1st Person Point of View
First-person accounts of people who were first to do it
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First-Person Account — 1967
The First Man Cryogenically PreservedA first-person account detailing the experience of being the first man to undergo cryogenic preservation.
Scientific Letter — 1887
A Letter Concerning VenomHe gave them rattlesnake venom in doses too small to kill. Then larger. Then larger still. One pigeon survived a dose that would have stopped a man's heart. He wrote it down and sent the letter. The Nobel went to someone else fourteen years later.
Photographic Pursuit Record — 1884
The First Tempest PhotographerHe predicted the Garnett tornado four days in advance, followed it east from Pueblo by rail, and photographed it minutes before the man history remembers. His second plate was returned without inquiry. His third plate showed seven figures who should not have been there.
Laboratory Notes — 1899
The Night the Earth AnsweredHe lit two hundred lamps from twenty-five miles away with no wire between them and the source. The science worked. The infrastructure was never built.
Mine Record — 1879
Still TappingThe rescue was called on October 17th. The tapping resumed at 9:41 that morning. The shaft was sealed on October 18th. When it was reopened in 1884, the fragments found with him indicated he had survived at least six days.
Summit Record — 1812
The Summit He Could No Longer SeeHe reached the top eight years before the Long Expedition. He came back snow-blind. The mountain still carries the name of the man who failed to reach what Shale had already stood on.
Expedition Record — 1541
The Man Who Carried the SunHe rode ahead of the column across the Llano Estacado carrying a single live ember in a clay vessel. On the third night, the fire spoke. The animals would not approach. He carried it alive for twelve days.