A Fact A Day

Good noon everybody, I take this opportunity to explain to you what exactly is 'A fact a day'. Well, you all know that the month of March for us students means annual exams. Owing to my Annual Exams, I have decided to post 1 interesting miscellaneous fact every day till 21 March when my exams get over. But I will continue posting facts and they will be as good as the facts I have posted.

Hey, its a humble request to all, those who read the blog do comment on particular posts or a particular fact which you think is wrongly posted. Gradually, more and more people are becoming the part of the Factorium and within one week, we've had 12 followers and 28 members in our Facebook Group of the Factorium. The Raman eFact will be the finisher to the month of February.

That is all for Feb, lets head on to March. Au Revoir...

The Raman eFact

Here are some facts along with a short biography about Chandrashekara Venkata Raman or C.V Raman, the Physics Pioneer and the reason why we celebrate Science Day:



C.V RAMAN (1888-1970)

1. He was born to R. Chandrashekara Iyer in Trchipally, Tamil Nadu on 7^th November 1888 and grew up in an academic atmosphere as his father was a lecturer in Mathematics and Physics. He entered the famous Presidency College in Chennai in 1902 and in 1904 and 1907 he gained his B.Sc and M.Sc.
2. His earliest researches in optics and acoustics - the two fields of investigation to which he has dedicated his entire career - were carried out while he was a student.
3. In 1917 he was offered the newly endowed Palit Chair of Physics at Calcutta University, and decided to accept it. He remained in Calcutta for the next 15 years, this period being the period which gave him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.
4. In 1922, he published his work on the "Molecular Diffraction of Light," the first of a series of investigations with his collaborators which ultimately led to his discovery of the Radiation Effect which bears his name. The Raman Effect was first reported by C.V Raman and S. Krishnan.
5. The National Science Day is celebrated every year on 28 February to mark the discovery of his Raman Effect. The first National Science Day was celebrated in 1986.
6. Since his important discovery of the Raman Effect which is the Inelastic Scattering of a photon, he was very confident of getting the Nobel Prize in physics in the same year. But he was disappointed when the Nobel Prize went to Richardson in 1928 and to De Broglie in 1929. He was so confident of winning the prize in 1930 that he booked tickets in July, even though the awards were to be announced in November, and would scan each day's newspaper for announcement of the prize, tossing it away if it did not carry the news. He eventually won it in 1930 and was the first Asian and first non-white to get any Nobel Prize in the sciences. He was also the first scientist of India or Indian Origin to get the Nobel Prize whilst fully working in India.
7. In 1934 Raman became the director of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where two years later he continued as a professor of physics. Other investigations carried out by Raman were experimental and theoretical studies on the diffraction of light by acoustic waves of ultrasonic and hypersonic frequencies and those on the effects produced by X-rays on infrared vibrations in crystals exposed to ordinary light. In 1948 Raman, through studying the spectroscopic behavior of crystals, approached in a new manner fundamental problems of crystal dynamics. He dealt with the structure and properties of diamond, the structure and optical behavior of numerous iridescent substances.
8. The Indian Government marked a postage stamp in honour of C.V Raman on 12 November 1971. He died at the age of 82 on 21 November 1970.
9. He was bestowed many honorary doctorates and memberships and was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society early in his career in 1924 and Knighted in 1929. In 1930 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1954 he was awarded the inaugural Bharat Ratna along with Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Chakaravarti Rajagopalachari. He was also awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1957.

These facts are to commemorate the 24^th National Science day that is today. These facts may be known to a large audience, and they may feel that these facts are repetitive. But the fact of the matter is that these facts appear repetitive only because the fame and aura of this one man C.V Raman has reached all corners of the world and he is known as the Father of Indian Physics.

Hockey Trivia

Till today, Hockey has been the only team sport in which India has won an Olympic Gold Medal. Here is some Hockey Trivia:

1. The period from 1928-1956 is considered to be the ‘golden era’ of Indian Hockey as you may all know. Furthermore, India scored 178 goals (at an average of 7.43 goals per match) and conceded only 7 goals during this period.

2. Interestingly, all the 11 medals won by India at the Olympics (8 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze) have come under different captains.

3. The first Hockey World Cup was hosted by Spain in the year 1971. This cup was won by Pakistan. Interestingly, Pakistan was slated to host the Inaugural World Cup but due to a tense standoff between India andPakistan over the situation in East Pakistan, the venue of the World Cup was shifted to the Spanish city ofBarcelona.

