2001)

First Indian batsman to complete 10,000 runs-Sunil Gavaskar. He was first in the world to achieve this

 

First Indian Tennis Grand Slam title- Mahesh Bhupathi, Partnering with Japanese Rika Hiraki, Mixed Doubles, French Open (1997)

 

First Indian woman to appear in an Olympic final - P.T. Usha, los angeles Olympics (1984)

 

First woman to win an Olympic Gold Medal - Charlotte Cooper, UK, Tennis singles (1900)

First American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics (1960 Sep, 7)

 

First Indian woman to win a round at a Grand Slam - Nirupama Vaidyanathan beat Italian Gloria Pizzichini in the first round of the Australian Open (1998)

Indian woman in the third round (highest so far) of a tennis Grand Slam event - Sania Mirza, Singles category of the Australian Open (2005 Jan)

 

First Woman black tennis player to win a singles title at Wimbledon - (1957)

 

First woman Chess grandmaster of India - S. Vijayalakshmi (200)

 

First Indian woman medal winner in Olympics - Karnam Malleswari, Bronze in weightlifting Sydney (2000)

 

First Indian woman to win an individual gold medal in Asian games – Karnalijit Sandhu, Bangkok, 400 m (1970)

 

First woman to win a Grand Slam-Maureen Catherine ("Little Mo") Connolly (1953)

 

First Indian to win an individual Olympic Gold -Abhinav Bindra (2008)

 

Adventure

First man to fly solo non stop across the Atlantic - Charles Lindbergh (1927)

 

First person to fly faster than the speed of sound - Charles Elwood Chuck Yeager, 1947.

 

First man to reach the South Pole-Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer and team (1911)

 

First person to swim across the English Channel - Matthew Webb (1875)

 

First person to cross Antarctic Circle-James Cook (1773)

 

First people to sight the North Pole Roald Amundsen and his sponsor Lincoln Ellsworth from the airship 'Norge' piloted by Umberto Nobile (1926)

 

First people to reach the North Pole - Lt. Col. Joseph O. Fletcher and Lt. William P. Benedict landed their plane (1952)

 

First successful conquest of Mount Everest-Tenzing Norgay & Sir Edmund Hillary (New Zealand) via the South-East Ridge Route (1953)

 

First conquest of Everest via the North Ridge-Chinese team (1960)

 

First American to conquer the Everest James Whittaker (1963)

 

First person to conquer the Everest twice Nawang Combu Sherpa. Both of his ascents were via the South East Ridge (1965)

 

First ascent of Everest without bottled oxygen-Peter Habeler (Austria) and Reinhold Messner, (Italy) via the South-East Ridge (1978)

 

First couple to conquer the Everest together -Andrej & Majija Stremfelj, Slovenia. Marija was also the first Slovenian woman to climb Everest (1990)

 

First son of a mountaineer to climb the Everest - Peter Hillary, New Zealand (1990)

 

First father and son to climb the Everest together-Jean Noel Roche and his son Roche Bertrand aka Zebulon (1990)

 

First Pakistani to conquer the Everest - Nazir Sabir (2000)

 

First blind person to conquer the Everest -Erik Weihenmyar, USA (2001)

 

First nonstop solo flight around the world without refueling-Steve Fossett flew the Virgin Atlantic Global flyer around the world From Salina, Kansas. It covered 22,878 miles in 67 hrs (2005)

 

First round the world solo flight - Wiley Post, 1933

 

First woman to fly solo around the world- Jerrie Fredritz Mock. She made the flight in 29 days flying 22,860 miles. (1964)

 

First woman to fly solo across the English Channel-Harriet Quimby, from Dover, England, to Hardelot, France, in a monoplane. She was fater killed in a flying accident. (1912 April 16)

 

First woman to climb Everest without bottled oxygen- Lydia Bradey of New Zealand (1988 Nov 14)

 

First woman to summit from the North (Tibet) side - Phantog, a Tibetan woman, reached the Summit only a few days after junko, becoming the second woman to summit Everest (1975 May 27)

 

First European woman to summit Everest -Wanda Rutkiewica. She was the third woman to summit Everest (1978)

 

First woman to die on Everest - Hannelore Schmatz, while descending from the Summit after becoming the 4th woman to summit Everest (1979)

 

First Asian woman to swim across the English Channel - Arati Saha, India (1959 Sep 29)

 

First woman to summit Everest - Junko Tabei of Japan via the South East Ridge (1975 May 16)

