crème de la crème

Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-10 00:16:50

1066) Robert Louis Stevenson

Summary

Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped and A Child's Garden of Verses.

Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life, but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. As a young man, he mixed in London literary circles, receiving encouragement from Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen and W. E. Henley, the last of whom may have provided the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island. In 1890, he settled in Samoa where, alarmed at increasing European and American influence in the South Sea islands, his writing turned away from romance and adventure fiction toward a darker realism. He died in his island home in 1894 at age 44.

A celebrity in his lifetime, Stevenson's critical reputation has fluctuated since his death, though today his works are held in general acclaim.

Details

Robert Louis Stevenson, in full Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson, (born November 13, 1850, Edinburgh, Scotland—died December 3, 1894, Vailima, Samoa), Scottish essayist, poet, and author of fiction and travel books, best known for his novels Treasure Island (1881), Kidnapped (1886), Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), and The Master of Ballantrae (1889).

Early life

Stevenson was the only son of Thomas Stevenson, a prosperous civil engineer, and his wife, Margaret Isabella Balfour. His poor health made regular schooling difficult, but he attended Edinburgh Academy and other schools before, at age 17, entering Edinburgh University, where he was expected to prepare himself for the family profession of lighthouse engineering. But Stevenson had no desire to be an engineer, and he eventually agreed with his father, as a compromise, to prepare instead for the Scottish bar.

He had shown a desire to write early in life, and once in his teens he had deliberately set out to learn the writer’s craft by imitating a great variety of models in prose and verse. His youthful enthusiasm for the Covenanters (i.e., those Scotsmen who had banded together to defend their version of Presbyterianism in the 17th century) led to his writing The Pentland Rising, his first printed work. During his years at the university he rebelled against his parents’ religion and set himself up as a liberal bohemian who abhorred the alleged cruelties and hypocrisies of bourgeois respectability.

In 1873, in the midst of painful differences with his father, he visited a married cousin in Suffolk, England, where he met Sidney Colvin, the English scholar, who became a lifelong friend, and Fanny Sitwell (who later married Colvin). Sitwell, an older woman of charm and talent, drew the young man out and won his confidence. Soon Stevenson was deeply in love, and on his return to Edinburgh he wrote her a series of letters in which he played the part first of lover, then of worshipper, then of son. One of the several names by which Stevenson addressed her in these letters was “Claire,” a fact that many years after his death was to give rise to the erroneous notion that Stevenson had had an affair with a humbly born Edinburgh girl of that name. Eventually the passion turned into a lasting friendship.

Later in 1873 Stevenson suffered severe respiratory illness and was sent to the French Riviera, where Colvin later joined him. He returned home the following spring. In July 1875 he was called to the Scottish bar, but he never practiced. Stevenson was frequently abroad, most often in France. Two of his journeys produced An Inland Voyage (1878) and Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879). His career as a writer developed slowly. His essay “Roads” appeared in the Portfolio in 1873, and in 1874 “Ordered South” appeared in Macmillan’s Magazine, a review of Lord Lytton’s Fables in Song appeared in the Fortnightly, and his first contribution (on Victor Hugo) appeared in The Cornhill Magazine, then edited by Leslie Stephen, a critic and biographer. It was these early essays, carefully wrought, quizzically meditative in tone, and unusual in sensibility, that first drew attention to Stevenson as a writer.

Stephen brought Stevenson into contact with Edmund Gosse, the poet and critic, who became a good friend. Later, when in Edinburgh, Stephen introduced Stevenson to the writer W.E. Henley. The two became warm friends and were to remain so until 1888, when a letter from Henley to Stevenson containing a deliberately implied accusation of dishonesty against the latter’s wife precipitated a quarrel that Henley, jealous and embittered, perpetuated after his friend’s death in a venomous review of a biography of Stevenson.

In 1876 Stevenson met Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne, an American lady separated from her husband, and the two fell in love. Stevenson’s parents’ horror at their son’s involvement with a married woman subsided somewhat when she returned to California in 1878, but it revived with greater force when Stevenson decided to join her in August 1879. Stevenson reached California ill and penniless (the record of his arduous journey appeared later in The Amateur Emigrant, 1895, and Across the Plains, 1892). His adventures, which included coming very near death and eking out a precarious living in Monterey and San Francisco, culminated in marriage to Fanny Osbourne (who was by then divorced from her first husband) early in 1880. About the same time a telegram from his relenting father offered much-needed financial support, and, after a honeymoon by an abandoned silver mine (recorded in The Silverado Squatters, 1883), the couple sailed for Scotland to achieve reconciliation with the Thomas Stevensons.

Romantic novels of Robert Louis Stevenson

Soon after his return, Stevenson, accompanied by his wife and his stepson, Lloyd Osbourne, went, on medical advice (he had tuberculosis), to Davos, Switzerland. The family left there in April 1881 and spent the summer in Pitlochry and then in Braemar, Scotland. There, in spite of bouts of illness, Stevenson embarked on Treasure Island (begun as a game with Lloyd), which started as a serial in Young Folks, under the title The Sea-Cook, in October 1881. Stevenson finished the story in Davos, to which he had returned in the autumn, and then started on Prince Otto (1885), a more complex but less successful work. Treasure Island is an adventure presented with consummate skill, with atmosphere, character, and action superbly geared to one another. The book is at once a gripping adventure tale and a wry comment on the ambiguity of human motives.

In 1881 Stevenson published Virginibus Puerisque, his first collection of essays, most of which had appeared in The Cornhill. The winter of 1881 he spent at a chalet in Davos. In April 1882 he left Davos; but a stay in the Scottish Highlands, while it resulted in two of his finest short stories, “Thrawn Janet” and “The Merry Men,” produced lung hemorrhages, and in September he went to the south of France. There the Stevensons finally settled at a house in Hyères, where, in spite of intermittent illness, Stevenson was happy and worked well. He revised Prince Otto, worked on A Child’s Garden of Verses (first called Penny Whistles), and began The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses (1888), a historical adventure tale deliberately written in anachronistic language.

The threat of a cholera epidemic drove the Stevensons from Hyères back to Britain. They lived at Bournemouth from September 1884 until July 1887, but his frequent bouts of dangerous illness proved conclusively that the British climate, even in the south of England, was not for him. The Bournemouth years were fruitful, however. There he got to know and love the American novelist Henry James. There he revised A Child’s Garden (first published in 1885) and wrote “Markheim,” Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The poems in A Child’s Garden represent with extraordinary fidelity an adult’s recapturing of the emotions and sensations of childhood; there is nothing else quite like them in English literature. In Kidnapped the fruit of his researches into 18th-century Scottish history and of his feeling for Scottish landscape, history, character, and local atmosphere mutually illuminate one another. But it was Dr. Jekyll—both moral allegory and thriller—that established his reputation with the ordinary reader.

In August 1887, still in search of health, Stevenson set out for America with his wife, mother, and stepson. On arriving in New York, he found himself famous, with editors and publishers offering lucrative contracts. He stayed for a while in the Adirondack Mountains, where he wrote essays for Scribner’s and began The Master of Ballantrae. This novel, another exploration of moral ambiguities, contains some of his most impressive writing, although it is marred by its contrived conclusion.

Life in the South Seas

In June 1888 Stevenson, accompanied by his family, sailed from San Francisco in the schooner yacht Casco, which he had chartered, on what was intended to be an excursion for health and pleasure. In fact, he was to spend the rest of his life in the South Seas. They went first to the Marquesas Islands, then to Fakarava Atoll, then to Tahiti, then to Honolulu, where they stayed nearly six months, leaving in June 1889 for the Gilbert Islands, and then to Samoa, where he spent six weeks.

During his months of wandering around the South Sea islands, Stevenson made intensive efforts to understand the local scene and the inhabitants. As a result, his writings on the South Seas (In the South Seas, 1896; A Footnote to History, 1892) are admirably pungent and perceptive. He was writing first-rate journalism, deepened by the awareness of landscape and atmosphere, such as that so notably rendered in his description of the first landfall at Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas.

In October 1890 he returned to Samoa from a voyage to Sydney and established himself and his family in patriarchal status at Vailima, his house in Samoa. The climate suited him; he led an industrious and active life; and, when he died suddenly, it was of a cerebral hemorrhage, not of the long-feared tuberculosis. His work during those years was moving toward a new maturity. While Catriona (U.S. title, David Balfour, 1893) marked no advance in technique or imaginative scope on Kidnapped, to which it is a sequel, The Ebb-Tide (1894), a grim and powerful tale written in a dispassionate style (it was a complete reworking of a first draft by Lloyd Osbourne), showed that Stevenson had reached an important transition in his literary career. The next phase was demonstrated triumphantly in Weir of Hermiston (1896), the unfinished masterpiece on which he was working on the day of his death. “The Beach of Falesá” (first published 1892; included in Island Night’s Entertainments, 1893), a story with a finely wrought tragic texture, as well as the first part of The Master of Ballantrae, pointed in this direction, but neither approaches Weir. Stevenson achieved in this work a remarkable richness of tragic texture in a style stripped of all superfluities. The dialogue contains some of the best Scots prose in modern literature. Fragment though it is, Weir of Hermiston stands as a great work and Stevenson’s masterpiece.

Legacy of Robert Louis Stevenson

Stevenson was an indefatigable letter writer, and his letters (edited by Sidney Colvin in 1899) provide a lively and enchanting picture of the man and his life. But Colvin omitted many of the most interesting letters and compressed and dovetailed others, with the result that many important facts about Stevenson’s emotional life remained unknown until the true text of all the letters was available. Colvin presented Stevenson’s letters to Fanny Sitwell to what is now the National Library of Scotland with the proviso that they were not to be opened until 1949; the revealing and often fascinating letters to Charles Baxter, a friend, were deposited in the Yale University Library. Stevenson’s biography suffered from his being early canonized; later writers built up a counterpicture of an immoral swaggerer restrained into reluctant respectability by a jealous wife. Access to the crucial letters yielded a picture of a Stevenson who was neither the “seraph in chocolate” against whom Henley protested nor a low-living rake nor an optimistic escapist nor a happy invalid but a sensitive and intelligent writer who had no illusions about life and wryly made the best of a world to which he did not profess to have the key.

Stevenson’s literary reputation has also fluctuated. The reaction against him set in soon after his death: he was considered a mannered and imitative essayist or only a writer of children’s books. But eventually the pendulum began to swing the other way, and by the 1950s his reputation was established among the more discerning as a writer of originality and power whose essays at their best are cogent and perceptive renderings of aspects of the human condition; whose novels are either brilliant adventure stories with subtle moral overtones or original and impressive presentations of human action in terms of history and topography as well as psychology; whose short stories produce some new and effective permutations in the relation between romance and irony or manage to combine horror and suspense with moral diagnosis; whose poems, though not showing the highest poetic genius, are often skillful, occasionally (in his use of Scots, for example) interesting and original, and sometimes (in A Child’s Garden) valuable for their exhibition of a special kind of sensibility.

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Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-11 03:00:59

1067) Ravichandran Ashwin

Summary

Ravichandran Ashwin pronunciation (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer. An all-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he played for Tamil Nadu in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. He is the fastest Indian bowler (also in some records the joint-fastest in the world) to reach the 50-, 100-, 150-, 200-, 250-, 300-, 350- and 400-wicket mark in Test cricket in terms of number of innings. In 2016, he became the third Indian to win the ICC Cricketer of the Year award. Considered to be one of the best spin bowlers of his generation, he is currently the highest-ranked spinner in Test cricket, and the highest-ranked Test bowler for India on the ICC Player Rankings. He has won nine Man of the Series awards in Test cricket, which is the highest by an Indian cricketer.

Having achieved little success as an opening batsman at junior-level cricket, Ashwin dropped down the order and turned into an off-break bowler. He made his first-class debut for Tamil Nadu in December 2006 and captained the team the following season. However, it was not until the 2010 Indian Premier League in which he played for the Chennai Super Kings that he came into the limelight with his economical bowling and earned his maiden international call-up in the limited-overs formats in June 2010. He was the leading wicket-taker and player of the tournament of the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa. He was also part of the Indian squad that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Later that year, he made his Test debut against West Indies and became the seventh Indian bowler to take a five-wicket haul on Test debut. He took two five-wicket hauls and scored a century in that series and won the player of the series award.

Ashwin continued to succeed in the subcontinent but proved to be less effective in other places like Australia and England. In a home Test series against Australia in 2013, he took 29 wickets, the most by any Indian bowler in a four-match Test series. The same year, he took his 100th Test wicket in his 18th match, becoming the fastest Indian bowler to the milestone and the fastest in the world in over 80 years. In 2017, playing his 45th Test, Ashwin became the fastest bowler to pick up 250 Test wickets, bettering Dennis Lillee, who had achieved the landmark in 48 Tests. In October 2019, in his 66th Test match, Ashwin became the joint-fastest bowler, along with Muttiah Muralitharan, to take his 350th Test wicket.

On 10 April 2022, he became the first batsman to officially retire out in an IPL match during a league stage match between Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants.

