3rd December 2021: International Day of Persons with Disabilities

International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2021: This year, the theme for IDPD is “Leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world.”


International Day of Persons with Disabilities is a global observance celebrated every year on December 3 with a motive to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society. Nearly one billion people out of the total population i.e, 7 billion or approximately 15 per cent of the world’s population, live with some form of disability. 80 per cent of the total disabled population live in developing countries.

More than 100 million disabled persons are kids. People with Disabilities (PwDs) have been affected “disproportionately” by the health, social and economic consequences of the global issues. Hence, the day is observed to raise the participation of disabled people in the sustainable development of the world. Know about the date theme history and significance of this day.

The event is observed every year on December 3.

THEME

This year, the theme for IDPD is “Leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world.”

HISTORY

The annual observance of this day was proclaimed in 1992 by United Nations General Assembly resolution 47/3 with an aim to increase awareness of the issues faced by persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

After working in the field of disability or decades, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted in 2006. The CRDP advanced the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other international development frameworks. The main purpose was to increase the participation of disabled people in society, end discrimination towards them, and create equal opportunities for them.

SIGNIFICANCE

Disabled people suffer from poor health, lack of equal opportunities in education and sometimes in work too. This also in turn affects their lifestyle as well as physical well-being. Hence, the day is observed to aware the world about their issues and to make it a better place for them.

Worth Reading

World Disability Day 2021: Brooking No Challenge, The Extraordinary Tale Of Avani Lekhara

Sportspersons like Avani Lekhara are a rare breed. The 20-year-old shooter created history at Tokyo 2020 when she won two Paralympic medals. A car accident made her a paraplegic at the age of 11.

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Tokyo Paralympics: Meet the 19 Indian medal winners

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Source: https://www.news18.com/news/lifestyle/international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities-2021-date-theme-history-and-significance-4508246.html 

Personality of the Day - Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Dennis Ritchie - Father of the C Programming Language

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ritchie

https://www.unixmen.com/dennis-m-ritchie-father-c-programming-language/

James Gosling - Dr. Java

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gosling

https://computerhistory.org/profile/james-gosling/

https://www.britannica.com/technology/Java-computer-programming-language

 

Kalpana Chawla

 

India’s Satellite Man - Udupi Ramachandra Rao

 

Source: www.isro.gov.in/about-isro/prof-udupi-ramachandra-rao-1984-1994

JULY 1: NATIONAL DOCTOR'S DAY

National Doctor’s Day: History
National Doctor's Day is observed to honour the legendary physician and West Bengal's second Chief Minister, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy whose birth and death anniversary coincides on the same day. This day pay tribute to the whole medical profession and to highlight the value of doctors in our lives. In 1991, the National Doctor's Day was established by the Central Government to pay honour Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy and is celebrated on 1st July.

Dr.Bidhan Chandra Roy was born on 1 July, 1882 and also died on the same date in 1962. On 4 February, 1961, he was honoured with the India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna. In different countries, the Doctor's Day is observed on different dates. 

Source: https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/national-doctors-day-1561792387-1

JUNE 30: WORLD SOCIAL MEDIA DAY

World Social Media Day was launched by Mashable on June 30, 2010. It was born as a way to recognize social media’s impact on global communication, and to bring the world together to celebrate it. Everyone uses social media everyday; it’s how we connect with people all over the world in a simple and fast way. Mashable is known to use social media to connect various cultures, movements, and fandoms, which is why they wanted a day to celebrate it. People use the hashtag, #SMDay every year, and this year is your time to get involved!

The first major platforms from social media’s start to popularity were Friendster in 2002 and MySpace in 2003. Soon after, Facebook launched in 2004, which eventually became one of the largest social media platforms in existence that now has over one billion people using it. Now, common platforms have become Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Whatsapp, TikTok, and many others, showing how these platforms have evolved from written messages, to pictures, and eventually videos that can be shared instantly and seen by millions.

Besides connecting with our friends and family in an easier way, social media has led to a whole new world of business growth, such as e-commerce brands popping up all over the world, advertising being displayed on every page in the web, and media sharing important news with people in a matter of minutes. Social media has had a significant impact on our world, and millions of people can’t imagine living without it now.

Source: https://nationaltoday.com/social-media-day/#:~:text=History%20of%20World%20Social%20Media,world%20together%20to%20celebrate%20it.

JUNE 27: HELLEN KELLER DAY

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.

Helen Keller was an American educator, advocate for the blind and deaf and co-founder of the ACLU. Stricken by an illness at the age of 2, Keller was left blind and deaf. Beginning in 1887, Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, helped her make tremendous progress with her ability to communicate, and Keller went on to college, graduating in 1904. During her lifetime, she received many honors in recognition of her accomplishments.

