Manchester City Council

Business & investment Manchester Firsts

Did you know that....?

In 2010 scientists at the University of Manchester were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for inventing graphene, the world's thinnest material.

Alcock and Brown, both Manchester Central High School students, were the first to fly the Atlantic Ocean non-stop.

The first international art exhibition was held in Manchester in 1857.

The Bridgewater Canal, opened in 1761, was the first totally artificial waterway independent of natural rivers.

The first computer with a stored programme and memory, nicknamed 'baby', was developed at the University of Manchester.

The 2002 Commonwealth Games was the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK.

Manchester was the birth place of the worldwide co-operative movement. Granada Television's Coronation Street is the world's longest running soap opera.

The first professional football league was set up in the Royal Hotel at Piccadilly, Manchester.

Manchester was the first city to recognise ICT as a priority in economic regeneration and the first to set up a Digital Development Agency.

The nation's first free, public library opened off Manchester's Long Millgate - a bequest from wealthy merchant Humphrey Chetham.

Despite having a market stall in Leeds, Marks and Spencer opened its first store on Stretford Road in Hulme.

Frederick Royce met Charles Rolls in Manchester's Midland Hotel and set up the famous company which bears their names.

Doctor Patrick Steptoe succeeded in producing the world's first 'test-tube' baby at Oldham Royal Hospital in 1978.

The world's first purpose built industrial estate was launched at Trafford Park in 1896. John Dalton's atomic theory (1803) with its pioneering work on the constitution of elements was the precursor of all modern chemistry.

In 1853 John Benjamin Dancer working from 43 Cross Street invented microphotography and microfilms.

The first law in thermodynamics was discovered in Manchester by James Prescott Joule.

Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803-87) was the father of precision engineering. Ernest Rutherford working at Manchester University discovered how to split the atom in 1919.

The first mechanically powered submarine was launched in 1880 to the designs of Hulme curate, the Rev. George Garrett.

The first and only swing aqueduct in the world is at Barton. Built in 1893, it carries the Bridgewater Canal over the Ship Canal and carries 800 tons of water.

Municipal parks Philips Park, Queens Park and Peel Park opened in 1846 to become the first municipal parks.

The first bus route ran from Market Street, Manchester, to Salford and began in 1824.

 

 

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