Venkataramana Bhagavathar Birth Anniversary

 

Venkataramana Bhagavathar, born on 18 February 1781, was a direct disciple of Saint Thyagaraja and a composer of Carnatic music. Bhagavathar composed his songs in Saurashtra language and has left behind a number of kritis.

Michelangelo Death Anniversary

 

Michelangelo, who passed away on 18 February 1564, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance born in the Republic of Florence, who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered by many the greatest artist of his lifetime, and by some the greatest artist of all time, his artistic versatility was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival, the fellow Florentine and client of the Medici, Leonardo da Vinci.

Jībanānanda Dāś Birth Anniversary

 

Jībanānanda Dāś, born on 18 February 1899, was an Indian poet, writer, novelist and essayist in the Bengali language. Popularly called "Rupashi Banglar Kabi'' (Poet of Beautiful Bengal), Das is probably the most read poet after Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam in Bangladesh and West Bengal. While not particularly recognised initially, today Das is acknowledged as one of the greatest poets in the Bengali language.

Jai Narayan Vyas Birth Anniversary

 

Jai Narayan Vyas, born on 18 February 1899, was an Indian politician and the third chief minister of the State of Rajasthan and was a leader of Indian National Congress party.

J. Robert Oppenheimer Death Anniversary

 

J. Robert Oppenheimer, who passed away on 18 February 1967, was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is often credited as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in the Manhattan Project—the World War II undertaking that developed the first nuclear weapons. Oppenheimer was among those who observed the Trinity test in New Mexico, where the first atomic bomb was successfully detonated on July 16, 1945. He later remarked that the explosion brought to mind words from the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." In August 1945, the weapons were used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Alessandro Volta Birth Anniversary

 

Alessandro Volta, born on 18 February 1745, was an Italian physicist and chemist who was a pioneer of electricity and power, who is credited as the inventor of the electric battery and the discoverer of methane. He invented the voltaic pile in 1799, and reported the results of his experiments in 1800 in a two-part letter to the president of the Royal Society. With this invention Volta proved that electricity could be generated chemically and debunked the prevalent theory that electricity was generated solely by living beings. Volta's invention sparked a great amount of scientific excitement and led others to conduct similar experiments, which eventually led to the development of the field of electrochemistry.

World Whale Day

World Whale Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of February, and as such, this year on February 18. The objective of this day is to increase public knowledge of these amazing creatures, their beauty, and the ecological importance of what they contribute to the earth.

The aquatic mammals belong to the order Cetacea. The term 'whale' can be used in reference to ant cetacean, including porpoises and dolphins, but in general it is applied to those more than 3 metres (10 feet) long.

World Whale Day was founded in Maui, Hawaii, in 1980 to honour humpback whales, which swim off the coast of this tropical island. This day was started aa an idea by Greg Kauffman, founder of the Pacific Whale Foundation to raise awareness about the threat of extinction faced by humpback whales.