Meta Massey (1896 - 1983)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Meta's lifetime.

In 1896, in the year that Meta Massey was born, on August 17th, the first pedestrian v car fatality occurred in Great Britain. Bridget Driscoll, age 44, was walking with her family on the grounds of The Crystal Palace in London when she was hit by a car driven by Arthur James Edsall. Edsall claimed to be going 4.5 mph and Driscoll's death was ruled an "accidental death" after an inquest.

In 1917, by the time she was 21 years old, Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari was convicted and executed as a German spy. Since Mata Hari, born Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod, was a citizen of the Netherlands (which remained neutral in World War 1), she could travel freely in Europe. Her travels (and her romantic entanglements) raised suspicion and she was arrested by the French and found guilty. There is still controversy about her guilt although her name has become synonymous with a seductive female spy.

In 1926, at the age of 30 years old, Meta was alive when on November 15th, NBC was founded. It was the U.S.'s first major broadcast network. Ownership of the network was split between RCA (a majority partner at 50%), its founding corporate parent General Electric (which owned 30%), and Westinghouse (which owned the remaining 20%).

In 1959, when she was 63 years old, on August 8th, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States. The US flag was changed to show 50 stars.

In 1983, in the year of Meta Massey's passing, physicist Sally K. Ride, 32, became the first US woman astronaut in space as a crew member aboard space shuttle Challenger on June 18th. She was also the youngest (32) astronaut to go into space. Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space in 1963.