Early years

Ashwin was born on 17 September 1986 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in a Tamil Hindu Brahmin family. He lives in West Mambalam, Chennai. His father Ravichandran played cricket at club level as a fast bowler. Ashwin was educated at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan and St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School. He also attended SSN College of Engineering and graduated with a BTech in Information Technology. His time at St. Bede's was particularly important, as it had a cricket academy. Ashwin has stated that coaches C. K. Vijay and Chandra at St Bede's played a big role in his career, where he had changed his bowling style from medium pace to off spin

Details

The Indian T20 League has become a staple source of the two things that Indians keep very close to their heart - Cricket and Bollywood. It is this unique combination that has been working out for the League to flourish in India and all over the world for the past decade or so. This has also helped up and coming youngsters to perform for their team, thus paving them a way to their International career which will be representing India on the global stage. One of the players who has successfully milked this opportunity clean is Ravichandran Ashwin or "Ash" as he is called affectionately by this teammates.

His journey did not start off with the Indian T20 League though. Ash enjoyed a wonderful debut in the 2006-07 season for his state, Tamil Nadu. He carried this form into the second season of Indian T20 League with Chennai, then with TN team again with the ball and also the bat. His debut for the Indian team came when the selectors picked him up for the tri-series tour in Zimbabwe during 2010. He kept shuffling between being selected and being dropped between 2010-11 season but he was surprisingly called up and included in the 15 man squad for the 50-over World Cup in 2011. He did not play the chunk of the tournament as he was in the starting eleven only for 2 games which included the quarter-final clash against Australia. Ashwin really came out of his shell during the visit of West Indies where he got his first Test cap and also scalped up 9 wickets during the game, the second-best figures for an Indian bowler then on debut. Soon, he became an important puzzle in the mix for India in Test matches with the ball and also the willow.

Ashwin was given an extended Test run when in 2013, he was called up for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy where he picked up 29 wickets in the series. He also became the third Indian bowler to pick up more than 25 wickets in a single series. In the forthcoming series against West Indies, he also got his 2nd Test ton and also his 100th wicket in just his 18th Test which was another record. He was also part of the team that won the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy in England. He took a total of 8 wickets in 5 matches making him the joint-fifth highest wicket-taker of the tournament.

Ashwin went onto tweaking his deliveries and also his bowling action after a brief period of struggle where he was dropped from the team touring Australia in 2014. He was back to this best scalping up 31 wickets in a 4-match Test series against South Africa in late 2015. He improved his variations while bowling and this helped him keep his place in the squad for quite a long time. This, along with exploits with the bat, getting important runs for India in tricky situations has propelled him up the pecking order for the Indian team. He earned himself the ICC Player of the Year and also the ICC Test Player of the Year awards in 2016. In early 2017, Ashwin took over the record held by Dennis Lillee for becoming the fastest player to reach 250 wickets in just 45 Tests.

His Indian T20 League career has been astonishing as well as he has been a part of the League for every season since his debut apart from 2017, which he missed due to injury. He started off with Chennai, playing from 2009 until 2015, winning back-to-back titles as well in 2010 and 2011 where he picked up 13 and 20 wickets respectively. After Chennai's suspension, he was a part of the Pune franchise for 2016 and 2017 where he picked up his 100th scalp in 2016. In 2018, he was bought by the Punjab franchise in the auction for 7.6 crores and he was also named the captain. He played for 2 seasons with them accumulating 25 wickets during his stint. Ashwin has recently moved to the Delhi for the 2020 edition and will be looking to prove his value in the upcoming tournament.

In 2022 season

The one issue that has supposedly haunted him all this while has been his displays outside the sub-continent. He has performed admirably in the Indian conditions winning the matches on his own but in away alien conditions, he has yet to display his true skill and talent, but there is no doubt that someone with his level of determination and vision will overcome his short-comings to make it back to the squad and perform at the level that we know he is capable of.

In the 2022 season, he is playing for Rajasthan Royals in IPL.

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Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-13 00:13:51

1068) Jonathon Swift

Summary

Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".

Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M. B. Drapier—or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.

His deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".

Details

Anglo-Irish poet, satirist, essayist, and political pamphleteer Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland. He spent much of his early adult life in England before returning to Dublin to serve as Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin for the last 30 years of his life. It was this later stage when he would write most of his greatest works. Best known as the author of A Modest Proposal (1729), Gulliver’s Travels (1726), and A Tale Of A Tub (1704), Swift is widely acknowledged as the greatest prose satirist in the history of English literature.

Swift’s father died months before Jonathan was born, and his mother returned to England shortly after giving birth, leaving Jonathan in the care of his uncle in Dublin. Swift’s extended family had several interesting literary connections: his grandmother, Elizabeth (Dryden) Swift, was the niece of Sir Erasmus Dryden, grandfather of the poet John Dryden. The same grandmother’s aunt, Katherine (Throckmorton) Dryden, was a first cousin of Elizabeth, wife of Sir Walter Raleigh. His great-great grandmother, Margaret (Godwin) Swift, was the sister of Francis Godwin, author of The Man in the Moone, which influenced parts of Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. His uncle, Thomas Swift, married a daughter of the poet and playwright Sir William Davenant, a godson of William Shakespeare. Swift’s uncle served as Jonathan’s benefactor, sending him to Trinity College Dublin, where he earned his BA and befriended writer William Congreve. Swift also studied toward his MA before the Glorious Revolution of 1688 forced Jonathan to move to England, where he would work as a secretary to a diplomat. He would earn an MA from Hart Hall, Oxford University, in 1692, and eventually a Doctor in Divinity degree from Trinity College Dublin in 1702.

Swift’s poetry has a relationship either by interconnections with, or by reactions against, the poetry of his contemporaries and predecessors. He was probably influenced, in particular, by the Restoration writers John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester and Samuel Butler (who shared Swift’s penchant for octosyllabic verse). He may have picked up pointers from the Renaissance poets John Donne and Sir Philip Sidney. Beside these minor borrowings of his contemporaries, his debts are almost negligible. In the Augustan Age, an era which did not necessarily value originality above other virtues, his poetic contribution was strikingly original.

In reading Swift’s poems, one is first impressed with their apparent spareness of allusion and poetic device. Anyone can tell that a particular poem is powerful or tender or vital or fierce, but literary criticism seems inadequate to explain why. A few recent critics have carefully studied his use of allusion and image, but with only partial success. It still seems justified to conclude that Swift’s straightforward poetic style seldom calls for close analysis, his allusions seldom bring a whole literary past back to life, and his images are not very interesting in themselves. In general, Swift’s verses read faster than John Dryden’s or Alexander Pope’s, with much less ornamentation and masked wit. He apparently intends to sweep the reader along by the logic of the argument to the several conclusions he puts forth. He seems to expect that the reader will appreciate the implications of the argument as a whole, after one full and rapid reading. For Swift’s readers, the couplet will not revolve slowly upon itself, exhibiting intricate patterns and fixing complex relationships between fictive worlds and contemporary life.

The poems are not always as spare in reality as Swift would have his readers believe, but he seems deliberately to induce in them an unwillingness to look closely at the poems for evidence of technical expertise. He does this in part by working rather obviously against some poetic conventions, in part by saying openly that he rejects poetic cant, and in part by presenting himself—in many of his poems—as a perfectly straightforward man, incapable of a poet’s deviousness. By these strategies, he directs attention away from his handling of imagery and meter, even in those instances where he has been technically ingenious. For the most part, however, the impression of spareness is quite correct; and if judged by the sole criterion of technical density, then he would have to be judged an insignificant poet. But technical density is a poetic virtue only as it simulates and accompanies subtlety of thought. One could argue that Swift’s poems create a density of another kind: that “The Day of Judgement,” for example, initiates a subtle process of thought that takes place after, rather than during, the reading of the poem, at a time when the mind is more or less detached from the printed page. One could argue as well that Swift makes up in power what he lacks in density: that the strength of the impression created by his directness gives an impetus to prolonged meditation of a very high quality. On these grounds, valuing Swift for what he really is and does, one must judge him a major figure in poetry as well as prose.

Swift suffered a stroke in 1742, leaving him unable to speak. He died three years later, and was buried at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-14 00:11:53

1069) Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle (25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific method. He is best known for Boyle's law, which describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a closed system. Among his works, The Sceptical Chymist is seen as a cornerstone book in the field of chemistry. He was a devout and pious Anglican and is noted for his writings in theology.

Biography:

Early years

Boyle was born at Lismore Castle, in County Waterford, Ireland, the seventh son and fourteenth child of The 1st Earl of Cork ('the Great Earl of Cork') and Catherine Fenton. Lord Cork, then known simply as Richard Boyle, had arrived in Dublin from England in 1588 during the Tudor plantations of Ireland and obtained an appointment as a deputy escheator. He had amassed enormous wealth and landholdings by the time Robert was born, and had been created Earl of Cork in October 1620. Catherine Fenton, Countess of Cork, was the daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, the former Secretary of State for Ireland, who was born in Dublin in 1539, and Alice Weston, the daughter of Robert Weston, who was born in Lismore in 1541.

As a child, Boyle was raised by a wet nurse, as were his elder brothers. Boyle received private tutoring in Latin, Greek, and French and when he was eight years old, following the death of his mother, he, and his brother Francis, were sent to Eton College in England. His father's friend, Sir Henry Wotton, was then the provost of the college.

During this time, his father hired a private tutor, Robert Carew, who had knowledge of Irish, to act as private tutor to his sons in Eton. However, "only Mr. Robert sometimes desires it [Irish] and is a little entered in it", but despite the "many reasons" given by Carew to turn their attentions to it, "they practice the French and Latin but they affect not the Irish". After spending over three years at Eton, Robert travelled abroad with a French tutor. They visited Italy in 1641 and remained in Florence during the winter of that year studying the "paradoxes of the great star-gazer" Galileo Galilei, who was elderly but still living in 1641.

Middle years

Robert returned to England from continental Europe in mid-1644 with a keen interest in scientific research. His father, Lord Cork, had died the previous year and had left him the manor of Stalbridge in Dorset as well as substantial estates in County Limerick in Ireland that he had acquired. Robert then made his residence at Stalbridge House, between 1644 and 1652, and settled a laboratory where he conducted many experiments. From that time, Robert devoted his life to scientific research and soon took a prominent place in the band of enquirers, known as the "Invisible College", who devoted themselves to the cultivation of the "new philosophy". They met frequently in London, often at Gresham College, and some of the members also had meetings at Oxford.

Having made several visits to his Irish estates beginning in 1647, Robert moved to Ireland in 1652 but became frustrated at his inability to make progress in his chemical work. In one letter, he described Ireland as "a barbarous country where chemical spirits were so misunderstood and chemical instruments so unprocurable that it was hard to have any Hermetic thoughts in it."

In 1654, Boyle left Ireland for Oxford to pursue his work more successfully. An inscription can be found on the wall of University College, Oxford, the High Street at Oxford (now the location of the Shelley Memorial), marking the spot where Cross Hall stood until the early 19th century. It was here that Boyle rented rooms from the wealthy apothecary who owned the Hall.

Reading in 1657 of Otto von Guericke's air pump, he set himself, with the assistance of Robert Hooke, to devise improvements in its construction, and with the result, the "machina Boyleana" or "Pneumatical Engine", finished in 1659, he began a series of experiments on the properties of air and coined the term factitious airs. An account of Boyle's work with the air pump was published in 1660 under the title New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, Touching the Spring of the Air, and its Effects.

Among the critics of the views put forward in this book was a Jesuit, Francis Line (1595–1675), and it was while answering his objections that Boyle made his first mention of the law that the volume of a gas varies inversely to the pressure of the gas, which among English-speaking people is usually called Boyle's Law after his name. The person who originally formulated the hypothesis was Henry Power in 1661. Boyle in 1662 included a reference to a paper written by Power, but mistakenly attributed it to Richard Towneley. In continental Europe the hypothesis is sometimes attributed to Edme Mariotte, although he did not publish it until 1676 and was likely aware of Boyle's work at the time.

In 1663 the Invisible College became The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, and the charter of incorporation granted by Charles II of England named Boyle a member of the council. In 1680 he was elected president of the society, but declined the honour from a scruple about oaths.

He made a "wish list" of 24 possible inventions which included "the prolongation of life", the "art of flying", "perpetual light", "making armour light and extremely hard", "a ship to sail with all winds, and a ship not to be sunk", "practicable and certain way of finding longitudes", "potent drugs to alter or exalt imagination, waking, memory and other functions and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams, etc.". All but a few of the 24 have come true.

In 1668 he left Oxford for London where he resided at the house of his elder sister Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh, in Pall Mall. He experimented in the laboratory she had in her home and attended her salon of intellectuals interested in the sciences. The siblings maintained "a lifelong intellectual partnership, where brother and sister shared medical remedies, promoted each other's scientific ideas, and edited each other's manuscripts." His contemporaries widely acknowledged Katherine's influence on his work, but later historiographers dropped discussion of her accomplishments and relationship to her brother from their histories.

Later years

In 1669 his health, never very strong, began to fail seriously and he gradually withdrew from his public engagements, ceasing his communications to the Royal Society, and advertising his desire to be excused from receiving guests, "unless upon occasions very extraordinary", on Tuesday and Friday forenoon, and Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. In the leisure thus gained he wished to "recruit his spirits, range his papers", and prepare some important chemical investigations which he proposed to leave "as a kind of Hermetic legacy to the studious disciples of that art", but of which he did not make known the nature. His health became still worse in 1691, and he died on 31 December that year, just a week after the death of his sister, Katherine, in whose home he had lived and with whom he had shared scientific pursuits for more than twenty years. Boyle died from paralysis. He was buried in the churchyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields, his funeral sermon being preached by his friend, Bishop Gilbert Burnet. In his will, Boyle endowed a series of lectures that came to be known as the Boyle Lectures.