4. Nine Countries have hosted the 11 world cups so far. It has been held in Netherlands and Malaysia twice. Only 2 countries have managed to win the World Cup whilst hosting it. Amazingly, The Netherlands have won the World Cup both the times when they hosted it. Germany won the World Cup at home in 2006.

5. A unique event took place at the 197 World Cup which India won eventually. A Pakistan-New Zealand pool match in this World Cup was split over two grounds due to heavy rain. Pakistan scored in both halves to win this match 2-0 and eventually came 2^nd in this event.

6. Believe it or Not, Douglas Knapp is the only player to represent 2 countries at a Hockey World Cup. He represented Canada in the 1986 World Cup and Scotland at the corresponding Inter-Continental Cup, which was a qualifier for the event and was held a year prior to the World Cup.

7. Hans Jorritsma led his country Netherlands to victory in the 1990 Hockey World Cup as a coach. Four years later in 1994, he celebrated another World Cup triumph. Only this time he had switched to Pakistan as their assistant coach!

The above facts are to commemorate the 12^th Hockey World Cup which is beginning on this Sunday (28^thFebruary). Keep supporting India and Hockey, India’s National Sport.

Portmanteaus

Here are some portmanteaus that are now part of our English Language. First let us see what exactly is a portmanteau: This word was coined by Lewis Caroll in his book 'Looking Through the Glass'

Portmanteau also known as 'frakenword' is pronounced as pɔːtˈmæn.təʊ.This word was coined by Lewis Caroll in his book 'Looking Through the Glass'. A portmanteau or portmanteaux is formed when we combine two words. A best example is that of our blog. The name of the blog is a portmanteau which is formed when we add Facts and Emporium together. This forms 'Factorium' or an emporium of facts. Here is a list of some Portmanteaus:

1. Alphabet: Alpha + Beta

2. Spork: Spoon + Fork

3. Liger: Lion + Tiger

4. Smog: Smoke and Fog

5. Hinglish: Hindi + English

6. Emoction: Emotion + Icon

7. Brunch: Breakfast + Lunch

8. Pixel: Picture + Element

9. Outpatient: Outside + Patient

10. Motel: Motor+ Hotel

11. Animatronics: Animation + Electronics

12. Modem: Modulator + Demodulator

13. Telecast: Television + Broadcast

14. Transistor: Transfer + Resistor

15. Joggling: Jogging + Juggling

16. Alphanumeric: Alphabetic + Numeric

17. Cellophane: Cellulose + Diaphane

18.Motorcade: Motor + Cavalcade

19. WiFi: Wireless + Fidelity

20. Blog: Web + Log

Sach (the truth) about Sachin

Here are some facts about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, whose name has reached all corners of the world in the field of cricket, where he is considered as a god. The more we write about him, the less it is:

SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR (1974-till date)

1. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar as we all know is named after the legendary music director Sachin Dev Burman. We also know that he is also known as the Master Blaster, the Bombay Bomber, the Little Champion

2. Interestingly, he made both his test and ODI debut in pakistan at Karachi in 1989/1990 and in Gujranwala in 1989/1990.

3. He is the only player to be in top 10 ICC ranking for 10 years and the only cricketer and one of the first sportsmen (along with Vishwanathan Anand ) to receive Padma Vibhushan (2008), the second highest civilian honor of India. He has also been granted the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award and Padma Shri by Indian government. He is the only Indian cricketer to get all of them.

4. Tendulkar is the only player to score a century in all three of his Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Irani Trophy debuts. Tendulkar has also scored over 1000 ODI runs against all major cricketing nations.

5. He also has the interesting records of most stadium appearances-at 90 different grounds and the most number of consecutive ODI’s (185 of them).

6. Tendulkar is the only player who has 150 wickets and more than 17000 runs in ODI’s and he is the only player who has 40 wickets and more than 11000 runs in Tests.

7. And now the most important one....Sachin Tendulkar is the only cricketer in the 39 year history of ODI Cricket (including 60 over matches) to have scored a double hundred! He has now all the major ODI world records to himself. These include: Most runs, Most number of hundreds and fifties, Most number of Man of the Matches, Highest individual score, Highest number of matches played e.t.c and the list is endless.

I guess some of you may know some of the facts listed above. So please comment here to inform me about the quality of facts. Well, your feedback is very important!!!

