Today’s Motto: ‘No life is lived unscathed’

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

On this day, 12 Apr….

1606 – England adopts Union Jack as its flag. (It is formed by combining the red and white crosses of St George, St Andrew, and St Patrick and retaining the blue ground of the flag of St Andrew).

1799 – The first US patent for a comb-cutting machine was issued to Phineas Pratt of Connecticut. He and his son cut the plates with hand-saws and the teeth with circular saws operated by a windmill and waterpower. (Previous manufacturing of combs in the U.S. began with the first commercial scale comb factory by Enoch Noyes of West Newbury in1759, who made combs from flattened animal horns. The first U.S. made ivory comb was made in 1789 by Andrew Lord, who cut the plate and teeth with a handsaw).

1833 – The first U.S. patent for a fireproof safe was issued to Charles A. Gaylor. He made it from two chests, one within the other, with a space between to “in close air of any non-conductor of heat.” Gaylor called his product the Salamander Safe, after the mythical salamander, an animal having the power to endure fire without harm.

1801 – Ranjit Singh declared himself the Maharaja of Punjab with Lahore as capital.  He  ruled the empire until  his death in 1839, and the Sikh  kingdone lated upto 1849 when his descendents were defeated by the English army.  Maharaja Ranjit Sigh was popular,  warrior and ruled areas   from  Punjab to  Kabul, Sindh, Gilgit, Tibet. He had 4 wives and 9 children.

1888 – A French newspaper mistakenly published an obituary for Albert Nobel, inventor of dynamite, calling him “a merchant of death.” It was actually Albert’s brother, Ludwig Nobel, who had just died. However, shocked by the newspaper’s report, Albert Nobel began to seek a change in public opinion, which led to his decision to establish the Nobel Prizes.  Nobel Foundation later established  5  Prizes prizes (for those “who confer the greatest benefit on mankind”) in  1901, on his 5th death Anniversary.  He actually  died on Dec. 10, 1896.

1957 – In Bonn, leading German physicists ceased all work connected with nuclear weapons.

1961 – Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth. He was Soviet cosmonout  who took first  spaceflight on in Vostok-I,  on April 12, 1961 and stayed in space for 108 minutes. He  trained and  conducted further space flights but died in a MiG-15  on March 27, 1968 at an age of just 34.

1988 – Harvard University patents genetically engineered mouse.

1992 – The 350-tonne Buddha statue salvaged from the Hussain Sagar where it had sunk in 1990. (The monolith Statue is the world’s tallest  monolith of Gautama Buddha, erected on Gibraltar Rock in the middle of Hussain Sagar.

1994 – The first Internet spamming program was used by an attorney couple  Laurance Canter and Martha Seigel   for immigration services  advertising  (commercial) in Arizona. It was initially done on a small scale (393 targets)  on May 3, 1978.  Spamming, is defined as unsolicited bulk  messaging through internet or otherwise.  Taking advantage of freedom of speech,  it is sometimes  illegal  and misleading.

2007 – Pakistan gave  India clearance on the 2,775 km long  Iran-India  Gas Pineline starting  near Chahabahar Port, passing through  Sindh  (Pakistan) and landing at Mathura  (near Delhi)  . The  pipeline route   was later revised  in 2012, laying more route through Sea and landing directly on  Gujarat coast, fearing sabotage  on Pakistan  portion. It also added  another source  in Oman.

Born…. 1482 – Rana Sanga, a prominent Rajput ruler who lived during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He was the Maharana of  Chittorgarh from May  24, 1509 to   January 30, 1528. He was succeded by his son Ratan Singh -II, but could not face Babur’s  attacks and lost control over the Kingdom.

1910 – Kedar Sharma, film director, producer, screenwriter and lyricist in Hindi films. He is remembered in Bollywood as a filmmaker who played an important role in establishing Raj Kapoor, Bharat Bhushan, Madhubala, Mala Sinha and Tanuja in the film industry.

1917 – Mulvantrai Himatlal Mankad better known as  Vinoo Mankad, cricketer, India’s great all-rounder played 44 Test matches for India between 1944 to 1959 and was the first to have scored  over 1000 runs and 100 wickets. He also took 8 wickets in an  innings,  twice. His score of 231 with Pankaj Roy helped make a Test Record of 413 for first wicket in 1955-56 against New Zealand in Madras/Chennai. He was awarded Padma Bhushan, ICC  Cricket Hall of Fame  and an Under-19 One Day  Tournament for Vinno Mankad Trophy has been started to honour him.

1943 – Sumitra Mahajan, the prominent female politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Representing Indore  she  was the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament from 2014 to 2019.  Earlier she was a Union Minister of HRD, Communications & IT, Petroleum & Natural Gas between 1999 -2004 in the Atal Behari Vajpayee Govt (pic credit-wickipedia.com).
RIP….  2006 – Dr. Rajkumar, ( real name Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj ),  a very versatile Kannada  film actor/singer,  who acted in over 200  films over 5 decades. His films from Bhakta Prahalada, Hari Bhakta, Om Namo Shivay, Bhoodana, Valmiki etc. and many were on mythological and  historical stories. He won several state film awards, one National Film awards, and  8 Filmfare South awards. He was also  honoured with Padma Bhashan (1986) and Dada Saheb Phalke (1995) and Karnataka Ratna  award.  (He was abducted by Sandal smuggler Veerauppan on July 30, 2000 and released after 108 days,

You may have known…. India’s tech capital, Bangalore, has increased its office supply by six times since 2006, and now has more Grade-A offices than Singapore.

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