Awards and honours

As a founder of the Royal Society, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1663.[5] Boyle's law is named in his honour. The Royal Society of Chemistry issues a Robert Boyle Prize for Analytical Science, named in his honour. The Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence in Ireland, inaugurated in 1899, is awarded jointly by the Royal Dublin Society and The Irish Times. Launched in 2012, The Robert Boyle Summer School organized by the Waterford Institute of Technology with support from Lismore Castle, is held annually to honor the heritage of Robert Boyle.

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Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-16 02:36:17

1070) Jacques Charles

Summary

Jacques Alexandre César Charles (November 12, 1746 – April 7, 1823) was a French inventor, scientist, mathematician, and balloonist. Charles wrote almost nothing about mathematics, and most of what has been credited to him was due to mistaking him with another Jacques Charles, also a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences, entering on May 12, 1785. He was sometimes called Charles the Geometer. Charles and the Robert brothers launched the world's first unmanned hydrogen-filled gas balloon in August 1783; then in December 1783, Charles and his co-pilot Nicolas-Louis Robert ascended to a height of about 1,800 feet (550 m) in a manned gas balloon. Their pioneering use of hydrogen for lift led to this type of balloon being named a Charlière (as opposed to a Montgolfière which used hot air).

Charles's law, describing how gases tend to expand when heated, was formulated by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac in 1802, but he credited it to unpublished work by Jacques Charles.

Charles was elected to the Académie des Sciences in 1795 and subsequently became professor of physics at the Académie de Sciences.

Details

Jacques Charles, in full Jacques-Alexandre-César Charles, (born November 12, 1746, Beaugency, France—died April 7, 1823, Paris), was a French mathematician, physicist, and inventor who, with Nicolas Robert, was the first to ascend in a hydrogen balloon (1783). About 1787 he developed Charles’s law concerning the thermal expansion of gases.

From clerking in the finance ministry Charles turned to science and experimented with electricity. He developed several inventions, including a hydrometer and reflecting goniometer, and improved the Gravesand heliostat and Fahrenheit’s aerometer. With the Robert brothers, Nicolas and Anne-Jean, he built one of the first hydrogen balloons (1783). In several flights he rose more than a mile in altitude. He was elected (1795) to the Académie des Sciences and subsequently became a professor of physics. His published papers deal mainly with mathematics.

French Inventor and Scientist

Jacques-Alexandre-César Charles, with Nicolas Robert, ascended in the world's first hydrogen balloon in 1783. He was also a physicist and mathematician and is perhaps better known in this capacity as the person who developed Charles's law, which relates gas temperatures and pressures. In both roles, he made important scientific and technical contributions that have had lasting effects on both science and society.

Charles was born in 1746 in Beaugency, France. Very little is known about his childhood, but he began his professional life as a clerk in the French finance ministry. From there he turned increasingly to science, experimenting with electricity at first. In fact, it may have been Charles's experiments with electricity that showed him how to pass an electrical current through water, separating it into its components of oxygen and hydrogen.

In September 1783 the Montgolfier brothers' first balloons ascended into the air, lifted by hot air. Not knowing that simply heating air could create lift, the Montgolfiers believed that a special gas was formed by burning straw, which they called "Montgolfier gas." Charles mistakenly thought that Montgolfier gas was hydrogen, and he hastened to duplicate their experiment by filling his own balloon with hydrogen. In November 1783 Charles and Nicolas Robert climbed into the balloon they had built and rose into the air as the first truly lighter-than-air flight began. Ascending to an altitude of over a mile (1.61 km), they drifted for several miles before setting down in a field, scaring the peasants who thought they were being attacked by a strange creature. The peasants "killed" the balloon by stabbing it, then dragged it away.

The major advantage of Charles's design was that, without a fire burning beneath the balloon, the risks of a blaze were greatly reduced. In fact, with the substitution of helium for hydrogen, today's balloons are very similar in design to Charles's.

Following his first flight, Charles made additional balloons, financed in part by charging admission to see the balloon fly. His ballooning experiences piqued his curiosity about heated gases, and he spent much of the rest of his life experimenting and formulating what is now known as "Charles's law." This states that, under conditions of constant pressure, a heated gas will expand in volume. This is also known as Gay-Lussac's law, in honor of its codiscoverer.

Over the following decades, Charles's law, Boyle's law, and others that describe the properties of gases under a variety of changing conditions were shown to be part of a more universal ideal gas law. The ideal gas law describes how, in a gas, pressure, temperature, volume, and the number of molecules of a particular gas all relate to each other under a variety of changing conditions. This law is used to predict the behavior of gases when compressed, heated, expanded, and the like. In fact, air conditioning, refrigeration, and similar industries absolutely depend on the proper application of these gas laws to help transfer heat from one point to another, cooling in the process.

In 1795, in honor of his many accomplishments, Charles was elected a member of the Académie des Sciences in France. Later, he became a professor of physics, continuing his work with the characteristics of gases under a variety of conditions. Interestingly, most of his scientific publications deal with mathematics instead of with those discoveries for which he is best known. Charles died in April 1823 in Paris.

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Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-18 00:44:57

1071) Madhuri Dixit Nene

Summary

Madhuri Dixit Nene (née Dixit; born 15 May 1967) is an Indian actress, producer and television personality. One of the most popular leading actresses of Hindi cinema, she has appeared in over 70 Bollywood films. Noted by critics for her beauty, dancing skills, and strong characters, Dixit's early career was shaped up mostly by romantic and family dramas before she expanded her repertoire. Her accolades include six Filmfare Awards from a record 17 nominations. In 2008, the Government of India awarded her with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour of the country.

Born and raised in Mumbai, Dixit made her acting debut in 1984 with a leading role in the drama Abodh. After a few successive commercially failed films, she had her breakthrough with the action romance Tezaab (1988) and established herself with starring roles in the top-grossing romantic dramas Dil (1990), Beta (1992), Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), and Dil To Pagal Hai (1997). She won four Best Actress awards at the Filmfare Awards for her performances in them. Her other commercially successful films during this period include Ram Lakhan (1989), Tridev (1989), Thanedaar (1990), Kishen Kanhaiya (1990), Saajan (1991), Khalnayak (1993), and Raja (1995).

Dixit also earned praise for her dramatic performances in the crime film Parinda (1989), the romantic dramas Prem Pratigyaa (1989) and Devdas (2002), receiving the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter, the thrillers Anjaam (1994) and Pukar (2000), and the social dramas Mrityudand (1997) and Lajja (2001). Following a sabbatical from acting in 2002, Dixit starred in the musical Aaja Nachle (2007), and worked intermittently in the next decade, gaining appreciation for her starring roles in the black comedy Dedh Ishqiya (2014) and the Marathi comedy drama Bucket List (2018). Her highest-grossing release came with the adventure comedy Total Dhamaal (2019).

Among the country's highest-paid actresses throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Dixit has featured in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list since its inception in 2012. In addition to acting in films, she has been engaged in philanthropic activities. She has worked with UNICEF since 2014 to advocate the rights of children and prevent child labour, participates in concert tours and stage shows, features frequently as a talent judge for dance reality shows, and is the co-founder of the production company RnM Moving Pictures. Since 1999, she has been married to Shriram Nene, with whom she has two sons.

Details

Madhuri Dixit is one of the most acclaimed actors and Kathak dancers Bollywood have ever witnessed. Born in a Marathi Brahmin Koknastha family to Mr. Shankar and Mrs. Snehlata, Madhuri Dixit has two sisters Rupa, Bharti, and brother Ajit. She performed decently well in her academics and aspired to become a Microbiologist which made her pursue the subject from Mumbai's Sathaye College, formerly known as Parle College; but within six months she opted out from college to pursue her career in Bollywood. Though she debuted with 'Abodh' in 1984, it's with 'Tezaab' (1988), a romantic thriller caste opposite Anil Kapoor, where she started garnering fame and popularity. She earned her first nomination of Filmfare Best Actress with this movie and it was also the highest grossing film in that year. Her performance in 'Ek Do Tin' made every heart groove to the beats of the song. During this time, Madhuri also got featured on Debonair and she was also featured as the cover girl on 1986 Filmfare edition. Since then she has graced more than 72 movies with her stupendous performances.

After 'Tejaab', Madhuri Dixit once again was paired with Anil Kapoor for Subhash Ghai's 'Ram Lakhan'(1989) which went on to be a super hit and the second highest grossing movie of the year. In her next 'Prem Pratigya' she received critical acclamation for her performance and earned her second nomination for Filmfare Best Actress Award. Dixit continued her success with her fourth pairing with Anil Kapoor in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's drama 'Parinda'. In 1990, Madhuri starred in the romantic drama 'Dil' opposite Aamir Khan. The film became the biggest box office hit of the year and made her one of the leading actresses of Bollywood. Her performance in 'Dil' also earned her the first Filmfare Best Actress Award of her career. She was also seen in the dramas 'Sailaab' opposite Aditya Pancholi and 'Kishen Kanhaiya' opposite Anil Kapoor. The following year in 1991, she starred in the super-hit movie 'Saajan' opposite Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt which also earned her the fourth nomination for the Filmfare Best Actress Award. In 1992, Dixit featured in the film 'Beta' once again opposite Anil Kapoor which won her the second Filmfare Best Actress Award. Following the film's success, Dixit became famously known as the "Dhak Dhak Girl" for her performance on the song "Dhak Dhak Karne Laga".

In 1993, Dixit starred in the super-hit film 'Khalnayak; opposite Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff. Her portrayal of the police officer Ganga earned her critical acclaim and a sixth nomination for the Filmfare Best Actress Award and became the year's second highest grossing film. In 1994, Dixit starred in 'Anjaam', being paired with Shahrukh Khan for the first time. Dixit's performance of a revenge-seeking wife and mother earned her a seventh nomination for the Filmfare Best Actress Award. She was praised for her performance, even though the film was an average performer at the box office. Her next was 'Hum Aapke Hain Koun' opposite Salman Khan. The film became one of the biggest hits & the highest grossing Bollywood film after its theatrical run and held this record for 7 years till the release of 'Gadar: Ek Prem Katha' (2001). Madhuri was awarded her third Filmfare Best Actress Award for the film. 1995 witnessed Dixit star in the hit film 'Raja' opposite Sanjay Kapoor. The film became the fourth highest grosser of the year and its success was attributed to her immense popularity. Her next release was David Dhawan's 'Yaraana' opposite Rishi Kapoor, in which she played a dancer on the run from her abusive lover. Both films earned her nominations for the Filmfare Best Actress Award.

After a not so successful year in 1996 with films like 'Prem Granth' and 'Rajkumar'Madhuri Dixit bounced back with Prakash Jha's 'Mrityudand' in 1997 followed by Yash Chopra's 'Dil to Pagal Hai' (1997), opposite Shahrukh Khan and Karisma Kapoor. Her performance in 'Dil toh Pagal Hai' fetched her the fourth Filmfare Best Actress Award. The film also proved to be a success at the box office. However, her career growth slowed down with films like Wajood (1998) and Aarzoo (1999). In 2000, Madhuri starred in Rajkumar Santoshi's 'Pukar' opposite Anil Kapoor which earned her twelfth nomination for the Filmfare Best Actress Award. She then played the title character in 'Gaja Gamini' In 2001, Dixit starred in Deepak Shivdasani's love triangle 'Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke' opposite Ajay Devgan and Preity Zinta, followed by reuniting with Rajkumar Santoshi in the multi-starer 'Lajja' (2001). Dixit was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for Lajja. In 2002, Dixit starred in a lead role in the love triangle film 'Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam' opposite Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan. Madhuri Dixit's next release was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period romance 'Devdas', co-starring Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai. Devdas was chosen as India's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language. Dixit won the Filmfare Best supporting actress award for the film. It turned out to be her last film for a while as she shifted to Denver, U.S.A with her husband Dr. Shriram Madhav Nene, a Cardiovascular Surgeon. She subsequently became a proud mother of two sons (Arin and Ryan) in March 2003 and March 8, 2005, respectively.

In 2006, Dixit returned to India with her family and acted in Anil Mehta's dance film 'Aaja Nachle' (2007). It was her first release in five years and her performance was appreciated by critics and also earned her the nomination for the Filmfare Best Actress Award.

In 2008, she was also awarded the prestigious 'Bharat Ratna' for her contribution to Indian cinema by the Government of India. In 2011, Dixit was felicitated with the Filmfare Special Award for completing 25 years in the film industry.

In 2012, she was seen in the comedy 'Dedh Ishqiya' (2014), a sequel to Ishqiya (2010) opposite Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, and Huma Qureshi. The film opened to a positive response from critics who called it "one of the year's most important releases". The film also earned her the fourteenth nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her next release of the year was the debuted director Soumik Sen's 'Gulaab Gang' alongside Juhi Chawla.

Madhuri Dixit made her debut in Marathi cinema both as an actor & Producer in 2018. She played the lead in 'Bucket List' and produced "15th August" which is slated for a Netflix worldwide released in 2019. She has also lent her voice for the Netflix original 'Mowgli'.

