First in the World: Space, Exploration and Records
Complete notes on firsts in the world for competitive exams: the first in space, at the poles, on Everest, in world politics, in medicine, in sport and the Nobel Prize.
By GK24 Editorial Team· Published · 4 min read
Every general awareness paper carries a question that begins with the words who was the first, and the answer is almost always a name, a country and a year. This chapter collects those firsts of the world, the ones that do not change, and arranges them by field so that a single reading fixes the name with the year. Keep the Indian firsts apart from the world firsts while you revise, because the commonest mistake in the examination hall is to give the first Indian where the first in the world was asked, or the reverse.
Firsts in space
The space race supplies the largest block of questions. The Soviet Union put Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite of the Earth, into orbit on 4 October 1957, and a month later Sputnik 2 carried the dog Laika, the first animal to orbit the Earth. On 12 April 1961 Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union became the first human being in space aboard Vostok 1, completing one orbit. Valentina Tereshkova, also of the Soviet Union, became the first woman in space aboard Vostok 6 in June 1963, and Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk from Voskhod 2 in March 1965. The United States took the Moon: on 20 July 1969 Neil Armstrong stepped out of the Apollo 11 lunar module as the first human being on the Moon, followed by Edwin Buzz Aldrin, while Michael Collins stayed in the command module in lunar orbit. Salyut 1 of the Soviet Union, launched in 1971, was the first space station, and Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to walk in space in 1984.
Firsts of exploration and adventure
| Feat | First to do it | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Voyage round the world | The expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, completed by Juan Sebastian Elcano after Magellan's death | 1519 to 1522 |
| Reaching the South Pole | Roald Amundsen of Norway | 1911 |
| Climbing Mount Everest | Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay | 1953 |
| Woman to climb Mount Everest | Junko Tabei of Japan | 1975 |
| Swimming across the English Channel | Matthew Webb of England | 1875 |
| Woman to swim across the English Channel | Gertrude Ederle of the United States | 1926 |
| Solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic | Charles Lindbergh of the United States | 1927 |
| Woman to fly solo across the Atlantic | Amelia Earhart of the United States | 1932 |
| Powered aeroplane flight | Orville and Wilbur Wright of the United States | 1903 |
Robert Peary of the United States is usually credited in examination lists with reaching the North Pole in 1909, although the claim has long been argued over; the South Pole, reached by Amundsen ahead of Robert Falcon Scott, is the safer question and the one more often set.
Firsts in world politics
Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon, the country now called Sri Lanka, became the first woman Prime Minister in the world in 1960. Isabel Peron of Argentina became the first woman to hold the office of President of a country in 1974, and Vigdis Finnbogadottir of Iceland, elected in 1980, was the first woman elected President. New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote, in 1893. The United States adopted the first written constitution of a modern state in 1787 and George Washington was its first President. The United Nations was formed in 1945, and Trygve Lie of Norway was its first Secretary-General. Britain issued the world's first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black, in 1840, while paper money and printing were both in use in China long before Europe. Hiroshima in Japan was the first city to suffer an atomic bombing, on 6 August 1945.
Firsts in science, medicine and the Nobel Prize
Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant at Cape Town in South Africa in 1967, on the patient Louis Washkansky. Louise Brown, born in the United Kingdom in 1978, was the first test-tube baby. Dolly the sheep, born in 1996 at the Roslin Institute in Scotland, was the first mammal cloned from an adult body cell. The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901, the Peace Prize going jointly to Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross, and Frederic Passy. Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, in Physics in 1903, and the first person to win it twice, taking the Chemistry prize in 1911, which also made her the only person to win it in two different sciences.
Firsts in sport
- The first modern Olympic Games were held at Athens in Greece in 1896.
- The first FIFA World Cup was held in 1930 in Uruguay, and Uruguay won it.
- The first Cricket World Cup was held in England in 1975 and was won by the West Indies.
- The first Asian Games were held at New Delhi in India in 1951.
- The first women's events at the modern Olympics were held in 1900 at Paris, the second Games.
Exam Point of View
Papers set this topic as a one-line question, and the distractors are chosen from the same field. Three traps recur. First, the first in the world is swapped with the first in India, so Rakesh Sharma is offered where Yuri Gagarin is the answer. Second, the second achiever is offered as the first, such as Buzz Aldrin for Neil Armstrong, Robert Falcon Scott for Roald Amundsen or Vigdis Finnbogadottir for Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Third, the year is moved by a few years, so learn 1957, 1961, 1963, 1969, 1911, 1953 and 1893 as fixed numbers. Learn the country with every name, because the question often asks for the country instead.
