Personalities # 25 - G. Madhavan Nair

Today we will look at the bio of the person who was the ISRO director and one of the men behind the Chandrayaan Mission. He is G. Madhavan Nair.

G. Madhavan Nair born on October 31, 1943 is the former Chairman of ISRO, The Indian Space Research Organisation and Secretary to the Department of space, Government of India since September 2003. He is also the Chairman, Space Commission and acts as the Chairman of Governing Body of the Antrix Corporation, Bangalore. Madhavan Nair was awarded the Padma Vibushan, India's second highest civilian honour, on January 26, 2009. Nair was born at Neyattinkara District near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. He also studied as a youth in Kanyakumari District. Nair is a leading technologist in the field of rocket systems and has made significant contribution to the development of multi-stage satellite launch vehicles, achieving self-reliance in independent access to space using indigenous technologies.

Personalities # 24 - Neil Alden Armstrong

We will today see the bio of a the person who did something that was second to none exactly 5 days and 41 years back, stop calculating for he was the first person to set foot on the moon, he is Neil Armstrong.

Neil Alden Armstrong was born on August 5, 1930 in Ohio. is an American Aviator and a former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer and United States Naval Aviator. He was the first person to set foot on the moon when Apollo 11 landed on the moon on 20 July, 1969 along with Edwin Buzz Aldrin. His first spaceflight was aboard Gemini 8 in 1966, for which he was the command pilot, becoming one of the first U.S. civilians to fly in space. Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was in the United States Navy and saw action in the Korean War. He graduated from Purdue University and University of Southern California.

Personalities # 19 - Sergey Brin

Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin born August 21, 1973 is a Russian American Computer Scientist who, along with Lawrence Page, is best known as the co-founder of Google, Inc., the world’s largest Internet company, based on its search engine and online advertising technology. Brin immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union at the age of six. Earning his undergraduate degree at the Univerity of Maryland, he followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps by studying mathematics, double-majoring in computer science. After graduation, he moved to Stanford to acquire a Ph.D in computer science. The Economist magazine referred to Brin as an "Enlightment Man", and someone who believes that "knowledge is always good, and certainly always better than ignorance", a philosophy that is summed up by Google’s motto of making all the world’s information "universally accessible and useful" and "Don't be Evil."

Personalities # 18 - Lawrence Page

Yesterday we had Mark Zuckerberg, today we will have have Larry Page and tomorrow we will have Sergey Brin in the list of personalities for the next 2 days.

Lawrence "Larry" Page born March 26, 1973 is an American computer scientist and industrialist, who co-founded Google Inc., along with Sergey Brin. They are often known together as the "Google Guys". According to Forbes he and Sergey Brin are currently tied as the 24th richest person in the world with a personal wealth of US$17.5 billion in 2010. Larry Page was Google's founding CEO and grew the company to more than 200 employees and profitability before moving into his role as president, Products in April 2001. He continues to share responsibility for Google's day-to-day operations with Eric Schmidt and Sergey Brin. The son of Michigan State University computer science professor Dr. Carl Victor Page, Page's love of computers began at age six. While following in his father's footsteps in academics, Page became an honors graduate from the University of Michigan, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering, with a concentration on computer engineering. During his time in Ann Arbor, Page served as president of the University's Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society and built a programmable plotter and inkjet printer out of Lego™.

Personalities # 16 - Lewis Carroll

Today we will have a look at a short bio of Charles Ludwidge Johnson, simply known as Lewis Carroll.

Lewis Carroll was born Charles Ludwidge Johnson on 27 January 1832, and is better known by his pseudonym today. was an English author, mathematician, logician and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking Glass, as well as the poems 'The Hunting of the Snark' and 'Jabberwocky, all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic, and fantasy, he was also a reputed puzzle maker. His family was predominantly northern English, with Irish connections. He has to his names several inventions, both in mathematics and in literature.

Personalities # 15 - Pranav Mistry

Pranav Mistry, born in 1981 is the inventor of S He is a research assistant and a PhD candidate at MIT Media Lab. SixthSense has recently attracted global attention. Among some of his previous work, Pranav has made intelligent sticky notes that can be searched, located and can send reminders and messages; a pen that can draw in 3D; and a public map that can act as Google of physical world. Pranav holds a Master in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT and Master of Design from IIT Bombay besides his Bachelor degree in Computer Engineering from Nirma Institue of Technology, Ahmedabad. Pranav’s research interests include Ubiquitous Computing, Gestural and Tangible Interaction, Collective Intelligence and Robotics. Sixth Sense has been awarded 2009 Invention Award by Popular Science.