In (2019) she was seen reunited with Anil Kapoor after 17years on screen in a comedy, action and adventure movie 'Total Dhamaal' the third sequel of 'Dhamaal' (2007). In the same year, she also a part of Dharma productions 'Kalank' a period drama film directed by Abhishekh Varman starring along with Sanjay Dutt, Varun Dhawan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Alia Bhatt, and Sonakshi Sinha.

Madhuri Dixit is also associated with various philanthropic activities. She is associated with UNICEF since 2014 to advocate the rights of children, prevent child labor and child trafficking. She was appointed as the brand ambassador for the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign by the Government of India in 2015 that aspires to create awareness and upgrade the efficiency of welfare services intended for girls.

Dixit made her first appearance on television as a host for India's first reality show Kahin Na Kahin Koi Hai on Sony TV followed by Jhalak Dikhla Ja & Dance Deewane.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-20 00:51:09

1072) Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Summary

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and Charles Lloyd. He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as the major prose work Biographia Literaria. His critical work, especially on William Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. Coleridge coined many familiar words and phrases, including "suspension of disbelief". He had a major influence on Ralph Waldo Emerson and American transcendentalism.

Throughout his adult life, Coleridge had crippling bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated that he had bipolar disorder, which had not been defined during his lifetime.

He was physically unhealthy, which may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses.

Details

* Born: October 21, 1772 : Devonshire, England
* Died: July 25, 1834 : Highgate, England

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a major poet of the English Romantic period, a literary movement characterized by imagination, passion, and the supernatural. He is also noted for his works on literature, religion, and the organization of society.

Childhood talents

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the tenth and last child of the vicar of Ottery Saint Mary near Devonshire, England, was born on October 21, 1772. After his father's death in 1782, he was sent to Christ's Hospital for schooling. He had an amazing memory and an eagerness to learn. However, he described his next three years of school as, "depressed, moping, friendless." In 1791 he entered Jesus College, Cambridge, England. Because of bad debts, Coleridge joined the 15th Light Dragoons, a British cavalry unit, in December 1793. After his discharge in April 1794, he returned to Jesus College, but he left in December without completing a degree.

The reason he left was because of his developing friendship with Robert Southey (1774–1843). Both young men were very interested in poetry and shared the same dislike for the neoclassic tradition (a return to the Greek and Latin classics). Both were also radicals in politics. From their emotional and idealistic conversations, they developed a plan for a "pantisocracy," a vision of an ideal community to be founded in America. This plan never came to be. On October 4, 1795, Coleridge married Sara Fricker, the sister of Southey's wife-to-be. By that time, however, his friendship with Southey had already ended.

Poetic career

The years from 1795 to 1802 were for Coleridge a period of fast poetic and intellectual growth. His first major poem, "The Eolian Harp," was published in 1796 in his Poems on Various Subjects. Its verse and theme contributed to the growth of English Romanticism, illustrating a blending of emotional expression and description with meditation.

From March to May 1796 Coleridge edited the Watchman, a periodical that failed after ten issues. While this failure made him realize that he was "not fit for public life," his next poem, "Ode to the Departing Year," shows that he still had poetic passion. Yet philosophy and religion were his overriding interests. In Religious Musings (published in 1796), he wrote about the unity and wholeness of the universe and the relationship between God and the created world.

The most influential event in Coleridge's career was his friendship with William Wordsworth (1770–1850) and his wife Dorothy from 1796 to 1810. This friendship brought a joint publication with Wordsworth of the Lyrical Ballads, a collection of twenty-three poems, in September 1798. The volume contained nineteen of Wordsworth's poems and four of Coleridge's. The most famous of these was "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Coleridge later described the division of labor between the two poets: Wordsworth was "to give the charm of novelty to things of every day by awakening the mind's attention from the lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us," while Coleridge's "endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic."

A second, enlarged edition of Coleridge's Poems also appeared in 1798. It contained further lyrical and symbolic works, such as "This Lime-Tree Bower, My Prison" and "Fears in Solitude." At this time Coleridge also wrote "Kubla Khan," perhaps the most famous of his poems, and began the piece "Christabel."

Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-22 00:15:03

1073) Jacques Kallis

Summary

Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as South Africa's greatest batsman ever, he is a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler. As of 2021 he is the only cricketer in the history of the game to score more than 10,000 runs and take over 250 wickets in both ODI and Test match cricket; he also took 131 ODI catches. He scored 13,289 runs in his Test match career and took 292 wickets and 200 catches.

Kallis played 166 Test matches and had a batting average of over 55 runs. From October to December 2007, he scored five centuries in four Test matches. With his century in the second innings of the third Test against India in January 2011, his 40th in all, he moved past Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest scorer of Test centuries, behind only Sachin Tendulkar's 51.

Kallis was named Leading Cricketer in the World in 2008 Wisden for his performances in 2007 in addition to being the "ICC Test Player of the Year" and ICC Player of the Year in 2005. He has been described by Kevin Pietersen and Daryll Cullinan as the greatest cricketer to play the game, and along with Wally Hammond and Sir Garry Sobers is one of the few Test all-rounders whose Test batting average is over 50 and exceeds his Test bowling average by 20 or more.

He was declared the Player of the Tournament in South Africa's victorious 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy (now referred to as ICC Champions Trophy) campaign, which till date is South Africa's only ICC tournament win in their history. He finished as the 2nd highest run-scorer and was the leading wicket taker with 'Man of the Match' awards in both the semi-final and the final.

Kallis became the fourth player and first South African to score 13,000 Test runs on the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand on 2 January 2013. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2013. He retired from Test and first-class cricket after playing in the second test against India at Durban in December 2013; Kallis scored his 45th Test hundred in this match, making him one of the few batsmen to score a century in his final Test. He retired from all forms of international cricket on 30 July 2014.

In December 2019, it was announced that Jacques Kallis would rejoin the South African national cricket team, The Proteas, as the team's batting consultant for the duration of the summer. In August 2020, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Details

Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. A right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium swing bowler, Kallis is regarded as one of the greatest of the game's all-rounders. As of 2013 he was the only cricketer in the history of the game to score more than 11,000 runs and take 250 wickets in both one-day and Test match cricket.

Kallis played 166 Test matches and had a batting average of over 55 runs per innings. From October to December 2007 he scored five centuries in four Test Matches; with his century in the second innings of the third test against India in January 2011, his 40th in all, he moved past Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest scorer of Test centuries, behind only Sachin Tendulkar's 51.

Kallis was named Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2008 Wisden for his performances in 2007 in addition to being the "ICC Test Player of the Year" and ICC Player of the Year in 2005. He has been described by Kevin Pietersen and Daryll Cullinan as the greatest cricketer to play the game, and along with Walter Hammond and Sir Garry Sobers is one of the few Test all-rounders whose Test batting average is over 50 and exceeds his Test bowling average by 20 or more.

Kallis became the fourth player and first South African to score 13,000 Test runs on an eventful opening day of the first Test against New Zealand on 2 January 2013. Kallis, who had also taken 292 Test wickets, lies third behind Indian player Sachin Tendulkar (15,921) and Australian Ricky Ponting (13,378) on the list of all-time run scorers in test cricket. He was named one of the Wisden cricketers of the year in 2013. He retired from Test and first-class cricket after playing in the second Test against India at Durban in December 2013; Kallis scored his 45th Test hundred in this match, making him one of the few batsmen to score a century in his final Test.

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Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-24 00:11:27

1074) Brian Lara

Summary

Brian Lara, in full Brian Charles Lara, (born May 2, 1969, Cantaro, Trinidad), West Indian cricketer, is one of the sport’s most renowned contemporary players. The compact left-handed batsman is the record holder for most runs scored in an innings in both Test (international) and first-class cricket.

One of a family of 11, a natural athlete, and a member of the national under-(age)14 football (soccer) team, Lara was expected from an early age to be the next great West Indian cricketer. He was first selected for the West Indies national team in 1990 at age 21, but he did not make his mark until 1994, when he broke the two most coveted batting records in cricket, scoring 375 runs against England (besting Garfield Sobers’s 36-year-old record) and 501 runs (not out) for Warwickshire, his English county team. In 2004 Lara then became the first player to retake the Test batting record when his 400 runs (not out) against England surpassed the 380 runs posted by Australian Matthew Hayden in 2003.

Between these Herculean feats, Lara sometimes struggled to perform at the level expected of him, and some questioned his dedication to the sport. Likewise, the record of the West Indies national team under his captaincy was undistinguished. However, there is no doubt that he ranks among cricket’s greatest batsmen with the likes of Sobers, Don Bradman, Clive Lloyd, and Viv Richards. In 2012 Lara was inducted into the International Cricket Council’s Hall of Fame.

Details

Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994, which is the only quintuple-hundred in first-class cricket history.

Lara also holds the record for the highest individual score in a Test innings after scoring 400 not out at Antigua during the 4th test against England in 2004. Lara also shares the record of scoring the highest number of runs in a single over in a Test match when he scored 28 runs off an over by Robin Peterson of South Africa in 2003 (matched in 2013 by Australia's George Bailey and in 2020 by South Africa's Keshav Maharaj).

Lara's match-winning performance of 153 not out against Australia in Bridgetown, Barbados in 1999 has been rated by Wisden as the second-best batting performance in the history of Test cricket, next only to the 270 runs scored by Sir Donald Bradman in The Ashes Test match of 1937. Muttiah Muralitharan has hailed Lara as his toughest opponent among all batsmen in the world. Lara was awarded the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World awards in 1994 and 1995 and is also one of only three cricketers to receive the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, the other two being Sir Garfield Sobers and Shane Warne.

Brian Lara was appointed honorary member of the Order of Australia on 27 November 2009. In September 2012 he was inducted to the ICC's Hall of Fame as a 2012–13 season inductee. In 2013, Lara received Honorary Life Membership of the MCC becoming the 31st West Indian to receive the honor.

Brian Lara is popularly nicknamed as "The Prince of Port of Spain" or simply "The Prince". He has the dubious distinction of playing in the second-highest number of test matches (63) in which his team was on the losing side, just behind Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

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Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-26 00:22:18

1075) Alvin Toffler

Summary

Alvin Toffler was an American writer, who wrote on futurism related to communication, digitalization and corporate growth. He was known to be the ‘world’s most famous futurologists’ and is considered as an important influence in shaping of the modern China. He started as being an associate editor at the ‘Fortune’ magazine and did analysis for them in the field of business and management. Before that, he devoted some of his youth in working at the labor’s level and then became a labor columnist, shared his experience and analysis on the working class. His earlier writings focused on the expansion of technology and its impact on the society which got him research works form companies like IBM and AT & T. Toffler from there on wrote books like ‘Future Shock’, ‘The Third Wave’, etc. in which he addressed the problems of information overload, increasing military hardware, weapons and technology proliferation, and capitalism. Owing to his impeccable understanding of the future impact of the current revolutionary technological changes, he was a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, serves on the advisory board of the Comptroller-General of the United States, and has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He married to Heidi Toffler, who was a futurist and intellectual in her own right and had an active influence on Toffler’s professional growth.

Details

Alvin Toffler (October 4, 1928 – June 27, 2016) was an American writer, futurist, and businessman known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the digital revolution and the communication revolution, with emphasis on their effects on cultures worldwide. He is regarded as one of the world's outstanding futurists.

Toffler was an associate editor of Fortune magazine. In his early works he focused on technology and its impact, which he termed "information overload." In 1970, his first major book about the future, Future Shock, became a worldwide best-seller and has sold over 6 million copies.

He and his wife Heidi Toffler, who collaborated with him for most of his writings, moved on to examining the reaction to changes in society with another best-selling book, The Third Wave in 1980. In it, he foresaw such technological advances as cloning, personal computers, the Internet, cable television and mobile communication. His later focus, via their other best-seller, Powershift, (1990), was on the increasing power of 21st-century military hardware and the proliferation of new technologies.

He founded Toffler Associates, a management consulting company, and was a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation, visiting professor at Cornell University, faculty member of the New School for Social Research, a White House correspondent, and a business consultant. Toffler's ideas and writings were a significant influence on the thinking of business and government leaders worldwide, including China's Zhao Ziyang, and AOL founder Steve Case.

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Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-28 00:24:41

1076) Ricky Ponting

Summary

Ricky Ponting, in full Ricky Thomas Ponting, by name Punter, (born December 19, 1974, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia), is an Australian cricketer and coach who was the country’s premier batsman in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Ponting gained a reputation as a cricket prodigy when he scored four centuries (a century is 100 runs in a single innings) for the Under-13s in a Tasmanian cricket week and two more when promoted to the Under-16 team. By age 20 he had made his Test (international match) debut and had been hailed by some as the new Don Bradman, who was considered by many the best cricketer of the 20th century. A maiden Test century came at Leeds on the 1997 tour of England. Ponting was criticized for his inconsistent performances early in his career (caused, in part, by off-field personal troubles), but, after rededicating himself to the sport, he became a key factor in Australia’s dominance in international cricket over the next decade.

In 2002 he was rewarded with the captaincy of Australia’s one-day international side, and the next year he led the side to victory in the Cricket World Cup in South Africa, one of three World Cups won by Australia with Ponting on the squad (1999, 2003, and 2007). When Test captain Steve Waugh retired in 2004, Ponting was his natural successor. In 2005 Australia lost to England in the first Ashes series under Ponting’s leadership. Ponting followed that with an impressive 2005–06 season, wherein he scored 1,483 runs (an average of 78 per match), including seven centuries. In January 2006 he marked his 100th Test with innings of 120 and 143 not out against South Africa in Sydney. Later that year he was named the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricketer of the Year and the ICC Test Player of the Year. Ponting captured a second ICC Cricketer of the Year award in 2007, after leading Australia to World Cup and Ashes victories that year. Although Ponting and Australia lost the Ashes in 2009 and 2010–11, he was named Player of the Decade by a panel of cricket players and writers for his stellar play between 2000 and 2009.

