WORLD CIVILIZATION

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Birthdate: August 29, 1958

Birthplace: Gary, Indiana

Died : June 25,2009(aged 50)

Michael Joseph Jackson, aka The King of Pop, is one of the most well-known and talked about American singer, Songwriter, Record producer, Dancer, and Actor.

MJ in his Teenage

The Prince of Pop

Michael Jackson is the seventh of nine children. Along with four of his brothers, he began his career in the Jackson 5. From very early on, Michael showed huge talent, and he and his brother Jermaine became the main singers for the group. In 1968, when Michael was ten, Motown Records signed the Jackson 5. The group's first four singles--I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save, and I'll Be There--all hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, breaking a record for consecutive singles.

MJ and his brother Jermaine in Jackson 5

The King is Crowned

In the '70s, Michael recorded several solo albums. After meeting super producer Quincy Jones on the set of The Wiz (Michael played the Scarecrow), he and Jones produced Off the Wall in 1979, which won Michael his first awards as a solo artist. Michael's next album, Thriller(1982), was his most successful and remains the best selling album of all time-it has sold approximately 100 million copies worldwide!

In 1984, Michael was filming a Pepsi commercial when his hair caught fire. His injuries required reconstructive surgery. But he wasn't gone long--the next year he and Lionel Ritchie wrote We are the World, a charity song that raised money for aid in the US and Africa. In 1987, he released Bad(1987), which had five number one singles.

HIStory And The FUTURE

Michael Jackson with his children,
Prince Michael II, Prince Michael I and Paris

With fame came more attention and scrutiny. People started calling him "Wacko Jacko," because of his changing appearance and his personal life. He released Dangerous in 1991,His career suffered when he was accused of molestation by a child who'd spent time at his ranch, Neverland. The charges were eventually dropped, and Michael went on to marry Elvis' daughter, Lisa Marie, and to release the album HIStory. Two years later, they divorced and Michael married Deborah Jean Rowe. Together they had two children, Prince and Paris, before divorcing in 1999. He now has another daughter named Blanket (the mother is a secret).

Michael released Invincible in 2001, his first album in six years. In 2003, a second child molestation case was filed. He was acquitted (found innocent in the eyes of the law), and after the trial he moved to Bahrain in the Middle East. In 2008, Sony/BMG released Thriller 25, a special 25th anniversary edition of Thriller that hit number two in the US. On August 29, 2008, Michael Jackson celebrates his 50th birthday, on the same day the compilation album King of Pop drops in stores.

MJ came in Mumbai,India On October 30th,1996.

On June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication after suffering cardiac arrest at his home on North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Moonwalk

One of his famous dancing move is Moonwalk. It became popular around the world after MJ executed the dance move during a performance of "Billie Jean" on March 25, 1983.

Did U Know?

1. Motown Records told fans Michael was nine years old when he was actually eleven to make him seem younger and cuter than he really was!

3. Jackson has eight Guinness World Records. One is for Thriller as the best-selling album of all time.

4. Michael's famous companion Bubbles the chimpanzee now lives on an animal ranch in Sylmar, California. His handler says, "He's in his 20s. He's doing fine."

5. Michael suffers from Vitiligo, a skin disorder that causes loss of pigment in the skin.

6. At the 2006 World Music Awards, Michael was presented with the Diamond Award for selling over 100 million albums in his career.

7. Michael has given millions of dollars to charity, including profits from tours and the settlement of the Pepsi lawsuit. He has given to hospitals, orphanages and the United Negro College Fund, among others. He was also one of the first entertainers to call attention to the HIV/AIDS crisis and the need for research and funding to help stop it.

The Michael Jackson Story (1985-2009) [Full 45 Miin BBC Documentary]

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh1xP9g4l273JOR3O8

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson#1986.E2.80.9390:_Appearance.2C_tabloids.2C_Bad.2C_films.2C_autobiography.2C_and_Neverland

http://www.biography.com/people/michael-jackson-38211

http://www.fulldhamaal.com/image-gallery/rare-pictures-of-michael-jackson-india-tour1996-18-pics-and-video-its-all-about-michael-part-7-8463.htm

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001391/bio

http://www.lifetimetv.co.uk/biography/biography-michael-jackson

http://www.nndb.com/people/599/000022533/

http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Jackson.html

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Aryabhata(476–550 CE)

Born : 476 in Kusumapura (now Patna), India

Main Interests : Mathematics , Astronomy

Died : 550 in India

Early Life

Aryabhata(some time misspelled as ‘Aryabhatta’) was

one of the first Indian mathematicians and astronomers

belonging to the classical age. It is mentioned in a few

places that Aryabhata was the head of the educational

institute in Kusumapara. The University of Nalanda had

an observatory in its premises so it is hypothesized that

Aryabhata was the principal of the university as well. On

the other hand some other commentaries mention that he

belonged to Kerala.

