First to fly?
At 10h35 on Friday 17 December 1903, Orville Wright took the Flyer that he and his brother Wilbur built into the air for what has come to be known as the first powered flight. Earlier, unbeknownst to them, Gustave Whitehead and Richard Pearse were also experimenting with flying machines. Who actually took first to the sky remains a controversy.

Garde a l'eau!
It is often incorrectly quoted that the toilet was invented by a Mr Thomas Crapper in the 18th century. There was a Mr Crapper around at the time - he happened to be a successful plumber, appropriately. But who invented the toilet?

Running out of steam
Heron of Greece invented steam power in 50 BC. But the leaders of the day thought that it would cause unemployment which may lead to unrest and the invention, well, ran out of steam. There were many such untimely inventions.