Ponting resigned his national-team captaincy in March 2011, shortly after Australia lost to India in the World Cup quarterfinals. He retired from Test cricket in December 2012, having scored the second most Test runs of all time (13,378; behind only India’s Sachin Tendulkar) at the time of his retirement. In 2013 he retired from all forms of the sport, though he later worked as a coach. His books included the autobiography Ponting: At the Close of Play (2013) and a series of annual diaries that recount the cricket season. Ponting was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2018.

Details

Ricky Thomas Ponting AO (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former cricketer. Ponting was captain of the Australian national team during its "golden era", between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and is the most successful captain in international cricket history, with 220 victories in 324 matches with a winning rate of 67.91%. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the modern era and in December 2006 reached the highest rating achieved by a Test batsman for 50 years, although this was surpassed by Steve Smith in December 2017. He stands second in the list of cricketers by number of international centuries scored behind Sachin Tendulkar.

Domestically Ponting played for his home state of Tasmania as well as Tasmania's Hobart Hurricanes in Australia's domestic Twenty20 competition, the Big Bash League. He played as a specialist right-handed batsman, an excellent slip fielder, as well as a very occasional bowler. He led Australia to their second 5–0 Ashes win as well as victory at the 2003 and 2007 Cricket World Cups and was also a member of the 1999 World Cup winning team under Steve Waugh. He led Australia to consecutive ICC Champions Trophy victory in 2006 and 2009. Combative and at times a controversial captain, statistically he is one of the most successful Test captains of all time, with 48 victories in 77 Tests between 2004 and 31 December 2010. As a player, Ponting is the only cricketer in history to be involved in 100 Test victories and was involved in the most ODI victories as a player, with 262 wins, having played in over 160 Tests and 370 ODIs.

A prolific batter, Ponting is Australia's leading run-scorer in Test and ODI cricket. He was named "Cricketer of the Decade 2000" was named in the country's best Ashes XI in a Cricket Australia poll in 2017 and in July 2018 he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. He is the current assistant coach of the Australian national men's cricket team, having been appointed to the role in February 2019.

Ponting announced his retirement from Test cricket in November 2012, the day before playing in his final Test against South Africa; this was his 168th and last Test appearance, equalling the Australian record held by Steve Waugh. He retired with a Test batting average of 51.85, although he continued to play cricket around the world until 2013.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-05-30 00:14:58

1077) Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. He is the current coach of Rajasthan Royals IPL team. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket.

As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket.

Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016. He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title.

In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan

Career statistics

Competition : Test : ODI : T20I : FC
Matches : 134 : 404 : 56 : 260
Runs scored : 12,400 : 14,234 : 1,382 : 20,911
Batting average : 57.40 : 41.98 : 31.40 : 52.40
100s/50s : 38/52 : 25/93 : 0/8 : 64/86
Top score : 319 : 169 : 78 : 319
Catches/stumpings : 182/20 : 402/99 : 25/20 : 371/33.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-01 00:10:58

1078) John Cornforth

Summary

Sir John Warcup Cornforth Jr., (7 September 1917 – 8 December 2013) was an Australian–British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975 for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions, becoming the only Nobel laureate born in New South Wales.

Cornforth investigated enzymes that catalyse changes in organic compounds, the substrates, by taking the place of hydrogen atoms in a substrate's chains and rings. In his syntheses and descriptions of the structure of various terpenes, olefins, and steroids, Cornforth determined specifically which cluster of hydrogen atoms in a substrate were replaced by an enzyme to effect a given change in the substrate, allowing him to detail the biosynthesis of cholesterol. For this work, he won a share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1975, alongside co-recipient Vladimir Prelog, and was knighted in 1977.

Details

Sir John Cornforth, (born September 7, 1917, Sydney, Australia—died December 8, 2013, Sussex, England), was a Australian-born British chemist who was corecipient, with Vladimir Prelog, of the 1975 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his research on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. Stereochemistry is the study of how the properties of a chemical compound are affected by the spatial arrangement of atoms in molecules and complexes.

Cornforth suffered since childhood from a progressive hearing loss which later rendered him completely deaf. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1937 and earned his doctorate from Oxford University in 1941, and in that same year he married Rita Harradence, an organic chemist, who helped him communicate and was his constant collaborator. During World War II he worked to determine the structure of the central molecule of the antibiotic penicillin. Cornforth remained at Oxford until 1946 and then joined the staff of the National Institute for Medical Research in London, where he remained until 1962.

He was codirector (1962–68) and director (1968–75) of the Milstead Laboratory of Chemical Enzymology for Shell Research Ltd., in Sittingbourne, Kent. He concurrently served as a professor at the University of Warwick (1965–71) and the University of Sussex (1971–82).

Cornforth investigated enzymes that catalyze change in organic compounds (substrates) by taking the place of hydrogen atoms in a substrate’s chains and rings. In his syntheses and descriptions of the structure of various terpenes, olefins, and steroids, he determined specifically which cluster of hydrogen atoms in a substrate is replaced by an enzyme to cause a given change in the substrate. This allowed Cornforth to detail the biosynthesis of cholesterol, an exceptionally complex molecule. He received the Nobel Prize in 1975 and was knighted in 1977.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-03 00:27:51

1079) Vladimir Prelog

Summary

Vladimir Prelog (23 July 1906 – 7 January 1998) was a Croatian-Swiss organic chemist who received the 1975 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his research into the stereochemistry of organic molecules and reactions. Prelog was born and grew up in Sarajevo. He lived and worked in Prague, Zagreb and Zürich during his lifetime.

Details

Vladimir Prelog, (born July 23, 1906, Sarajevo, Bosnia, Austria-Hungary [now in Bosnia and Herzegovina]—died Jan. 7, 1998, Zürich, Switz.), was a Swiss chemist who shared the 1975 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with John W. Cornforth for his work on the stereochemistry of organic molecules and reactions. (Stereochemistry is the study of the three-dimensional arrangements of atoms within molecules.)

Prelog was born of Croatian parents in Sarajevo. He was educated at the Institute Technical School of Chemistry in Prague, receiving his doctorate in 1929. After several years in a commercial laboratory, he began teaching at the University of Zagreb in 1935, first as a lecturer and later as professor of organic chemistry. In 1942 he joined the faculty of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, where he served as head of the laboratory of organic chemistry from 1957 to 1965. He became a Swiss citizen in 1959 and retired from teaching in 1976.

Prelog performed wide-ranging research on the stereochemistry of alkaloids, antibiotics, enzymes, and other natural compounds. In particular he contributed to the understanding of stereoisomerism, in which two compounds of identical chemical composition have different, mirror-image configurations (like a person’s right and left hands). With Robert Cahn and Sir Christopher Ingold, he developed a nomenclature for describing complex organic compounds. This system, known as CIP, provided a standard and international language for precisely specifying a compound’s structure.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-05 00:17:17

1080) David Baltimore

Summary

David Baltimore (born March 7, 1938) is an American biologist, university administrator, and 1975 Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. He is currently President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he served as president from 1997 to 2006. He also served as the director of the Joint Center for Translational Medicine, which joined Caltech and UCLA in a program to translate basic scientific discoveries into clinical realities. He also formerly served as president of Rockefeller University from 1990 to 1991, founder and Director of the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research from 1982 to 1990, and was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2007.

Baltimore has profoundly influenced international science, including key contributions to immunology, virology, cancer research, biotechnology, and recombinant DNA research, through his accomplishments as a researcher, administrator, educator, and public advocate for science and engineering. He has trained many doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows, several of whom have gone on to notable and distinguished research careers. In addition to the Nobel Prize, he has received a number of awards, including the U.S. National Medal of Science in 1999 and the Lasker Award in 2021. Baltimore sits on the Board of Sponsors for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and as a senior scientific advisor to the Science Philanthropy Alliance.

Details

David Baltimore, (born March 7, 1938, New York, New York, U.S.), is an American virologist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1975 with Howard M. Temin and Renato Dulbecco. Working independently, Baltimore and Temin discovered reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that synthesizes DNA from RNA. Baltimore also conducted research that led to an understanding of the interaction between viruses and the genetic material of the cell. The research of all three men contributed to an understanding of the role of viruses in the development of cancer.

Baltimore and Temin both studied the process by which certain tumour-causing RNA viruses (those whose genetic material is composed of RNA) replicate after they infect a cell. They simultaneously demonstrated that these RNA viruses, now called retroviruses, contain the blueprint for an unusual enzyme—a polymerase called reverse transcriptase—that copies DNA from an RNA template. The newly formed viral DNA then integrates into the infected host cell, an event that can transform the infected cell into a cancer cell.

Baltimore received an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania (B.A., 1960), and went on to study animal virology at the Rockefeller Institute (now Rockefeller University) in New York City, where he obtained a doctorate in 1964, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. He worked with Dulbecco at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California (1965–68), studying the mechanism of replication of the poliovirus.

Baltimore joined the faculty of MIT in 1968, accompanied by Alice Huang, a postdoctoral fellow who had worked on vesicular stomatitus virus (VSV) at the Salk Institute. In Boston, Baltimore and Huang, who had married, showed that VSV, an RNA virus, reproduced itself by means of an unusual enzyme (an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase) that copies RNA by a process not involving DNA.

Baltimore then turned his attention to two RNA tumour viruses—Rauscher murine leukemia virus and Rous sarcoma virus—to discover whether a similar enzyme was at work in their replication. It was through these experiments that he discovered reverse transcriptase. This discovery proved an exception to the “central dogma” of genetic theory, which states that the information encoded in genes always flows unidirectionally from DNA to RNA (and thence to proteins) and cannot be reversed. Since its discovery, reverse transcriptase has become an invaluable tool in recombinant DNA technology.

Baltimore became director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1983 and in 1990 left to become president of Rockefeller University. In 1989 he figured prominently in a public dispute over a 1986 paper published in the journal Cell that he had coauthored while still at MIT. The coauthor of the article, Thereza Imanishi-Kari, was accused of falsifying data published in the paper. Baltimore, who was not included in charges of misconduct, stood behind Imanishi-Kari, although he did retract the article. Because of his involvement in the case, however, he was asked to resign as president of Rockefeller University, and in 1994 he returned to MIT. In 1996 a U.S. government panel cleared Imanishi-Kari of the charges of scientific misconduct. The case was analyzed in The Baltimore Case (1998) by Daniel Kevles.

Baltimore was president of the California Institute of Technology from 1997 to 2006, when he was elected to a three-year term as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Among his other appointments, he served as a member of the Encyclopædia Britannica Editorial Board of Advisors.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-07 02:15:02

1081) Renato Dulbecco

Summary

Renato Dulbecco (February 22, 1914 – February 19, 2012) was an Italian–American virologist who won the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on oncoviruses, which are viruses that can cause cancer when they infect animal cells. He studied at the University of Turin under Giuseppe Levi, along with fellow students Salvador Luria and Rita Levi-Montalcini, who also moved to the U.S. with him and won Nobel prizes. He was drafted into the Italian army in World War II, but later joined the resistance.

Details

Renato Dulbecco, (born February 22, 1914, Catanzaro, Italy—died February 19, 2012, La Jolla, California, U.S.) was an Italian American virologist who shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1975 with Howard M. Temin and David Baltimore, both of whom had studied under him.

Dulbecco obtained an M.D. from the University of Turin in 1936 and remained there several years as a member of its faculty. He came to the United States in 1947 and studied viruses, first with Salvador Luria at Indiana University, then at the California Institute of Technology (1949–63). In 1953 Dulbecco became a U.S. citizen. He was a fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California (1963–72), and returned there in 1977 as a distinguished research professor after serving for five years as a director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London. During his second tenure at the Salk Institute, he served also on the faculty of the medical school of the University of California, San Diego (1977–81). He served first as temporary and then as full president of the Salk Institute from 1988 to 1992. Dulbecco was asked to work on the Italian Genome Project by the Italian National Research Council before returning to the Salk Institute in the late 1990s.

Dulbecco, with Marguerite Vogt, pioneered the growing of animal viruses in culture in the 1950s and investigated how certain viruses gain control of the cells they infect. They showed that polyomavirus, which produces tumours in mice, inserts its DNA into the DNA of the host cell. The cell then undergoes transformation (a term used in this restricted sense by Dulbecco) into a cancer cell, reproducing the viral DNA along with its own and producing more cancer cells. Dulbecco suggested that human cancers could be caused by similar reproduction of foreign DNA fragments.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-09 00:18:01

1082) Howard Martin Temin

Summary

Howard Martin Temin (December 10, 1934 – February 9, 1994) was an American geneticist and virologist. He discovered reverse transcriptase in the 1970s at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, for which he shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Renato Dulbecco and David Baltimore.

Details

Howard Martin Temin, (born Dec. 10, 1934, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Feb. 9, 1994, Madison, Wis.) was a American virologist who in 1975 shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with his former professor Renato Dulbecco and another of Dulbecco’s students, David Baltimore, for his codiscovery of the enzyme reverse transcriptase.

