On this day

25 August in history.

5 moments from 1609 to 2012: discovery, creativity and courage, each with a source to read more.

5 moments

Captain Matthew Webb July 1883

1875

The first Channel swim. Captain Matthew Webb swam from Dover to Calais in under 22 hours, the first person to swim the English Channel.

Wikipedia: Matthew Webb

Photo: Illustrated London News / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

More from 25 August

  1. Galileo Galilei

    1609

    Galileo's telescope

    Galileo showed his telescope to the leaders of Venice, who could see ships far out at sea hours before they arrived.

    Wikipedia: Galileo GalileiWikipedia: Telescope

    Photo: Justus Sustermans / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

  2. The noodle block of a Mama instant noodles, standard size

    1958

    Instant noodles

    Momofuku Ando introduced Chikin Ramen, the first instant noodles, in Japan.

    Wikipedia: Instant noodlesWikipedia: Momofuku Ando

    Photo: Takeaway / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

  3. A cropped and rotated version of an image of Linus Torvalds speaking at the LinuxCon Europe 2014 in Düsseldorf

    1991

    Linux is announced

    Student Linus Torvalds posted that he was making a free operating system "just a hobby". Linux now runs much of the internet.

    Wikipedia: LinuxWikipedia: Linus Torvalds

    Photo: Krd (photo) Von Sprat (crop/extraction) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  4. Voyager 1

    2012

    Voyager 1 leaves the Sun's bubble

    Voyager 1 crossed into interstellar space, the first human-made object to do so.

    Wikipedia: Voyager 1Wikipedia: Interstellar medium

    Photo: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Moments chosen for discovery, creativity and courage. Each one links to a source where you can read more; photos are credited to their owners.