Aryabhatiya

Aryabhata wrote Aryabhatiya in Kusumapura at the time when Pataliputra was the capital of the Gupta empire and a major centre of learning.It is written in the Sanskrit language, the language of the Aryans. There are 123 stanzas in the Aryabhatiya. Some of them have a logical flow while some seem to come out of nowhere.The style of the Aryabhatiya is difficult to describe.

Aryabhatiya was particularly popular in South India, where numerous mathematicians over the ensuing millennium wrote commentaries. Written in verse couplets, this work deals with mathematics and astronomy.

Mathematical Work

Aryabhata wrote many mathematical and astronomical treatises. His chief work was the ‘Ayrabhatiya’ which was a compilation of mathematics and astronomy. The name of this treatise was not given to it by Aryabhata but by later commentators. Aryabhata’s system of phonemic number notation, the work is characteristically divided into three sections: Ganita (“Mathematics”), Kaal-kriya (“Time Calculations”), and Gola(“Sphere”).

A disciple by him called the ‘Bhaskara’ names it ‘Ashmakatanra’ meaning ‘treatise from the Ashmaka’. This treatise is also referred to as ‘Ayra-shatas-ashta’ which translates to ‘Aryabhata’s 108’. This is a very literal name because the treatise did in fact consist of 108 verses. It covers several branches of mathematics such as algebra, arithmetic, plane and spherical trigonometry. Also included in it are theories on continued fractions, sum of power series, sine tables and quadratic equations.

Aryabhata worked on the place value system using letters to signify numbers and stating qualities. He also came up with an approximation of pi ( ) and area of a triangle. He introduced the concept of sine in his work called ‘Ardha-jya’ which is translated as ‘half-chord’.

Briefly we can understand :

1. Place value system and zero

2. Approximation of π

3. Trigonometry

4. Indeterminate equations

5. Algebra

Astronomical Work

Aryabhata also did a considerable amount of work in astronomy. He knew that the earth is rotating on an axis around the sun and the moon rotated around it. He also discovered the position of nine planets and stated that these also revolved around the sun. He pointed out the eclipses; both lunar and solar. Aryabhata stated the correct number of days in a year that is 365. He was the first person to mention that the earth was not flat but in fact a spherical shape. He also gave the circumference and diameter of the earth and the radius of the orbits of 9 planets.

Mention of rotation of the earth on its axis by Aryabhatt

Honouring Aryabhatta

The Indian ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) named its first satellite after the genius mathematician and astronomer. A research establishment has been set up in Nainital, called the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIOS) to honor his contribution to the field of science. There is also a lunar crater and a species of bacteria discovered by ISRO named after Aryabhatta.

Sources

Friday, December 26, 2014

First Unmanned Airplane(1895)

Wright Brothers demonstrated on December 17th 1903 that it was possible for a ‘manned heavier than air machine to fly’. But, in 1895, eight years earlier, the Sanskrit scholar Shivkar Bapuji Talpade had designed a basic aircraft called Marutsakthi (meaning Power of Air) based on Vedic technology and had it take off unmanned before a large audience in the Chowpathy beach of Bombay. The importance of the Wright brothers lies in the fact, that it was a manned flight for a distance of 120 feet and Orville Wright became the first man to fly. But Talpade’s unmanned aircraft flew to a height of 1500 feet before crashing down and the historian Evan Koshtka, has described Talpade as the ‘first creator of an aircraft’.

Shivkar Bapuji Talpade

Shivkar Bapuji Talpade was born in 1864 .Talpade lived at Dukkar Wadi (now renamed Vijay Wadi), Chira Bazaar, near Mumbai (Bombay).He was a scholar of Sanskrit and Vedas and from his young age was attracted by the Vaimanika Sastra (Aeronautical Science) expounded by the great Indian sage Maharishi Bhardwaja. Thanks to the help of Pandit Subbaraya Sastry, the man who gifted to the world the Vaimanika Shastra, Talpade constructed the Marutsakhā and managed to take off it in the Mumbai’s Chowpatty beach in 1895. We remember that the first unmanned heavier-than-air flight was John Stringfellow’s in 1848 but the real first man flight was Wright’s brother of 1908. The Talpade’s work could be considered, however, the first Indian flight.

As the world observes the one hundredth anniversary of the first manned flight, it is interesting to consider the saga of India’s 19th century first aircraft inventor for his design was entirely based on the rich treasury of India’s Vedas.

One western scholar of Indology Stephen-Knapp has put in simple words or rather has tried to explain what Talpade did and succeeded!

