Today’s Motto: ‘The power of imagination makes us infinite’

This is Your Day-TODAY: Take a Determined Step Forward and Make History! 

On this day,  Apr. 07…….

1541 – Father Francis Xavier, Spanish founder of the Jesuits, 35, and three friends set sail from Lisbon, Portugal for Goa. They became the first Roman Catholic missionaries to travel to India. Later he travelled to Malay, Malacca (now parts of Malaysia), Japan to spread Christianity and died on Dec. 03, 1552, in Sancian (Shangchuan) on Chinese coast trying to enter the mainland China.

1818 – British Government imposed ‘State Prisoners Regulation III -1818’ for detention and deportation of political prisoners and revolutionaries without any trial. (This black act was in force till 1947 when India got independence).

1827 – John Walker, an English pharmacist, recorded his first sale of the friction matches he invented the previous year. His discovery on 27 Nov 1826 had been accidental while trying to produce a readily combustible material for fowling-pieces (a light shotgun). His first match was the wooden stirring stick he used in a mixture of potash and antimony sulphide. To remove a blob on the end of the stick, he had scraped it on the stone floor, and it ignited. He never patented the invention, and his production was limited to a sideline of his pharmacy business.

1896 – Inventor Simon Lake was issued a U.S. patent for his “Submarine Locomotive”, which he designed with underwater salvage operations in mind. It was fitted with traction wheels to travel the water-bed, and a crane hoist at the front. He improved his design with a later patent issued on 20 Apr 1897. On 16 Dec 1897 he demonstrated submarine Argonaut (pic credit-Britanicca).

1923 – The first operation to remove a brain tumour under local anaesthetic (cocaine on the patient’s scalp) was performed at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City by a team of surgeons led by Dr. Karl Winfield Ney. The patient’s condition had been deemed too risky for a general anaesthetic. So Henry A. Brown was fully conscious throughout the operation and able to answer the doctors’ questions.

1934 – Mahatma Gandhi suspended his campaign of civil disobedience started earlier in 1930 from Sabarmati. Movement suspended after Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1931 on withdrawal of Salt Tax and release of protesters.

1948 – World Health Organization formed by U.N.

1959 – The first distinguishable echo was recorded of a radar signal bounced off the Sun – considered a milestone in the emerging field of radar astronomy.

1983 – It was reported that a human skeleton, believed to be perhaps a Neanderthal up to 80,000 years old, had been brought to the Smithsonian for study. It had been discovered in Feb 1982, face down, at Wadi Kubbaniya in southern Egypt.

1997 – Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan finalise preparations for a new trade bloc called ‘Growth Quadrangle’.

2000 – The Delhi police unearth a multi-crore cricket betting and match fixing racket involving five South African cricketers, including the captain Hansie Cronje. A Delhi-based Indian operator Rajesh Kalra put behind bars.

2003 – U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein’s regime falls two days later.

2013 – China reports it will open the South China Sea’s Paracel Islands to tourism before the May Day holiday. Vietnam voices strong opposition to this move, as ownership of the Islands is in dispute.

2016 – Longest-ever captured python found on Penang Island in Malaysia (26ft).

Born….

1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet laureate who wrote romantic poems like ‘My Heart Leaps Up…… etc. He didn’t complete Graduation but was later awarded Hnorary Degrees by Universities  of Cambridge and Oxford. (pic credit-Wikipedia)

1920 – Ravi Shankar (Bhattacharya), renowned Sitar player.

1926 – Prem Nazir, star of Malayalam cinema.

1942 – Jeetendra, romantic Bollywood actor, who acted in films like Navrang, Geet Gaya Pathron Ne Farz, Boond Jo Ban Gayee Moti, Hatim Tai, Tohfa, Himmatwala, Dharam Veer etc. Was awarded Cine, Zee and Filmfare Lifetime Award.  (pic credit-Filmfare.com)

1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial arts actor. He followed  Kung Fu master Bruce Lee and appeared in many China, Hong Kong movies like Shaolin, Bleeding, Kung Fu Yoga, Karate Kid, The Police Story etc. (pic credit-LatestLy).

1962 – Ram Gopal Varma, Screenwriter, director, producer. He made films like Aag, Rangeela, Nishabd, Sarkar3 etc. He won 4 Filmfare awards.

RIP….

1860 – William Keith Kellogg, an American industrialist and philanthropist who founded (1906) the W.K. Kellogg Company to manufacture cereal products as breakfast foods.

1947 – Henry Ford, inventor and automobile manufacturer who first experimented with internal combustion engines while he was an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company.

You may have known….

Bats can swim.

{Compiled by Lt. Gen. (R) Raj Kadyan}