Joseph Pulitzer's Birth Anniversary

Joseph Pulitzer, born on 10 April 1847, in Makó, Hungary, was an American newspaper editor and publisher who helped to establish the pattern of the modern newspaper. In his time, he was one of the most powerful journalists in the United States.

Having been reared in Budapest, Pulitzer sought a military career and emigrated to the United States in 1864 as a recruit for the Union army in the American Civil War (1861–65). After the war he went to St. Louis, Missouri, where in 1868 he became a reporter on a German-language daily newspaper, the Westliche Post. In 1871 he bought a share of that paper but soon resold it at a profit. Pulitzer had meanwhile become active in politics, and he was elected to the Missouri state legislature in 1869. In 1871–72 he helped to organize the Liberal Republican Party in Missouri, which nominated Horcace Greeley for president in 1872. After the party’s subsequent collapse, Pulitzer became and remained a lifelong Democrat.

In 1874 Pulitzer acquired another St. Louis German-language paper, the Staats-Zeitung, and advantageously sold its Associated Press franchise to the St. Louis Globe (later Globe-Democrat). Four years afterward he gained control of the St. Louis Dispatch (founded 1864) and the Post (founded 1875) and merged them as the Post-Dispatch, soon the city’s dominant evening newspaper. On October 5, 1882, Pulitzer’s chief editorial writer shot to death a political opponent of the Post-Dispatch. Public reprobation and his own ill health prompted Pulitzer to shift his newspaper interests to New York City, where he purchased (May 10, 1883) a morning paper, the World, from the financier Jay Gould. He soon turned that paper into the leading journalistic voice of the Democratic Party in the United States. Pulitzer founded the World’s evening counterpart, the Evening World, in 1887.

In his newspapers, Pulitzer combined exposés of political corruption and crusading investigative reporting with publicity stunts, blatant self-advertising, and sensationalistic journalism. In an effort to further attract a mass readership, he also introduced such innovations as comics, sports coverage, women’s fashion coverage, and illustrations into his newspapers, thus making them vehicles of entertainment as well as of information.

The World eventually became involved in a fierce competition with William Randolph Hearst’s New York Morning Journal, and the blatant sensationalism that both newspapers resorted to in espousing the Spanish-American War of 1898 led to the coining of the term “yellow journalism” to describe such practices. Failing eyesight and worsening nervous disorders forced Pulitzer to abandon the management of his newspapers in 1887. He gave up his editorship of them in 1890, but he continued to exercise a close watch over their editorial policies.

In his will, Pulitzer endowed the Columbia University School of Journalism (opened 1912) and established the prestigious Pultizer Prizes, awarded annually since 1917.

 

 

Arya Samaj founded in 1875

Arya Samaj, vigorous reform movement of modern Hinduism, founded on 10 April 1875 by Dayananda Sarasvati, whose aim was to reestablish the Vedas, the earliest Hindu scriptures, as revealed truth. He rejected all later accretions to the Vedas as degenerate but, in his own interpretation, included much post-Vedic thought.

The Arya Samaj has always had its largest following in western and northern India. It is organized in local samajas (“societies”) that send representatives to provincial samajas and to an all-India samaja. Each local samaja elects its own officers in a democratic manner.

The Arya Samaj opposes worship of murtis (images), animal sacrifice, shraddha (rituals on behalf of ancestors), basing caste upon birth rather than upon merit, untouchability, child marriage, pilgrimages, priestly craft, priestly craft, and temple offerings. It upholds the infallibility of the Vedas, the doctrines of karma (the accumulated effect of past deeds) and samsara (the process of death and rebirth), the sanctity of the cow, the importance of the samskaras (individual sacraments), the efficacy of Vedic oblations to the fire, and programs of social reform. It has worked to further female education and intercaste marriage; has built missions, orphanages, and homes for widows; has established a network of schools and colleges; and has undertaken famine relief and medical work. From its beginning it was an important factor in the growth of Indian nationalism.  It has been criticized, however, as overly dogmatic and militant and as having exhibited an aggressive intolerance toward both Christianity and Islam.