While working toward his Ph.D. under Dulbecco at the California Institute of Technology, Temin began investigating how the Rous sarcoma virus causes animal cancers. One puzzling observation was that the virus, the essential component of which is ribonucleic acid (RNA), could not infect the cell if the synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was stopped. Temin proposed in 1964 that the virus somehow translated its RNA into DNA, which then redirected the reproductive activity of the cell, transforming it into a cancer cell. The cell would reproduce this DNA along with its own DNA, producing more cancer cells.

Skeptics pointed out that Temin’s suggestion contradicted the contemporary tenet of molecular biology: that genetic information always passed from DNA to RNA, rather than the reverse. But in 1970 both Temin and Baltimore proved Temin’s hypothesis correct. They identified an enzyme (reverse transcriptase) in the virus that synthesizes DNA that contains the information in the viral RNA.

Temin obtained his Ph.D. in 1959, and after spending another year with Dulbecco, he joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he taught and conducted research until his death.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-11 00:16:16

1083) Burton Richter

Summary

Burton Richter (March 22, 1931 – July 18, 2018) was an American physicist. He led the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) team which co-discovered the J/ψ meson in 1974, alongside the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) team led by Samuel Ting for which they won Nobel Prize for Physics in 1976. This discovery was part of the November Revolution of particle physics. He was the SLAC director from 1984 to 1999.

Details

Burton Richter, (born March 22, 1931, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.—died July 18, 2018, Stanford, California) was an American physicist who was jointly awarded the 1976 Nobel Prize for Physics with Samuel C.C. Ting for the discovery of a new subatomic particle, the J/psi particle.

Richter studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, where he received his doctorate in 1956. That same year he became a research associate at Stanford University, Stanford, California, becoming a full professor in 1967. He immediately undertook experiments that confirmed the validity of quantum electrodynamics at very short distances. In collaboration with David Ritson and with financial support from the Atomic Energy Commission, in 1973 he completed construction of the Stanford Positron-Electron Asymmetric Ring, a colliding-beam accelerator with which he discovered a new subatomic particle that he called the J-particle (now usually called the J/psi particle), the first of a new class of very massive, long-lived mesons. Ting, cowinner of the Nobel Prize, had made the same discovery independently.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-13 00:05:49

1084) Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio, in full Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio, (born November 11, 1974, Los Angeles, California, U.S.), American actor and producer who emerged in the 1990s as one of Hollywood’s leading performers, is noted for his portrayals of unconventional and complex characters.

DiCaprio first acted at age five, performing on the children’s television show Romper Room, and, as a teenager, he made numerous commercials and educational films. In 1990 he began appearing on a series of television shows, including The New Lassie and Roseanne, and in 1991 he was cast in a recurring role on Growing Pains.

That year DiCaprio also made his big-screen debut in Critters 3, a low-budget horror film.

DiCaprio’s breakthrough came in 1992 when he beat out 400 other hopefuls to act opposite Robert De Niro in This Boy’s Life (1993). DiCaprio earned rave reviews, and for his next film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), he received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for his realistic portrayal of a teenager with an intellectual disability. Several independent movies followed, including The Basketball Diaries (1995).

In the mid-1990s DiCaprio began to attract a wider audience with more-mainstream films. He became a teen heartthrob after starring in Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996), a modern retelling of the classic love story. In 1997 DiCaprio was launched into international stardom with the release of James Cameron’s epic Titanic. His good looks and poignant portrayal of Jack Dawson, a penniless artist who falls in love with an upper-class passenger (played by Kate Winslet), helped make Titanic one of the highest-grossing films ever.

Though flooded with offers to appear in blockbusters and other mainstream fare, DiCaprio instead embraced roles that featured the complex characters that had come to define his career. In 2000 he starred in The Beach, a dark film about a young backpacker’s search for paradise. Two years later he appeared in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, a period piece about gangsters in New York City in the mid-1800s. That year he also starred opposite Tom Hanks as the real-life con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr., in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can. Reteaming with Scorsese, DiCaprio portrayed a young Howard Hughes in The Aviator (2004), for which he received a best actor Academy Award nomination

DiCaprio’s later works included a third collaboration with Scorsese, The Departed (2006), and Blood Diamond (2006). Both films garnered DiCaprio some of the best reviews of his career, and he earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a diamond smuggler in the latter film. In 2008 he starred as a CIA agent hunting down a terrorist on the run in Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies. DiCaprio again paired with Winslet in Revolutionary Road (2008), an adaptation of the novel by Richard Yates that depicts a young couple struggling to reconcile their unconventional aspirations with a stifling existence in 1950s suburbia. For his next film, Scorsese’s Shutter Island (2010), DiCaprio portrayed a tormented U.S. marshal sent to a hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of an inmate.

DiCaprio subsequently starred as a corporate spy able to infiltrate people’s dreams in the science fiction thriller Inception (2010) and as longtime FBI director J. Edgar Hoover in the biopic J. Edgar (2011). In Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012), DiCaprio chewed the scenery as a slave-driving plantation owner in antebellum Mississippi. He then appeared in another grandiose role—the title character in Luhrmann’s glitzy 2013 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. That role was echoed in his bombastic turn as Jordan Belfort, a stockbroker who swindled millions from his clients, in Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013); the film was based on Belfort’s 2007 memoir of the same name. For his performance, DiCaprio received his fourth Oscar nomination. He finally won an Academy Award for his work in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant (2015), in which he evinced an aggrieved fur trapper on a quest for revenge after his companions kill his son and leave him for dead following an attack by a bear.

Four years later DiCaprio returned to the screen, starring in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. The movie—which centres on a washed-up actor (DiCaprio) and his stunt double (Brad Pitt) in 1969 Los Angeles—received a standing ovation when it premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2019, and, for his performance, DiCaprio later earned his sixth Oscar nomination for acting. He next starred in Don’t Look Up (2021), a dramedy in which DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence portrayed astronomers who try to warn humankind about an impending comet strike that will destroy Earth.

DiCaprio became active in a number of causes, most notably those involving environmental issues. In 2000 he hosted Earth Day festivities and interviewed U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton for a television special on global warming. In 2004 DiCaprio joined the boards of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Global Green USA. The 11th Hour, an environmental documentary that he wrote and narrated, premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2007. He later produced and narrated Ice on Fire (2019), a documentary that considers the possibility of reversing climate change.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-15 00:18:47

1085) Ilaiyaraaja

Summary

R. Gnanathesikan (born 3 June 1943), known as Ilaiyaraaja, is an Indian film composer, conductor-arranger, singer and lyricist who works in the Indian film industry, predominantly in Tamil. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian music composers, he is often credited for introducing Western musical sensibilities in the South Indian film musical mainstream. He has composed more than 7,000 songs, provided film scores for more than 1,400 movies and performed in more than 20,000 concerts. Ilaiyaraaja is nicknamed "Isaignani" (musical genius) and is often referred to as "Maestro", by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London, amongst others.

He is known for integrating Indian folk music and traditional Indian instrumentation with western classical music techniques. In 1986, he was the first Indian composer to record film songs through computer for Tamil films for Vikram. He was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Tamil film music, and the first South Asian to compose a full symphony. He also composed Thiruvasagam in Symphony (2006), the first Indian oratorio.

Ilaiyaraaja is a recipient of five National Film Awards—three for Best Music Direction and two for Best Background Score. In 2012, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest Indian recognition given to practising artists, for his creative and experimental works in the music field. In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour in India and the Padma Vibhushan in 2018, the second-highest civilian award by the government of India.

In a 2013 poll conducted by CNN-IBN celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema, Ilaiyaraaja was voted as the all-time greatest film-music director of India. In 2014, American world cinema portal "Taste of Cinema" placed him at the 9th position in its list of 25 greatest film composers in the history of cinema amongst Ennio Morricone, John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith and Ilaiyaraaja was the only Indian in the list.

According to Achille Forler, board member of the Indian Performing Right Society, the kind of stellar body of work that Ilaiyaraaja has created in the last 40 years should have placed him among the world's top 10 richest composers, somewhere between Andrew Lloyd Webber ($1.2 billion) and Mick Jagger (over $300 million).

Awards and honours

Ilaiyaraaja has been awarded five National Film Awards—three for Best Music Direction and two for Best Background Score. In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honour in India and the Padma Vibhushan in 2018, the second-highest civilian award by the government of India. In 2012, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, the highest Indian recognition given to practising artists, for his creative and experimental works in the music field. He is a gold medalist in classical guitar from Trinity College of Music, London, Distance Learning Channel.

Details

Born : June 2, 1943 in Pannaipuram, Theni, Madras Presidency, British India
Birth Name : Daniel Rajayya
Nickname : Raasaiya

Born and brought up in an obscure village near Kambam in Southern Tamil Nadu, Ilayaraja became the first Asian to score a symphony for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, besides scoring over 1000 feature films in a period of 38 years. Raja, as he is popularly known and affectionately called, comes from a family of musicians. His mother, a huge repository of Tamil folk songs, seems to be a very strong influence in his music. He learned to play the harmonium, the typical musical instrument used in street performances. The team of the brothers, the eldest being Pavalar Varadharajan, a poet, worked as a group of musicians traveling across the state, accompanying theater artists. Raja picked up most of his acumen for audience tastes during this period.

In 1969, Raja migrated to the city of Madras, the Southern Movie capital, when he was 25 years old, looking for a break into music making for the public. He studied under Dhanraj Master, playing the guitar and piano in the Western style. Ilayaraja's break into music for films came with Annakili in 1976. The film dealt with a village story, to which Ilayaraja composed great melodies. The songs offered simplicity and musicality typical of Tamil folk in an authentic way, and they offered new sounds--rich orchestration typical of Western music. The songs became an instant hit, the most popular being "Machchana Partheengala" sung by a female voice, S. Janaki. This was followed by a series of films that portrayed contemporary Tamil villages in an authentic way, against stylistic shallow portrayals before. For all of these films Raja created memorable songs. Most popular were the songs "Senthoorappove" and "Aatukkutti Mutaiyittu" from Pathinaru Vayathinile (1977), and "Samakkozhi" and "Oram Po" from Ponnu Oorukku Pudhusu (1979).

Raja soon proved his abilities in other styles as well. classical Karnatic melodies were used in Kannan Oru Kai Kuzhandhai (1978) (Rag Mohanam), Mayile Mayile (Ragam Hamsadhwani), and Chinna Kannan Azhaikiran (Reethi Gowlai). Raja's grasp of Western classical structure became evident with his masterful use of the piano, guitar, and string ensembles. Some of the numbers that show his orchestral genius are "Pon malai Pozhudu" and "Poongadhave" from Nizhalgal (1980), Kanmaniye Kadhal from Aarilirindhu Aruvathu Varai (1979), "Ramanin Mohanam" from Netri Kann (1981), "En Iniya Pon nilave from Moodupani (1980), "Paruvame Pudhiya" from Nenjathai Killathe (1980), and "Edho Moham" from Kozhi Koovuthu (1982). These songs could literally be heard coming from every doorstep in Tamil Nadu state every day for at least a year after being released. Raja composed film music prolifically for the next fifteen years, at a rate of as many as three new songs a day. After a few years as a film composer, he could write all the parts to a score as they came to him, and his assistants would make fair copies, which would be recorded immediately.

Once during a trip to Europe, he visited places where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Ludwig van Beethoven lived. They were his Manasika Gurus or non-physical teachers, he wrote once. He also met contemporary composers and arrangers including Paul Mauriat. His listeners were awestruck by the quality and quantity of his musical output. He also scored a few films abroad. Ilayaraja's image grew to be a unique one in the history of Tamil cinema: stories, themes, and casts would be changed to fit his music, which swept away the minds of millions of Indians in hundreds of films.

Ilayaraja also recorded non-film albums, such as "How to Name It" and "Nothing But Wind," which were well-received in India and abroad. In 1993, he wrote a symphony for the London Philharmonic Orchestra in an amazing one-month span. To many people who know him, Raja represents more than his music. He is usually referred to by the title Isaignani (English: Musical Genius), or as The Maestro. ilaiyaraaja is a gold medalist in classical guitar from Trinity College of Music, London. He is a mark of great achievement that is possible by hard work, yet he is seen in most of his interviews as talking very philosophically. He is very much attracted by the philosophy of Ramana Maharishi of Thiruvanna Malai, who lived in the early 20th Century. Raja once referred to Ramana as "our Zen master."

Additional Information

He won a gold medal from London's Trinity College in the guitar category. His notable works include Nayakan (1987) (his 400th film) and Anjali (1990) (his 500th film). His other musical works include "Nothing But the Wind," "How to Name It," and "Singing Skylarks." He also invented a new Carnatic raga known as Panchamukhi.

Composing for new movies. Writing about the philosophy of Astavakra Gita.

His song "Mella Mella Ennaithottu" from Vazhkai was sampled by Rabbit Mac in the song "Sempoi".

His song "Unnakum Ennakum" from Shri Raghavendra was sampled by Black Eyed Peas in the song "Elephunk".

Alphant sampled Ilayaraja's music for his song "An Indian Dream".

Shamik sampled many of Ilayaraja's songs for his album Channeling India Volume 2.

Meek Mill song "Indian Bounce" sampled a old song by Ilayaraja.