Personalities # 9 - Richard Feynman

Today we will read about the life of one of the greatest theoretical physicists post the World-War II. He is the one and only Richard Feynman.

Richard Phillips Feynman, born on May 11, 1918 in Far Rockaway Queens, New York was an American Physicist known for his various works and contributions to the field of Theoretical Physics. He is probably best known today for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics (he proposed the parton model). For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Sin Itiro Tomonaga received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. He developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as the Feynman Diagrams. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. . Feynman also became known through his semi-autobiographical books "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman! and "What do you Care what other people think?" and books written about him, such as "Tuva or Bust!" Feynman also had a deep interest in biology, safe-cracking, radios and in engineering. He died in 1998 after a prolonged illness.

Personalities # 6 - Kalpana Chawla

Today we will have a look at the bio of an Indian Personality, best known for being the first woman of Indian-Origin in space. It is Kalpana Chawla.

Kalpana Chawla was born on March 17, 1962 in Karnal, Haryana. She was an Indian-American Scientist and a NASA Astronaut. She was one of seven crewmembers killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster. Her interest in flying was inspired by J.R.D Tata, a pioneering Indian pilot and industrialist. She met and married Jean-Pierre Harrison, a flying instructor and aviation writer, in 1983 and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1990. She joined the NASA astronaut corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1998. In 2000 she was selected for her second flight as part of the crew of STS 107.. On January 16, 2003, Chawla finally returned to space aboard Columbia on the ill fated STS 107 Mission. Chawla's responsibilities included the microgravity experiments, for which the crew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety. Chawla's last visit to India was during the 1991–1992 new year holiday when she and her husband spent time with her family. She has been posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, NASA Space Flight Medal, NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the Defense Distinguished Service Medal.

Personalities # 5 - Norman Borlaug

Today we will have a look at the life of the Father of the Green Revolution. He is of course, the one and only Norman Borlaug.

Norman Ernest Borlaug – was an American agronomist, humanitarian and Nobel Laureate who has been called "the father of the Green Revolution". He was born on March 25, 1914 and died recently on September 12, 2009. Sir Norman Borlaug was one of only six people to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, The Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold medal. He was also a recipient of the Padma Vibushan, India's second highest civilian honor. He took up an agricultural research position in Mexico, where he developed semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply. Later in his life, he helped apply these methods of increasing food production to Asia and Africa. Borlaug died at the age of 95, on September 12, 2009, in his Dallas home.

Personalities # 4 - Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Today we will have a short bio about the latest Nobel Prize Winner of Indian-Origin. You must have guessed it, for it is Venkatraman Ramakrishnan.

Venkatraman "Venki" Ramakrishnan was born 1952 in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. He is a structural biologist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. He received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". He moved to Baroda in Gujarat state at the age of three, for his schooling, except for spending 1960–61 in Adelaide, Australia. Following his Pre-Science at Baroda, he did his undergraduate studies in the same university on a National Science Talent Scholarship, graduating with a B.Sc. in Physics in 1971. Ramakrishnan began work on ribosomes as a postdoctoral fellow with Peter Moole at Yale University. Besides the Nobel, Ramakrishnan is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a member of EMBO and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Personalities # 3 - Steve Jobs

Today we will look at a dynamic personality, who is the head and founder of Apple and the one who gave us the iPad. He is of course, Steve Jobs.

Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs, born February 24, 1955 is an American business magnate and inventor. He is well-known for being the co-founder and CEO of Apple. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios. In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founders and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II Series followed by Macintosh in the 1980s. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout f NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he has served as its CEO since 1997. Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in over 230 both awarded patents and patent applications related to a range from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), glass members, speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages.

Personalities # 1 - Stephen Hawking

Welcome to the first post of July. The month of July is the "Personality Month" with facts on 31 personalities will be displayed in 31 days. Today we start with a personality considered the "Greatest Mind on Earth" who has written "A Brief History of Time:. You guessed it right! up for today is Dr. Stephen Hawking:

Stephen William Hawking is a British Theoretical Physicist and Applied Mathematician known for his contributions to the fields of cosmology and quantum gravity, especially in the context of black holes and Hawking Radiation. He is conferred with the Order of Champions of Honor, Order of the British Empire and is a member of the Fellow of Royal Society and Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts. He has also achieved success with works of popular science in which he discusses his own theories and cosmology in general; these include the runaway best seller A Brief History of Time, which stayed on the British Sunday Times bestsellers list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. His scientific career spans over 40 years. He has a neuro-muscular dystrophy that is related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a condition that has progressed over the years and has left him almost completely paralysed.