Ghanshyam Das Birla's Birth Anniversary

Ghanshyam Das Birla, also known as G.D. Birla, born on 10 April 1894, in Pilani town in Jhunjhunu district, in the region known as Rajputana, was an Indian businessman and member of the Birla Family.

G.D. Birla was the first entrepreneur from his traditional Marwari family. However, he knew from an early age that business was not just a way to make profits, but also to enrich the lives of others. Business and social good were already part of his family's ethos.

At the age of 19, G.D. Birla met Mahatma Gandhi and was influenced by his principles of nationalism and public welfare. These principles further cemented his perception of business as a force for good.

Between 1919 and his death in 1983, G.D. Birla built the foundation of the Birla business empire. In addition, he strove to serve the Indian people and industry. From serving as a member of Central Legislative Assembly of British India in 1926 to co-authoring the Bombay Plan in 1945, he contributed towards building a progressive growth roadmap for India and Indians.

Thus, G.D. Birla enriched lives at various levels and put the nation on the path of development. He also created businesses and institutions that transformed millions of lives – for which he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1957.

First Photo of a Black Hole in 2019

A 'black hole' is a region of spacetime where the gravitational force is so strong that nothing - including light - can escape its pull. The idea of these objects had been posited theoretically as far back as the 18th century. Albert Einstein did much to establish the existence of black holes in theory with his general theory of relativity, but he himself had his doubts as the concept was so bizarre.

Another scientist who spent much of his career devoted to black holes was Stephen Hawking, who described a theory that black holes emit radiation. He would unfortunately pass away a year before the first photo of a black hole, above, was released.

The photo taken by the Event Horizon Telescope on 10 April 2019, is actually a series of telescope arrays. The black hole is in the galaxy Messier 87, and the hole is some 7 billion times the mass of the Sun. Black holes are thought to exist at the centre of many galaxies, including our own.

Samuel Hahnemann's Birth Anniversary

Samuel Hahnemann, born on 10 April 1755, in Meissen, Saxony [now in Germany], was a German physician, founder of the system of therapeutics known as homeopathy.

Hahnemann studied medicine at Leipzig and Vienna, taking the degree of M.D. at Erlangen in 1779. After practicing in various places, he settled in Dresden in 1784 and then moved to Leipzig in 1789. In the following year, while translating William Cullen’s Lectures on the Materia medica into German, he was struck by the fact that the symptoms produced by quinine on the healthy body were similar to those of the disordered states that quinine was used to cure. This observation led him to assert the theory that “likes are cured by likes,” similia similibus curantur; i.e., diseases are cured (or should be treated) by those drugs that produce in healthy persons symptoms similar to the diseases. He promulgated his principle in a paper published in 1796; and, four years later, convinced that drugs in small doses effectively exerted their curative powers, he advanced his doctrine of their “potentization of dynamization.” His chief work, Organon der rationellen Heilkunst (1810; “Organon of Rational Medicine”), contains an exposition of his system, which he called Homöopathie, or homeopathy. His Reine Arzneimittellehre, 6 vol. (1811; “Pure Pharmacology”), detailed the symptoms produced by “proving” a large number of drugs—i.e., by systematically administering them to healthy subjects.

In 1821 the hostility of apothecaries forced him to leave Leipzig, and at the invitation of the grand duke of Anhalt-Köthen he went to live at Köthen. Fourteen years later he moved to Paris, where he practiced medicine with great popularity until his death.

Khalil Gibran's Death Anniversary

Khalil Gibran, who passed away on 10 April 1931, aged 48, in New York, U.S., was a Lebanese-American philosophical essayist, novelist, poet, and artist.

Having received his primary education in Beirut, Gibran immigrated with his parents to Boston in 1895. He returned to Lebanon in 1898 and studied in Beirut, where he excelled in the Arabic language. On his return to Boston in 1903, he published his first literary essays; in 1907 he met Mary Haskell, who was to be his benefactor all his life and who made it possible for him to study art in Paris. In 1912 Gibran settled in New York City and devoted himself to writing literary essays and short stories, both in Arabic and in English, and to painting.

