1904Jul, 21
Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brillié in Ostend, Belgium.
Louis Rigolly (1876 - 1958), a Frenchman, was the first man to drive a car at over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).He set a record of 103.561 mph (166.665 km/h) on a beach at Ostend in Belgium on 21 July 1904, driving a 13.5 litre Gobron-Brillié racing car. He covered a 1 kilometre course in 21.6 seconds, beating Belgian Pierre de Caters mark of 97.25 mph (156.51 km/h), set the previous May over the same 1 kilometre course in Ostend. The record stood for just three months. Rigolly also participated in early Grand Prix motor racing, winning the Light car class of the inaugural Circuit des Ardennes in 1902, driving a Gobron-Brillié.
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Events on 1904
- 17Jan
The Cherry Orchard
Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre. - 3Mar
Thomas Edison
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's phonograph cylinder. - 8Apr
The Book of the Law
British mystic Aleister Crowley transcribes the first chapter of The Book of the Law. - 5May
Cy Young
Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. - 16Nov
Vacuum tube
English engineer John Ambrose Fleming receives a patent for the thermionic valve (vacuum tube).