Malayapuram Singaravelu Birth Anniversary

 

Malayapuram Singaravelu, born on 18 February 1860, was a pioneer in more than one field in India. In 1918, he founded the first trade union in India. On 1 May 1923 he organised the first ever celebration of May Day in the country.

Ramakrishna Paramahansa Birth Anniversary

 

Ramakrishna Paramahansa, born on 18 February 1836, was an Indian Hindu mystic, saint and considered as an avatar by many in 19th century Bengal. Sri Ramakrishna experienced spiritual ecstasies from a young age, and was influenced by several religious traditions, including devotion toward the Goddess Kali, Tantra (shakta), Vaishnava (bhakti), and Advaita Vedanta. As a priest at the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple, his mystical temperament and ecstasies gradually gained him widespread acknowledgement, attracting to him various spiritual teachers, social leaders, lay followers and eventually disciples. Reverence and admiration for him among Bengali elites led to his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda founding the Ramakrishna Math, which provides spiritual training for monastics and householder devotees and the Ramakrishna Mission to provide charity, social work and education.

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.