1910s C.E.

More details Countess Constance Markiewicz

Constance Markievicz becomes first woman elected to U.K.’s House of Commons

Constance Georgine Markievicz was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the first woman elected to the Westminster Parliament. On 28 December 1918, she was the first woman elected to the UK House of Commons, though, being in Holloway Prison at the time and in accordance with party policy, she did not take her seat. She was also one of the first women in the world to hold a cabinet position, as Ireland’s Minister for Labour from 1919 to 1922.

The Panama Canal officially opens

France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The United States took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal on August 15, 1914.

Frank Shuman thermal solar plant concept drawing

Frank Shuman builds the world’s first solar thermal power plant in Egypt

Frank Shuman was an American inventor, engineer, and solar energy pioneer known for his work on solar engines. Shuman built the world’s first solar thermal power station in Maadi, Egypt in 1913, using used semi circle shaped troughs to power a 60-70 horsepower engine that pumped 6,000 gallons of water per minute from the Nile River to adjacent cotton fields.

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