Today’s Motto: ‘Failure gives us a great advantage required for success’

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

On this day, Dec.15…….

1803 – East India Company captured Orrisa state.

1854 – Philadelphia residents were amazed as the first practical street cleaning machine was put into operation this day. A series of brooms attached to a cylinder mounted on a cart was turned by a chain driven by the turning of the cart’s wheels.

1903 – A U.S. patent was issued for an ice cream cup mould to Italo Marchiony.

1916 – French defeat Germans in WW I Battle of Verdun. (The Battle of Verdun was one of the largest and longest battles of the First World War on the Western Front between the German and French armies).

1939 – Nylon yarn was sold to hosiery mills to make women’s stockings; marking the first use of commercial yarn for apparel. The product of DuPont, enabled a record number of ladies’ hose to go on sale for the first time in May, 1940.

1964 – 1st time 4 people in space.

1973 – American Psychiatric Association declares homosexuality is not mental illness.

2000 – The ill-fated Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine was ceremoniously permanently shut down – more than 14 years after one of its reactors exploded in the world’s worst civil nuclear catastrophe on 26 Apr 1986.

2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy, was reopened to the public after a $27 million realignment that took over a decade.

2011 – Jacques Chirac, former President of France, is declared guilty of embezzlement and violating trust for filling non-existent jobs with party members while serving as Mayor of Paris.

2013 – China successfully lands its moon rover on the moon.

2018 – Egyptian Archaeologists announce discovery of 4,400 year old tomb of Fifth Dynasty priest in Saqqara pyramid complex near Cairo.

2019 – Protests against India’s new citizenship bill that excludes Muslims, erupt across major cities, killing at least five.

Born….

1832 – Gustave Eiffel, French civil engineer who specialised in metal structures, known especially for the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

1924 – Nek Chand (Saini). He was a self-taught artist, known for building the Rock Garden, an eighteen-acre sculpture garden in the city of Chandigarh.

1951 – Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne, former Indian Air Chief.

1971 – Jeev Milkha Singh, golfer and son of legendary Olympian athlete Milkha Singh (photo credit-Outlook India).

1976 – Baichung Bhutia, ace footballer and captain of Indian Football team for 1988-89. Adjudged Player of the Year for 3 times.

RIP….

1950 – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, first deputy Prime Minister of independent India and Bharat Ratna awardee. Also known as the ‘Iron Man’, he played a vital role in integrating India into a united country.

Titbits….

1965 – Two U.S. manned spacecraft, Gemini 6 and Gemini 7, maneuvered to within 10 feet of each other while in orbit.

1995 – Playboy goes back on sale after 36 year ban in Ireland.

You may have known….

Hippos kill more humans per year than any other mammal (photo credit-Jennifer Horton).

 

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