In June 1993, Indian film composer Ilaiyaraaja, widely rated as one of the greatest composers of Indian film music, premiered his western classical Symphonic Work in five movements with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London. The symphony was written in less than a month. The work was conducted by his friend, noted Hollywood film composer and conductor, John Scott.

Ilaiyaraaja was the first Asian to have his work performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-16 00:11:36

1086) K. S. Chithra

Summary

Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963), credited as K. S. Chithra or Chithra, is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over four decades, she has recorded over 25,000 songs in various Indian languages, as well as foreign languages such as Malay, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, English and French. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration with music composers A.R. Rahman, Ilaiyaraja, Hamsalekha, M. M. Keeravani and with the playback singers KJ Yesudas and SP Balasubramaniyam over the years. She is regarded as a cultural icon of South Indian states.

Chithra is a recipient of six National Film Awards, eight Filmfare Awards South and 36 different state film awards from six states of India such as 16 Kerala State Film Awards, 11 Andhra Pradesh State Film Awards, 4 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, 3 Karnataka State Film Awards, 1 Orissa State Film Awards, 1 West Bengal State Film Awards. She was awarded India's third-highest civilian honours Padma Bhushan in 2021 and Padma Shri in 2005 for her valuable contributions towards the Indian musical fraternity. She is the first Indian woman to be honoured by British Parliament at House of Commons, United Kingdom. She was honoured with the Rashtrapati Award for “First Ladies” in the field of music felicitated by the Ministry of Women and Child Development at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 20 January 2018.

Details

K. S. Chithra, is a legendary six time National film awards winning, Padmashree awardee singer who has made her mark in the Indian (film) music playback industry. Known as the “Nightingale of South India”, she has lent her voice to Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Hindi, Assamese and Bengali films.

Born on July 27, 1963, in Thiruvananthapuram, into a family of musicians, Chithra’s talent was recognized and nurtured from an early age by her father, the late Krishnan Nair. He was also her first guru (teacher). Chithra received her extensive training in Carnatic music from Dr. K. Omanakutty, after she was selected for the National Talent Search Scholarship from the Central Government from 1978–1984. She is married to Vijayashankar, an engineer and businessman.

K. S. Chithra, is a legendary six time National film awards winning, Padmashree awardee singer who has made her mark in the Indian (film) music playback industry. Known as the “Nightingale of South India”, she has lent her voice to Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Hindi, Assamese and Bengali films.Chithra was introduced to Malayalam playback singing by M. G. Radhakrishnan in 1979 and went on to become a regular singer for many legendary malayalam musicians including Raveendran and the likes. Her duets with K.J. Yesudas in Malayalam and S.P. Balasubrahmanyam in all other languages are the most hummed songs by the music lovers. She made her debut in the Tamil film industry in Chennai under the guidance of film music composer Ilaiyaraaja.Poojaikketra poovithu song Film- Neethana Antha kuil is the first song in Tamil music by Ilaya raja. Her knowledge of South Indian languages and Hindi enables her to render songs with originality and perfection. Ilaiyaraaja has contributed so much to Chithra's glory. Fazil was doing a remake his Malayalam movie in Tamil Poove Poochudava a strong subject movie with wonderful music of Illayaraja . Raja heard Chitra’s voice in the Malayalam version and got impressed by that and asked her for audition. Then her turn came for the movie Nee thana antha kuyil with a beautiful song “Poojaiketa Poovidhu”. “Antha Kuyil has incidentally become Chinna Kuyil of South India”. Since then, she has sung some wonderfully melodious songs mostly with classical overtures in Tamil Films and it is astounding that the Meastro Ilayaraja & A.R.Rahman have fetched her some memorable songs leading to the National awards but nobody would have got the best singing virtues out of her than the Maestro. She also delivered some most memorable songs for Deva, Vidyasagar, M.M.Keeravani, Hamsalekha, Raj Koti, Rajan - Nagendra and many other south Indian music directors. She gave a touch of vibrance and youthfulness to many Actresses in southern Cinema with her lovely voice. She is the inspiration for many upcoming female playback singers. Chithra is also a house hold name in Bollywood music. She has recorded many memorable Hindi songs for various music directors of bollywood namely Anand-Milind, Anu Malik, Rajesh Roshan, Viju Shah and many others. She also recorded the Hindi versions of her own Tamil songs sung for A.R.Rahman.

Awards

Chithra has recorded more than 25 thousands of film and non-film songs till date. During her illustrious career which is still continuing, numerous recognitions have come her way including six National Awards for best female playback singer.She is just behind K.J. Yesudas who has won 7 national awards as a singer. This is the highest number of national awards awarded to any female playback singer. She has won the awards for the following films:

National Film Awards:

2004 - Best Female Playback Singer - Autograph, Tamil Film (Song: 'Ovvoru Pookalume')
1997 - Best Female Playback Singer - Virasat, Hindi Film (Song: 'Payalein Chun Mun')
1996 - Best Female Playback Singer - Minsaara Kanavu, Tamil Film (Song: 'Maana Madurai (Ooh La La La)')
1989 - Best Female Playback Singer - Vaishali, Malayalam Film (Song: 'Indupushpam Choodi Nilkum Raathri')
1987 - Best Female Playback Singer - Nakhashathangal, Malayalam Film (Song: 'Manjal Prasadavum')
1986 - Best Female Playback Singer - Sindhu Bhairavi, Tamil Film (Song: 'Padariyen Padippariyen')

K. S. Chithra, is a legendary six time National film awards winning, Padmashree awardee singer who has made her mark in the Indian (film) music playback industry. Known as the “Nightingale of South India”, she has lent her voice to Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Oriya, Hindi, Assamese and Bengali films.She has also received 15 awards for the best female playback singer from Kerala State Government, 7 awards from Andhra Pradesh State Government, 4 awards from Tamil Nadu State Government and 3 awards from Karnataka State Government. She is the only playback singer to be recognised by all the four state governments in South India for her contributions.

chitra-k-s-saligramam-chennai-playback-singers-292h2ae.jpg?clr=003966

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-17 00:27:12

1087) Buzz Aldrin

Summary

Buzz Aldrin (born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and, as Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, he and mission commander Neil Armstrong were the first two people to land on the Moon.

Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Aldrin graduated third in the class of 1951 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was commissioned into the United States Air Force, and served as a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. He flew 66 combat missions and shot down two MiG-15 aircraft.

After earning a Doctor of Science degree in astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Aldrin was selected as a member of NASA's Astronaut Group 3, making him the first astronaut with a doctoral degree. His doctoral thesis was Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous, earning him the nickname "Dr. Rendezvous" from fellow astronauts. His first space flight was in 1966 on Gemini 12 during which he spent over five hours on extravehicular activity. Three years later, Aldrin set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 on July 21, 1969 (UTC), nineteen minutes after Armstrong first touched the surface, while command module pilot Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit. A Presbyterian elder, Aldrin became the first person to hold a religious ceremony on the Moon when he privately took communion. Apollo 11 effectively proved US victory in the Space Race, by fulfilling a national goal proposed in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy "of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" before the end of the decade.

Upon leaving NASA in 1971, Aldrin became Commandant of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. He retired from the Air Force in 1972, after 21 years of service. His autobiographies Return to Earth (1973), and Magnificent Desolation (2009), recount his struggles with clinical depression and alcoholism in the years after leaving NASA. Aldrin continues to advocate for space exploration, particularly a human mission to Mars, and developed the Aldrin cycler, a special spacecraft trajectory that makes travel to Mars more efficient in regard to time and propellant. He has been accorded numerous honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969.

Details

Buzz Aldrin, original name Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr., (born January 20, 1930, Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.), is an American astronaut who was the second person to set foot on the Moon.

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York (1951), Aldrin became an air force pilot. He flew 66 combat missions during the Korean War, where he flew F-86 “Sabre” aircraft as part of the 51st Fighter Wing in Seoul and shot down two MiG-15 jets. Aldrin later served in West Germany. In 1963 he wrote a dissertation on orbital mechanics to earn a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Later that year he was chosen as an astronaut.

On November 11, 1966, he joined James A. Lovell, Jr., on the four-day Gemini 12 flight. Together, Aldrin’s three walks in space totalled a record 5 1/2hours, proving that human beings can function effectively in the vacuum of space.

Apollo 11, crewed by Aldrin, Neil A. Armstrong, and Michael Collins, was launched to the Moon on July 16, 1969. Four days later Armstrong and Aldrin landed near the edge of Mare Tranquillitatis. After spending about two hours gathering rock samples, taking photographs, and setting up scientific equipment for tests, they concluded their lunar surface excursion. Armstrong and Aldrin later piloted the lunar module Eagle to a successful rendezvous with Collins and the command module in lunar orbit. The mission ended on July 24 with splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Aldrin wrote two autobiographies, Return to Earth (1973), which told the story of his experience with depression following the Apollo 11 mission, and Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon (2009, with Ken Abraham). He also wrote a history of the Apollo program, Men from Earth (1989, with Malcolm McConnell); two children’s books, Reaching for the Moon (2005) and Look to the Stars (2009); and two forward-looking works, Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration (2013) and No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons from a Man Who Walked on the Moon (2016).

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-18 21:22:57

1088) Junko Tabei

Summary

Junko Tabei (Tabei Junko, née Ishibashi; 22 September 1939 – 20 October 2016) was a Japanese mountaineer, author, and teacher. She was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest and the first woman to ascend the Seven Summits, climbing the highest peak on every continent.

Tabei wrote seven books, organized environmental projects to clean up rubbish left behind by climbers on Everest, and led annual climbs up Mount Fuji for youth affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

An astronomer had named asteroid 6897 Tabei after her and in 2019, a mountain range on Pluto was named Tabei Montes in her honour.

Details

Many people have ascended mountains, specifically Mount Everest and the Seven Summits. The seven summits are climbing a mountain on every continent. But who was the first woman? The first woman was Junko Tabei. Junko Tabei is a Japanese mountain climber, just like her husband. You may recognize her as the lady from Google Doodle. The Google Doodle was her climbing mountains. They published that for when she turned eighty. Junko Tabei defied stereotypes, inspired women, and became the first woman to climb and complete Mount Everest and the Seven Summits.

Some people think Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest. But that is not true, the actual first climbers to reach the summit was Andrew “Sandy” Irvine and his partner George Mallory. Unfortunately, both of them died on the way down the mountain. Many know that Andrew brought a camera with him. The camera shows that could provide film evidence that the pair reached the top in 1924, almost 30 years before Sir Edmund Hillary did. The first person to hike the Seven Summits is Patrick Morrow, and he completed it all in one year. Junko became the first woman to hike all Seven Summits. The Seven Summits are Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, and the summit in Antarctica is Vinson Massif, in Asia it is Mount Everest, and in Europe is Mount Elbrus. North and Central America is Mount McKinley, and South Africa is Cerro Aconcagua. Australasia/Oceania is Puncak Jaya (equally known as Ngga Pulu and Jayakusuma). Sherpa Ang Tsering and Junko Tabei survived an avalanche, but many on their trip to Mount Everest were not as lucky. Ang Tsering was able to dig her out of the snow. On May 16, 1975, she arrived at the summit of Everest and made history, placing her flag for Japan and for women adventurers worldwide.

Junko Tabei defied stereotypes, inspired women, and became the first woman to climb and complete Mount Everest. In addition, she was the first woman to climb the Seven Summits. Junko, the pioneering Japanese mountaineer, did not listen to men who suggested “stay at home and clean the house.” Junko was born September 22, 1939, in Miharu, Japan. Junko was the thirty-sixth person to climb Mount Everest. Junko Tabei is married to Masanobu, and they possess two children, a son named Shinya Tabei and a daughter named Noriko. Since 2012, Tabei has climbed the 12,388-foot Mount Fuji each summer with high schoolers from Japan. She once said to The Japan Times, “I never felt like stopping climbing, and I never will.” Junko was always a climber; she climbed when she was about 11, to a few months before she died. She died October 20, 2016, in Kawagoe, Japan, at the age of seventy-seven. May she be known for breaking stereotypes men gave her and giving women hope.

As some may know, Junko Tabei defied any man who told her to go home and clean the house. Junko had two children, a son named Shinya and a daughter named Noriko. Junko’s husband, Masanobu was also a climber. So, they had a pretty busy household. While one of the parents would be on a climbing trip, the other was watching the kids. If they were both going, they would need to hire a babysitter. Typically in Japan, the man would go to work while the woman would clean, cook and/or look after the children. So when people saw a woman climbing with them, they were surprised. While some thought of it as cool or inspiring; others thought of it weird, strange, or unusual. It is even said that a woman climbing alone (without the presence of a man) was in those days a scandalous act. Many in Japan are still very discriminatory and do not let women do what men do. But Junko stood up for herself and kept pushing when no one was on her side. She helped change Japan’s society.

Junko Tabei undoubtedly inspires women to achieve what they treasure even if men say they can not. Some men said, “stay at home and clean the house” to Junko, as some would expect, Junko did not listen and kept going. Women around the world are influenced to accomplish things men have prevented them from. Many did not think women could be capable to do active and challenging things without men, take climbing for example. Women climbing alone, without the presence of a man, many viewed as a scandalous act. Junko gave hope to women, encouraging them to pursue their dreams. To go on a deeper level, she inspires people to accomplish what they desire, to succeed in and be unstoppable by people who say someone can not. As a young woman, it is very motivating to comprehend her life, goals and dreams. The lengths she extended to pursue her life’s passion influences many.

