List of Firsts, Lasts, Onlys, and Oldests
I don't know why but I thought it might be fun to make this list and then add to it gradually over time.
Firsts
- The first freestanding nude sculpture made in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire was Donatello's David, created in the 1440s.
- Quinine was the first chemical compound used to treat an infectious disease.
- In 1669, Phosphorus became the first element of the Periodic Table to be isolated since ancient times.
- The oldest known sports score in history is a cricket match at Richmond Green in England in 1731, when the team of Thomas Chambers of Middlesex defeated the Duke of Richmond's team 119–79.
- The first name that we know of in history is thought to be Kushim, who may have been a beer merchant living in Uruk, Sumeria around 3200 BC. There is disagreement about whether Kushim was a person, the title of an officeholder, or an institution.
Lasts
- The last person to reign as tsar of any country was Simeon II of Bulgaria who reigned from 1943–1946. As of 2025, he is still alive!
- The last Imperial eunuch of China's Qing dynasty was Sun Yaoting who died in December 1996.
- Castrati were Italian boys who were castrated to preserve their boyish singing voice. The last castrato was Alessandro Moreschi who died in 1922.
- The last person burned at the stake in England was Catherine Murphy who was convicted of counterfeiting in 1789. Her husband, convicted for the same crime, was merely hung, but as a woman, the law required that Mrs. Murphy be burned at the stake. She was not however, burned alive, as she was strangled first. The last Englishwoman actually burned alive was Prudence Lee in 1652.
Onlys
- The only country to ever control the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea is the Roman Empire.
- The only confirmed intrastellar object to be seen in our solar system is ʻOumuamua which was spotted in 2017.
Oldests
- The oldest human-planted tree (with a known date) is the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi. It is a sapling from the original bodhi tree under which the Buddha is said to have gained enlightenment. It was sent to Sri Lanka by Emperor Aśoka where it was planted in 288 BC.