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History of Fireworks
In 1777, the citizens of Philadelphia gathered under the night sky to celebrate America's very first Independence Day.
They had cannons, church bells, and fireworks.
And every single firework that exploded above them was orange. Just orange. No red. No blue. No green.
The science to create those colors wouldn't exist for another sixty years.
This week on Hidden History, we're tracing the 2,000-year journey that gave the world fireworks — from an unnamed Taoist alchemist in 9th-century China who was searching for a recipe to live forever, to the Song Dynasty engineers who turned his accident…
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