Quoty Quotes

The last batch of 10 quotes is up for today. This will end the month of June and also the Quoty Quotes series. We have seen about 50 quotes in this series, out of which, 5 are my own ones and the others are of Famous Scientists and Philosophers.

1. Should I refuse to sleep because I cant fully understand sleeps and dreams?

Atharv Joshi

2. Just as proteins build our body, facts and knowledge come together to build what we call science.

Atharv Joshi

3. What is life? Nothing but a bunch of selfish living organisms... one eats the other and somebody eats the former.

Atharv Joshi

4. Science is a first-rate piece of furniture for a man's upper chamber, if he has common sense on the ground floor.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

5. Life preys upon life. This is biology's most fundamental fact.

Martin H. Fischer

6. Science, at bottom, is really anti-intellectual. It always distrusts pure reason, and demands the production of objective fact.

H.L. Mencken

7. The most remarkable discovery made by scientists is science itself.

Gerard Piel

8. The child is the Father of the Man.

William Wordsworth

9. There is no gravity. The earth sucks.

Graffito

10. Science, in the very act of solving problems, creates more of them.

Abraham Flexner

Quoty Quotes

Today is the penultimate day for quotes:

1. Science is nothing but developed perception, interpreted intent, common sense rounded out and minutely articulated.

George Santayana

2. Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.

Adam Smith

3. Science has no definite explanation, but science defines everything.

Atharv Joshi

4. Science increases our power in proportion as it lowers our pride.

Claude Bernard

5. All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct.

Carl Sagan

Quoty Quotes

The 5 quotes for today will be succeeded by 5 quotes tomorrow:

1. I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding of a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
Sir Isaac Newton

2. Facts Answer Everything.
Atharv Joshi

3. Half of the modern drugs could well be thrown out of the window, except that the birds might eat them.
Martin Henry Fischer

4. I believe in general in a dualism between facts and the ideas of those facts in human heads. George Santayana

5. Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein

Quoty Quotes

The 5 Quoty Quotes for today are:

1. I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work.
Thomas Alva Edison

2. Telling a teen-ager the facts of life is like giving a fish a bath.
Arnold H Glasgow

3. The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
Eden Phillpotts

4. Not fact-finding, but attainment to philosophy is the aim of science.
Martin H. Fischer

5. I maintain there is much more wonder in science than in pseudoscience. And in addition, to whatever measure this term has any meaning, science has the additional virtue, and it is not an inconsiderable one, of being true.
Carl Sagan

Quoty Quotes

The 5 Quotes for today are the following:

1. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts.
Sherlock Holmes

2. Shall I refuse my dinner because I do not fully understand the process of digestion?
Oliver Heaviside

3. In Science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurred.
Sir William Osler

4. The most incomprehensible thing about our universe is that it can be comprehended.
Albert Einstein

5. Science is simply common sense at its best that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.
Thomas Henry Huxley

Quoty Quotes

5 More quotes based on facts and science today:

1. The doubter is a true man of science; he doubts only himself and his interpretations, but he believes in science.
Claude Bernard

2. The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.
Albert Einstein

3. Life preys upon life. This is biology's most fundamental fact.
Martin H. Fischer

4. In all science, error precedes the truth, and it is better it should go first than last.
Hugh Walpole

5. Reason, Observation, and Experience - the Holy Trinity of Science.
Robert G. Ingersoll

Quoty Quotes

Today the series Quoty Quotes continues with 5 more quotes. Hope you have been enjoying these.

1. Facts are not science - as the dictionary is not literature.
Martin H. Fischer

2. The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he's one who asks the right questions.
Claude Lévi-Strauss

3. In comparing religious belief to science, I try to remember that science is belief also.
Robert Brault

4. For every fact there is an infinity of hypotheses.
Robert M. Pirsig

5. There are in fact two things, science and opinion. The former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.
Hippocrates

Quoty Quotes

5 more quoty quotes lined up for today:

1. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Henry J. Tillman

2. Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.

Edwin Powell Hubble

3. Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.

Adam Smith

4. The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.

William Lawrence Bragg

5. Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.

Henri Poincare