Gibran’s literary and artistic output is highly romantic in outlook and was influenced by the Bible, Friedrich Nietzsche, and William Blake. His writings in both languages, which deal with such themes as love, death, nature, and a longing for the homeland, are full of lyrical outpourings and are expressive of Gibran’s deeply religious and mystic nature.

Gibran’s principal works in Arabic are: ʿArāʾis al-Murūj (1910; Nymphs of the Valley); Damʿah wa Ibtisāmah (1914; A Tear and a Smile); Al-Arwāḥ al-Mutamarridah (1920; Spirits Rebellious); Al-Ajniḥah al-Mutakassirah (1922; The Broken Wings); Al-ʿAwāṣif (1923; “The Storms”); and Al-Mawākib (1923; The Procession), poems. His principal works in English are The Madman (1918), The Forerunner (1920), The Prophet (1923; film 2014), Sand and Foam (1926), and Jesus, the Son of Man (1928).

Moraji Desai's Death Anniversary

Morarji Desai,  who passed away on 10 April 1995, aged 99, in Bombay [now Mumbai],  was the Prime Minister of India (1977–79), and the first leader of sovereign India not to represent the long-ruling Indian National Congress party. 

The son of a village teacher, Desai was educated at the University of Bombay (now the university of Mumbai) and in 1918 joined the provincial civil service of Bombay as a minor functionary. In 1930 he resigned to join Mohandas Gandhi's civil disobedience movement and spent almost 10 years in British jails during the struggle for independence. During the 1930s and ’40s he alternated prison service with ministerial posts in the government of Bombay, rising to the chief ministerial post in 1952. He gained a reputation for administrative skill as well as for harshness.

In 1956 Desai was named commerce and industry minister in the Indian government, for which he worked in high capacities until 1963, when he resigned. He became deputy prime minister in 1967. In 1969 he again resigned to become chairman of the opposition to Indira Gandhi and the Congress Party. He was arrested in 1975 for his political activities and detained in solitary confinement until 1977, whereupon he became active in the Janata Party, a coalition of four smaller parties. That same year, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi unexpectedly held elections after a 19-month suspension of political processes, and Janata achieved a surprising and overwhelming victory. Desai was chosen to be prime minister as a compromise candidate among Janata’s leaders. After two years of political tension, the Janata coalition began to unravel. Desai announced his resignation on July 15, 1979, after numerous defections from the coalition in Parliament, to avoid a vote of no confidence.

World Homoeopathy Day

 

Every year on April 10, the world comes together to celebrate World Homoeopathy Day, a day dedicated to honouring the birth anniversary of Dr Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homoeopathy. This day serves as a platform to raise awareness about homoeopathy, its principles, and its contributions to global healthcare.

Let's delve into the history and significance of this observance.

DATE AND HISTORY:

World Homoeopathy Day commemorates the birth anniversary of Dr Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician born on April 10, 1755. Dr Hahnemann's groundbreaking work laid the foundation for homoeopathy, a holistic system of medicine based on the principle of ‘like cures like.’ His tireless efforts in developing and refining homoeopathic principles have left an indelible mark on the field of alternative medicine.

Dr Hahnemann's journey into homoeopathy began with his dissatisfaction with the conventional medical practices of his time. Through rigorous experimentation and observation, he formulated the fundamental principles of homoeopathy, including the Law of Similars and the principle of minimum dose. His seminal work, ‘Organon of the Healing Art,’ remains a cornerstone text in homoeopathic literature.

SIGNIFICANCE:

World Homoeopathy Day holds immense significance in the realm of alternative medicine and healthcare advocacy. It serves as a platform to promote awareness about homoeopathy's gentle, non-invasive approach to healing and its potential to address a wide range of health conditions.

World Homoeopathy Day provides an opportunity to highlight the growing body of research supporting the efficacy of homoeopathic treatments. While some critics may remain sceptical, numerous studies and clinical trials have demonstrated the benefits of homoeopathy in various health conditions, ranging from allergies and respiratory ailments to chronic pain and mental health disorders.

Beyond its therapeutic benefits, homoeopathy also emphasises preventive care and holistic well-being. By addressing the underlying causes of illness and promoting balance within the body, homoeopathic treatments aim to support the body's innate healing abilities and enhance overall health and vitality.