Helen went on to become the first deaf and blind person to earn a bachelor’s degree at Radcliffe.  Helen was admired by no less than Mark Twain who introduced her to Henry Rogers of Standard Oil who in turn paid for her education.  Helen learned to read Braille, sign language (with her hands) and even how to speak, becoming a famous speaker and writer.

Source:

https://www.biography.com/activist/helen-keller

https://www.historyandheadlines.com/june-27-1980-helen-keller-day-established/

Today: JUNE 26: BIRTHDAY OF WILLIAM P. LEAR

American Aeronautical Engineer, Electrical Engineer and Inventor who founded the Lear Jet Corporation supplying corporate jet aircrafts. His many other inventions included patentsfor the car radio, eight tape player and aircraft navigation equipment.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-P-Lear

https://todayinsci.com/L/Lear_William/Lear_William.htm

JUNE 26: International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

JUNE 26: International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

The International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is a United Nations International Day against drug abuse and the illegal drug trade. It is observed annually on 26 June, since 1989.

Source: https://www.unodc.org/drugs/indexNEW.html

TODAY: JUNE 25 – Birthday of Hermann Oberth – German Father of Rocketry

Hermann Oberth, the German father of rocketry, has a mixed legacy. On the one hand, he developed the V-2 rocket for Nazi Germany during World II. On the other hand, his ideas, rejected as implausible when he submitted them as part of his doctoral thesis, paved the way for the development of rocketry, and he later helped launch the United States into space.

Source:

https://www.space.com/20063-hermann-oberth.html

TODAY: JUNE 25 U.S. PATENT 1,718,305 awarded to George L. Pierce on June 25, 1929 for a “Basket Ball”.

James Naismith was a Canadian physical education instructor who invented basketball in 1891. The first formal rules were devised in 1892. Initially, players dribbled a football ball up and down a court of unspecified

dimensions. Points were earned by landing the ball in a peach basket. Iron hoops and a hammock-style basket were introduced in 1893. However, another decade passed before the innovation of open-ended nets put an end to the practice of manually retrieving the ball from the basket each time a goal was scored. US Patent #1,718,305 was granted to G L Pierce on June 25, 1929 for the "basketball" used in the game.

 

Sources:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/sponsored/patents-behind-basketball-180971830/

https://www.robinage.com/sports/know-more-basketball.htm

Today: June 24 – Birthday of E.I.du Pont

Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours known as Irénée du Pont, or E.I. du Pont, was a French-born American chemist and industrialist who emmigrated to the United States in 1799 and founded the gunpowder manufacturing business, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. His descendants, the centuries Du Pont family, were one of America's richest and most prominent families in the nineteenth and twentieth.

Source: https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Eleuthere_Irenee_du_Pont

Today: June 24 – The Mark Twain Scrap-Book

On June 24 of the year 1873, U.S. Patent No.: 140,245 issued to Samuel L. Clemens for an "Improvement in Scrap-Books". Clemens is better known by his pseudonym, "Mark Twain", which was a meausure of water depth used by steamboat pilots on the Mississippi River to indicate two fathoms. In addition to being a well-known writer, humorist, publisher, and lecturer, Twain was an inventor who held three patents. The '245 patent was his second and, by far, his most successful patent. 

Source:

http://www.patentlyinteresting.com/june-24.html

Today: June 23 - Birthday of Alan Turing – Father of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence

Alan Turing - Father of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence

Alan Turing was a brilliant British mathematician who took a leading role in breaking Nazi ciphers during WWII. In his seminal 1936 paper, he proved that there cannot exist any universal algorithmic method of determining truth in mathematics, and that mathematics will always contain undecidable propositions. His work is widely acknowledged as foundational research of computer science and artificial intelligence. 

Early Life

English scientist Alan Turing was born Alan Mathison Turing on June 23, 1912, in Maida Vale, London, England. At a young age, he displayed signs of high intelligence, which some of his teachers recognized, but did not necessarily respect. When Turing attended the well-known independent Sherborne School at the age of 13, he became particularly interested in math and science.

After Sherborne, Turing enrolled at King's College (University of Cambridge) in Cambridge, England, studying there from 1931 to 1934. As a result of his dissertation, in which he proved the central limit theorem, Turing was elected a fellow at the school upon his graduation.

In 1936, Turing delivered a paper, "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem," in which he presented the notion of a universal machine (later called the “Universal Turing Machine," and then the "Turing machine") capable of computing anything that is computable: It is considered the precursor to the modern computer.

 Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alan-Turing

https://www.biography.com/scientist/alan-turing

Today: June 23 - Birthday of Dr. Howard T. Engstrom – Promoter of Digital Computer

Dr. Howard T. Engstrom

Birthday of Dr. Howard T. Engstrom – Promoter of Digital Computer

American computer designer who promoted the first commercially available digital computer, the Univac. As a Yale professor he had written a paper on the mathematical basis for cryptanalysis techniques. During WW II he was called to the Navy and placed in command of the OP-20-G automated machines "Research Section" for message decryption. After the war, he was a co-founder of Engineering Research Associates, a private company to work on electronic digital circuit technology for the Navy on a contract basis, with former Navy researchers. ERA delivered its first Atlas computer to the National Security Agency in Dec 1950. As vice president for research, Engstrom took the initiative to make a commercial version, renamed Univac.

Source: https://todayinsci.com/6/6_23.htm

Today: 22 June Birthday of Kamal Shedge - Typographer

In the history of Devnagari Typography, the contribution in the area of ‘Typographic Design’, made by Shri Kamal Shedge is simply unparallel. In his long professional span of over three and half decades, (starting from early 60s), Shri Shedge has made people look at the letters as a ‘beautiful’ experience. Shedge, who was not a student of an art school, started his career as an artist with ‘Maharashtra Times’, which was started around that time, and later became one of the leading daily in Marathi; of Times group. Though he worked mainly with ‘Maharashtra Times’ he lent his golden touch to other publications like ‘Madhuri’ of the Times group.

Sources:

http://aksharaya.org/event/aksharsanvad-an-interview-with-kamal-shedge/

http://wetheartist.blogspot.com/2009/07/kamal-shedge-name-i-only-knew-by-his.html

Image Source: https://www.discogs.com/artist/2086896-Kamal-Shedge

Read more at:
https://poojasaxena.wordpress.com/…/…/kamal-shedges-letters/

http://wetheartist.blogspot.com/…/kamal-shedge-name-i-only-…

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php…

Today: 22 June Birthday of Dan Brown – Author of the books – The Da Vinci Code, Digital Fortress, The Lost Symbol, Inferno, Deception Point, Angels and Demons.

Dan Gerhard Brown was born on June 22, 1964, in Exeter, New Hampshire. He has a younger sister, Valerie (born 1968) and brother, Gregory (born 1974). Brown attended Exeter's public schools until the ninth grade. He grew up on the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy, where his father, Richard G. Brown, was a teacher of mathematics and wrote textbooks from 1968 until his retirement in 1997. His mother, Constance (née Gerhard), trained as a church organist and student of sacred music.

Brown's interest in secrets and puzzles stems from their presence in his household as a child, where codes and ciphers were the linchpin tying together the mathematics, music, and languages in which his parents worked. The young Brown spent hours working out anagrams and crossword puzzles, and he and his siblings participated in elaborate treasure hunts devised by their father on birthdays and holidays. On Christmas, for example, Brown and his siblings did not find gifts under the tree, but followed a treasure map with codes and clues throughout their house and even around town to find the gifts. Brown's relationship with his father inspired that of Sophie Neveu and Jacques Saunière in The Da Vinci Code, and Chapter 23 of that novel was inspired by one of his childhood treasure hunts.

After graduating from Phillips Exeter, Brown attended Amherst College, where he was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity. He played squash, sang in the Amherst Glee Club, and was a writing student of visiting novelist Alan Lelchuk. Brown spent the 1985 school year abroad in Seville, Spain, where he was enrolled in an art history course at the University of Seville. Brown graduated from Amherst in 1986.

Sources:

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Brown

Today: 22 June: Birthday of Shriram Bhikaji Velankar – who introduced the PIN Code System in India.

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Brief history

The PIN Code system was introduced in India by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar, who had served as an additional secretary in the Union ministry of communications. Its implementation began from August 15, 1972, with the objective of simplifying the sorting of mails, speeding up mail transmission and delivery.

The need for such a system was realised due to the confusion resulting from the duplication of names of various places across the country, the use of multiple languages to write addresses, and different ways in which the name of a place could be spelt. For example, in Tamil Nadu, names like Mettur and Aathur are very common. PIN codes help postmen deliver the letters to right people.

Mr. Shriram Bhikaji Velankar was a Sanskrit Pandit and a strong practitioner of Pali language. He expired on 1^st April 1999.

Sources:
1) https://www.hindustantimes.com/…/story-1yTxGBZFZ64QqlSwZ0ZO…
2) https://twitter.com/vinay1011/status/613738417378037764