Today’s Motto: ‘Laughter is the closest distance between two people’

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

On this day, 31 Aug ….

……(On this day in 1888, the unfortunate legacy of a  serial killer  Jack the Ripper,  began with the discovery of his first victim, Mary Ann Nichols, marking a dark chapter in London’s history. He’s believed to have killed  11  victims mostly women of loose character, by ripping their throats, between  August and   Nov. 1888.  Despite continuous  investigations in the case, the Ripper’s identity remains unknown. (esimated caricature credit-illustrated  London News)

1751 – English troops under  British commander  Robert Clive occupy Arcot in India.

1895 – Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patented in Germany his invention of the Rigid Airship, known as the Zeppelin. The overall cylindrical shape with rounded ends was covered with a cotton shell, framed with aluminium struts, wire-braced and contained a number of independent hydrogen balloons used for lift. Two or more separate engines were suspended below for propulsion. He made his first flight with the LZ-1 on 2 Jul 1900 over Lake Constance, Germany.

1900 – Coca-Cola was first sold in Britain in the basement restaurant of Spence’s department store in London. It later went on regular sale through soda fountain outlets. ( Coca-Cola was invented on 8 May 1886 by Dr John Styth Pemberton in Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia).

1906 – Nobel prize winner Paul Ehrlich began the first chemotherapy (a term he coined), while doing research on Syphlis and physical chemistry.  He was  awarded  Nobel  jointly  with  Elie  Metchnikoff  in 1908.

1910 – The first U.S. airplane flight over water was made by Glenn Hammond Curtiss in his biplane over Lake Erie from Euclid Beach Park, Cleveland, Ohio, to Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio. At an altitude between 400 and 500 feet, the 70 mile trip took 78 minutes nonstop.

1955 – The first solar-powered car was publicly demonstrated. It was a 15-inch Sunmobile built by William G. Cobb of the General Motors Corporation. Light energy falling on 12 selenium photoelectric cells created electric current to power a tiny electric motor that turned a driveshaft connected to the car’s rear axle by a pulley (pic credit-annuelauto.ca).

1956-The then President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad approved the State Reorganisation Bill, fecilitating the  break up of Telugu speaking Andhra Pradesh  out of Mysore state. More states were later reorganised on the besis of  languagees.

1968 – Dr. Michael E. DeBakey of Houston led the first simultaneous multi-organ transplant from one donor to four recipients. Two kidneys, one lobe of a lung and the heart were removed from a 20-yr-old women who died from a gunshot. The organs were transplanted into four men at Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas. The surgery, which began within eight hours of the woman’s death, was performed by five teams totalling more than 60 physicians, nurses and support persons (pic credit-www.chron.com).

1993 – A skin test for Alzheimer’s disease was announced from research led by Dr Daniel L. Alkon at the National Institutes of Health. This disease gradually destroys memory, the ability to function, and is eventually fatal. The benefit of the skin test, if validated by further research, would be to differentiate the incurable Alzheimer’s disease from other more treatable forms of mental impairment. If effective, the test would save hundreds of millions of dollars in diagnostic evaluations, though several years of work remained before any clinical test would be widely available (pic credit-medscape.com). 

2023 – New computer model study suggests humanity was almost wiped out 900,000 years ago with just 1,280 reproducing individuals remaining.

Born…. 1919 – Amrita Pritam, was a famous poet, novelist, and essayist, who is considered the best poetess of the 20th century Punjabi language. Her popularity is equal across the border in Pakistan as well. She ruled the Punjabi world for six decades. Amrita Pritam has written about 100 books in total, including her famous autobiography ‘Rasidi Ticket’. She was Gyanpeeth award winner.

1949 – Richard Gere, US actor  of 1970s to  2016, is  known for his roles in  Looking for Mr Goodbar, Days of Heavan, Ameican Gigolo, No  Mercy  The Cotton Cub,  Pretty Woman,  First  Knight,  I’m  Not There  etc. He won a Golden  Globe  and several  other  film honours.

1953 – Rituparno Ghosh, was a famous director, writer, and actor in Bengali films. National Award winner Rituparno Ghosh was known nationally and internationally for films like ‘Chokher Bali’, ‘Raincoat’ and ‘Abohuman’. He and his films won a record twelve ‘National Awards’.

1969 – Javagal Srinath, is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India’s finest fast bowlers and is the only Indian fast bowler till date to have taken more than 300 wickets in One Day Internationals.

1984 – Rajkumar Rao, Gurugram born  Bollywood  actor who has done very creative and out of the  box roles in films like Love Sex Ar Dhokha, Gangs of Wassepur, Kai Po Che,  Talash, Queen,  Aligarh, Bareli Ki Barfi, Ludo,Badhai Ho, Stree2,  Monicka, O My Darling, Bhool Chook Maaf etc. He has won 4 Filmfare, 2 Screen, 2 Zee Cine, one National Film award and several other accolades. 

RIP…. 1995 – Beant Singh,  12th CM of Punjab (Congress)  from 1992 to 1995. He was assassinated by terrorists for his role in  eradication of  terrorism post operation Blue Star,  alongwith former DGP  KPS Gill.

1997 – Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, dies in car crash in Paris at 36. 1997 – Princess Diana (36), spouse of  King  Charles III. She  died in a high-speed car accident in Paris, along with her companion Dodi Fayed and the driver. She had developed differences  with  the then Prince  Charles over her activism and glamour. She has two sons Prince Williams and Harry,  the latter  has  left the  Royal  Palace  and  abdicated  his  rights to Royalty.

2020 – Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India.  An Indian academecian turned  politician who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. Having served as lecturer in Calcutta University, he  joined Congress Party  in 1952,  being elected as MLA (1951-64). He became confident of PM Indira Gandhi in 1969 when elected as Rajya Sabha member. Was elected to RS five times upto  2004. Worked as Finance Minister under  Indira Gandhi,  later External Affairs Minister. He was considered as  a sure choice for PM’s post in 2004 but  Mrs Sonia Gandhi  selected Sardar Manmohan Singh, which upset him. .He won Lok Sabha in 2004. 2009.                                                                      He was one of the finest statesmen of India, acceptable to all political  leaders including BJP, Left and Socialists.  He appreciated PM Modi’s decisive and India First  governance; was invited to RSS headquarters in their  Annual function in June 2018. He was awarded Bharat Ratna in 2019.

You may have known…. Modern Indian population is composed of two Genetically divergent and heterogeneous populations which mixed in ancient times (about 1,200-3,500 BC), known as Ancestral North Indians (ANI) and Ancestral South Indians (ASI). ASI corresponds to the Dravidian-speaking population of southern India, whereas ANI corresponds to the Indo-Aryan-speaking population of northern India, belonging to the ancient  and  Harappan and Mohan Jodaro civilizations.  (pics credit-Uwe Dedering  for commons.wikimedia.org.)

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