Joyner-Kersee was born on March 3, 1962 in East St. Louis. She has been hailed as one of the world’s greatest athletes of all time. She is the holder of three Olympic gold medals, one silver, and two bronze. This makes her the most decorated female athlete in track and field history. 

Joyner-Kersee was a star at a young age. In high school she won several awards, and set the Illinois women’s high school long-jump record. After high school she attended UCLA on a full-ride scholarship, and began training for the Olympics.

Her reputation as one of the world’s greatest athletes is well deserved. In 1988 she set four world records in the heptathlon, an Olympic track-and-field competition that consists of seven separate events.

Learn more:
Official website of Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Did you know the 400-pound lithium-ion battery used to power the Chevy Volt was developed in Illinois?

Argonne National Laboratory is located near Lemont. In 2011, the scientists at Argonne revolutionized the production of hybrid cars with a breakthrough development that lead to the creation of a 400-pound lithium-ion battery that powers the Chevy Volt in electric mode.

Argonne’s scientists were able to alter the battery’s chemistry to allow it to last longer, run more safely and perform better than other electric car batteries.

Learn more:
Argonne's role in developing the Volt battery
Argonne National Laboratory

Aaron Montgomery Ward started his mail order business in Chicago in 1872. While companies at the time were putting out single page mail order ads, Ward was the first to send out a multiple-item price list. The catalog targeted the rural consumer who wanted the comforts of city life. Ward’s catalog made such comforts available to rural communities.

In 1896 Ward’s catalog began receiving competition from the Sears and Roebuck Company, who began to put out their own catalog. Although neither company puts out a mail-order catalog anymore, Ward’s catalog is still regarded as an influential relic from American life. 

Learn more:
Read more about Montgomery Ward

The Second City’s public transportation system is still second only to New York’s. Between the Chicago Transit Authority’s “L” and suburban Metra, the Chicagoland area is still one of the nation’s leaders. On an average weekday, 1.7 million riders take the CTA, with another 300,000 riding Metra.

In total, the Chicago metropolitan area’s commuter rail lines connect more than 100 communities with 386 stations, 19 rail lines and more than 1,300 miles of track. Chicagoland’s rail lines help reduce pollution and road congestion and provide millions of people an affordable option to reach jobs, shopping and entertainment facilities throughout a six-county area.

Learn more:
Read more about the “L” and the CTA
Read more about Metra
Learn about Chicago’s position as the most important railroad center in North America

While dialysis was first successfully designed and implemented in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation of that country in 1943 by Dr. Willem Johan Kolff, the initial device was crude at best.

When Baxter International CEO William B. Graham discovered Dr. Kolff’s device, he saw potential and the Deerfield, Illinois company began design and production of its own dialysis machines in 1956.

This modern medical device is now used for countless patients the world over in treating numerous kidney disorders such as acute renal failure and hemophilia.

Learn more:
Single-minded Man Of Vision (Chicago Tribune)