Today’s Motto: ‘If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time’

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

On this day, Dec.10…….

1845 – Civil engineer Robert Thompson patented pneumatic tyres in London.

1868 – Gas-lit traffic lights were first placed in operation at the corner of Bridge Street and New Palace Yard, London, England, atop a 22-ft high cast-iron pillar.

1901 – At the first Nobel Prize Award Ceremony, the king of Sweden distributed the first Nobel Prizes, in accordance with the will of inventor Alfred Nobel. The day was the anniversary of Nobel’s death (Photo credit-The Nobel Foundation).

1932 – The Indian Military Academy (IMA) was formally inaugurated by Field Marshal Sir Philip W Chetwode and was christened as “The Pioneer “. The crowning event was delivered in the hall, now named after him, and in the address to the trainees, he enunciated three principles: ‘the safety, honour, and welfare of your country comes first, always and ever time’, which were to guide the future officers of the Indian Army . A passage from this address has come to acquire immortality and has been adopted as the credo of the Academy.

1952 – World’s first official Family Planning programme launched in India.

1954 – Land speed record. To determine if a pilot could eject from an airplane at supersonic speed and live, Lt. Col. John Paul Stapp, a flight surgeon, rode a rocket sled to 632 mph. At the end of the ride Stapp was stopped in 1.25 seconds which subjected him to 40 Gs. It was the equivalent of hitting a brick wall in a car travelling at 120 mph. Data from 29 increasingly harsh rocket-sled rides during the 1950s proved invaluable in the design of improved helmets, arm and leg restraints, better aircraft seats, and stronger safety harnesses ( pic credit-.www.nebchelny.ru)

1992 – The Indian Central Government bans RSS, VHP, ISS, Bajrang Dal and Jamait-e-Islami.

2014 – James Watson, one of three scientists to co-discover DNA structure, has auctioned off the 1962 Nobel Prize medal he received for the achievement; Russian billionaire  sports organiser, (who has share in Arsenal and English Premier League club). Alisher Usmanov paid $4.8 million for the medal but then returned it to Watson (pic credit-OCCRP).

Born….

1878 – Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, great social reformer, ardent patriot, incisive thinker and eminent litterateur. He was the first Indian Governor General of independent India and popularly known as ‘Rajaji’.

1960 – Rati Agnihotri, romantic Bollywood actor (pic credit-X.com).

1965 – Jayaram, South  cine actor.

1982 – Shilpa Anand, film and television actor.

RIP….

1896 – Alfred Bernhard Nobel, the Swedish chemist and inventor who invented dynamite and other, more powerful explosives. Nobel amassed a huge fortune, much of which he left in a fund to endow the annual prizes that bear his name.

Titbits….

1915 – 1,000,000th model T Ford assembled.

You may have known….
In the 2009 ‘Star Trek’ movie, the sound of the automatic doors opening on the USS ‘Enterprise’ is actually the sound of a Russian trains toilet flushing.

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