According to Knapp, the Vaimanika Shastra describes in detail, the construction of what is called, the mercury vortex engine the forerunner of the ion engines being made today by NASA. Knapp adds that additional information on the mercury engines can be found in the ancient Vedic text called Samaranga Sutradhara. This text also devotes 230 verses, to the use of these machines in peace and war. The Indologist William Clarendon, who has written down a detailed description of the mercury vortex engine in his translation of Samaranga Sutradhara quotes thus ‘Inside the circular air frame, place the mercury-engine with its solar mercury boiler at the aircraft center. By means of the power latent in the heated mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion a man sitting inside may travel a great distance in a most marvellous manner. Four strong mercury containers must be built into the interior structure. When these have been heated by fire through solar or other sources the vimana (aircraft) develops thunder-power through the mercury.

NASA (National Aeronau-tical and Space Administra-tion) world’s richest/ most powerful scientific organisation is trying to create an ion engine that is a device that uses a stream of high velocity electrified particles instead of a blast of hot gases like in present day modern jet engines. Surprisingly according to the bi-monthly Ancient Skies published in USA, the aircraft engines being developed for future use by NASA by some strange coincidence also uses mercury bombardment units powered by Solar cells! Interestingly, the impulse is generated in seven stages. The mercury propellant is first vapourised fed into the thruster discharge chamber ionised converted into plasma by a combination with electrons broke down electrically and then accelerated through small openings in a screen to pass out of the engine at velocities between 1200 to 3000 kilometres per minute! But so far NASA has been able to produce an experimental basis only a one pound of thrust by its scientists a power derivation virtually useless. But 108 years ago Talpade was able to use his knowledge of Vaimanika Shastra to produce sufficient thrust to lift his aircraft 1500 feet into the air!

According to Indian scholar Acharya, ‘Vaimanika Shastra deals about aeronautics including the design of aircraft the way they can be used for transportation and other applications in detail. The knowledge of aeronautics is described in Sanskrit in 100 sections, eight chapters, 500 principles and 3000 slokas including 32 techniques to fly an aircraft. In fact, depending on the classifications of eras or Yugas in modern Kaliyuga aircraft used are called Krithakavimana flown by the power of engines by absorbing solar energies!’ It is feared that only portions of Bharadwaja’s masterpiece Vaimanika Shastra survive today.

The question that comes to one’s mind is, what happened to this wonderful encyclopaedia of aeronautical knowledge accumulated by the Indian savants of yore, and why was it not used? But in those days, such knowledge was the preserve of sages, who would not allow it to be misused, just like the knowledge of atomic bombs is being used by terrorists today!

According to scholar Ratnakar Mahajan who wrote a brochure on Talpade. ‘Being a Sanskrit scholar interested in aeronautics, Talpade studied and consulted a number of Vedic treatises like Brihad Vaimanika Shastra of Maharishi Bharadwaja Vimanachandrika of Acharya Narayan Muni Viman yantra of Maharish Shownik Yantra Kalp by Maharishi Garg Muni Viman Bindu of Acharya Vachaspati and Vimana Gyanarka Prakashika of Maharishi Dhundiraj’. This gave him confidence that he can build an aircraft with mercury engines. One essential factor in the creation of these Vedic aircraft was the timing of the Suns Rays or Solar energy (as being now utilised by NASA) when they were most effective to activate the mercury ions of the engine. Happily for Talpade Maharaja Sayaji Rao Gaekwad of Baroda a great supporter of the Sciences in India, was willing to help him and Talpade went ahead with his aircraft construction with mercury engines. One day in 1895 (unfortunately the actual date is not mentioned in the Kesari newspaper of Pune which covered the event) before an curious scholarly audience headed by the famous Indian judge/ nationalist/ Mahadeva Govin-da Ranade and H H Sayaji Rao Gaekwad Talpade had the good fortune to see his un manned aircraft named as ‘Marutsakthi’ take off, fly to a height of 1500 feet and then fall down to earth.

Vimana In Vedik Texts

But this success of an Indian scientist was not liked by the Imperial rulers. Warned by the British Government the Maharaja of Baroda stopped helping Talpade. It is said that the remains of the Marutsakthi were sold to ‘foreign parties’ by the relatives of Talpade in order to salvage whatever they can out of their loans to him. Talpade’s wife died at this critical juncture and he was not in a mental frame to continue with his researches. But his efforts to make known the greatness of Vedic Shastras was recognised by Indian scholars, who gave him the title of Vidya Prakash Pra-deep.

Talpade passed away in 1916 un-honoured, in his own country.

As the world rightly honours the Wright Brothers for their achievements, we should think of Talpade, who utilised the ancient knowledge of Sanskrit texts, to fly an aircraft, eight years before his foreign counterparts.