 

First Indian woman to summit Mount Everest Bachendri Pal. She was the 5th woman in the world to achieve this (1984 May 23)

First woman to conquer Everest twice-Santosh Yadav, India (1993 May 10)

 

First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic - Amelia Earhart, from Harbor Grace Newfoundland, to Ireland in 15 hrs. (1932 May)

 

First Indian woman to swim across seven seas of the world - Bula Choudhary, India. She was the first Indian woman to cross English Channel twice (2004)

 

First woman to set foot on North Pole -Ann Bancroft, USA (1986)

 

First woman to sail around the world solo in under 100 days -Ellen MacArthur English Sailor (2001)

 

Science & Space

First Atom Bomb - "Little Boy" dropped over Hiroshima by the US during the second world war (1945)

 

First artificial satellite launched into orbit -Sputnik 1, USSR (1957)

 

First artificial satellite by the United States Explorer 1 (1958)

 

First manned space vehicle - Vostok 1, USSR (1961)

 

First International Co-operative space flight - A US Apollo spacecraft docks with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft while in Earth orbit. The two flight crews visited each other's spacecraft and had meals together (1975)

 

First US astronaut to orbit earth - John Glenn (1962)

 

First manned private spaceflight - 'Space Ship One' piloted by Mike Melvill (2004)

 

First living creature to orbit the earth - Laika, the dog, aboard the Soviet satellite, Sputnik 2. ,1957

First man in space - Yuri Gagarin of USSR. He is the first human to orbit Earth (1961)

 

First Indian in space - Rakesh Sharma aboard Salyut 7 (1969)

 

First human to walk in space - Alexei Arkhovich Leonov (1965)

 

First American to walk in space-Edward Higgins White, jr (1965)

 

First woman in space -Valentina Tereshkova, Russian, cosmonaut, aboard Vostok - 6 (1963)

 

American woman in space - Dr. Sally K. Ride, Space Shuttle Challenger (1983)

 

Fiorst black woman in space - Mae Carol Jemison, abord the Endeavor (1992)

 

First Indian Woman in Space - Kalpana Chawla aboard Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS - 87. (She was a naturalized US citizen, and represented the US during the event), 1997 (Nov 19)

 

First woman to walk in space - Svetlana Savitskaya, while on Salyut - 7 (1984)

 

American woman to walk in space - Kathryn D. Sullivan, Space Shuttle challenger mission (1984)

 

First woman space tourist - Anousheh Ansari. She was the first Iranian and first Muslim woman in space (2006)

 

First woman space shuttle ilot - Eileen Marie Collins. She piloted STS 63, which involved rendezvous between Discovery and space station Mir. (1995)

 

First Indian commercial woman pilot - Durba Banerjee, Indian Arilines (1966)

 

First woman airbus pilot in the world - Durba Banerjee, India, Airbus A300 (1987)

 

Miscellaneous

First US President's first Inaugural ceremony broadcast live on the Internet.-William J. Clinto (1997)

 

First skyscraper in the world-Home Insurance Building, Chicago, Illinois. William Lebaron jenny was the architect of this 10 storey, 138 it, building (1885)

 

First bank in the world - Egibi bank founded in Babylon during the period of Nebu-chadnezzar (605-562 BC)

 

First President of ADB-Takeshi Watanabe (1966)

 

First cloned mammal - Dolly, the lamb (1966)

 

First city in India to have electricity- Bangalore. (First city in Asia, 1906)

 

First Indian Sponsored TV serial-Hum Log (1984)

 

Miss America - Margaret Gorman (192) Black Miss America - Vanessa Williams, 1983

 

First woman photojournalist in India - Homai Vyarawalla, Bombay Chronicle (1938)

 

First Miss Universe - Armi Kuusela, Finland (1952)

 

First Miss World - Kerstin Kiki Haadkonson, Sweden (1951)

 

First Indian to win the Miss Universe title -Sushmita Sen (1994)

 

First woman railway engine drive in Asia - Surekha Yadav, Indian Railways (1992)

 

First woman to appear on a US postage stamp- Queen Isabella of Spain (1893)

First Indian woman featured in a postal stamp - Meera Bai (1952)

World's first owman abmbassador - Rosika Schwimmer, Hungarian ambassador to Switzerland (1918)

 

First Indian woman Ambas-sador- Vijayalakshmi Pandit, USSR (1947-49)

 

First Indian to be the Miss World -Reita Faria (1966 Nov 17)