My salute to the Master Blaster and these facts are to commemorate Sachin's Double Hundred!!

Galilean Facts

Here are some facts about Galileo, the Father of Telescope and the reason for the International Year of Astronomy i.e 2009 (to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of the telescope):

GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)

1. He was born in Pisa, Italy to Vincenzo Galilei, a famous lutenist amd music theorist and Guilia Ammannati. His full name was Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei.

2. Based only on uncertain descriptions of the first practical telescope, known as the spyglass in Netherlands and invented by Hans Lippershey, Galileo made a Refracting Telescope with 3x magnification in 1609 and followed up with other ones of upto 30x magnification.

3. In 1610, in an account published by himself concerning his telescopic observations he argued in favour of the heliocentric Copernecian theory of the universe. To further prove his arguments, he studied the 3 largest moons of Jupiter (Io, Europa and Callisto) and found out that they were orbiting Jupiter. This was in contrast to the geocentric Aristotelian theory which stated that all heavenly bodies circle the Earth. Furthermore, he also studied the Transits of Venus which further proved the Heliocentric theory.

4. Believe it or not, Galileo had also observed the planet of Neptune in 1612, but he took no particular notice of it. Later, Johann Galle became the first person to view it.

5. Legend has it that Galileo muttered the phrase ‘epurr si mouve’ before the inquisition in 1633 when he was asked to accept the fact of the geocentric theory. The phrase literally means ‘nonetheless, it moves’ (where ‘it’ being the Earth). These words were Galileo’s most cherished words.

6. Galileo's finger is on display at the Museo di Storia del Scienza in Italy. The finger was detached from Galileo's body by Anton Francesco Gori (Florence, 1691-1757, literate and antiquary) on 12 March 1737 when Galileo's remains were transferred from a small closet next to the chapel of Saints Cosmas and Damian to the main body of the church of Santa Croce where a mausoleum had been built by Vincenzo Viviani.

B.P's 6

Here are some facts about Lord Baden Powell who is also called B.P:

LORD BADEN POWELL (1857-1941)

1. His full name is Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden Powell. The origin of his name is as follows:

• Robert Stephenson was the name of his Godfather.

• Reverend Baden Powell was his father’s name

• His name is Smyth Powell.

2. While young, he also played the Piano and the Violin, he was an ambidextrous artist and enjoyed acting and spending his holidays yatching or going on expeditions with his brothers.

3. The events that led up to Lord Baden Powell forming the Scouting Movement are as follows:

• During the siege of Mafeking, a Cadet Corps (a group of underage white boys below fighting age) were performing odd jobs. Baden Powell was deeply impressed with their courage and decided to use them as a later object lesson for his near-formed scouting movement.

• In 1910, on the advice of King Edward the VII, he retired from the army and started promoting scouting.

• In August 1907 he held the first camp for 22 young scouts at the Brownsea Island to test his ideas. He was acclaimed Chief Scout of the world at the first Jamboree held in 1920.

• With the help of some of his associates, this scouting movement became gradually popular in other countries too.

4. The Scouts and Guides shake hands with the Left Hand. Baden Powell adopted this idea from the Ashanti Tribe of Africa who believed that a brave warrior, who holds the shield in one hand holds out his left hand to show trust in someone.

5. In 1912, Baden Powell met his future wife Olive St. Clair Soames on the Ocean Liner, Arcadian.

6. Baden Powell’s first book on the scouting movement, ‘Scouting for Boys’ sold about 150 million copies to become the fourth bestselling book of the 20th Century.

These facts are to commemorate Lord Baden Powell’s birthday, known as the Thinking Day, which was celebrated yesterday, the 22nd of February.

Hey.....Introduction time (before the business)

Welcome to this blog

After a lot of thinking about a topic to blog on and after switching from one topic to another, I have thought of blogging on the most OBVIOUS topics which have a role to play in our day to day life and that are the Facts.

I have here a collection of Facts from the internet (I have no intention of advertising any particular site) as a topic of my first blog (Yes, for I am only 12 years old). I have called this blog as the Factorium (which has no meaning in all but a lot when you consider it on this blog).

I will do my best to get the most unique facts for we cannot live with them and they too need the uniqueness so that mankind can thrive on them I will also try to maintain this blog and post facts on which we can thrive.

That is all for today. Au Revoir…