A Leaf from the lives of great men !

1)Thomas Alva Edison:-(1847-1931)

' Necessity is the mother of invention ' - this maxim proved true in Edison's life. Thomas Alva Edison was much afraid of darkness. The fear provoked Edison to discover a remedy and he did rightly so by inventing the electric bulb.


Thomas Alva Edison (picture)
His friends wanted to celebrate the event and got assembled in Edison's lab. Edison assigned the job of bringing the new electric bulb to his assistant, from the ground floor to the Lab situated in the first floor. A mishap occurred in the bulb falling from the hold of the assistant and unfortunately got shattered to pieces. But the Scientist did not get perturbed. He produced one more bulb in short time and asked the same assistant again to bring it.

Edison addressed the august gathering that his assistant was very loyal and sincere in his works. If he had not assigned the job to him again, he would even die of heart burns. Edison said he was capable of making any number of bulbs. What had happened by a slip was to be ignored. The fact that his assistant brought the new bulb safely showed that Edison had the right presence of mind also had the courage of conviction.
Edison, 'known as the Wizard of the Menlo Park' is considered as one of the greatest inventors in the history of the world. He holds the world record for patents with 1093,the most ever granted to one person.

Edison's two famous quotes:-
(1) 'Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine perspiration '
(2) ' If we did all things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves'

2) Beethoven:-

Picture of Beethoven
The power of listening is the most important aspect in Music Composers and Singers. But the well known singer, Composer Beethoven lost the sense of hearing in his
40th year. He did not lose heart. He continued in his assignment and went on to produce four numbers of 'symphonys' which reverberated as all time great musical hits in the market and took Beethoven to great heights. The life of Beethoven stands as a classical example for ' if you have the will, you can surmount anything in life'.

3)U.V.Swaminatha Iyer.


Picture of U.V.Swaminatha Iyer
U.V.S.Iyer held high esteem for his Guru ' Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai '. Swaminatha Iyer wrote the biography of Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai and got it published. Swaminatha Iyer had such a great regards for his Guru that he felt shy to write his Guru's name in the biography. Wherever his Guru's name occurred, he used only a star symbol (*) and wrote an explanation that he felt too small and was even afraid of, writing his Guru's name.

It showed only U.V.Swaminatha Iyer's humility! He was affectionately called as " 'Tamil Thatha '.

4)Mozart:-


Child Prodigy Mozart (picture)
Mozart was a great exponent of classical music. A very young disciple asked Mozart how to compose melodious and great music. Mozart advised him to be very simple in the approach and start composing light music. The disciple questioned Mozart ' How was that he was able to compose great music even at his age of ten ?'. Mozart replied that he never went to any one when he was ten and asked how to compose great music !

Mozart was a child prodigy when he was ten itself!

5)Tenali Raman:-


Picture of the Court Jester Tenali Raman
Tenali Raman was a great Court Jester. He was one of the eight learned Pundits who all decorated the Vijayanagara Kingdom of Vikramadhithan II. Tenali Raman's "Panduranga Mahathmiyam" is recognized as one of the a master pieces in Telugu literature.

The King had a habit of testing the intelligentsia quotient of Tenali Raman. He, in one occasion, asked Tenali Raman " How many crows were there in the Town " ?. Tenali Raman did not at all hesitate to answer the King. He replied '4444' crows were in the Town. The King shot out a probing remark and asked Tenali Raman " What, if there were more " ?. Tenali Raman quipped at once that, ' Additions in crows would be due to the crows flying from near-by towns ". The King asked a rejoinder ' what if there were less crows' ?. Tenali Raman replied in no time that ' some crows from our Town must have flown to the neighboring Towns ' !

The King had a hearty laugh and admired the ready wittiness of his Court Jester. !

Science Speaks !

Let me ask a riddle first !

1.0 It may happen sometime that you lose something precious or most dear to you. Naturally you will ceaselessly search to find it. Let us say you are lucky to obtain it. Now, my question to you what is the first thing you will do after finding that item? ( Pl.feel free to express )
(Answer is at the end and before going down, some material to pursue !)

2.0 Questions on ' Time '

2.1 What is Quadrennial ?
2.2 What is the period which is referred as vicennial?
2.3 Are the terms 'Olympiad' and 'Quadrennial' refer one and the same time period?
2.4 What 'diurnal' and ' semi-diurnal ' and ' perennial ' refer to?
( Answers:- @ the bottom )

3.0 The calender now in use is ' Georgian Calender ' which is a modification of 'Julian' Calender. Pope Gregory XIII introduced it in 1582 and was adopted in Scotland in 1600 and in England in 1752.

4.0 Jewish, Muslim and Chinese calenders are adopted on certain other discreet norms.

5.0 The World is divided into 24 time zones , measured in relation to 12 Noon GMT.

6.0 What Numbers are represented by the following Roman Numerals / Letters ?

L , CC , CD , D , CM , M , MM , MMX
(Ans:- in the end )

7.0 What is a 'Nitrogen Cycle' ?

The series of processes by which Nitrogen is absorbed from and returned to the atmosphere by the biological system is called the ' Nitrogen cycle '.

All living thing play a part in the nitrogen cycle. Bacteria play a double role. They can fix or combine nitrogen with oxygen to form the nitrates which are used by most living organisms. Bacteria also break or denitrify nitrates into nitrogen and oxygen.

Atmosphere is mostly composed of Nitrogen GAS. Weak Nitric Acid is in the Rain. Thus Nitrogen is atmospheric. Nitrogen fixing bacteria play its role.Organic Nitrogen arises from manures, decaying plants and materials. Nitrates are released by nitrifying bacteria. Nitratesa are taken up by the plants. Nitrogen gas is released by dentryfying bacteria into the atmosphere. This is known as the ' Nitrogen cycle '.

8.0 Geological Time Periods :-

Earth was formed from a massive cloud od dust and gas some million years ago. layers of metamorphic rocks have been since built upon its crust.The history and study of these layers describe the Geological Time.

Achaean refers to 4600-2500 million years ago.
Proterozoic : 2500-550 million years ago
Phanerozoic : 550 million years ago to the present.

Answers:-

1.0 First thing you will do is " Stop Searching " (Any other act will only be after ending the search, is it not so?)

2.0 Quadrennial : every 4 years
Vicennial : every 20 years
Olympiad and quadrennial refer to " every 4 years "

Diurnal : daily, of each day.
Semi-diurnal : twice a day.
perennial : lasting through a year or several years.

6.0 L = 50
CC = 200
CD = 400
D = 500
CM = 900
M = 1000
MM = 2000
MMX = 2010



( You can devise your own scoring pattern and compare the answers to find out your score )