Major inventions that were born at the International Expo… and international tourist attractions
It is the “Expo” exhibition… the global festival of technology, culture and industry… a forum in which countries share the latest findings in the achievements of human civilization. Major inventions and historical landmarks were brought to light. Few cities have won the bid to host this global event. Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which hosts “Expo 2030” in the latest anticipated appearance of this global scientific and heritage forum, is one of the most prominent cities hosting the great event, as the Kingdom looks forward to organizing an exceptional edition.
Major inventions known to the world were born at the “International Exhibition,” known today as “Expo.” It is the “birthplace” of the telegraph, the telephone, direct television broadcasting, and thousands of other innovations that changed the ways of life and developed them for the better. For the sake of the exhibition, projects were built, including what became a national symbol and a global tourist attraction, and made the host country a global tourism destination attracting millions of visitors.
“Birthplace” of major inventions
The international “Expo” exhibitions witnessed the birth of major inventions witnessed by humanity, from the fax to the telephone, direct television broadcasting, the mobile phone, and many other inventions that the world saw and learned about for the first time in the “Expo” displays.
A general view from Knightsbridge Road of the Crystal Palace Exhibition in Hyde Park in the British capital, London, during its hosting of the “Great Exhibition” of 1851… The global event witnessed the first display of a preliminary copy of a telegraph or fax (archive-in-circulation)
Fax: An early version of the fax machine was unveiled at Expo 1851 (The Great Exhibition) in London.
The machine was known at the time as the “image telegraph.” It was invented by the English physicist Frederick Bakewell, who built on a theoretical concept developed by the Scottish mechanic Alexander Payne 10 years ago, according to CNN.
The public was dazzled by live demonstrations of the fax machine at Expo 1851, and it then took until 1863 to produce the first commercial model of a fax machine.
A color photo shows the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, speaking on the telephone in New York (calling Chicago) in 1892 (Getty)
Phone: Or the phone, in turn, is a device, one of these major inventions that came to light at the Expo exhibitions and later revolutionized the world of communications. The Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated his invention “the telephone” for the first time on March 10, 1876, according to the American “CBS” network, at the “Expo” exhibition in Philadelphia in the United States, after Bell obtained a patent for this technology before Only a few months.
At Expo, Bell demonstrated his communications system, which had two terminals: a transmitter and a receiver.
Bell amazed the audience at the exhibition, as one of the witnesses, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, said in amazement: “Oh my God, he is talking,” as he held the telephone to his ear, according to the New York Times.
The late US President Franklin Roosevelt during his opening of the New York World Expo on April 30, 1939… This event witnessed the first live television broadcast in history, in which the American network “NBC” broadcast the opening speech of President Roosevelt (New York Public Radio Archives)
Live TV transmission: At the 1939 New York World Expo, Franklin Roosevelt became the first American president to make a live television broadcast on April 30, 1939. The American network NBC filmed this event in which President Roosevelt announced the opening of the Expo. .
The American audience watching that live broadcast at home was limited, as there were only 100 or so television sets in New York City at the time, but visitors to the Expo could also watch Roosevelt’s speech on televisions spread across a dedicated site in Queens, New York City.
Postage stamp bearing the name “1939 New York World’s Fair” (New York City Municipal Archives)
This live broadcast of Roosevelt’s appearance marked the birth of a new era of mass communications.
The outbreak of World War II led to a temporary halt to the development of television, and more than a decade passed since the first live broadcast in 1939, before the new media became popular among people.
A photo from “Expo Osaka” in Japan in 1970 shows people trying out the wireless phone in its special pavilion at the exhibition (circulated)
Cordless phone: One of the most widely used inventions of our time is the wireless telephone, of which the Japanese Telegraph and Telephone Company displayed a model at the Expo 70 exhibition in the Japanese city of Osaka in 1970. This piece of technology will later bring about a technological revolution in society and bring the world into a new era. Of communications.
At the Osaka exhibition, a special pavilion for electronic communications was allocated to visitors, where visitors were able to sit in plastic cubicles and make calls to areas of Japan via a large wireless telephone.
Generator of international tourist attractions
Many buildings were built specifically for the International Expo exhibitions, or project owners took advantage of the international nature of the exhibition to demonstrate and publicize their engineering achievement. The Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty are two buildings that appeared in public at Expo exhibitions and have become national and international landmarks.
statue of Liberty: It is a huge structure on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, which has stood as a global symbol of freedom since 1886.
The copper statue is a gift from the French people to the American people, to commemorate the historical relations between the two countries. It was designed by the French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who displayed part of its structure at the Paris Expo in 1878.
The Statue of Liberty in New York City Bay…a part of the city is visible behind it (circulated)
The Statue of Liberty is one of the greatest technical achievements of the 19th century, and is seen as a bridge between art and engineering.
The statue represents a woman holding a torch in her raised right hand, and in her left hand a plaque bearing the date of the Declaration of Independence of the United States (July 4, 1776).
This famous statue, which was declared an American national monument in 1924, was visited by 3.14 million people in 2022, according to the “Statista” website, which specializes in statistics.
Eiffel tower: It is a famous Parisian monument. It was built specifically for the Paris Expo in 1889.
The idea of businessman Gustave Eiffel and his team of engineers, the construction of the Eiffel Tower was initially opposed by French artists and intellectuals who considered its construction “astonishing folly.” However, the tower attracted more than two million people who came to see it during the 1889 Expo.
The landmark took more than two years to build, and was never intended to be a permanent structure. It was supposed to remain for only 20 years, but the use of the tower as a laboratory for scientific measurements and experiments ensured its survival.
A view of the Eiffel Tower in the French capital, Paris, November 28, 2015 (Reuters)
Since 1889, a large number of scientific devices have been installed, including barometers, anemometers, lightning rods, and others. Gustave Eiffel also allocated himself an office on the third floor of the tower to conduct astronomical and physiological observations, according to the official website of the Eiffel Tower.
The tower has become a symbol of France, and since its inception, hundreds of millions of visitors from all over the world have visited it, and it has a major contribution to making France one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the world.