Important Facts
| First artificial satellite | Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 |
|---|---|
| First animal in orbit | Laika, the dog aboard Sputnik 2, 1957 |
| First man in space | Yuri Gagarin, Vostok 1, 12 April 1961 |
| First woman in space | Valentina Tereshkova, Vostok 6, 1963 |
| First spacewalk | Alexei Leonov, Voskhod 2, 1965 |
| First man on the Moon | Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11, 20 July 1969 |
| First to reach the South Pole | Roald Amundsen of Norway, 1911 |
| First to climb Everest | Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, 29 May 1953 |
| First woman Prime Minister | Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, 1960 |
| First country to give women the vote | New Zealand, 1893 |
| First UN Secretary-General | Trygve Lie of Norway, 1946 |
| First heart transplant | By Christiaan Barnard at Cape Town, South Africa, 1967 |
| First test-tube baby | Louise Brown, United Kingdom, 1978 |
| First cloned mammal from an adult cell | Dolly the sheep, 1996 |
| First postage stamp | The Penny Black, issued by Britain in 1840 |
| First modern Olympic Games | Athens, Greece, 1896 |
Practice MCQs on this topic
Who was the first human being to travel into space?
- A.Alexei Leonov
- B.Yuri Gagarin
- C.Neil Armstrong
- D.Rakesh Sharma
Show answer
The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched aboard Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961 and completed a single orbit of the Earth, becoming the first human being in space.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first woman to travel into space?
- A.Svetlana Savitskaya
- B.Sally Ride
- C.Valentina Tereshkova
- D.Kalpana Chawla
Show answer
The Soviet cosmonaut flew alone aboard Vostok 6 in June 1963 and spent nearly three days in orbit, becoming the first woman in space, two years after Yuri Gagarin's flight.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first person to set foot on the surface of the Moon?
- A.Michael Collins
- B.Edwin Buzz Aldrin
- C.Yuri Gagarin
- D.Neil Armstrong
Show answer
The American astronaut commanded the Apollo 11 mission and stepped out of the lunar module on 20 July 1969, becoming the first human being to walk on the Moon.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first person to reach the South Pole?
- A.Roald Amundsen
- B.Robert Falcon Scott
- C.Robert Peary
- D.Ernest Shackleton
Show answer
The Norwegian explorer and his party reached the South Pole in December 1911, using dog sledges and a carefully laid line of supply depots, and returned safely.
Read the full explanation →Which was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote?
- A.United States of America
- B.United Kingdom
- C.New Zealand
- D.Australia
Show answer
In 1893 New Zealand, then a self-governing colony, gave women the right to vote in national elections, the first country in the world to do so, after a long campaign led by Kate Sheppard.
Read the full explanation →Who became the first woman Prime Minister in the world?
- A.Indira Gandhi
- B.Sirimavo Bandaranaike
- C.Golda Meir
- D.Margaret Thatcher
Show answer
She became Prime Minister of Ceylon, the island now called Sri Lanka, in 1960, and was the first woman anywhere in the world to head a government as Prime Minister.
Read the full explanation →Who performed the world's first human heart transplant?
- A.Christiaan Barnard
- B.Alexander Fleming
- C.Joseph Lister
- D.Robert Edwards
Show answer
The South African surgeon carried out the first transplant of a human heart at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town in 1967, on the patient Louis Washkansky, who survived the operation but lived only a further eighteen days.
Read the full explanation →Which country issued the world's first adhesive postage stamp?
- A.France
- B.United States of America
- C.Britain
- D.Switzerland
Show answer
The Penny Black, issued in 1840 and bearing the head of Queen Victoria, was the world's first adhesive postage stamp, and it came out of the postal reform that fixed a single low rate paid by the sender rather than the receiver.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first person to be awarded the Nobel Prize twice?
- A.Linus Pauling
- B.Marie Curie
- C.Albert Einstein
- D.Frederick Sanger
Show answer
She shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for the study of radioactivity and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alone in 1911 for the discovery of radium and polonium, becoming the first person to receive the prize twice.
Read the full explanation →Which country won the first FIFA World Cup, held in 1930?
- A.Brazil
- B.Italy
- C.Argentina
- D.Uruguay
Show answer
Uruguay both hosted and won the first FIFA World Cup in 1930, beating Argentina in the final at Montevideo, and the tournament was awarded to the country partly because it had won the Olympic football title twice in the preceding years.
Read the full explanation →Frequently Asked Questions
Who was the first person to go into space and who was the first on the Moon?
Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union was the first human being in space, on 12 April 1961 aboard Vostok 1. Neil Armstrong of the United States was the first to set foot on the Moon, on 20 July 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission, with Buzz Aldrin following him and Michael Collins in orbit above.
Which country first gave women the right to vote?
New Zealand, in 1893, was the first self-governing country to give women the right to vote in national elections. Australia followed soon after, while Britain and the United States extended the vote to women only after the First World War.
Who was the first woman Prime Minister and who was the first woman President in the world?
Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, became the first woman Prime Minister in 1960. Isabel Peron of Argentina became the first woman to hold the office of President in 1974, and Vigdis Finnbogadottir of Iceland, in 1980, was the first woman to be elected President.
Who was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes?
Marie Curie, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. She was also the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize, and she remains the only person to have won it in two different sciences.
Which country won the first FIFA World Cup?
Uruguay, which both hosted and won the first FIFA World Cup in 1930. The first Cricket World Cup, held in England in 1975, was won by the West Indies.
Sources
- The Nobel Prize: facts and lists of laureates — The Nobel Foundation
- Human spaceflight mission chronology — NASA
- History of the Olympic Games — International Olympic Committee