Junko Tabei became the first woman to climb and complete Mount Everest. Her expedition was probably two and a half to three months, but it was unrecorded. While their group was at camp, an avalanche hit and, sadly, many died. They started out with a team of 15 mountaineers and six sherpas. Only one sherpa and one mountaineer survived. Junko was covered in three feet of snow and lost consciousness for approximately six minutes until her sherpa guide dug her out. Her sherpa guide was Ang Tsering. After the avalanche, she reached the top eleven days later. Junko Tabei did not plan to be the first woman; it just happened. She once said, “I did not intend being the first woman on Everest.” Even if the goals or dreams are extremely unlikely, anything can happen.

Not only was Junko Tabei a climber, she was also a mother of two. With climbing as her passion, she would travel around the world exploring. She was the first woman to climb all seven summits. The seven summits are the highest peaks on all seven continents. She was also the first woman to climb and complete Mt Everest. The first person to climb Mount Everest was in about 1924 and Junko ascended the mountain in the year of 1992. That is a sixty eight years difference. She was born September 22, 1939, in Miharu, Japan. Sadly, she passed away on October 20, 2016, in Kawagoe, Japan, at the age of seventy-seven. Junko advised women to stand up for themselves and do not constantly listen to what men say they can do and not do. Although she is no longer living, she still inspires many to want to achieve their dreams and not let people get them down.

Process Paper

The topic we chose for breaking barriers is Junko Tabei. She is the first woman to climb Mount Everest and the Seven Summits. The Seven Summits are the highest mountain on every continent. She inspires and gives hope to women who are told they can not because they are female.

She was a role model to my friend who does competitive rock climbing. I read an article about inspiring women and she stood out to me the most because she was the most inspiring. Most rock climbers didn’t expect a woman to climb one of the tallest mountains, so she was an inspiration. Not many people know Junko Tabei and we think she needs her story to be heard.

We chose an exhibit to visualize what remarkable accomplishments she did in her lifetime. To display her triumphs, we painted Mount Everest on our exhibit. The flag we used to symbolize her being the first Japanese woman on Mount Everest. We think that an exhibit really showcases her talents more than making a website and documentary.

Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-19 20:00:02

1089) James Anderson

Summary

James Michael Anderson OBE (born 30 July 1982) is an English international cricketer who plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He is also a part time cricket commentator for the BBC. Among fast bowlers, Anderson is the leading wicket-taker of all-time at Test cricket level, being the only fast bowler to have taken 600 or more Test wickets; among all types of bowler, he is the third-highest wicket-taker overall. He also holds the record for the most wickets taken by an England player in One-Day International (ODI) cricket. In June 2021, he made his 162nd appearance for England in Test cricket, becoming England's most capped player. He has also played nearly 200 One Day Internationals. He is regarded as one of the greatest swing bowlers in the history of cricket.

A right-arm fast swing bowler, Anderson made his international debut at the end of 2002 during England's winter tour of Australia, then played his first Test match against Zimbabwe when the team toured England the following summer. His early career was held back by injuries, including a stress fracture of the back which kept him out of action for most of the 2006 season, but thereafter he established himself as the key opening bowler in the England Test team. He was a regular strike bowler with the national one-day side, but has not participated in the shorter format of the game at international level since the 2015 World Cup.

Anderson was the first English bowler to reach 400, 500 and 600 wickets in Test matches. As of June 2022 he is ranked 7th in the ICC Test Bowling Rankings, having previously reached the top position at various times between 2016 and 2018. In July 2021, in the 2021 County Championship, Anderson took his 1,000th first-class wicket.

Details

Career Information:

Test : debut vs Zimbabwe at Lord's, May 22, 2003
Last Test as on date : vs New Zealand at Trent Bridge, Jun 10, 2022
ODI : debut vs Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Dec 15, 2002
Last ODI as on date: vs Afghanistan at Sydney Cricket Ground, Mar 13, 2015
T20 : debut vs Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground, Jan 09, 2007
Last T20 vs South Africa at SuperSport Park, Nov 15, 2009

Profile

Born in Burnley, Lancashire, James Anderson is perhaps the best swing bowler in the world at the present moment. He made his England debut in the season of 2002 and for the best part of five years till late 2007 remained in and out of the side. He produced a sensational spell in the 2003 World Cup against Pakistan that heralded his arrival, but he couldn't maintain the momentum and drifted out of the side.

During the early part of his career he was considered too soft and lacking the attributes of becoming a top-class performer at the international level. But since late 2007 he has been on another planet. With wickets coming against every side and after having mastered the Aussies in Australia his resume now looks complete.

During those inconsistent years, when he was out of the side, the England coaching management tinkered with his bowling action which resulted in a loss of confidence and form. But once he went back to an action that was based on his old one, he was back to his best - swinging the ball around corners and taking wickets by the plenty. His stand-out performance came in the 2010 Ashes when he spearheaded the England attack and bowled quite outstandingly with the Kookaburra ball taking 24 wickets - thereby exorcising some of the ghosts of his previous visit to Australia in 2006 when he took only five wickets.

With a classical side-on action, he generates natural outswing and with the old ball is capable of reverse swinging it. When he is on song and when the conditions suit his style, he is pretty much unplayable and has often produced balls that pitch on middle and leg and hit off-stump, leaving the batsmen bewildered.

With the bat, he is quite a handy lower-order batsman and his biggest achievement so far has been going through 54 test innings without a duck - which is a World Record. For a fast bowler, he is a mighty good fielder and is quite an athlete. He moves quite swiftly in the field and possesses a safe pair of hands which has seen him field often at gully and backward point.

Some interesting facts about Anderson: Continued alteration of hair styles, attractive looks, and up-to-the-minute outfits earned him comparisons with some of the most recognisable sport personalities around, including David Beckham.

He is married to Daniella Lloyd an English model he met in 2004 and they are blessed with two daughters.

Anderson became the first cricketer to model naked for Attitude, 'Britain's biggest-selling gay magazine', in September 2010.

In June 2013 in the ICC Champions Trophy match against Australia, Anderson became England's leading ODI wicket-taker when he took his 235th wicket and went past Darren Gough. He also became England's second highest wicket-taker in Tests when he took his 326th wicket in the fifth Test against Australia at The Oval in August 2013.

England pinned a lot of hopes of their spearhead Anderson for the 2013-14 Ashes series Down Under but unfortunately, the right-armer could not do much and his side eventually went on to lose the series 5-0. However, Anderson made up for the Ashes debacle with a superb 2014 home summer against Sri Lanka and India. The ace England fast bowler tried his best to save the Test series against Sri Lanka when he batted for 55 balls and was out off the penultimate ball of the game. He was adjudged England's Man of the Series. He then continued his fine form against India, though he was criticised for not capitalising on a green-top wicket at Lord's - a match which England lost, he came back well in the next three games and helped his side win the series 3-1, he was the leading wicket-taker with 25 wickets and he also won another Man of the Series award. In the series against India, Anderson was involved in a record last wicket partnership with Joe Root, the pair added 198 runs and bettered the previous record in Tests by 35 runs. He also registered the highest score for an England No. 11 when he went onto make 81.

Anderson was ruled of the Sri Lanka tour with a knee injury. However, he made a comeback in the tri-series in Australia involving India as well. He will also lead the England attack in the 2015 World Cup campaign. On 8th September 2017, Anderson became the first England (6th overall) bowler to take 500 Test wickets. West Indies' Kraigg Brathwaite became his 500th victim during the second innings of the Lord's Test.

Bowling Career Summary (as on date) : June 20, 2022

Competition : Test : ODI : FC : LA

Top score : 81 : 28 : 81 : 28
Balls bowled : 36,832 : 9,584 : 55,062 : 12,730
Wickets : 651 : 269 : 1,049 : 358
Bowling average : 26.45 : 29.22 : 24.60 : 28.57
5 wickets in innings : 31 : 2 : 52 : 2
10 wickets in match : 3 : 0 : 6 : 0
Best bowling : 7/42 : 5/23 : 7/19 : 5/23
Catches/stumpings : 99/– : 53/– : 155/– : 68/–

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Jai Ganesh · 2022-06-20 20:17:05

1090) Shane Warne

Summary

Shane Keith Warne AO (13 September 1969 – 4 March 2022) was an Australian international Hall of Fame cricketer whose career ran from 1991 to 2007. Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-handed batsman for Victoria, Hampshire and Australia. He is widely acknowledged to have been one of the sport's greatest-ever bowlers; he made 145 Test appearances, taking 708 wickets,and set the record for the most wickets taken by any bowler in Test cricket, a record he held until 2007.

Warne was a useful, lower-order batsman who scored more than 3,000 Test runs, with a highest score of 99. He retired from international cricket at the end of Australia's 2006–07 Ashes series victory over England.

In the first four seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Warne was a player-coach for Rajasthan Royals and also captained the team.

Warne revolutionised cricket thinking with his mastery of leg spin, which was be regarded as a dying art. After retirement, he regularly worked as a cricket commentator and for charitable organisations, and endorsed commercial products. In recognition of his skill, a statue of Warne bowling was placed outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), where he was also honoured with a state memorial service at the ground. Warne was posthumously appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his service to cricket.

Details

Arguably amongst the greatest bowlers ever to play the game, Shane Warne redefined spin bowling like never before. He brought a style quotient to slow bowling with his famous walk up to the crease and a ripping wind up action. Not only did Warne generate tremendous spin off the pitch but was also immensely accurate - a trait that is very tough for a leg-spinner to conquer. Even as he went on to become one Australia's most potent bowling options, Warne was no mug with the bat and his aggressive batting did rescue his team plenty of times from pressure situations. Although not having the perfect athletic body, Warne was as agile as they come and was a brilliant fielder, especially in the slip cordon where he snaffled up half-chances as well. All these skills were dipped in a jar of controversies that would make the occasional appearance in his career but it never affected his on-field performances at all.

Warne made his international debut in 1992, in Test colors and like most wrist spinners, found it difficult in his initiation. The accuracy was what was lacking although there was no doubt about the abundant talent that he had. Warne proved that he was a quick learner and in the very next year rose up drastically, even producing what was called as the 'ball of the century' to Mike Gatting in the Ashes series. A cracking leg break that spun from well outside leg to clip the off bail even as the batsman offered no stroke. Needless to say, Gatting wasn't to be the only one to be bamboozled by Warne's bag of tricks. Over the years, the leggie excelled in both forms of the game and steadily kept adding new variations up his sleeve. All these came with the Warne stamp of accuracy and that meant that batsmen had nowhere to go.

Although Warne enjoyed good success against all teams, he loved bowling against England and South Africa the most. 325 of his 708 Test scalps came against these two countries and Warne did make a few bunnies out of their batsmen. Only India probably played Warne better, especially due to Sachin Tendulkar who used to have a wood over the leg spinner ever since the 1998 series in India where Warne was smashed around the park. However, very few batsmen could dominate Warne like that and that's a testimony to his greatness as a bowler. While his bowling in Tests was instrumental to Australia's rise as a dominant unit, he was also a fine strike bowler in ODIs, playing key roles in the World Cup campaigns of 1996 and 1999. His semifinal spell against the Windies in the former is still talked about as one of the best spells ever while in the next edition, he bettered his performances and experienced World Cup glory for the first time.

Warne's batting was quite underrated, he had a fairly good defensive game and also possessed a wide range of strokes as well from a stable base. The result was valuable runs down the order especially when the chips were down. Warne holds the record for the most Test runs without a century and add to this, his slip fielding which was exceptional. Warne was also a smart tactician and was probably unlucky never to captain Australia although that had a lot to do with the off-field dramas that he had gone through. As mentioned earlier, controversies went hand in hand with Warne's persona. The 1994 incident involving bookies and the drug scandal in 2003 which robbed him of a World Cup spot are the two big ones that comes to mind. There were also numerous other issues but to his credit, he never let any of it affect his game at any point in his career.

The 2003 incident probably dug a hole into Warne's ODI career as he had got a one-year ban and could never really get going on his comeback. However, he continued to be a force in Tests and managed to leave on a high after the Ashes whitewash at home. After his retirement, Warne involved himself with the lucrative Indian Premier League, leading Rajasthan to a title in the first edition and this once again proved the fact that he was an inspirational leader. He played a vital role with Rajasthan till 2013 and then took to television commentary. In 2018, life came a full circle for Warne as he got appointed as Rajasthan's coach in the IPL. Right from his playing days, he had always been charismatic and there was always an aura about whatever he did. There might have been a few slip ups but Warne would always be up there among the best cricketers to have graced the game.

Competition : Test : ODI : FC : LA
Matches : 145 : 194 : 301 : 311
Runs scored : 3,154 : 1,018 : 6,919 : 1,879
Batting average : 17.32 : 13.05 : 19.43 : 11.81
100s/50s : 0/12 : 0/1 : 2/26 : 0/1
Top score : 99 : 55 : 107* : 55
Balls bowled : 40,705 : 10,642 : 74,830 : 16,419
Wickets : 708 : 293 : 1,319 : 473
Bowling average : 25.41 : 25.73 : 26.11 : 24.61
5 wickets in innings : 37 : 1 : 69 : 3
10 wickets in match : 10 : 0 : 12 : 0
Best bowling : 8/71 : 5/33 : 8/71 : 6/42
Catches/stumpings 125/– : 80/– 264/– : 126/–

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