- 1768 – In London, England, Great Britain, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus.
- 1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
- 1816 – Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
- 1839 – The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
- 1894 – New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
- 1923 – Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.
