First Teddy Bear in 1903

 

The teddy bear was inspired by a cartoon by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman depicting American president Theodore Roosevelt—commonly called "Teddy"—having compassion for a bear at the end of an unsuccessful hunting trip in Mississippi in 1902. Morris Michtom saw the drawing and created a tiny plush bear cub which he sent to Roosevelt. After receiving permission to use Roosevelt's name, Michtom put a plush bear in the shop window on 15 February 1903 with a sign "Teddy's bear." After the creation of the bear the sale of the bears was so brisk that in 1907 Michtom created the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company.

Subhadra Kumari Chauhan Death Anniversary

 

Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, who passed away on 15 February 1948, was an Indian poet. Chauhan authored a number of popular works in Hindi poetry. Her most famous composition is Jhansi Ki Rani, an emotionally charged poem describing the life of Rani Lakshi Bai. The poem is one of the most recited and sung poems in Hindi literature. An emotionally charged description of the life of the queen of Jhansi (British India) and her participation in the 1857 revolution, it is often taught in schools in India.

This and her other poems, Jallianwala Bagh mein Vasant, Veeron Ka Kaisa Ho Basant, Rakhi Ki Chunauti, and Vida, openly talk about the freedom movement. They are said to have inspired great numbers of Indian youth to participate in the Indian Freedom Movement. 

Subhadra Kumari Chauhan wrote in the Khariboli dialect of Hindi, in a simple, clear style. Apart from heroic poems, she also wrote poems for children. She wrote some short stories based on the life of the middle class.

Mirza Ghalib Death Anniversary

 

Mīrzā Asadullāh Khān Ghālib, who passed away on 15 February 1869, was a preeminent Indian poet of his time writing in Persian, equally renowned for poems, letters, and prose pieces in Urdu.

Born into an aristocratic family, Ghālib passed his youth in luxury. Subsequently, he was granted a small pension by the British government but had to struggle against penury and hardships. Recognition finally came in 1850, when he was appointed poet laureate to the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II.

Ghālib’s best poems were written in three forms: ghazal (lyric), mas̄navī (moralistic or mystical parable), and qaṣīdah (panegyric). His critics accused him of writing in an obscure and ornamental style of Persian incomprehensible to the masses. His verses affirm God’s omnipotence while questioning the misery of the phenomenal world.

World Anthropology Day

Every year on the third Thursday of February, World Anthropology Day is observed. And it occurs on February 15 this year. The day is designated to honour the untapped and educate the general public about anthropology.

The scientific study of humanity is known as anthropology. It investigates the beginnings and progression of human societies and cultures. Different scientific methodologies are used to examine traits in historical and contemporary communities. The study also aids in our understanding of how the world functions, the reasons behind our behaviour, and how our environments are influenced by us.

World Anthropology Day was established in 2015 by the American Anthropological Association (A.A.A.).

World Hippo Day

World Hippo Day is observed every year on February 15 to remember the hippopotamus which are reportedly declining in population. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed them as "vulnerable species" in 2006.

World Hippo Day aims to celebrate and value these mud-loving mammals, in the hope that they will be around for many years to come. It also focuses to raise awareness about the illegal trading of these animals as hunting and poaching of hippos, both for their meat and ivory teeth, is a major threat to the species.

These days there are only two types, says reports stating them to be - the bog-standard hippopotamus and smaller pygmy hippopotamus, but a few other extinct species could be found across Europe and in Madagascar as little as 1,000 years ago. Hippos are most common in countries such as Zambia and Tanzania.

Alexander Graham Bell Applied For A Patent For The Telephone

If you're calling your special someone today, you have Alexander Graham Bell to thank for it. The inventor of the telephone filed his patent application on 14 February 1876, just hours before his rival Elisha Grey applied for a patent for his own version of the invention. The Patent Office decided to honor Bell's application, and he was officially awarded the patent for his invention on March 7.

Captain James Cook Killed in 1779

 

Captain James Cook was Killed on 14 February 1779

 British explorer James Cook certainly got around. The well-traveled surveyor charted previously uncharted lands from Alaska all the way to New Zealand, and he was the first European to reach the Hawaiian islands in 1778. Though he was received with honours then, Cook returned a year later and things weren't so rosy. Cook kidnapped a Hawaiian chief after one of his boats was stolen, which as you can imagine didn't go over so well with the locals. Cook paid for this insult with his life -- not exactly a day of romance.